How Do I Get Rid Of The Grey Bars?!

JayPSU said:

I just got an HDTV reciever, SA 8300HD, and the picture is astounding if not for the fact that I can't seem to get the grey bars to go black. Anyone know how to do this? I can't find an option anywhere that will let me do this.

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First I need to ask these questions even if you know the answer okay. First are you using it with an HDTV and if yes are you using either the HDMI or component connections. If yes to the above answer these next questions below.

Do you have a widescreen HDTV and have you setup the box with the correct settings. I will give the instructions in case you haven't okay.

Setup Wizard Instructions:

First make sure the power on the 8300 box is off (not unplugged), your HDTV set is turned on and your box is connected to your HDTV set using either component or HDMI cables "only".

Step 1: Press the "guide" and "info" buttons at the sametime (not using the remote).

Step 2: Press the yellow triangle "A" button to enter setup.

Step 3: Press the yellow triangle "A" button to enter Easy Setup.

Step 4: Press "A" if you have a 4x3 HDTV "or" press "B" if you have a widescreen HDTV.

Step 5: Press the power button on the box or the remote to turn the box on.

Please note that step 1 must be done on the box itself not the remote but steps 2-5 can be done using the remote control.

Now after doing the above we will now get rid of those gray bars when watching non HD channels. Please note all steps above will be done using the remote and with the box itself turned on.

Step 1: Press the "Settings" button twice which brings up the general settings menu.

Step 2: Use the Up and Down arrows and highlight the option called "SET: Picture Format.

Step 3: Press the right arrow button.

Step 4: If using HDMI select the AutoDVI/HDMI option by highlighting it and pressing "A" which is the Accept command. If your using component cables highlight the option called "Pass-Through" and press "A" to accept this setting.

Now the last step is to use the pound button (pound = #) which is on the remote control to the right of the "number zero" and directly below the "number nine".

By pressing the pound button it will rotate between the different zoom options such as full, zoom, zoom 1, normal and so on. You must set this mode while tuned to both an HDTV channel "and" a non HDTV channel. So you will do the following below.

Step 1: Tune into an HDTV channel and press "#" until you see the word normal appear at which point it will fill the entire screen.

Step 2: Tune into a non HDTV channel and press "#" until you see the word normal appear at which point it should also fill the entire screen without any bars.

Once the above is done you never have to worry about it again which means just change the channel and its done. You may see a flicker when switching from a non HD channel to an HD channel and vice versa as the box is switching the output from 480p <> 1080i so the TV considers it a new different signal.

Note if your using an HDMI connection you may need to select a zoom or full option to fill the entire screen as part of step number 2 above.

I hope this helps you out and I understand its detailed but everything you need is right in this post.

You should only see the grey bars on SD channels. When I had TWC I wished I could have turned them off as well.

I got rid of my gray bars by stretching 4:3 content to 16:9 as outputted by the SA8300HD and then used the 16:9 to 4:3 "zoom" mode (really could be called un-stretch) on my Samsung DLP to make the HDTV insert black bars instead.

It looks kind of weird when viewing the guide on a SD channel, but that doesn't happen too often.