Black bars on my locals

[dallasiahawk]

Just got VOOM. It's awesome. No complaints, have all of my locals, great install, etc. I live 39 miles from the towers in Dallas, and have the basic antenna wing attached to the dish.

A couple quick questions:

On my 20 inch toshiba tube 4X3, I get black bars on the sides of my local stations. I realize that they are broadcast this way, because I see them on my Sammy DLP. I am fine with them there, because that t.v. is 16X9, but thought I wouldn't see them on the 4X3 television. All of the VOOM channels look fine, including SD. (no black bars)

Also, I am having trouble programming the VOOm remote to turn my tv on/off volume, etc. I go through the process, and hold down the button. I release when my tv turns off, and that is the last step I can complete. Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[ChetK]

The black bars you are seeing are a part of the HD signal being sent from the affiliates. You cannot get rid of these because, as far as the STB is concerned, it is seeing a 16x9 image. The image just happens to have a lot of black pixels on each side.

You shouldn't get the black bars when you are actually watching true HD content or Fox widescreen. The only black bars you'll see will be at the top and bottom (not on the sides).

 

[txcruiser]

There is a way to display the picture w/no black side bars on the sides by changing the picture settings in the system menu on that stb. This change will do a little cropping but nothing really noticeable.
I'll give you the details this evening when I will get a chance to review my current settings and I will report this info back unless you have figured it out or got the details from another post.

 

[dallasiahawk]

I am trying to understand. If my locals are broadcast with black bars for 4X3 content, shouldn't they fill my entire screen on a 4X3 tv?

I am talking about side bars on the left and right of my picture.

Even the news broadcasts have bars, and I know these aren't HD.

 

[HeavyC]

Yeah, I use the crop feature and it does the trick, however, some of the locals put the black bars on there and some of them stretch to fit 16 X 9. I end up with some odd pictures on a couple of the locals.

 

[ChetK]

dallasiahawk,

The TV channel is adding the black bars to the 4:3 HD signal. Therefore, when an SD 4:3 signal is upconverted to HD, they add the black bars on the side for a "16:9" TV. Since you are not watching on a 16:9 TV, you will still get the black bars on the side. If you are watching a 16:9 image on a 4:3 screen, you will get the bars on the top and bottom (these are generated by the receiver). If you're watching a 4:3 show upconverted to HD (16:9 with the black bars on the side), you'll get black bars on the sides and the top and bottom.

 

[ChetK]

 

[voomvoom]

on another note... if you can notice how on an SD channel on your widescreen the picture looks stretched... well, on your 4:3 tv the HD image will look squashed (thinner)... with or without the black bars...

 

[txcruiser]

My System Settings that work for me on my 4:3 screen

Picture Format
Narrow To Wide --- Stretch
Wide To Narrow --- Crop

and I played with the infamous "red button" as well

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=13408