Garbage on top of screen on certain channels?

[crash331]

Is this normal? On a few channels (local CBS46 from Atlanta-Chattanooga) there is something at the top of the screen that's rather distracting. It either looks like a timecode counting up or maybe some sort of data track that isn't supposed to be shown. It's maybe 10-20 pixels tall across the whole screen. A few channels have this, I think all of them I have noticed so far have been SD channels.

I just got set up yesterday, I have a 722 connected via HDMI and just wondering if I had faulty equipment.

 

[digiblur]

You are probably seeing the closed caption data at the top. You will see this on some networks that upconverting SD material to HD.

 

[Pepper]

Most TVs overscan so you don't see the edges, they are off the screen.

 

[crash331]

I was aware of overscan on CRTs, but I thought LCDs, being a fixed-pixel display didn't have overscan.

 

[thedamaja]

I was aware of overscan on CRTs, but I thought LCDs, being a fixed-pixel display didn't have overscan.

Depends on the brand but most do. My Samsung can be setup either way depending on what picture size I choose.

 

[TheKrell]

We have a depressing number of SD digital subchannels in the Washington DC DMA that do this much of the time. I see it using my 722; I see it with my DTVpal, and I see it on my HDTV and PC ATSC tuners. If Dish is now uplinking our munged digital feeds, what else can they do? Chop off the 1st ~40 lines of your picture? No thanks! For SD particularly, we need all 480 lines.

 

[whatchel1]

Line 21

It's line 21 or as someone else said closed captioning. You have a TV that is doing true display and not removing the the lines used for sync of the picture. the output of the encoder at the station is not cutting off the the top and bottom of the NTSC SD programming.

 

[RobMeyer1]

I was aware of overscan on CRTs, but I thought LCDs, being a fixed-pixel display didn't have overscan.

My LCD monitor has an "aspect" button that can be set at "standard" or "fill". "Standard" displays the picture with no overscan which is what you are seeing on your LCD. The "fill" setting adds about 5% overscan to a 1080i source which gets rid of the noise at the top of the screen. Look at the instructions for your LCD to see if it has a similar setting.

 

[Pepper]

After February 17, you should not have this issue with SD local channels anymore since they will be using the ATSC version.

 

[Quantum]

Regrettably I get this on certain shows (Seinfeld, 70's, Frasier), and I am ATSC only. I have display set to Native, so on certain shows -like these- I have black bars on sides and top/bottom.

Would rather not set to Fill, as these shows' video quality is horrible as it is.

 

[vurbano]

adjust your overscan and you will not see it.

 

[Quantum]

If I adjust my overscan though, I will not get pixel perfection on HD channels.

Also line 21 is quite a ways from the top, as I have black bars all 'round on certain shows.

 

[John Kotches]

After February 17, you should not have this issue with SD local channels anymore since they will be using the ATSC version.

This isn't mandated. All that is mandated is that high-power stations must be broadcasting digitally.

The content can be straight NTSC or ATSC.