Question about feed from 2nd tuner

[MaryS910]

Could someone please explain to me why the feed from the 2nd tuner in both our 722K and 622 receivers shows up small with black bars on all sides (is that what they call letterbox?) on the two tvs they feed? I understand that the signal is in SD, even though both are flat screen HD LCDs, and accept that, I guess, but why is the picture shrunk?

Hitting the format button on the remote just stretches the picture which looks horrible. I have searched the threads here for info on this and it seems this has something to do with the 4:3 format vs the 16:9 but I don't really understand that.

How do the rest of you deal with viewing HD channels in SD, shrunk to the middle of the screen?

Anyway, I would appreciate it if someone could help me out here.

Thanks!

 

[boba]

Maybe you just need the right receivers for your TVs. If you have 4 HD receivers you should have 4 HD tuners like 4 211s.

 

[Brussam]

Your TV should have some Zoom adjustments that will fill more of the screen with proportions that are acceptable.

 

[cummingsje]

Your TV should have some Zoom adjustments that will fill more of the screen with proportions that are acceptable.

I have the same issue, 722K feeding my plasma downstairs and my 32"lcd upstairs in the bedroom. I could have sworn the 622 I used to have had a "full" option which allowed the HD channels to be shown in the true 16 X 9 aspect ration. Obviously I know it is only showing 480i but it would be nice to have the HD channels fed to the 2nd t.v. in the correct aspect ratio. Using the t.v. formats won't do the trick (only zoom what the receiver is showing). Any suggestions would be apprectiated.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I would buy another TV if TV2 could output 16x9. SD is fine.

 

[VinceT3]

TV2 will display full 16x9 when in single mode.. dual mode seems to assume 4x3

 

[willie177]

TV2 will display full 16x9 when in single mode.. dual mode seems to assume 4x3

My 722 is in dual mode and I am getting letterbox format on TV2 on shows that are in true HD when it down converts for the 2nd TV. Shows that are shot is SD will have the black bars on the side. When i hit the format button on TV2 I have 2 choices Normal which shows HD shows with the sides off the screen or LETTERBOX which shows the entire HD screen with black bars at the top and bottom on my SD TV.

 

[MaryS910]

Apparently many people have this issue. Do we know WHY Dish does this to the signal in dual mode to the 2nd tv?

 

[navychop]

Could someone please explain to me why the feed from the 2nd tuner in both our 722K and 622 receivers shows up small with black bars on all sides (is that what they call letterbox?) on the two tvs they feed? I understand that the signal is in SD, even though both are flat screen HD LCDs, and accept that, I guess, but why is the picture shrunk?

Hitting the format button on the remote just stretches the picture which looks horrible. I have searched the threads here for info on this and it seems this has something to do with the 4:3 format vs the 16:9 but I don't really understand that.

How do the rest of you deal with viewing HD channels in SD, shrunk to the middle of the screen?

Anyway, I would appreciate it if someone could help me out here.

Thanks!

I think that's called picture framing. Some OTA stations use it, it's a valid format. Stupid, but valid. But I gather you're saying ALL Dish HD is like that, even the non OTA programming. Yes, there are zoom options. Both for Dish and the TV. You'll have to experiment.

 

[willie177]

Apparently many people have this issue. Do we know WHY Dish does this to the signal in dual mode to the 2nd tv?

As i said earlier Letterbox is available on the TV2. Letterbox has a black bar at the bottom and top. i use it but if I watch a show that was taped in SD, 4X3 it will have bars at the sides. I have to hit my format button to fill the screen. It ios not dais and the other guy said. If you watch a show on your HD receiver that was taped in SD and the network transmitting the signal did not stretch it you would have black bars on the sides. the problem is some networks are stretching SD shows to fit their HD screens and they look awful. Dish is transmitting what they receive. The blame goes on the networks. As Navychop says just experiment. Make sure you are watching an HD broadcast on TV2, go to TV1 and confirm firstthen go to TV2 which will be downconverted to SD. SD is just a lower quality signal. It will still have the same format 16X9 though and if you have the dish format set to Letterbox you will get the whole show on the screen.

 

[Pepper]

... SD is just a lower quality signal. It will still have the same format 16X9 though and if you have the dish format set to Letterbox you will get the whole show on the screen.

Agreed, however Dish has assumed that TV2 is a 4x3 TV. That 16x9 format you get with letterbox gets distorted to something like 24x9 because of the output device being widescreen. Hopefully the TV has some sort of adjustment to take that and stretch the height of it to eliminate the letterboxing which is superfluous when the display is already 16x9.

I use TV2 so rarely, I can't remember whether there are any adjustments specific to it in the ViP receiver.

 

[Jim5506]

TV2 is designed for 3X4 SDTV's.

I too had trouble with the aspect ratio of TV2 because it is tied to TV1. If you set TV1 to 16X9 then you get black bars on TV2.

The 211 has seperate HD and SD aspect ratios so I can set HD to 16X9 and SD to 3X4 on the 211 but on the 622/722 they are tied together and can't be set seperately.

 

[willie177]

TV2 is designed for 3X4 SDTV's.

I too had trouble with the aspect ratio of TV2 because it is tied to TV1. If you set TV1 to 16X9 then you get black bars on TV2.

The 211 has seperate HD and SD aspect ratios so I can set HD to 16X9 and SD to 3X4 on the 211 but on the 622/722 they are tied together and can't be set seperately.

As I said I am getting letterbox format on TV2 from my 722. My TV2 is SD but I get the letterbox format if the show I am watching is HD.