SD channels stretched...

[Charade]

Seems to be my locals only.

I've noticed for a quite a while that my locals are stretched. It's noticable when text falls off the sides or actors are at the sides and you can hardly see them. I have a 625 and a 510 and both do it. The 510 is hooked to an old SD set and the 625 is hooked (via an S-VIDEO cable) to a 4:3 Sony with HD capability. I tried pressing the * key but I get "Dish on Demand" and not a format change. I can't seem to find anywhere in the setup to change the format.

Help?

 

[sam_gordon]

Neither of those receivers are HD models, right? Without the HD reception, I doubt you'd have a format change option. Assuming this just affects your locals, it sounds like Dish is receiving the stations 16:9 DTV signal and improperly downconverting to 4:3.

Is this local newscasts? Talk shows? Network programming? It's possible the stations aren't downconverting correctly, but doubtful for ALL stations in a market.

 

[Charade]

Neither of them are HD. It seems to be random. I'm watching Good Morning America right now and their banner (not the ticker) is not falling off the sides of the screen. It's really only annoying when actors fall off the screen. One show I was watching I could barely see any of their faces because 80-90 percent of their faces were off the screen! Really weird.

 

[sam_gordon]

When programmers produce something for a wide screen, they're supposed to either:

A) keep all "necessary" content 4:3 "safe" (so it can be seen properly on a 4:3 set).
B) Let the appropriate people in the chain (generally the local broadcasters) "letterbox" the content.

However, assuming the local station just broadcasts a DTV signal (which everyone should be doing now), and that's what Dish is picking up (because that's all there is), option B really won't work. When you see it happen, I suggest calling the station... especially if you see it happen during business hours, call and ask for engineering. Let them know what you're seeing. Somewhere they'll be able to see what their signal looks like on a 4:3 set.