Voom Screen Size Adjustment

whiteypants

Member
Original poster
Feb 10, 2004
12
0
I just got VOOM installed yesterday and have a few issues w/ it and wanted to see if anyone else had found a fix to these issues. I am very particular on how I like to view SD channels/shows on my HD TV. As I am viewing a 4:3 brodcast on a 16:9 there are a few ways that it can be diplayed. Don't get me wrong the HD widescreen channels are fantastic.. I especially love watching CBS, ABC & NBC in all their glory but my problem is w/ watching the SD channels on my HD monitor. I have a 51 inch Sony HD monitor and Before I got VOOM installed the monitor gives you different viewing options such as: NORMAL, FULL, ZOOM, WIDE ZOOM. NORMAL mode places gray bars on either side of a 4:3 picture. There is no distortion to the picture at all but you have to deal w/ the gray bars on both sides of the picture. FULL mode squeezes the "FUll" 4:3 picture into a 16:9 screen size. This means the picture is distorted. ZOOM mode "zooms" the screen size in and basically the top and bottom of the 4:3 cannot be seen. This causes no distortion to the picture and cuts off the station identification label most stations display. There are a few problems w/ this viewing mode (Such as if there are subtitels)
but overall it's the best choice. Finally Wide ZOOM mode doesn't squeeze the entire 4:3 screen into a 16:9 viewing space, the way I understand it this mode actually squeezes only the top and the bottom of the 4:3 screen and squeezes it just enough to fit the 4:3 screen to fit a 16:9 screen but the middle of the 4:3 viewing area is undistorted.
Now after I had VOOM installed I see that My Sony HD monititor sees the input a strictly an HD input and I no longer have the option to adjust the screen size on my HD monitor. The little I have played w/ my VOOM I do see that VOOM has screen viewing options but really only two that I can see. PILLAR mode which basically puts 2 black bars on either side of the viewing area. This causes no distortion to the picture. But besdies making me feel like I wasted money on a 51 inch screen when I'm not actually utilizing all 51 inches this mode causes "BURN IN" on projection TV's. This mode is obviously not an option. The only other option I see is stretch. This mode is similar to the SONY screen viewing option of FULL. From what I see the 4:3 screen is squized to fit into a 16:9 area. As earlier stated this mode cause distortion to the viewing area and is rather annoying to me.
I guess what I want to know is if there is a way to view SD channels on VOOM in the way that Sony's "ZOOM" mode works. I want my SD channels to display w/o any distortion basically in a 4:3 format just w/ the top and the bottom of the screen area to not be visable. I have put JPEG attachments in this thread to demonstrait exactly what I mean. I think one option might be if the VOOM could seperate the HD channels send those to one INPUT on my TV and then send the SD channels to a different input on my TV. (So they are not displaying as HD channels to my TV)
 

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Are you using component or DVI? Does it happen in every SD channel or just the HD channels that have SD content (like Starz-HD)?
 
I am using component. This happens on SD channels but also happens on HD channels. Let say I'll be watching HD CBS and then a SD commercial will come on the black bars magically appear on either side of the screen. (Which isn't a huge deal since it only happens when commercials come on) The big problem is when I am watching an SD channel (Such as MTV, Comedy Central, etc.) and I don't want black bars or the screen to be distorted.. I don't see any way to make this happen.
 
If you select native output on the Voom box this would probably allow your tv to handle the picture the way it used to on th sd material. Only problem here is that if outputs 720p(like ABC) and your tv is not capable of this resolution then you wont get a picture and would need to get up to switch the Voom box to 1080i.

I am also not familiar with Sony monitors so I don't know if this would work on a Sony. But this is what would happen on my Toshiba. Hope it helps.
 
I'll try that, thanks!!!


Carbo said:
If you select native output on the Voom box this would probably allow your tv to handle the picture the way it used to on th sd material. Only problem here is that if outputs 720p(like ABC) and your tv is not capable of this resolution then you wont get a picture and would need to get up to switch the Voom box to 1080i.

I am also not familiar with Sony monitors so I don't know if this would work on a Sony. But this is what would happen on my Toshiba. Hope it helps.
 
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