Why The Vertical Stretch?

[cjhsa]

The wife and I were watching Desperate Housewives last night and all the actors looked about 7' tall and way too thin. I've noticed this before here on ABC - almost like they are preprocessing the signal before broadcast, because my equipment isn't capable of modifying an HD signal. While I'm sure the actors are happy that they don't have to spend so much time in the gym, this was ridiculous.

When I watched the programming in a different market this problem wasn't noticable (we moved).

This was an OTA signal BTW, just using a cheap UHF antenna.

[57U]

Sounds like the affiliate didn't send out the appropriate aspect ratio. I assume that you saw a 4:3 programme instead of the 16:9.

Make sure you haven't invoked an improper stretch mode on your TV or STB (if applicable), and make sure you're not using an SD input on your TV which would be stretchable.

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=1052

[cjhsa]

It must be a 4:3 image being broadcast on the digital channel (8.1). My receiver is connected only with the DVI cable to the TV, and neither are capable of manipulating an HD signal. If you try to change the mode, it either does nothing or tells you it can't change the aspect ratio.