FOX HDTV feed

[MLapointe]

Does anyone in Tampa, Florida (my feed) or anyone else haveing problems with the aspect ratio on the Fox feed with Grounded For Life @ 8:30 ET which shows in 4X3 with black bars on the sides.

Also in the last 5 minutes of According To Jim which started at 8:00 ET it wen't to a commercial in 4X3 and then finished the rest of the show in 4X3 where all of the beginning of the show filled the whole screen on my widescreen or it came in 16X9. Could this be my cable provider or maybe the Fox and ABC feeds or what.

I have Time Warner Cable using a Scientific Atlanta 3100HD box. Oh by the way do any of you know when Scientific Atlanta will be fixing the aspect ratio problem with their boxes using component video inputs (ie...adding an option in the box to adjust the picture size to fill the whole screen on widescreen TVs).

Thanks for any help on this matter. I do know some shows are not in widescreen but when I started to watch Grounded For Life it said "This program is shown in Fox Digital Widescreen TV" or something like that. Also I noticed another thing. Grounded For Life came in 4X3 but I could see the FOX logo in the lower right hand side of the screen where the black bar was not on the right of the picture.

[kevinw]

Someone at the respective studios were sleeping on the job. Someone must manualy flip a switch when they come back from commercial break. Sounds like no one was awake.

[57U]

Originally posted by MLapointe
I have Time Warner Cable using a Scientific Atlanta 3100HD box. Oh by the way do any of you know when Scientific Atlanta will be fixing the aspect ratio problem with their boxes using component video inputs (ie...adding an option in the box to adjust the picture size to fill the whole screen on widescreen TVs). HDTV is by definition 16:9. Many upconverted 4:3 programmes still "fill in the blanks", but there is not really a need for a scaler. (the black bars are actually part of the image) If you wish to scale the 4:3 programmes, use S-Video or composite video connections on the equivalent standard def channel. Your TV will upconvert the signal and will be very good and you can scale using your TV's scaler. A good scaler costs a lot of money, and it's doubtful a good one will end up in a set-top-box. (I hear they are considering POP features for STBs.)

As to your other question, HDTV is still in a bit of a developmental phase and there are often instances where the broadcaster or the cable company, or satellite company will have problems. If the problems persist, call, or e-mail your cable company. We recently had an instance in Toronto where HDNBC was "down" for almost a month due to cable technical difficulties. Our other half dozen HD channels were still operational. One way to track down a persistent problem is to ask someone in this forum to advise if they are getting the same station in HDTV via another provider - satellite for example. That way you can narrow down the problem. We had such a discussion on the Canadian HDTV site and the thread had about 1000 hits during that discussion.

If the problem is intermittent or doesn't last for too long, just bear with the providers, they are probably doing the best they can. If it lasts more than a couple of days, then it's time to complain.

[MLapointe]

when you stated that the black bars are part of the image does that mean that on those shows since they are part of the image they won't burn-in as they call it or do I have it wrong. By the way do you know if Scientific Atlanta will offer cable providers a software upgrade to allow their customers to tell the 3100HD cable box whether they have a 4x3 or 16x9 TV so the cable box can fill the screen based on the customer selection of the two types. Aka picture size adjustment so if you tell the cable box you have a 16x9 TV it will adjust the picture to fill the whole screen and vice versa. I called SA but they acted like they knew jack. I think they are because of these FAQ on Cox cable's website listed below.

http://www.cox.com/Future/troubleshoot.asp

They use the Scientific Atlanta 3100HD set-top box. You can see this if you click on "Hooking up your HDTV set" on the cox website. Here's the quote I was referring too so you don't have to look for it.

9. How do I avoid burn-in?

Your wide-screen HDTV may have picture size adjustment features (zoom, stretch, etc.) that can be used to remove the black bars (thereby preventing burn-in) otherwise seen when watching standard-definition programming. If you wish to take advantage of these picture size adjustment features, you must switch the video input mode on your HDTV to the Standard Video input (most likely labeled VIDEO SOURCE on the remote control that came with your TV) when watching standard-definition programming. Note that future versions of the Cox high-definition set-top box will have picture size adjustment functions built into the set-top. In either case, Cox recommends that you avoid prolonged use of sidebars or letterboxing as this may result in damage to your HDTV. Consult your HDTV owner's manual for details.

In the quote from the quote stating....

Note that future versions of the Cox high-definition set-top box will have picture size adjustment functions built into the set-top.

I wanted to know if that would have to be a new box or an upgrade to the software. SA says the only other box that supports HDTV is out now and no other HDTV boxes are in development now and that is the Explorer 8000 which they said only adds personal video recording and not much else. So I think the 8000 will feature this because my cable provider Time Warner is testing the 8000 box and have set a date with me in January to have it installed for home customer beta testing and Time Warner said that will be the best box they will have and SA also said that is the most high end box they make and have nothing else better they can make now. So if you look at Cox's website go ahead and click on the link at the left called "Future Services and go ahead and see what they are going to offer in the future.

PVR service. It doesn't say it's the 8000 box but SA is their provider of boxes and SA only has one PVR box and that's the Explorer 8000 box and it's their best box to boot.

So what do you think about this.

[57U]

1. Black Bars. The black bars can still cause burn in (or burn lines). That is why I recommended that you watch 4:3 in standard def via S-Video or composite video cables. Any static image causes burn in. It's a good idea not to watch CNN or HN too much for this reason.

2. Scaling: Anything is possible, but whether it's coming is another thing. You indicated that it is, but if they do put scaling into the STB, it may not be as good as what's in your HDTV.

3. Future STB (Scaling). I don't know how SA would handle this. Could be software, could be new hardware. We'll have to wait and see.

4. I hear they are also working on an HD PVR, but haven't heard any more...

[Eyedox]

Calling FOX network HIGH DEFINITION is about as crazy as calling your pet goldfish a miniature whale.
Their crappy network's idea of HD is 480p "FOX WIDESCREEN" ... ooohhhh ... let me hem an haw over your cheap copout format, so that while I spent $4000 on a TV, you get by with hardly upgrading ANY of your crap at the network.

To make matters worse, MOST local affiliates of ALL the networks aren't even passing Dolby 5.1 when the network sends it, and ABC is the only network that even does THAT right now.

My local FOX affiliate doesnt even send the 16:9 "FOX WIDESCREEN" 480p programs thru from the network ... they leave them as 4:3 480i ... nice network, Rupert, you jackass.