polarbear

Just bought this Sony and must say it's pretty impressive. I live away from any major metropolitan area, so I have DishTV and the local low-rent (Mallard) cable company that has the sorriest signal I've ever paid for (they even admit it's trashy).
HDTV signals are great. Other satellite transmissions are better than I expected. Cable, despite the poor input, is okay.
My problem.......... I must be missing something obvious, but I can't figure out how to change the wide screen mode on this TV when I'm receiving a satellite signal. When I utilize the cable signal, the widescreen mode on the remote works fine. But I can't adjust the screen when watching a satellite feed. What am I missing?????
Just a final note. Progressive scan DVD with a well- produced disc................drop-dead gorgeous.

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polarbear

57U

Polarbear, welcome to the forum.

Many TVs cannot stretch HD images like 1080i. If you're feeding via the component video cables, this may cause your TV to "see" 1080i and not be able to modify it.

If you're feeding by S-video, or composite video, it should be able to stretch, so if you're doing that, and you can't stretch, then I'm at a loss.

Since you're new to HDTV, please check out the FAQ section, 6th one down on the home page, especially the posts "what you need to do to your new HDTV" and "Widescreen stretch modes".

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57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.

mikehbkwm

Hey polarbear i have the 51ws500 and yeah i totally agree awesome pic. Ummmm as far as it not stretching you should be able to push the wide zoom button at the bottom of the remote. Now if your watching a HD channel then I dont know if you can switch it cause I wont have HD till feb. next cause the cable co I work for will be rolling it out at that point...

polarbear

Thanks! I checked the FAQ's. My situation remains......
My satellite feed IS component and cable is composite. Cable signal imaging is no probem. But I can't change the picture size of any satellite-fed image, HD or SD. Sony manual is no help.

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polarbear

Leth

polarbear as 57U mentioned many TV's cannot format a signal being recieved via component cables. So the easiest way to allow you to format your SD signals is to run the S-Video, Composite Video, or Coaxial output to another input on the television. This will then allow you to format your SD signals.

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UNF!

mikehbkwm

yeah i didnt even think about that sorry using the s-video out on the reciever run the regular sat channels to like video 1 or 3 on the back and watch your HD stuff on video 5 or 6.... then youll be able to switch zoom modes on the s-video out...

57U

Thanks Leth, perhaps if we both say it a couple of times, polarbear will make the correct connection....

Use an S-video or composite video cable from your Sat to the TV...This will allow you to stretch the Standard Def channels. This cable will be in addition to the component video cables, which you need to keep to see the HD signals. You still won't be able to stretch HD channels.

You may have to do some "menu switching" in the sat box to get one or the other or both working, as I'm not familiar enough with satellite boxes to know if this is necessary, I know it is on some OTA boxes.

A caveat to remember though, don't put more than one connection to each input, otherwise you could damage your TV. Each connection needs it's own input. I hope this is clear.

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57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.

57U

A point of clarification. Component cables are not the problem, it's the signal contained within them.

For example DVDs, because they are not HD, are usually scalable, even though the signals travel through component cables.

A 1080i signal, however, is not scalable by many TVs. Some of the newer TVs solved this problem.

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57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.

polarbear

Many thanks to all. I fully understand the situation and will probably continue to watch the SAT signals as they are, I'll just have to mindful of "burn in" with the two black bars on the side and watch programs from a variety of sources.
The picture is great. By the way.........before I dropped more money on this T.V. than I did my first car, I did my homework. And through a few forums like this one (especially this one!), I was ALWAYS more knowledgeable than the salesperson trying to sell me the set. I shopped in depth at several retailers. Hats off to those who take the time to share your experiences. I'll try to return the favor.

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polarbear

57U

We look forward to your input. As you say, you won't have to worry about burn in, if you vary the type of viewing.

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57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.

AdminJoe

Not sure if it is needed (it is on my 5100 cable box) but did you set your Direct-Tv box to 16x9 format? It might default to 4:3

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*Joe the Admin*

Sidious

This sounds like the problem that all of us Motorola 5100 owners ran into. I have to assume that your Sat box is outputting a 1080i signal for all channels...that is why there are black bars on either side. Check to see if you can change the output of the box to 480i. If it is possible, than you should keep that output as default and than change to 1080i when viewing HD. Otherwise, run two different connections to two different inputs as already mentioned.

mikehbkwm

yeah like i mentioned early you dont have to watch all your regular prog in 4:3 on your regular SD channels just use a s-video then on you HD use the components. Use the wide zoom on your SD channels....