Help, 16:9 material coming in 4:3 (1 Viewer)

[Dillon*G]

I just got a new HDTV and whenever I watch a widescreen movie it shows up as 4:3. The HD channels comes in as 16:9 and they look great. Does anyone know what might be wrong?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Could really use some more information, but I'll take a stab at the problem based on common experience.

1. Are you talking about letterboxed widscreen material on non-HD TV channels or DVDs?

2. If the former, this is normal. You'll have to use one of the zoom modes on your TV to expand the image to fill (or nearly fill) the screen.

3. If you're talking about DVDs, do the "4:3" images look stretched, like everything is tall and thin? If so you need to go into the set-up menu of your DVD player and set the "TV shape" option to 16:9. It is probably on 4:3 now. Again, you may have to manually zoom matted-letterboxed (non-anamorphic) material.

Hope this helps,

Joe

 

[Reginald Trent]

Either or both of your units are set for 4x3 mode. Check both your TV/Display and your satellite reciever or cable box. Set them to 16x9

 

[Dillon*G]

I checked my dvd player and it was set to 4:3. I switched it and now it is coming through great. Thanks for the simple soultion to the problem. That should have been one of the first things I checked.