letterboxing hdtv, why? (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Swenson]

i watched smallville tonight in hd, panasonic 50inch lcd, with a samsung 160 reciever, why would it letterbox it ? i mean it was widescreen format with bars on top,bottom and sides, ,i couldnt really check what the tv said the input was because the samsung sends it all out at 720p,
it was only smallville, any help?

 

[Citizen87645]

If you're seeing black bars on all four sides the station is sending a standard def signal, or rather transmitting a standard def program over HD.

 

[Jeremy Swenson]

that sukks, it was like that last week as well, last season i thought it was a full picture,not letterboxed,

 

[Patrick Sun]

You need to call the local station and tell them to flip on the HD switch (sometimes people just forget because the commercials are in standard definition and they get lazy when the HD programming returns from the commercial break).