Channels suddenly in letterbox?

[svocher]

Hey,

  Certain channels are showing up in a letterbox format all of a sudden.  Did I miss something?  WTAE comes in stretched and when I change the aspect ratio it stays the same.  I don't have a widescreen TV.

[Justin46]

I think this is the result of the channels and local stations implementing something called AFD (Active Format Description). Verizon is just passing along what they receive from the stations.

I have no experience or technical knowledge on this, but here is a link to a thread at dslreports.com where it is discussed at length:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24688117-UVerse-letterboxed-NFL-game-but-FIOS-didnt

Don't be put off by the initial discussion related to football, it applies to lots of programs, so be sure to read the entire thread.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP6416-P1, IMG 1.7.1, Build 09.97
Keller, TX 76248

[ZOH1]

I know this thread was posted a few year ago. But, I just noticed just about every channel I have is letterboxed but a few lower-channeled ones (e.g. 2,3,4,5, 8,9,10). Why is it that it happened just all at the same time just 2 weeks ago? Up until then, everything was full-screen. Then, BAM, everything is letterboxed. Is there anything that can be done to make everything full screen again? I read that even people who have HD Tv's get letterboxed pictures when viewing non-HD channels (e.g. 50, 54, 180, 199).

[jackmcgann]

Is it possible that you inadverdently hit the aspect button on the remote?

[ZOH1]

Nope. no chance I hit the aspect button on the remote. Besides, I tried hitting it repeatedly to try to fix things anyway and nothing. For HD Tv's, the aspect button works. But, not for standard definition tv's with a standard definition box. I suspect it had something to do with the recent firmware upgrade to the box. The odd thing is mostly everything changed at the same time without warning. Even the Video on Demand programs, both new and old (old as in I previously watched it in full screen both when it was originally broadcast and Video on Demand), are like that.

[ZOH1]

According to 1 broadcaster, Verizon changed their equipment to specifically letterbox the SD network programming content specifically at the request of the broadcaster based on complaints the broadcaster got from users not liking a center-cut image. It seems from my perspective, that if all this were coming from the broadcasters, then everybody would be seeing the same letterbox change all over the country at the same time. But, from what I have gathered, it seems to differ from region to region, state to state, month to month and year to year, which would make sense if the provider was making changes from their different local offices. I saw other tv's in my area from another provider showing the same SD channel and show still in full screen, whereas some other tv's with Verizon are letterboxed. It seems to me the changes are due to gradual changes made by different providers according to region.