Local programming coming in vertically stretched and zoomed in
TrantaLocked
Enthusiast - Level 3

I have a Motorola 2500 SD STB in my room going through coax (tried RCA as well) to a standard 4:3 480i TV and am having picture problems with local stations. 

On the local SD channels such as Fox, the original quality-downgraded 16:9 signal is zoomed in on and stretched vertically to fill the screen (bad). In contrast, with DirecTV, the signal would be shown in 16:9 with black top and bottom bars without zooming, allowing the viewer to see every thing he should in the right scale. 

On my brothers' Motorola 7100 HD box going to an SD 480i TV, the HD versions of the local channels look like how the SD channels SHOULD look like on my box (preserved 16:9 ratio with no zooming). 

What is strange is that watching Prime package channels like nick and cartoon network on my 2500 SD box look just fine with no stretching or zooming.

Additionally, I could live with JUST a zoom problem, but it is certainly a horrible and rather stupid decision for FIOS to force an actual STRETCH on the picture on SD boxes.

Is there any way to fix this problem? 

0 Likes
Re: Local programming coming in vertically stretched and zoomed in
TonyaD_VZ
Contributor - Level 3
TrantaLocked,
 
 
We are sorry for this issue. The 2500 STB will only broadcast in 4:3.  The local channels that are showing correctly are capable of  broadcasting  in 4:3 and 16:9.  Fox network  are one of the broadcasters that only broadcast in 16:9 only.  SD TV's that are not on cable but are using digital adapters will experience the same thing because the broadcast is only 16:9 from the provider and all standard channel definition will broadcast in letterbox.  You can follow this link for the announcement :  http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/355467-FNC_Pushes_Widescreen.php
 
 
Thanks ,
 
 
Tonya D.
0 Likes
Re: Local programming coming in vertically stretched and zoomed in
TrantaLocked
Enthusiast - Level 3

Your argument can't be the case, because channel 4 is showing an acutal letterbox picture. No 4:3 center cut aspect, and no vertical stretching, but a 16:9 frame with top and bottom bars (in my 4:3 TV).

Most of the local channels are shown center cut, or in other words normal 4:3 aspect. Most people consider this (not me, however) to be good, because with center cut you fill the 4:3 screen without warping anything, but lose information from the original 16:9 frame.

Fox 11 and channel 13 and couple others, however, are not center cut but vertically stretched, meaning instead of being zoomed in like center cut, the 16:9 signal is stretched vertically so the pictures fills a 4:3 frame completely. It's pretty strange.

Channel 4 proves that my receiver can show a letterboxed picture; this is FIOS tampering with the signals for the streteched SD channels.

So in the end, I actually WANT this letterboxed effect where on a 4:3 screen you can see the whole 16:9 frame as intended (with black bars on the TOP and BOTTOM).

This is what I want Fox to look like on my 4:3 screen, as it did on DirecTV:

http://www.aicetoo.org/hdinitative/images/16x9_4x3_comparison_tvset-carousel-4x3-letterbox.png

HOWEVER, I am not seeing that right now as I should. Instead, that frame you see in the provided picture is being stretched up and down to fill the screen, which looks horrible. FiOS is doing this, it isn't my receivers' fault or incapability. 

Channel 4 on my QIP 2500 is letterboxed, which is good. Again, that proves my box isn't automatically stretching letterboxed content, because if it were, channel 4 wouldn't appear letterboxed.

0 Likes
Re: Local programming coming in vertically stretched and zoomed in
TrantaLocked
Enthusiast - Level 3

This problem is still happening, and now ESPN just caught the virus and now is HALF WAY cut, so you can barely even see any thing.

0 Likes