Widescreen woes...

Sonna · 12-06-2007, 23:36

Hi guys. First post...

Loving the XL package, but the Channel 4 channels are begining to annoy me.
C4, E4, More4 etc.. all switch to widescreen where as every other channel behaves itself and doesn't shift picture.

I have an old skool Sony Trinatron TV... nothing fancy.

Can anyone give me any advise on this?

Cheers.

dev · 13-06-2007, 00:15

if that's a widescreen tv, do you have it selected to widescreen in the stb's settings?

all channels that i know to be widescreen go into widescreen for me.

Lew · 13-06-2007, 09:28

Channel 4's channels like to enforce letterboxed mode for some programming even when the STB is set to 4:3 mode.

Sonna · 13-06-2007, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lew

Channel 4's channels like to enforce letterboxed mode for some programming even when the STB is set to 4:3 mode.

This is what I am experiencing. I don't own a widescreen TV at all...

Any way this can be rectified? Of am I just going to have to put up with it

GuestUK · 13-06-2007, 11:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonna

This is what I am experiencing. I don't own a widescreen TV at all...

Any way this can be rectified? Of am I just going to have to put up with it

If you still have analogue connected to your television as well as VM, switch to the analogue channel 4, where it is broadcast in 14:9. Other than that, short of persuading channel 4 to stop forcing 16:9 mode (I don't see why they need to) or get Virgin to be kind enough to implement a feature to override channel 4's override (neither of which are likely) you're rather stuck with it

The slightly more complicated solution and probably not worth it to you (just as I happen to have a PVR on my computer anyway), is I pipe my television through my computer then back to my TV (my computer records it as well). The computer removes the black bars and zooms in the picture.

Sonna · 13-06-2007, 11:46

I guess it wouldn't hurt to send a polite request to Channel 4 to stop bloody doing it!!!

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

ncfc1902 · 13-06-2007, 12:20

Surely it better to watch in 16:9 letterbox rather than missing the sides off the picture.
Having said that I'm all for giving viewers the choice the crop the picture if they really want to!

Sonna · 13-06-2007, 12:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncfc1902

Surely it better to watch in 16:9 letterbox rather than missing the sides off the picture.
Having said that I'm all for giving viewers the choice the crop the picture if they really want to!

If I owned a widescreen TV then fair enough. But I don't!! And I don't particually enjoy watching squashed pictures

I won't lose any sleep over it. Just a minor annoyance.

GuestUK · 13-06-2007, 12:31

People should have the choice. To override that choice and force people to watch it letterboxed is in my opinion bad for viewers. It's obviously not essential, seeing as they broadcast in near 4:3 on analogue.

The sides of the picture rarely contain anything useful. There's very little to miss by cutting them off. Forcing people to watch it letter boxed so they can see unrequired and useless sides of the picture which are not needed and thus making the viewing experience less enjoyable is a bad move, in my opinion.

If you hear anything back, Sonna, please let us know how you get on

Mick Fisher · 13-06-2007, 16:31

When I watch using a SDTV I muchly preferred to watch in letter boxed mode. I must admit it was a bit iffy with 2.35:1 aspect movies but then I just hate pan&scan so put up with it.

However we are all not the same (God forbid!) and should, in an ideal world, not be forced into anything without a very good reason.

chunkymonkey · 13-06-2007, 17:09

i also have a normal square screen TV and I also get annoyed about the Channel 4 channels. Is there a way to overide it?

Sonna · 13-06-2007, 21:47

I emailed the chaps at Channel 4. I will gladly keep you up to date should I hear anything.

chunkymonkey · 14-06-2007, 18:43

Thanks!