V+ switching between HD aand widescreen

SilverLady · 29-06-2007, 16:06

Hi

Have had V+ for a few weeks now and delighted with it. Am not having any of the problems I've read of here, so must be lucky

. I am having one slight niggle that I wonder if anyone can help with.

Engineer said to leave setting set for HD. This is fine when viewing HD channel or any of the standard channels, BBC, ITV, etc, but when I switch to other channels picture reverts to smaller size 16x9?, TV guide menu, etc is also in this smaller size. I have to reset from HDMI to widescreen to get back the full picture. TV set switches from AV2 when on widescreen to AV5 for HD, but seems to do this automatically. I'm leaving settings at widescreen to avoid this constant switching which is fine while there is little, if any HD to view, but am worried I may be missing out on picture quality - I've tried switching back and forwards to compare picture on BBc, but can't really tell if there's a difference.

I did phone Virgin call centre and was told that this problem was normal, but thought I'd double check here in case it's something I'm doing wrong.

29-06-2007, 16:11

When you change the setting to HiDef HDMI, there is a setting below which can be 720, 1080, 720 wide or 1080 wide. Choose one of the wide settings and you should be OK.

altis · 29-06-2007, 16:13

Do you just mean that there are black bars at the sides of a non-widescreen broadcast?

If yes, then this is normal!

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34328189-post6.html

SilverLady · 29-06-2007, 16:20

Thanks guys.

Yes I do set for 1080 when setting for HDMI.

Not just black bars on some programmes. All programmes on channels other than BBC, ITV, etc are smaller screen size, TV guide menu, etc is also smaller.

29-06-2007, 16:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverLady

Thanks guys.

Yes I do set for 1080 when setting for HDMI.

Not just black bars on some programmes. All programmes on channels other than BBC, ITV, etc are smaller screen size, TV guide menu, etc is also smaller.

Choose the 1080 wide setting and you will be OK then.

30-06-2007, 01:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverLady

... TV set switches from AV2 when on widescreen to AV5 for HD, but seems to do this automatically. I'm leaving settings at widescreen to avoid this constant switching which is fine while there is little, if any HD to view, but am worried I may be missing out on picture quality ...

I've never heard of a TV 'automatically' switching connection but you are missing out on P/Q on AV2 - AV2 is standard scart connection - HDMI connection (in your case AV5) should give substantially better picture even for std single definition channels because not only is it a better connection but HDMI also supports V+ upscaling which isn't support by scart - at least i don't think so

SilverLady · 30-06-2007, 17:43

Thanks for info.

Looks like I'll just have to keep the HDMI 1080 setting to get good picture quality even though the size reduces when on channels other than all the BBC and ITV ones.

TV does switch from AV2 to AV5 automatically when I go through the settings menu, option to change audio and visual display. If I select HDMI 1080 and go through the testing procedures (which say that it is correct), the TV ends up on AV5. If I change to widescreen, the setting below jumps to RGB and stays there. After the testing has finished the TV ends up on AV2.

Sorry if this sounds vague, but it is the only way I can describe it.

Anyway, thanks for all your help.

Must be something that applies only to my make of TV.

01-07-2007, 11:06

Have you actually done what I suggested in post #2 above??

When you change the settings to HiDef HDMI, the box below that in settings changes and you should choose '1080 wide' NOT '1080'.

SilverLady · 01-07-2007, 12:02

Can't thank you enough Ernie. Just been to TV and checked settings, have now set it on 1080 WIDE. I just didn't realise that this was different from the standard 1080 setting. Problem is now solved.

Now that I read your post again, it should have been obvious to me. I'll add in my defence, however, that 1080 was what the installer set it on and secondly, when I phoned Virgin help line, they told me this was not a problem and never mentioned a 1080 wide setting.

NigelRowe · 17-08-2010, 15:18

Just got V+ HD and it's annoyiong that you cannot alter the TV aspect ratio. "This function is not available" comes up on the screen. All 4:3 progs were stretched into a 16:9 ratio, but I have gone into settings and selected 1080 instead of 1080 Wide, which at least gives me a non-stretched 4:3 ratio on non-widescreen progs. I would prefer to watch 4:3 progs in 'Panoramic' ratio though. Is there anyway round this problem?

BenMcr · 17-08-2010, 15:51

If you set it to 1080 Wide then any 4:3 programs shown on SD channels will be stretched to Widescreen

The problem is that HD channels are always broadcast in Widescreen already, so if you get a simulcast channel like 4HD they have to add black bars down the left and right of a 4:3 program to get it into a rectangle but with the correct aspect ratio. This is called Pillarboxing. The opposite of what happens when a film is shown and black bars are added to the top and bottom to get it to fit without distortion

So if you find there is a program being shown on an HD channel you would rather have stretched to fill the screen, just swap to the SD version on the channel and the HD box can do it

**Stephen** · 17-08-2010, 15:55

What exactly do you mean by panoramic ratio for 4:3?

NigelRowe · 17-08-2010, 16:27

I mean the picture ratio where only the sides are stretched - the centre of the picture being normal. Most TVs have 4:3, Wide ( a full 16:9) and Panoramic (some tvs call this Smart (Sony) and various other terms). A Panoramic setting fills the screen, but not by stretching the whole picture.

Thanks for the welcome, Stephen!

BenMcr · 17-08-2010, 16:58

I don't think Panoramic will work on an HDMI source. This is because Panoramic is design to stretch 4:3 sources, and HD by it's very design is always widescreen so doesn't need to be stretch.

See my earlier post about 4:3 programs on HD channels

NigelRowe · 17-08-2010, 17:11

Yes, there's no problems with HD channels showing HD programmes. It's channels such as ITV4 which is showing an old film and not in HD. I still can't alter the ratio by my tv remote. It's either a stretched 16:9 picture, or a square 4:3 picture (depending on my V+ box setting). I guess I'll just have to get used to it!