NTL TV Picture bigger than Analogue?

[DerekRothwell]

Can any of you kind knowledgeable folks please explain to me why the TV picture is larger on NTL thereby missing a portion of the edges all around, compared to watching normal analogue tv?

We have found ourselves switching to the 4 normal chanels BBC1,2, ITV, CH4 (CH5 is not normal so I wont include the snowflake channel!) - this is now making NTL TV services redundant, which in turn will make both NTL telephone and BB economically unviable... plenty of other ISP's for BB, BT for phone and sky for digital telly (not that there's much worth watching).

If there is a simple solution at making the NTL picture fit the TV screen, then I would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction !! (The TV does not have the old fashioned vertical and horizonta hold dials - just the standard 16:9 and 4:3 settings).

Please dont reply in new fangled technical jargon - I'm just an older duffer who has only just realised that I no longer have to replace the valves in the back of the telly!!!! Plain and simple please :rofl:

[Kneebs]

Can any of you kind knowledgeable folks please explain to me why the TV picture is larger on NTL thereby missing a portion of the edges all around, compared to watching normal analogue tv?

We have found ourselves switching to the 4 normal chanels BBC1,2, ITV, CH4 (CH5 is not normal so I wont include the snowflake channel!) - this is now making NTL TV services redundant, which in turn will make both NTL telephone and BB economically unviable... plenty of other ISP's for BB, BT for phone and sky for digital telly (not that there's much worth watching).

If there is a simple solution at making the NTL picture fit the TV screen, then I would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction !! (The TV does not have the old fashioned vertical and horizonta hold dials - just the standard 16:9 and 4:3 settings).

Please dont reply in new fangled technical jargon - I'm just an older duffer who has only just realised that I no longer have to replace the valves in the back of the telly!!!! Plain and simple please :rofl:

If you tv has a 16:9 setting, I take it its a widescreen ? If so, if you go into settings, tv screen settings in there, theres the options of 4:3, letterbox, or 16:9 widescreen (i'm just going from memory here though). Try altering these, and hopefully you'll be sorted

[DerekRothwell]

If you tv has a 16:9 setting, I take it its a widescreen ? If so, if you go into settings, tv screen settings in there, theres the options of 4:3, letterbox, or 16:9 widescreen (i'm just going from memory here though). Try altering these, and hopefully you'll be sorted

Worth a try - but the telly does not have the option of altering the 16:9 or 4:3 settings......
:shrug:

[Sociable]

I think kneebs means using the on-screen settings for the NTL service accessable from the remote I assume as I don' t use NTL for TV.

I'm sure someone will post exactly how its done in a few but that's where I would head first.

[ntltech32]

I think kneebs means using the on-screen settings for the NTL service accessable from the remote I assume as I don' t use NTL for TV.

I'm sure someone will post exactly how its done in a few but that's where I would head first.


Hiya,

1st try this, Pace STB's

on the STB
Press "GUIDE" then "BLUE interactive button" for settings. Then option "3" TV Settings. You then have a few options of TV picture format.
16:9 Widscreen (select if your using a 16:9 widescreen tv)
4:3 Pan & Scan (this is for most square type tv's)
4:3 letter box (as it says letter box)

Mine still even using 16:9 widescreen and having the tv set correctly is a few MM out.

Oh also try the zoom out feature on your tv remote if it has this.
and try setting your tv to the same setting as the stb.

[DerekRothwell]

Whey hey....... Thank God there are those of you Tech heads who can put us unknowledgeable types right!!!

Many thanks to you all for your replies - always nice to get sensible replies instead of derogatory ones just because one has to ask for help.

[Sociable]

No probs Derek that's what we are here for and as many of us say there is no such thing as silly question.

If only the same was always true of answers we would be really cookin. LOL

[Nor]

The thing is Derek the picture with the black bars at the top on bottom which people think reduces the picture size actually increases it :) As folk have said above you are actually seeing the program as it was meant to be seen, in 16:9, not in 4:3 with the right and left edges cut off.

As someone has said though, if you change it to pan and scan you'll fill the screen, but having it 4:3 letterbox will show you the actual proper full size, full aspect ratio picture.

Get a widescreen tv :) you'll never ever look back once you get one.

[GrahamD]

I don't want to drag up the whole wide vs full screen argument again, but I still prefer 4:3 for TV's and 16:9 for projection. That being said, many analogue broadcasts are 14:9, which is a sort of compromise between the two. On digital, the same transmission will be in 16:9. I believe there is a signal present which can indicate if the essential content is contained in the central 4:3 region. If this is the case, and if the STB is set appropriately, it will zoom in to the central region to fill a 4:3 TV. Compared with the 14:9 analogue signal, you lose a bit of information from the sides. What I should say is that you lose a bit more information as the 14:9 image is also cropped.

As I have a whopping great 4:3 TV, I prefer the NTL 4:3 digital transmission to the analogue version. Occasionally text gets cropped, but I can live with this. The point is, the STB gives us the choice, so everyone should be happy. If you don't like cropping, switch to letterbox, but you'll lose a bit of vertical resolution. If your TV is dual standard, as many modern 4:3 TVs are, set both it and the stb to widescreen.

[Gremxula]

Thanks for the info.
It was not exactly as described on my NTL box but got it sorted with the help here saved me a lot of time..
My question would have been about widescreen from an NTL box.