# Picture size on some programmes



## Zaichik (Mar 21, 2002)

Is anyone else finding that some programmes appear in a small box in the middle of the screen. The new episode of South Park on Comedy Central is a case in point - there are big borders at the top and bottom and on the left and right. (The aspect ratio is set correctly on the TV.) An older episode I recorded last week fills the screen OK, so I don't know why tonight's is different.

I've seen the same phenomenon on TCM - sometimes a movie appears normally in 4:3 (i.e. fills the screen to the top and bottom) and other times it's reduced to small box in the middle of the screen.

Is this a TiVo issue or is it really how the programmes are broadcast?


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Both CC and TCM still only broadcasting in 4:3 and not 16:9. However, certainly on TCM, they do show widescreen prints of films instead of versions cropped or re-edited to 4:3 and these are then displayed, as you have found, with a black space around the whole of the image.

There *is* a way around this, and that is to set the Aspect Ratio to "Zoom" . How to do this is detailedon page 28 of the User Manual.

The only issue is that proper 4:3 content will *also* be zoomed-in so you will lose the outside edges of the picture.


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## VirginMediaPhil (Nov 27, 2009)

You should only be getting borders on _either_ the top/bottom or the sides, not both. If you are, then there's a problem with the TV.


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## passingbat (Feb 4, 2011)

VirginMediaPhil said:


> You should only be getting borders on _either_ the top/bottom or the sides, not both. *If you are, then there's a problem with the TV*.


That's not true.

Some broadcasters show some programmes as 16:9 aspect in a 4:3 frame.

As Carl says, TCM show some of their films in a way that has black space at the sides and top and bottom, which allows you to zoom and not loose any of the picture.


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

Zaichik said:


> Is anyone else finding that some programmes appear in a small box in the middle of the screen. The new episode of South Park on Comedy Central is a case in point - there are big borders at the top and bottom and on the left and right. (The aspect ratio is set correctly on the TV.) An older episode I recorded last week fills the screen OK, so I don't know why tonight's is different.
> 
> I've seen the same phenomenon on TCM - sometimes a movie appears normally in 4:3 (i.e. fills the screen to the top and bottom) and other times it's reduced to small box in the middle of the screen.
> 
> Is this a TiVo issue or is it really how the programmes are broadcast?


The correct (non distorting) settings for TiVo are Panel and 16:9 wide.

If you still have problems give a couple of programme examples to have a further look at.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

There's no problem, Ozsat. Other than stupid broadcasters


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## VirginMediaPhil (Nov 27, 2009)

passingbat said:


> That's not true.
> 
> Some broadcasters show some programmes as 16:9 aspect in a 4:3 frame.
> 
> As Carl says, TCM show some of their films in a way that has black space at the sides and top and bottom, which allows you to zoom and not loose any of the picture.


I meant if you were using the 'Full Screen' option.


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## Brangdon (Feb 9, 2001)

cwaring said:


> There's no problem, Ozsat. Other than stupid broadcasters


There are two problems with TiVo here. The first is that the default settings is "Full Screen" which distorts the picture. 
(As an aside, I am starting to wonder if some people's complaint about SD quality is due to them having this option set wrong. If they don't change the default, they'll not only have a distorted image, they'll have more scaling happening than is necessary.)

The second problem is that TiVo deal well with changing content. Some SD programmes look best with Panel (they are 4:3, and get black bars left and right). Some look best with Zoom (they are 16:9 scaled to 4:3, and Panel gives black bars on all four sides; Zoom fills the screen and clips all the bars). My TV has an Auto setting which detects when Zoom is appropriate and switches mode automatically. TiVo neither (a) auto-switches itself; (b) passes through to let my TV do its own auto-switch; (c) provides a convenient UI to let the user switch manually.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Agreed on both issues  But they would both be moot points if certain channels didn't bastardise their content


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## tankstage (Jan 8, 2005)

Kerrang is an example of the broadcast is 3:4 but quite a lot of the content is 16:9. The DOGs are sometimes the only thing displayed top and bottom of the screen.


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## jethrouk (May 7, 2011)

Havent noticed myself but i do know Tivo has quite a few aspect ratio settings you might try


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