# Comcast / Xfinity OnDemand VOD not full screen?



## fjork_duf (Sep 22, 2010)

Hey guys realized my TiVo now has the comcast / xfinity on demand feature. I'm stoked, however I noticed the display seems to have a bug. 

It seems that when in the on demand / xfinity application the picture is not formatted to go to the edges of the screen. The regular menus take up the full screen with no black bars on the far left and right sides. Before you say I'm watching a 4:3 formatted show that's not what the issue is. I tried both 4:3 and 16:9 HD content from HBO. The 4:3 stuff looks normal with the black bars I'd expect but the 16:9 HD content does not take up the full screen.

However I can watch movies recorded by the tivo box and they take up the full screen as expected. Is this a bug? Is there any way to fix this? I tried messing with the video settings, I've allowed 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i/p in the video menu and the issue still isn't fixed.

I searched the forum here and couldn't find any threads with the issue. I can snap a photo if necessary.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

You're not alone this posting shows what you are seeing, It is odd, I wonder what the issue is?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9044270#post9044270


DogsOfWarandPeac said:


> And finally, here you go. Let me know if anyone has any questions.
> 
> 
> http://imgur.com/g0L4A


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## falcon26 (Mar 17, 2010)

No your not the only one. I was just about to post the same problem. While watching Grimm it also had the black bars on both sides. No matter what format I use its their. It was in HD but still had the black bars like it was running in SD. I hope this is just a bug and it gets fixed soon...


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

It looks like they ported the Xfinity app from the Comcast TiVo box. The menus are in the SDUI!


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

just be glad you have cox customers are waiting for it.


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## Bighouse (Sep 3, 2004)

Yikes, have you tried watching any 3D VOD content???? It's a mess! Those black vertical bands are on the left in one eye, and the right in the other, so about a quarter of your entire screen is messed up!
C'mon Tivo and Comcast- get it right!


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## cwashizawa (Apr 4, 2012)

Verified; I live in the SF bay area and in fact the Comcast on-demand menus are in SD.


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## rhettf (Apr 5, 2012)

Bighouse said:


> Yikes, have you tried watching any 3D VOD content???? It's a mess! Those black vertical bands are on the left in one eye, and the right in the other, so about a quarter of your entire screen is messed up!
> C'mon Tivo and Comcast- get it right!


Tivo Margret asked me to do the following:

Would you mind testing a few configurations of video output formats and aspect correction mode and see if you are able to find one that makes the bars go away? It will help us understand why some users see it.

If so, please try:
720p only - Full Aspect Correction
1080i only - Full Aspect Correction
1080i + 1080p - Full Aspect Correction
720p + 1080i + 1080p - Full Aspect Correction
720p + 1080i + 1080p - Panel Aspect Correction

I can verify that options 3 and 4 didn't work for me  I am testing the rest when I get home.


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## jaredmwright (Sep 6, 2004)

I notice the same black bar video issues. I also noticed that you cannot use the Zoom button to change viewing display options when watching OnDemand. It is quite odd, definitely not an issue I expected to see on initial roll-out since presumably testing was done before hand in beta testers hands for quite some time.


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## thomperman (May 26, 2011)

I tried the settings below as requested and none of them solve the problem.

720p only - Full Aspect Correction
1080i only - Full Aspect Correction
1080i + 1080p - Full Aspect Correction
720p + 1080i + 1080p - Full Aspect Correction
720p + 1080i + 1080p - Panel Aspect Correction

I also tried changing the black bars to grey, and they show up grey on the HD OnDemand shows, so it appears to be a Tivo Issue.


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## JfNebraska (Oct 2, 2001)

To add to the chorus, I confirmed last night that an HD VOD show (Smash) is playing with narrow black bars on the side for me as well. 

It appears to be wider than 4:3, but it is clearly not as wide as 16:9. The aspect ratio looks right to me, so I think they just cut off the image at the edges. If we have to have black bars, that's better than squeezing the full image into the narrower space.

Hopefully this will be fixed soon. Has Tivo weighed in on this at all, apart from Tivo Margaret's request for experimentation?


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## thomperman (May 26, 2011)

I sent her a note on Twitter today asking if the Comcast on Demand aspect ratio issue would be fixed with the upcoming software update.

Sadly, she said 'no'

But, she did say they were working on it!


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## thomperman (May 26, 2011)

Anyone in the new VOD areas having this problem?


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## sideshot (May 9, 2008)

yes i am having the same thing and i bet everyone is.


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## Ron-retread (Jan 21, 2009)

Ignorance is bliss. I've only had my Premier a few days, and I hadn't noticed the bars til I read this thread! Now they bug me, lol. It's not just movies, I see the bars on the menu also, when I go to Xfinity Video On Demand which is displayed in HD, before I even select a movie. I think somehow Comcast screwed up the TiVo app.


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## TiVoMargret (Feb 3, 2008)

Hi all,

We have a fix for the sidebars you see when watching Xfinity On Demand coming soon. Stay tuned.

--Margret


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## jaredmwright (Sep 6, 2004)

Excellent news, I can't wait to test it out with some 3D content and watch HD content in native resolution and format.

Will this require a software update for our devices, or be a back end change that Comcast can make on the fly?


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## sideshot (May 9, 2008)

good to see. my XL4 should be here 6/15 then i get to do all my updates all over again


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## markofzorro (Jun 14, 2012)

This may help. If you are running your monitor from a computer running Xfinity On Demand, you start running the video. When you click on the running program the bar that appears below the video has a white box on the right. Clicking this will take you to full screen.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

is on-demand PQ better/worse than 1080p Comcast broadcast? I'm awaiting delivery of my s4


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

leiff said:


> is on-demand PQ better/worse than 1080p Comcast broadcast? I'm awaiting delivery of my s4


Nothing on cable is 1080p.
HD is either 720p or 1080i depending on network.

OnDemand content should be the exact same as the broadcast was. 
Sometimes even the exact same commercials.


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## TiVoMargret (Feb 3, 2008)

There will be a minor software update in the coming weeks that will address a few issues, including these sidebars appearing when you use Xfinity On Demand.

If you want to be one of the first to receive this update, please sign up at:

tivo.com/priority


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## Bighouse (Sep 3, 2004)

Thank you Margret!


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## Mikef5 (Jun 4, 2007)

I signed up for the early rollout of the update. I got it last night and it does fix the issue of the picture not filling the whole screen when in the Xfinity VOD. Nice to see Tivo/Comcast got this fixed so soon. Thanks to both.

Laters,
Mikef5


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

I have a new XL4 I installed 3 days ago. I'm in SF Bay Area. I see Xfinity in my guide but when I try to cue a show I either get live TV from one of my tunners while the show info description shows on-demand info, or I get the content to play but freeze after one second. Called Tivo told them about this. I also told then I'm still on 20.1.1 software and asked when I would get 2.2 update to fix black bars and was told 20.1.1 was current software already. Tivo Rep told me I could try taking cablecard out for 10 minutes but that was all the troubleshooting she could do. I called comcast and explained the problem and they sent a signal to my card and asked me to restart Tivo and wait 45 minutes and if still not working to schedule a truck roll visit. I'm using a M-card I removed from my S3 tivo. My s3 still has another M-card in it.


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## rhettf (Apr 5, 2012)

leiff said:


> I have a new XL4 I installed 3 days ago. I'm in SF Bay Area. I see Xfinity in my guide but when I try to cue a show I either get live TV from one of my tunners while the show info description shows on-demand info, or I get the content to play but freeze after one second. Called Tivo told them about this. I also told then I'm still on 20.1.1 software and asked when I would get 2.2 update to fix black bars and was told 20.1.1 was current software already. Tivo Rep told me I could try taking cablecard out for 10 minutes but that was all the troubleshooting she could do. I called comcast and explained the problem and they sent a signal to my card and asked me to restart Tivo and wait 45 minutes and if still not working to schedule a truck roll visit. I'm using a M-card I removed from my S3 tivo. My s3 still has another M-card in it.


Sign up for the update at tivo.com/priority - After I signed up it took 24 hours for me to get it.

Call Comcast Cablecard support - its different from there regular support and much more helpful.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

After reading the update notes it says apps won't work for upto 6 hrs. after update. Perhaps I'm better confirming Xfinity app works before requesting updating software priority?


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## rhettf (Apr 5, 2012)

leiff said:


> After reading the update notes it says apps won't work for upto 6 hrs. after update. Perhaps I'm better confirming Xfinity app works before requesting updating software priority?


Its true but there is a simple work around:

Go to My Video Providers after the update and turn Netflix and Youtube Off, then back out on level, and then turn them on again.

I had to do this with 20.1.1

When I installed 20.1.2 I was able to use Netflix right after the update without turning the provider off/on.

If you let the update install in the middle of the night it really won't effect you whatsoever.


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