# Widescreen letterbox



## norbertsf (Jun 9, 2007)

Upgraded to a Bolt from an S3. Awesome so far. However, one thing I am noticing is no matter if i change the "format" button on my Panasonic plasma that supports 1080p, and no matter if I cycle through the Bolt "Zoom" formats, HD programming do NOT change their aspect ratio to letterbox widescreen format as was possible on the S3. 

I even went through the video settings and cycled through the different formats that the Bolt lists for my TV. No difference.

Can someone explain this? I feel like I have lost some flexibility .

I currently have the TV set to 1080p 60 fps.

Thanks,
Norbert


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

What do you have your video options set to on the Bolt? Is it set for only 1080p or are other options selected? Did you run through the tests to see which output formats your HDTV supports?


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## norbertsf (Jun 9, 2007)

The bolt is set to 1080p 60ps ONLY. I ran the bolt through all the video output tests. My tv supports all the formats except those higher than 1080 passthru.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

norbertsf said:


> Upgraded to a Bolt from an S3. Awesome so far. However, one thing I am noticing is no matter if i change the "format" button on my Panasonic plasma that supports 1080p, *and no matter if I cycle through the Bolt "Zoom" formats, HD programming do NOT change their aspect ratio to letterbox widescreen format as was possible on the S3. * I even went through the video settings and cycled through the different formats that the Bolt lists for my TV. No difference. Can someone explain this? I feel like I have lost some flexibility . I currently have the TV set to 1080p 60 fps. Thanks, Norbert


Why would you even want to letterbox native 16x9 HD programming? It makes no sense whatsoever! Your HDTV is already in 16x9 format and the HD programs match that. What's your point of trying to "letterbox it"??? 

When receiving native 16x9 HD programming, the TiVo won't zoom into any of those modes, for good reason, so the average Joe who doesn't understand aspect ratios doesn't screen it up and blame the "distorted picture" on the TiVo. If you need that type of image manipulation for something like an anamorphic lens (the only good reason in my opinion), then you would get an external scaler or some projectors offer this to be compatible with anamorphic sources and lenses.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

The S3 would only let you change Aspect Correction Mode on HD content if you set the TV Aspect Ratio to 4:3. If you set the TV Aspect Ratio to 16:9 then you could only change the Aspect Correction Mode on SD content.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

shwru980r said:


> The S3 would only let you change Aspect Correction Mode on HD content if you set the TV Aspect Ratio to 4:3. If you set the TV Aspect Ratio to 16:9 then you could only change the Aspect Correction Mode on SD content.


Exactly! I certainly hope he didn't have it set to 4:3 mode if he was using an HD Plasma with HD program material!


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## norbertsf (Jun 9, 2007)

I"ll never know now as the S3 is dead.

But thanks for answering the question and clarifying why it may have been working differently


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

norbertsf said:


> I"ll never know now as the S3 is dead.
> 
> But thanks for answering the question and clarifying why it may have been working differently


Maybe try setting the Bolt's output to 4x3 and see if it reacts the same way you remember the S3 doing it. That may be your answer.


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

HarperVision said:


> Maybe try setting the Bolt's output to 4x3 and see if it reacts the same way you remember the S3 doing it. That may be your answer.


I think I remember reading somewhere that almost 40% of people with HDTV watch it with SD cable. Wouldn't be surprised if there are people running them in 4:3 also.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

PSU_Sudzi said:


> I think I remember reading somewhere that almost 40% of people with HDTV watch it with SD cable. Wouldn't be surprised if there are people running them in 4:3 also.


Yeah, I've gone into a lot of homes before to calibrate or setup gear and saw things like that. The worst was always the cable techs installing their new HD boxes using composite cables, or worse the RF coax, into a shiny new hdtv!


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