Does My TV have 4:3 or 16:9 Aspect? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: bostonman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 02:13:37 am
content: I'm confused.Years ago when higher definition TVs came out, I attempted to view TV in 16:9 on either a 720 or 1080 TV, but saw everything was fat. I soon realized the cable network (or TV network) was still sending 4:3 - at least this was my interpretation.Now I have a 16:9 (60") 4k TV, Comcast cable, and a basic cable package (i.e. not HD with limited stations).In the cable box video settings, the best I can set it to is 1080 at 16:9 and my TV is set to 16:9 aspect ratio.For many months I've had my TV set to 4:3 because I assumed my basic cable wasn't coming in at 16:9, but today I decided to tinker with the settings. I changed the station to The People's Court where a logo is in the bottom corner (this would allow a constant video feed with something remaining in the same location).I noticed no matter which ratio I selected, either in the cable box or TV, the P (and maybe) the E in People's Court wasn't displayed. Also, I had black vertical bars on the left and right.Afterwards I changed to another station with a constant logo location and it seems everything fit on the screen.I'm back to wondering whether some stations are not displaying 16:9. If this is true, does this mean I need to change my TV depending on which station I watch, or order HD so everything (?) is 16:9?

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 02:39:39 am
content: Knowing Comcast as I do, they probably charge extra for widescreen.Most newer TVs have some kind aspect ratio setting, though it may not call it that. My Sanyo uses "Detailed setting". Look for something like Auto, 1:1, 100%, etc. The other common settings will force the display to either 4x3 or 16x9 and that's not what you want. Also, for some reason TVs will often have a zoom setting.

author: bostonman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 01:32:58 pm
content: My TV has 4:3, 16:9, zoom vertical, zoom all (I think), and believe that's it; maybe one or two more.I tried all of them, and, unless it was zoom, always had black vertical bars on the sides with the 'People's Court' logo missing the P and possibly E.Yet, another channel seemed to fit fine.I know this baffled me with my parents' TV years ago because it seemed some channels didn't fit indicating the TV needed to be in 16:9, while other channels made the people look fat indicating 4:3.I decided to keep their TV in 4:3 mode always, but now it seems more channels are 16:9.It makes sense Comcast would charge for widescreen, and it's pretty dumb to own a 60" TV and be missing several inches from each side.

author: Bicurico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 02:07:45 pm
content: Some channels and/or programs are still broadcast in 4:3 ratio. This may sound weird but just consider the epic amount of recorded shows that are in the old ratio.You now have a 16:9 screen that needs to render 4:3 material.Your options are basically: stretch vertically and have black bars on the side or stretch horizontally and get "fat" people.On the TV you can normally set your preference. But life is complicated because some movies are not 16:9 but even wider! Hence you get black bars again.The TV may try to be smart and use different approaches for the picture coming in - but often fails.The most common setting is therefore not to use AUTO but stretch horizontal and live with fat/thin people...It has nothing to do with the broadcast - they are just the messenger - but with the content being broadcast.RegardsVitor

author: bostonman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 02:13:52 pm
content: That's a good point because METV often airs shows from the 70s that are 4:3 while other stations air current shows that I'd assume are 16:9.I don't necessarily have an issue with black bars, but just trying to figure out whether I'm not setting things correctly and getting them, or, as you stated, some shows are 4:3.I don't know what it takes to convert 4:3 to 16:9, but the cable companies should be providing everything in 16:9 for their customers.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 02:46:41 pm
content: I haven't actually watched TV in years. You would think that modern TVs could figure out the best way to display the image, but maybe not. For broadcast TV most of what you'll get is either 16:9 or 4:3, so maybe you just have to switch manually.Try that vertical stretch on 4:3 and if it fills the screen height and has black bars on the sides to preserve the correct aspect ratio, that's what I'd use. Horizontal stretch to turn 4:3 into 16:9 generally looks bad because of the distorted aspect ratio.For me, the easiest way to tell if the aspect ratio is correct is look for something that's supposed to be round, car wheels, wall clocks, whatever. If oval shaped, something isn't right.

author: bostonman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 02:51:48 pm
content: QuoteGood point.The horrible thing about different stations having different ratios and/or wanting to change things manually to fit the screen: people such as myself who channel surf.I'm relatively fine with black vertical lines on the sides, but what confused me: no matter which settings I tried, on both the cable box and TV, the People's Court logo was still missing the P indicating my TV is broken and not properly displaying 16:9 (which I doubt), the basic cable box (because I have basic cable) is junk, or Comcast isn't sending something correctly.Since the cable box can only output 1080 at best, would that be the reason for 16:9 not fitting?

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 04:19:40 pm
content: I had similar problems with Comcast until I bought their HD package. Now, the aspect ratios on conventional and HD programming both seem correct.

author: Bicurico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 05:27:41 pm
content: If the cable box is outputing 1080I or 1080P then it is in fact this box that does the image fitting and not your TV.The box should have the same settings options to select if you prefer stretching the image or have black bars.However these boxes from TV operators are often crippled and the settings menus are hidden from the end user.And yes: processing the different image formats is not as easy as could be imagined. The algorithms are complex and there are many restrictions.Add to this that the brain gets used to what it sees. Most people get used to stretched image even if it distorta the geometry and renders actors fat. After a while you just dont notice it anymore. It is less annoying than having a huge screen with big black bars of unused screen space.RegardsVitor

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2020, 05:45:01 pm
content: Some years ago, I had to switch to a package deal with Comcast just to get a lower price. They didn't want to sell me internet only, which was all I'd had since the Time-Warner days. The package included basic cable using a box. My recollection is that the box was indeed pure junk. I disconnected the it after a week or so and it's been somewhere in a closet ever since.

author: bw2341
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 11, 2020, 05:44:55 pm
content: From your posts, it seem that you have:4K TVComcast cable servicebasic cable package with standard definition onlycable box connected via HDMI at 1080 resolutionthe left (and right?) sides of the picture are cut off with black vertical barsIs this correct?Try pressing the "info" button on the cable box remote that displays an overlay banner with the channel name and number along with the program name. The button may be called something else on your remote.If the info banner extends past the sides of the image into the black vertical bars, Comcast must be cropping off the sides of the picture at the source.I can understand why they might do this. In North America, widescreen SDTVs never caught on and were quickly replaced with HDTVs. I don't think auto-switching of aspect ratios for SD ever existed for NTSC broadcasts or analog composite connections.Comcast's SD channels would mainly serve customers on the cheapest plans, possibly with very old SD only cable boxes that have no aspect ratio support. So if a broadcaster has an HD widescreen picture, Comcast has to either crop the sides or add horizontal black bars to show it widescreen.If some channels are cropped and other channels are widescreen, each individual channel operator may have told Comcast how they want their channel presented.

author: dnwheeler
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 11, 2020, 07:57:45 pm
content: Quote from: bostonman on September 09, 2020, 02:13:37 amIt is likely the station has old 4:3 content that they are stretching to 16:9. Many stations do the "side stretch" where they stretch less in the middle than on the sides to try to reduce distortion in the center. There isn't much you can do other than live with the choices the broadcaster has made.

author: bostonman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2020, 01:28:58 pm
content: My TV (LG 65 Inch - 65UK6090PUA) only has settings for 4:3, 16:9, vertical zoom, zoom all, normal (whatever that means), and maybe horizontal zoom.If I zoom the picture, it fills the screen, but when I look at the channel banner info through the cable box, it's stretched beyond the TV indicating 'zoom' is not a good setting (which I already assumed).One of the few stations completely fills the screen in 16:9 mode and looks great, other stations have black vertical bars on each side, some have vertical and horizontal bars showing a smaller picture, and another, no matter what I do, clearly has the logo hanging off the picture.I think it's silly to have such video issues from TV stations and/or cable companies. I can understand buying a 65" TV and having black vertical bars on the sides because all the stations are broadcasting in the same smaller ratio size, but the variation between stations is just silly. Plus I never know if the person I'm looking at on the screen really has a 52" waist, or, if I change the ratio, if the person really has a size 12" waist.Now what if I watch a BluRay that has a different aspect ratio (I don't know the variations, so I won't list a ratio). Does this mean some of the picture will not fit onto my 16:9 setting and I'll not see the who picture?

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 09:25:43 am
content: Surely the TV has an HDMI input and you have a PC, laptop, DVD PLayer, raspberry pi to connect to it?Also, most TV signals are expected to be broadcast and received with "overscan", certainly in the UK they are. When you connect a PC to a TV and the PC does not correctly identify and configure the display you will see the top, bottom, left and right edges cut off as the image is scaled up to NOT fit the screen assuming it's a standard TV feed. This is to hide the crud around the top/bottom edges often used for data bursts or "Teletext"If you think you have a it bad, I have 21:9 monitors. A lot of web based players get really confused and display 16:9 downscaled with black bars top, bottom, left and right, giving me a 50% sized 16:9 image in the middle of the screen! It's exactly the kind of bug that happened when people moved from 4:3 monitors to 16:9, web players displayed 16:9 as 4:3 but rescaled it to fit on the 16:9 screen with borders top, bottom, left and right.With regards the TV. Set it to AUTO or "Just Scan" and leave it alone. Try a different source. Get a new cable provider. Ditch the cable completely and move to Online services using a $100 reconditioned micro-office PC with an IR remote.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 03:17:25 pm
content: This is not usually a problem with "free to air" terrestrial TV stations in Oz.Some channels have a lot of 3:4 content, which screens more in a "picture frame" format, having narrower black bars top & bottom.This seems to have been done wherever it was that the original analog material was converted, so with the major networks, the display shifts seamlessly from 9:16 to 3:4 & back again.The only time I have seen the "fat" picture is when a local "community station" was showing legacy BW stuff, like "Bonanza" & "Petticoat Junction".(perhaps limited appeal, so not worth converting properly?)

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 04:58:51 pm
content: OMG..Quote from: TimFox on September 09, 2020, 04:19:40 pm

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 05:34:28 pm
content: FREEDOM TV!orREEDOM T\

author: bostonman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2020, 01:09:17 am
content: It's weird because as I change channels, one station displays (what seems like) perfect 16:9) thus filling the screen with nothing hanging off, other stations display 16:9, but with black vertical bars on the left and right, and (whichever station I stopped on that had the People's Court) the People's Court logo had 'Peo' (and half the next 'p') off the screen.No matter which aspect ratio I select, it doesn't show the full 'People's Court' logo.Unfortunately my TV doesn't have a 'Auto' or 'just scan' option. I'm limited to: vertical zoom, 4:3, original, 16:9, and zoom all (which is useless).