Help with Rogers Digital Cable (Widescreen?) Please?

[njchan]

I'm a little confused ...

I just ordered Rogers Digital Cable ... they guy came, hooked everything up and said have a nice day - i.e. everything was working fine ...

I guess I have a couple of questions ...

1. I have a widescreen TV ... but the channels are obviously not coming in the 16:9 aspect ratio - am I on the wrong channels? The guy told me it was because of the settings on my TV. WTF?

2. what exactly does the digital box do? 'cause now I've got distorted picture ... kinda wondering what was the point?

[spm24]

call them back and complain . if u are getting a distorted image its probaly the signal coming to ur box. unless u messed up a setting . i would just call rogers and complain that the tech didnt set it up properly

[vonteego]

I'm a little confused ...

I just ordered Rogers Digital Cable ... they guy came, hooked everything up and said have a nice day - i.e. everything was working fine ...

I guess I have a couple of questions ...

1. I have a widescreen TV ... but the channels are obviously not coming in the 16:9 aspect ratio - am I on the wrong channels? The guy told me it was because of the settings on my TV. WTF?

2. what exactly does the digital box do? 'cause now I've got distorted picture ... kinda wondering what was the point?

There should be a stretch button on your original TV remote (not the rogers cable box remote).

[temporalillusion]

Digital Cable is not the same as High Def..

Do you have a High Definition receiver? Are you checking on the few channels that support HD (not all do)?

For the channels that don't support HD, as was said you can change the setting on your TV to stretch the image across the screen (it will look distorted though, some people don't mind this some hate it).

EDIT: Seems these are the HD channels: http://www.shoprogers.com/store/cable/ptv/choice/hdprogram.asp

[KrispyFive]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but regular digital cable is still 4:3. As the Rogers guy said, try changing the settings on your TV. As was mentioned, you could have it so that it will stretch, although it could look a bit weird. It's not too horribly noticeable to me until I go into the IPG. The TV should also have a wide setting which is essentially 4:3, just made to fit your screen as best as possible (there is still some parts that will get cut off). Or of course, you could switch it to 'normal' mode which will display a 4:3 window, but it just looks weird having all that blank space on your TV.

[njchan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but regular digital cable is still 4:3. As the Rogers guy said, try changing the settings on your TV. As was mentioned, you could have it so that it will stretch, although it could look a bit weird. It's not too horribly noticeable to me until I go into the IPG. The TV should also have a wide setting which is essentially 4:3, just made to fit your screen as best as possible (there is still some parts that will get cut off). Or of course, you could switch it to 'normal' mode which will display a 4:3 window, but it just looks weird having all that blank space on your TV.

I guess that's what I'm confused about ... i thought digital cable was broadcast in 16:9 ...

is only HD broadcast in 16:9???

are there any rogers channels that are in 16:9 on the regular digital stations?

[KrispyFive]

I guess that's what I'm confused about ... i thought digital cable was broadcast in 16:9 ...

is only HD broadcast in 16:9???

are there any rogers channels that are in 16:9 on the regular digital stations?

AFAIK, that's the case.

EDIT: Form the Rogers website;

Why are there black bars around my television picture?
Description
Black bars around HDTV television picture.
Answer
You have a 4:3 (regular shaped) HDTV television set that places black bars above and below the picture when the HDTV Digital Terminal is using its High Definition (Component - Y, Pb, Pr) inputs(to show a 16:9 picture). When watching Standard Definition analogue or digital channels through the HDTV Digital Terminal, it places bars on each side of the picture to show the regular 4:3 picture. Thus, you see a picture with a complete black frame around the outside.

To enable yourself to view Standard Definition analogue and digital channels full-screen, connect the conventional S-Video or composite (RCA) connections of the HDTV Digital Terminal to the same inputs on your television. You can then choose the Standard Definition input when watching regular programming and see the full screen picture.
For HDTV programming you need to use the High Definition input and only see the Back bar at the top and bottom of the screen for the 16:9 wide-screen HDTV picture

[3-putt]

I guess that's what I'm confused about ... i thought digital cable was broadcast in 16:9 ...

is only HD broadcast in 16:9???

are there any rogers channels that are in 16:9 on the regular digital stations?
Only HD channels are WS. You can press the '#' on the Roger's remote to stretch the 4:3 image to 16:9. Actually, this may only work on HD cable boxes. First try your TV remote.

[njchan]

Only HD channels are WS. You can press the '#' on the Roger's remote to stretch the 4:3 image to 16:9. Actually, this may only work on HD cable boxes. First try your TV remote.

weird ... I tried the stretch command ... didn't do anything ... wtf?!?!

I have my TV set at 16:9 so everything looks horizontally stretched.

when I put my TV to 4:3 there's these NICE black bars running down the sides ... arrrgh. can't win.

[njchan]

how do they get the nice widescreen picture on non-HD channels?

I know i've seen it a million times at BB, FS, even Costco....

[Talamasca]

how do they get the nice widescreen picture on non-HD channels?

I know i've seen it a million times at BB, FS, even Costco....

All 16:9 TVs have a stretch mode that fills out the screen to approximate a widescreen image. Some manufacturers are better than others at it. My Toshiba does a great job stretching a 4:3 image across the screen, for example.

[njchan]

do you need to have an HD terminal to get pictures / signal in widescreen format?

does the widescreen format only come on HD channels?

I thought digital tv was 16:9

[KrispyFive]

do you need to have an HD terminal to get pictures / signal in widescreen format?

does the widescreen format only come on HD channels?

Yes.

[Headhunter]

I've never seen a widescreen television show a fullscreen broadcast, with vertical bars. Is that even possible?

[WiZZLa]

I've never seen a widescreen television show a fullscreen broadcast, with vertical bars. Is that even possible?

Yes. Some people prefer it because 4:3 stretched to 16:9 looks odd to them (people look fat with a flattened elliptical shape) or they'd like to keep the OAR.
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_169_graybars.jpg as opposed to http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_169_stretched.jpg

[njchan]

Yes. Some people prefer it because 4:3 stretched to 16:9 looks odd to them (people look fat with a flattened elliptical shape) or they'd like to keep the OAR.
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_169_graybars.jpg as opposed to http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_169_stretched.jpg

I guess ... since I don't subscribe to HD channels, I'm wonder what was the point of buying a widescreen tv ............................

[Talamasca]

I guess ... since I don't subscribe to HD channels, I'm wonder what was the point of buying a widescreen tv ............................

Watching widescreen DVDs on a widescreen TV is great.

[WiZZLa]

I guess ... since I don't subscribe to HD channels, I'm wonder what was the point of buying a widescreen tv ............................

because you will get http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_169_1.85.jpg instead of http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_1.85a.jpg

or http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_169_2.35.jpg instead of http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20030616/aspect_2.35a.jpg

This website (http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/learningcenter/home/aspect_ratio.html?print=1&page=all) will help you realise you made the right choice. This site (http://www.widescreen.org/index.shtml) will as well.


One last example in regards to WS TVs & DVDs, LOTR:ROTK:
http://www.widescreen.org/examples/lord_rings_rotk/rotk_12p.jpg vs http://www.widescreen.org/examples/lord_rings_rotk/rotk_12l.jpg

[ryan123]

hd pakcage is only 5 bucks a month
u get tsn, sportsnet, discovery, pbs, abc, nbc, cbs, and many other great channels
i think it's worth it