I hope somebody can explain this to me…..
My TiVo seems to “know” that I am using a HDTV. Ever since I hooked my TiVo to my HDTV, I have noticed that my TiVo is displaying its content using a 16:9 aspect ratio.
For the life of me I can’t figure out how it knows to use 16:9 and not 4:3. Can somebody explain why it is doing this? At first I thought I had found the answer to my question via the following setting: “Read New Messages & Settings” –> “Settings” –> “Video” –> “TV Aspect Ratio”. That was until I read that the “TV Aspect Ratio” setting is only good for internet content which may be downloaded to your TiVo.
Am I missing something or does this have other people confused?
Chances are your TV has a stretch mode. Look for the aspect ratio button on your remote and hit it a few times to see what happens. It’s possible each input on your TV has independent settings which could confuse the issue. Our Panasonic does a pretty nice job making 4:3 look like 16:9 – obviously it’s an illusion as there is no extra content, but it’s nice to see the entire screen filled.
its’ content –> its content
Actually a few months ago I was play in the settings menu and under video I found “aspect ratio” which allows the choice to tell you Tivo if your TV is 16:9 or 4:3. Once I set it for 16:9 things looked much better
wardude, Like the poster said, that setting is just for downloaded content (and doesn’t really seem to make a difference right now anyhow.)
TiVo Series2/Series1 does not have any sort of auto detection nor does it support HDTV/16:9. I’m guessing the TV is in “fake” widescreen mode.
Dave,
I think you are right. The strange thing is that my set top box displays shows in 4:3 by default. For some reason the input that my TiVo is on uses 16:9 by default.
Hey Trevor,
.
Are you interested in being an editor for this site
Is your set top box an HD box? Most HDTVs have fairly good stretch & crop modes to get 4:3 into 16:9. However those modes only work at non-HD resolutions (480i/p, sometimes 720p). Some of the HD set top boxes will upsample normal TV signals to 1040i so that all output from the box comes out at 1040i. Since that mode cannot be auto-adjusted, you get stuck with 4:3 normal TV.
My HDTV has many format choices including an automatic setting. If your cablebox displays in 4:3, you could have that input device set at 4:3 format display and your tivo input could be set to the auto setting or one of a cast of seven or eight. In any case, I need to set each input device to a format setting, which can then be changed from the remote.
If you have an HD cable box and you’re seeing it at 4:3, you need to do the cable box HD set-up. Of course your cable company probably gave you nothing to know how to do this. See the box manufacturer’s web site. With HDTV, I’ve found it really helps to read the manuals. Both cable box and HDTV will have format changing methods, usually accessable from the remote.