Is Comcast acting fuzzy lately?

[ssmallen]

All channels are stretched. But the analog are the worst. I'll try the box. We've tried all settings with the tv, even pulled out the manual. Nothing has helped.

Try pressing the "#" button on your remote to cycle through the zoom options. They have "normal", "stretch", "zoom 1", and "zoom 2". Stretch is for those people that want 4x3 material to be stretched to fill up their 16x9 screen (this does distort the image, causing things to look wider). Zoom 1 is for letterboxed broadcasts on no-hdtv channels...like Mythbusters on Discovery channel, you see the black bars on the side plus black bars on the top and bottom. Zoom 1 will zoom the picture to fill a 16x9 screen without any distortion. Zoom 2 does the same as Zoom 1 except it zooms the picture even more. I'm not sure why somebody would want to use Zoom 2 on a regular basis, we use it sometimes during baseball or football games in HD to get a close up on replays for safe/out or catch/no-catch calls.

Hope that helps, if the "#" button doesn't work you may have to look at your televisions settings as many TVs have similar ways to manipulate the size of the picture.

[memebag]

History HD is messed up. They are showing the same content as History, but the 4x3 image is stretched to 16x9. I keep waiting for them to fix it, but no luck this week.

[Mr. Chenevert]

Anyone's picture stretched out? It just started in the last couple of weeks for us. To the point that people in the scene speaking could be missing from the picture. The station logos in the corner are cut off by half or more. We have HDtv and the HD box. This is on our HD channels and non-HDchannels. No matter what setting we put the tv on, the screen is noticiably stretched out. We also noticed that on the non-HD channels the empty space on the sides is now gone and the picture is stretched to the edges. Is anyone else having this problem? We're assuming it's Comcast since the tv hasn't had a problem like this in the 2 years we've had it and changing settings didn't work.

The set top box also can be adjusted. Press settings twice on the remote and choose picture format.You can choose between lots of choices, zoom 1, zoom 2, stretch, fixed, 720p, 1080i, etc...These settings are seperate from your TV settings. You must have yours on a zoom setting if you are missing the logo's

There is another setting that may be screwing up your view...There is a choice to do upconvert 1, upconvert 2, fixed, or passthrough.DO NOT USE PASSTHROUGH if you watch analog stations.

[memebag]

There is another setting that may be screwing up your view...There is a choice to do upconvert 1, upconvert 2, fixed, or passthrough.DO NOT USE PASSTHROUGH if you watch analog stations.

Why not? I use passthrough and watch analog channels.

[Serrano]

Maybe somebody knows... A technician told me on the phone how to do this but that was around two years ago. Somehow you could press around three buttons on your control or maybe hold buttons (i dont remember) and you will have more options for HD and other settings. Does anybody have an answer?????

[ssmallen]

Why not? I use passthrough and watch analog channels.

You're correct, there's really nothing at all wrong with using passthrough. All that does is "pass through" the native resolution of the channel you are watching to your TV set. If you are using a HD TV it will convert the signal to it's own native resolution (either 720p, 1080i, or possibly 1080p).

Bottom line is, compare them all and use the one that gives you the best picture. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer, trust your eyes.

[ssmallen]

Maybe somebody knows... A technician told me on the phone how to do this but that was around two years ago. Somehow you could press around three buttons on your control or maybe hold buttons (i dont remember) and you will have more options for HD and other settings. Does anybody have an answer?????

Is this what you were looking for?

(taken from AVS Forums)

Setup Wizard. UG-3 Instructions for Advanced Setup Wizard to choose TV type and resolutions, done after the box has received it's initial download from your cableco.

• Using Power button on unit (not remote), turn off power, then press both GUIDE/INFO at same time.
  
• Choose Easy or Advanced setup - Easy selects 1080i output only - Advanced provides options for TV type (4x3 or 16x9) and user selected outputs.
  
• Follow instructions on the screen. Read instructions carefully. If screen goes blank, it is trying to display a resolution not supported by TV - disable that resolution and continue until you have gone through all of them.
  

This is for the SA8300HD, but may work for other SA HD cable boxes.

[Mr. Chenevert]

Why not? I use passthrough and watch analog channels.

Passthrough is just what the name implies, it allows the signal to passthrough the cable box with no alterations whatsover...

for users with widescreen sets, this means the picture will automatically get stretched as the TV assumes it is getting a full screen broadcast.

[ssmallen]

Passthrough is just what the name implies, it allows the signal to passthrough the cable box with no alterations whatsover...

for users with widescreen sets, this means the picture will automatically get stretched as the TV assumes it is getting a full screen broadcast.

that may be true for some monitors, but none that I have ever dealt with.

[memebag]

Passthrough is just what the name implies, it allows the signal to passthrough the cable box with no alterations whatsover...

for users with widescreen sets, this means the picture will automatically get stretched as the TV assumes it is getting a full screen broadcast.

Not my HDTV. Mine remembers separate display settings for each resolution. 480p (which is how the SA 8300 HD box sends analog signals) gets a slight zoom and slight stretch on the edges. 720p and 1080i get 16x9, no zoom.

That's why I like the pass-thru mode. With upconvert, the TV doesn't know what the original aspect ratio was.

[stolitx]

The set top box also can be adjusted. Press settings twice on the remote and choose picture format.You can choose between lots of choices, zoom 1, zoom 2, stretch, fixed, 720p, 1080i, etc...These settings are seperate from your TV settings. You must have yours on a zoom setting if you are missing the logo's

There is another setting that may be screwing up your view...There is a choice to do upconvert 1, upconvert 2, fixed, or passthrough.DO NOT USE PASSTHROUGH if you watch analog stations.

I played with the box settings and fixed the problem I don't have quite the same settings listed, but was able to get it on one that fixed the problem. Thanks to all for the tips. Now if I could just fix Comcast's problem with the shows freezing up I'd be happier.

[Serrano]

Is this what you were looking for?

(taken from AVS Forums)

Setup Wizard. UG-3 Instructions for Advanced Setup Wizard to choose TV type and resolutions, done after the box has received it's initial download from your cableco.

• Using Power button on unit (not remote), turn off power, then press both GUIDE/INFO at same time.
  
• Choose Easy or Advanced setup - Easy selects 1080i output only - Advanced provides options for TV type (4x3 or 16x9) and user selected outputs.
  
• Follow instructions on the screen. Read instructions carefully. If screen goes blank, it is trying to display a resolution not supported by TV - disable that resolution and continue until you have gone through all of them.
  

This is for the SA8300HD, but may work for other SA HD cable boxes.

Yes this is it. Thank you.