# Native mode available now or in future?



## RalphArch (Jul 28, 2006)

My Dish Receiver is a PITA handling a mix of 4:3 NTSC and 16:9 ATSC/1080i/720p signals due to having to choose either 1080i or 720p (or 480i or 480p) for the output signal from the receiver.

This is because my 4:3 display auto changes to a 16:9 when it senses a 1080i or 720p signal.

If the receiver would just pass native all would be fine - but as it is I have to cycle the remote through the various inputs to get S-video for NTSC material or use imperfect zoom modes that cut off a lot of the screen. (Or leave the set in 480p which defeats the purpose of subscribing to HD or watch NTSC material in a postage stamp which defeats the purpose of buying a 4:3 HDTV).

Any outlook on DISH providing native passthrough? The Motorola box I had with COMCAST did this as did my DirecTV receiver when I had it for a day.

(No - the two 4:3 modes do not work for me. The one that squishes 1080i material comes close if I use vertical expand on my tv to resize; however that is not sticky through a tv power down and would require me hitting vertical expand every time I turn the TV on.)


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

RalphArch said:


> Any outlook on DISH providing native passthrough? The Motorola box I had with COMCAST did this as did my DirecTV receiver when I had it for a day.


It was mentioned on a Charlie Chat ... E* is planning on doing native pass through.


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## RalphArch (Jul 28, 2006)

Thanks - hope they make it available soon as I just started and have a 2 year commitment

That's a long time to be disgruntled


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I wouldn't say I've been disgruntled about it... but I've had my 6000u for several years with no native-resolution passthrough... but I keep hoping they will at least enable it for the new receivers and that would be what pushes me over the fence to upgrade if it happened soon.


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## Deputy-Dawg (Jul 19, 2006)

James Long said:


> It was mentioned on a Charlie Chat ... E* is planning on doing native pass through.


Something to be hoped for. I suspect that some, even many, of the PQ problems would be eliminated or at least significantly reduced. It has been my experience that many SD PQ problems (and likely some HD) are the result of multiple and/or bad scaling (rescaling) of the images. Also I have not been particularly impressed with the scaling in most any of the satellite recievers. Most of the high end HD monitors (such as the Panny commercial units) have, or have available, interfaces with much better scaling abilities than the satellite boxes. Put another way the more times information is processed the more likely something will be lost.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I should have read the original poster's question more carefully... Now that I have, I don't think native passthrough is going to help him at all really for the HD channels.

For SD channels, native passthrough would permit his 4:3 HDTV to behave as expected.

But for the HD channels, if they are passed through as 720p or 1080i then he will still have the same issues he has now with his 4:3 HDTV in some cases. There have been threads about this in the past.

All 720p and 1080i signals are sent as widescreen (even if the actual content is a 4:3 with sidebars to fill the image)... and for whatever reason, those HDTVs with non-widescreen 4:3 screens seem to automatically want to letterbox HD... so for channels like ESPNHD and even OTA and sometimes MonstersHD for old movies, where they are sending 4:3 pictures with built-in sidebars... on his 4:3 HDTV he will still get a letterboxed version of those channels unless he manually tweaks.

I hope this reply makes sense... I know what I'm trying to say... just not if I'm saying it correctly.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

You're talking about "postage stamp".

The Voom channels and other HDs are 16x9 all the time, regardless of the content they are carrying. During those times that they carry a 4x3 image they put the side bars on to keep a 16x9 image (instead of transmitting a 4x3 image and making the receiver figure it out). Anytime a 4x3 TV sees a 16x9 image it is going to put on top and bottom bars, turnning the image into a "postage stamp" in the middle of the screen unless one can zoom in on their set.

I get the same effect watching 16x9 shows that are transmitted on 4x3 networks - such as Smallville on the WB or The West Wing on NBC. The benefit is that I can press a FORMAT button on the remote to ZOOM the channel to full screen. I lose any banners transmitted below the letterbox but I don't mind. IIRC: The same FORMAT button can be used to zoom 16x9 to lose the side bars so it should fix the postage stamp issue. But, of course that is using the internal scaler and not "native pass through".

We have not seen how "native pass through" will work - there are settings on the receivers now for 4:3 HD sets but the issue of a 16:9 always network transmitting a 4:3 pillarboxed image will always be there to become a postage stamp. Just like 16:9 letterboxing on 4:3 transmitted channels leads to the postage stamp.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Boy does this sound familar....

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=56241&highlight=4x3+Squished+Ron+Barry

Has HdMe indicated, I don't thing native pass through will help with your HD content.

Based on the information I got on my adventure, the only avenue that I have not persued is the ability for me to tell it not to squish my 4x3 1080i image. Wonder if you have a Sony set perhaps?

I am curious about your cable and DirecTV experiences. From my understanding.. Whenever my set sees a 1080i format it displayes it at 1080i 16x9 image and therefore it gets squished on the 4x3 set. Why would native passthrough help this situations for HD content? My experience is that it would not make a difference.


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