# SD channels forced to zoom?



## BqWUDUDj (Feb 26, 2007)

I just noticed that SD channels are filling my HD screen. How can I get these back to the "Normal" setting? Cycling through stretch, partial zoom, zoom and grey bar does nothing with the remote.
This is on a ViP722 DVR, software L812. HDTV Setup is 720p with 16x9 aspect ratio, unchanged for years.

I changed batteries on the remote a couple of weeks ago and lots of buttons got hit in the process, but no obvious setting on this side is amiss.

How can I get SD back to SD? People look fat.


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## Jason [email protected] (Dec 2, 2012)

Have you checked the video settings on the TV itself to make sure they are matching what you have set in the receiver?


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## Yakuman (Sep 12, 2009)

Millions of people who have DirecTV think a stretched SD picture on an HD set is perfectly normal.


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## Eva (Nov 8, 2013)

Yakuman said:


> Millions of people who have DirecTV think a stretched SD picture on an HD set is perfectly normal.


Like my cousin. I'll change it to a real HD pic, but she'll set it back.


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## Nighthawk68 (Oct 14, 2004)

Yakuman said:


> Millions of people who have DirecTV think a stretched SD picture on an HD set is perfectly normal.


They don't care how stretched or zoomed in the picture is, as long as the don't have those "stupid black bars".


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## BqWUDUDj (Feb 26, 2007)

Jason [email protected] said:


> Have you checked the video settings on the TV itself to make sure they are matching what you have set in the receiver?


It was the receiver between dish and TV. I had checked the TV and that was getting HD and when I went to check the HDMI signal specs in the receiver it switched back to normal, bars on the side. I don't even know how to make the receiver warp the picture like that but it's back to normal again and I found the culprit.


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## BqWUDUDj (Feb 26, 2007)

Now that I think it over a little more, maybe the receiver wasn't the problem. It's odd that cycling through stretch settings on the remote did nothing. I would have expected the dish to add grey bars or fatten people, before handing the signal to the receiver.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

If your receiver/or TV were stuck on a zoom mode... it may have been zoomed in so far that the gray bars and such added by the Dish receiver would not have been visible.... so it may have appeared the Dish remote was having no effect... but it may have been, just not one you could see because the TV was zoomed too far.

Just a guess.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

BqWUDUDj said:


> Now that I think it over a little more, maybe the receiver wasn't the problem. It's odd that cycling through stretch settings on the remote did nothing. I would have expected the dish to add grey bars or fatten people, before handing the signal to the receiver.


Was this on a satellite delivered channel or from the OTA tuner? SD channels from the OTA tuner cannot be changed directly, the fact that cycling through the "stretch settings" does nothing is what happens on Dish DVR's with OTA tuners. The trick is to tune to a satellite delivered SD channel and reset the stretch settings. Then go back to the OTA channel.

You would think that the DVR would remember your preferences on a channel by channel basis, but it doesn't. I really wish it would, since some SD channels broadcast in a 16 x 9 format which can be stretched and zoomed perfectly into a full screen experience on an HDTV. Each SD channel has its own formatting. I have to change the stretch/zoom every time I change from one channel to another.


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## BqWUDUDj (Feb 26, 2007)

Michael P said:


> Was this on a satellite delivered channel or from the OTA tuner? SD channels from the OTA tuner cannot be changed directly, the fact that cycling through the "stretch settings" does nothing is what happens on Dish DVR's with OTA tuners. The trick is to tune to a satellite delivered SD channel and reset the stretch settings. Then go back to the OTA channel.
> 
> You would think that the DVR would remember your preferences on a channel by channel basis, but it doesn't. I really wish it would, since some SD channels broadcast in a 16 x 9 format which can be stretched and zoomed perfectly into a full screen experience on an HDTV. Each SD channel has its own formatting. I have to change the stretch/zoom every time I change from one channel to another.


Satellite.


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## Yakuman (Sep 12, 2009)

Nighthawk68 said:


> They don't care how stretched or zoomed in the picture is, as long as the don't have those "stupid black bars".


If you have an SD TV, get an HD receiver, then set the display settings to hide SD duplicates, crop and 480p. Bye bye letterbox.


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## mrknowitall526 (Nov 19, 2014)

Yakuman said:


> If you have an SD TV, get an HD receiver, then set the display settings to hide SD duplicates, crop and 480p. Bye bye letterbox.


I have mine set to SD mode by pressing and holding exit until a message appears on the screen.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

BqWUDUDj said:


> Satellite.


You can only adjust SD channels on an HDTV that is connected via one of the HDTV modes, HDMI being the preferred choice . If you are connected via the RCA yellow connection to an HD set it's the same as having an SD set.


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## 356B (Oct 11, 2008)

Both my TV's do it a 09 Samsung and a 14 Sharp. I always figured these "Smart TV's" were so smart they sensed the difference and compensated for it...to fill up that big screen. How dumb am I...?


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## JWKessler (Jun 3, 2004)

I have the opposite problem with my VIP722. Occasionally it will flip to 4:3 mode with black bars for all channels, including HD. The image squishes so everyone looks skinny. The only fix when ths happens is to unplug the receiver and restart it. This is quite annoying when I'm recording something and am forced to power down the receiver. It began doing this only in the last few months.


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## Dude111 (Aug 6, 2010)

Yakuman said:


> Millions of people who have DirecTV think a stretched SD picture on an HD set is perfectly normal.


And isnt that all DirecTV is offering now? (HD channels) -- There are no more SD stuff??

Must be hurting them big time!!!!! (The major bandwidth needed to do that)


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Dude111 said:


> And isnt that all DirecTV is offering now? (HD channels) -- There are no more SD stuff??
> 
> Must be hurting them big time!!!!! (The major bandwidth needed to do that)


That's incorrect - SD still exists.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Dude111 said:


> And isnt that all DirecTV is offering now? (HD channels) -- There are no more SD stuff??
> 
> Must be hurting them big time!!!!! (The major bandwidth needed to do that)


Not hurting them one bit at all.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

Dude111 said:


> And isnt that all DirecTV is offering now? (HD channels) -- There are no more SD stuff??
> 
> Must be hurting them big time!!!!! (The major bandwidth needed to do that)


If anything the opposite is true;

It's DIRECTV having to supply simultaneous HD and SD feeds that's burdensome on bandwidth.

Sent from my SGH-M819N using Tapatalk


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

DISH would do well to remove the duplication and after all these years stop treating HD as if it is new and special.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Until every deployed receiver can view the HD channels DISH and DirecTV (separately) must carry SD channels. There are a few channels that are not available in SD but getting programmers to accept delivery to less than every customer is not trivial.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

DISH to their credit has finally begun to orphan some of their older receivers out in the field. But, DISH must also take the credit for having slowed down the transition due to many years of fake deadlines.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Jason [email protected] said:


> Have you checked the video settings on the TV itself to make sure they are matching what you have set in the receiver?


Bad advice.

Since the ViP722 only puts out one resolution regardless of whether the channel is SD or HD, nothing ever changes from the TV's perspective.

This sounds a lot like a nagging problem with OTA channels on the Hopper.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

harsh said:


> Bad advice.
> 
> Since the ViP722 only puts out one resolution regardless of whether the channel is SD or HD, nothing ever changes from the TV's perspective.
> 
> This sounds a lot like a nagging problem with OTA channels on the Hopper.


Perhaps this is the same problem. The OP never said if the channels were OTA or satellite delivered. Since both come out of the same "box" you would think that the format button would work equally on both kinds of channels.

To the OP: By ay chance is this SD channel's source the OTA tuner? If so the "fix" is to tune to a satellite SD channel (one of the shopping channels will do since everybody gets them) and try the format button. If you do get the format button to cycle, set it to "normal" and then go back to the channel you want to watch.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

harsh said:


> Bad advice.


It is not a bad idea to check every step in the chain when there is an issue. My TV does a good job of detecting the format that is being output by my receiver and matching it (to the best of its ability).

The thread starter reports that this was a satellite channel and that there is a receiver between the 722 and the TV. Hopefully his problem was answered or explained three weeks ago when he last posted on this thread.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

James Long said:


> It is not a bad idea to check every step in the chain when there is an issue. My TV does a good job of detecting the format that is being output by my receiver and matching it (to the best of its ability).


The format _never_ changes from the TV's perspective. There is no "native mode" that might change the output format and tip off the TV that an SD channel is being viewed. For most TVs that means 1080i 24/7/365.

I suppose it is conceivable that a TV could recognize a window-boxed image and try to accommodate it but I doubt any TVs do that.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

You're right about the resolution... the TV will only see one resolution, whatever the Dish receiver is set to output... but some TVs do have their own zoom settings... so you could have a zoom setting on a TV set such that it might appear the settings on the Dish receiver aren't making a difference.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

harsh said:


> The format _never_ changes from the TV's perspective.


Never is a bad word. The receiver output format certainly changes when the receiver attempts to display 1080p content (then reverts to the user's choice of 1080i, 720p, 480p or 480i). It does no harm to make sure that the settings on the receiver and the next piece of equipment match.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

James Long said:


> Never is a bad word. The receiver output format certainly changes when the receiver attempts to display 1080p content (then reverts to the user's choice of 1080i, 720p, 480p or 480i).


This can only happen after viewing a 1080p PPV and then only to the standard HD mode (unless you think you can make a case for someone who normally runs in SD mode qualifying for and buying a 1080p PPV).

It is a safe assumption that the problem lies with the receiver so pursuing the TV is surely a fools errand.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I do not know the settings on his receiver, TV and intermediate equipment. NEITHER DO YOU.
If you don't think it is worth checking then you won't be solving his problem, harsh.
It would not take long to look.

Perhaps you are one of those people who lie to tech support and say "I checked everything" when you really have not. And while the "is it plugged in?" type of questions do get tiresome seeing if there is some setting mismatch between equipment is NOT a stupid suggestion - or "bad advice" as you incorrectly called it.

The thread starter reported that this was happening on satellite delivered channels, so your suggestion that it was related to some OTA error could be considered completely false. We got past that point three weeks before you joined the thread. You might as well blame the problem on DirecTV ... even though it is a problem with a DISH subscriber's setup.


If the problem still exists I would love to hear from the thread starter.


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