I have a Sony 50" Wega HD-LCD hooked to cable using a Scientific Atlantic HD8300 box. A couple of days ago I used the cable box's PIP and was tuned to a HD channel as well as a non-HD channel. After that I noticed that even the non-HD channels were filling the entire screen when usually they have black bands along the sides. The picture appeared to be stretched horizontally only. I verified that I wasn't in one of the wide zoom modes. I tried some other things like trying to swap the PIP picture again, but I couldn't get it to work. I left it overnight hoping that it would fix itself but the next day I got the same thing. Finally, I tirned off the TV, let the bulb cool down and unplugged the TV from the UPS and let it sit 5 minutes. That appeared to solve the problem until I used my DVD. The signal from the DVD was producing a widescreen picture even though the DVD is of a TV show formatted 4:3. This afternoon, I'm going to unplug the DVD and hope it solves the problem as well.
I expect that the cablebox PIP is doing something to confuse the TV but I'd appreciate if someone here could tell me what exactly is happening and if there is an easier fix for the problem than unplugging my TV and/or components.
Note: My connections are TV-Cablebox: HDMI, DVD-TV: Component with audio DTS into separate receiver.
Most of the Sony's have a 4:3 default feature in the on-screen-menu that detects 4:3. If this feature is set to anything but off, the widemode setting changes for the current channel only. If you have the 4:3 default option enabled, all 4:3 content will be displayed with the side bars. I had this feature on the 55" model that I had. If you leave that feature is off, make sure when you tune to a 4:3 channel that you are in normal mode and full mode when viewing a 16:9 channel. I'm assuming you checked your settings on the DVD player and cablebox. Right?
Thanks, HD. Yes I've checked the settings for the DVD and cablebox and they are as I originally set them. I initially had the 4:3 default on the Sony set to off I believe. You're saying it should be on? Like I said before, I didn't have this problem until I used the cablebox PIP and switched back and forth between broadcasts, some were HD in widescreen and some standard. I don't recall having the DVD player on when I did that. I did notice that the display menu for normal broadcast would show 1080i and 16:9, even though I wasn't on a HD channel. I also noticed the display read the same when viewing the DVD.
Dennis, I would leave the 4:3 default off. That way when you change the picture settings, 4:3 content should be displayed the same for all channels, dependent on your screen proportion setting. It sounds like your cable box is confusing the TV. The reason I believe this is because you stated that the display menu shows 1080i even on a non-HD channel. The display screen on your TV will display what it thinks it is receiving. Therefore, it thinks it's getting a 16:9 1080i signal when it's only receiving a 4:3 signal. I would try by-passing the cable box to see if your problem goes away. Do you have an antenna hooked up to the other coaxial input? If you do, I would try using the PIP with the antenna's broadcast signal.
Actually, I just got a high quality splitter so I can use the TV's PIP. I'm hooking the splitter before the box into cable in. From the cable box to the TV I only use the HMDI input. Once I'm done scanning for channels, I'm going to my DVD input to see what it says. I expect that its menu was changed. I didn't realize that you had to configure each component separately within the TV's menu while you were tuned to the source. I do really believe that it was the switching between the separate channels using the PIP provided by the cablebox that confused the TV. Now that I can use the TV's PIP (which provides a nicer, resizable PIP) I won't be using the cable's one. I didn't see a way to disable it though. That might be a problem. I suppose I could just cut off the buttons but I think my cable company would have a problem with that. Well, I want to get a true universal remote anyway.
Thanks for your help, HD. Since finding this board I already appreciate the amount of information available. Of course, all this tweaking of the TV and my setup has got my wife rolling her eyes at me. Anybody here know how to fix that?
There's no fix for the rolling eyes. Well maybe there is... $500 for her to go spend on clothes at the local mall! Not! That might be enough money for a Blu-Ray DVD player when they come out.
Actually, she doesn't like shopping for clothes much. She'd spend that much buying running shoes and accessories at Roadrunner sports though.
To be honest, she always wanted a big screen TV. She took one look at HD at home and went "Wow." I did mention that we'll probably have to upgrade our DVD in the next year or so but what she really wants is one of those Harmony remotes.
Of course, you should have seen the look on her face when I told her that with our system I'd never have to take her to the movies again. I would have taken a picture but I was too busy ducking.