losing screen real estate

I have a Hitachi 42"hdx61 and have recently switched from Time Warner to Verizon.

With Time Warner I enjoyed HD channels that maintained their aspect
ratio for the most part, I rarely viewed black vertical bars.

Now with Verizon from one high def channel to another I get black bars,
then I lose top and bottom and side screen real-estate.

The tech's feed me a line about Verizon is simply transmitting what the broadcaster's feed them, but when I had Time Warner I never experienced the size fluctuating to this extent.

Dave

Set the SD override on the STB to 480p Set you TV setting to just scan.

Neither Time Warner nor Verizon have any control over the signal that they receive. Some providers will do some additional compression on their signals, but that's about it. If you were getting more real estate before than you're getting now, while watching the same HD channels, then some setting is off somewhere. If you're seeing black bars all around the screen while watching an HD channel, then that means one of two things. First, it could mean that you're watching an SD program on that channel, where the show broadcast is being shown in 16:9. This is something outside the control of your TV service provider.

Next, it's possible (if you see this all the time on every HD channel) that your STB isn't set correctly. Go under menu->settings->video (I think that's the setting), and make sure that the HD resolution is set to either 1080i or 720p.

I have a Hitachi 42"hdx61 and have recently switched from Time Warner to Verizon.

With Time Warner I enjoyed HD channels that maintained their aspect
ratio for the most part, I rarely viewed black vertical bars.

Could be that you had your TV set up incorrectly. Just because a show is on an HD channel does not mean it is going to be widescreen. And even if it is widescreen it could be letterboxed widescreen (black "bars" on top and bottom of the space). Watch TBS for example. They are good at stretching TV shows that should not fill the screen (Family Guy, Home Improvement) but on commercials they recently (a few months) started putting black "bars" on the left and right of the picture to keep commercials in their proper 4:3 aspect ratio (widescreen commercials fill the screen if they were sent out like that). That is is one way to see if your STB settings are set correctly.

Now with Verizon from one high def channel to another I get black bars,
then I lose top and bottom and side screen real-estate.

Again, goes back to my previous answer. If you like to stretch out shows that should not fill the entire screen (your choice, but it's wrong because you screw with the geometry of what's on the screen) then everything should fill the screen on SD channels, but HD channels showing something in 4:3 will probably have black "bars" on the left and right sides of the screen (TBS is an example of a station that does not give the viewer the choice to do or not do this themselves. Other stations are guilty of this also). JPL's post explains where you need to go to change the video settings and you can play around with them until you are happy.

The tech's feed me a line about Verizon is simply transmitting what the broadcaster's feed them, but when I had Time Warner I never experienced the size fluctuating to this extent.

This is not a "line" but truth. All the service providers do are re-transmit the signal they receive either the way they got it (Verizon) or they recompress (TW, Optimum, RCN, Comcast) so they can fit more channels in a QAM. Recompressing does not affect aspect ratio.

Dave

And I say black "bars", if any one is wondering, because they are not bars but actually unused pixels that are turned to the off position ;). (I like being technical, it annoys people lol)

-Shark2k

And I say black "bars", if any one is wondering, because they are not bars but actually unused pixels that are turned to the off position ;). (I like being technical, it annoys people lol)

-Shark2k

Actually, that's not always true. If you're watching an HD channel, the black bars are part of the picture. They are used pixels - just colored black (or in the case of some channels, they put other stuff in those bars). If you're watching an SD channel, then yes, those pixels are turned off.

Actually, that's not always true. If you're watching an HD channel, the black bars are part of the picture. They are used pixels - just colored black (or in the case of some channels, they put other stuff in those bars). If you're watching an SD channel, then yes, those pixels are turned off.

:p Stop thinking properly and making me look dumb. But for the most part they are unused space (with the exception of channels like ESPN HD that use them to put the channel logo.) The pixels would just be turned off for that space, not colored black :p. But I understand your point.

-Shark2k