Channels and Programming

[Nemo1220]

Hi,

Comcast added the MEtv channel to my channel lineup. I discovered it by accident. I am wondering though why the black bars that you normally see across the top and bottom of the screen are on the sides? This gives all of MeTV's programming a rather squeezed in look.

Thanks

[andyross]

Comcast did not add it. One of your local broadcast channels added it as a subchannel, and Comcast carries that subchannel.

MeTV is an SD channel that carries old TV shows. Most everything should be 4:3, which means you will see bars on the sides of a widescreen TV. If you do not have a widescreen TV, then maybe it's an issue with how the broadcast channel has it set up, or the model of your cable box how your it's set up on your TV.

[commanguy]

To add to what andyross said

The local station that provides MeTV in our area broadcasts for widescreen 720p pictures. So we end up with the black bars all the sides also.

[andyross]

It sounds like you have your TV or box set to stretch SD material? That is why you don't normally see the pillarboxes. I'd think it odd if a channel wasted HD bandwidth on an SD network, unless it's only part-time on that station.

That said, some stations set the widescreen flag on SD channels (here in Chicago, WMAQ 5.2 "NBC Chicago Non-Stop", Comcast 252/341 does that.) My HD box 'upconverts' it to HD and passes it on as HD. My DTA just chops the sides off. Neither of my TV's seem to recognize the flag, and when I check them with the ClearQAM feed, they end up vertically stretched unless I manully change the picture mode. They even say 16:9 in the info screen.

[commanguy]

andyross,

 If you are replying to me I have a SD box so no controls for picture size. I have tried the tv in 16:9 and 4:3.

The response I made about the broadcaster is from them. Their engineer stated they broadcast "in widescreen". I noticed on their main channel that a program shows up and looks like it is zoomed, credits are cut off on the sides.

I can see the picture sometimes on MeTV go from pillarboxed, sometimes see a wave across the screen, and then the picture shifts to where only the left hand black pillar is showing. Switch off the channel for a second and it goes back to pillarboxed.

[Nemo1220]

Metv letterbox bars are still on the sides. I have a settop box. In another room I have a tv with one of those little dap boxes and the Metv looks normal on that TV. No letterbox. My tv is an older model Sony. I didn't waste time/money rushing out to by a new one just b/c everything was going digital. The only adjustmets this tv has is for color/sound/tilt. Tried the tilt adjustment...have no clue what's that is for. But it made no difference as far as the MEtv channel goes.

It's just an odd mystery. One that I am more curious about. I don't really care about the MEtv channel. Just a bunch of old shows.

Thanks for reading.

[kovack]

If you are using a Comcast box this is what you do to fix that problem. Shut off your box but leave your tv screen on, it should be a black screen. Hit your menu button on your Comcast remote and a white screen will come up. Change the 16:9  format to 4x3. Turn your box back on and you'll have a full screen of METV.