| Author |
Message |
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 10:03 am 
It's not a Comcast thing.
Get out your TV remote. Click on menu.
Find picture.
Change the aspect ratio to one you like.
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 10:32 am
Sometimes picture is under "options" - not sure about your remote but that's where it is on mine (uverse).
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 12:32 pm
Oh boy. Thanks Karuuna & Roxip. I'm very nervous to try this. There's only one TV in the house and if I screw something up while doing this then there is no TV in the house.
This is how techno-phobic I am... I might just rather watch TV with a 30% sized-down picture than start messing with ratios that I know absolutely nothing about... yikes.
When I go home, if I don't chicken out, I'll try it and hope I don't end up with no TV picture at all or a picture that I've messed up so badly that it's unwatchable.
Again, thank you both. How I envy those who are techno-savvy.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 12:38 pm
yeah, it's not really that difficult. Is there a youngster in your family that can help? 
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 12:52 pm
No youngsters that are nearby, Karuuna.
Here's what I don't understand. If somehow the picture ratio got messed up or changed, then why didn't it change across the board? Why are a couple of channels still full screen viewing and some commercials full screen viewing. It would seem that if the ratio was somehow changed then it would've changed for every channel, every commercial. I don't get it.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 12:56 pm
It's because the different channels broadcast their signals differently. It only defaults to your tv's settings if they allow it, and don't force a certain aspect ratio.
4:3 is the old standard. 16:9 is the widescreen format.
If you force your tv to use 4:3 for widescreen broadcasts, it will cut off the left and right sides when you're viewing. In most cases you won't notice this.
Some tvs will allow adaptable settings (that's what you have now). But you can also force everything to 4:3 (that's what I prefer).
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 1:12 pm
How the heck did this ratio thing get changed? I certainly haven't gone to Menu on the remote. I've never used Menu on the remote, never pressed that button.
So anyway, let's see. If I follow your instructions above, Karuuna, go to Menu on the remote and then go to Find Picture, I will then see selections for 4:3 and 16:9 and if I select 16:9 that's the one that will get rid of the black lines across the top & bottom and set the TV to full screen viewing?
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 1:54 pm
No, you need to select 4:3. 16:9 is what you're getting with the black lines at top and bottom.
When you switch to 4:3, it will cut off the left and right sides of the widescreen image, so it can fill the screen from top to bottom.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 1:55 pm
Here's a chart that kind of eplains it:
https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/what-is-the-aspect-ratio-4-3-16-9-21-9
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 3:19 pm
Thanks for the link, Karuuna, and thanks so much for trying to help me but I'm afraid your instructions from earlier aren't working.
First though, I have to say that before this happened, the TV had no black bars, none on the sides and none on the top or bottom. It was a totally filled screen from top to bottom & left to right, not even a hair of black on sides, top or bottom. Right now I'm looking at a commercial that's showing in full screen and it's absolutely full, no black at all anywhere. Oops, the news just came back on and it's back to letterbox.
Anyway, here's what happened when I tried to follow your instructions from earlier today.
On my remote, when I press the Menu button, I get these choices…
Guide Setup
Favorite Lists Setup
Screen Saver Setup
Parental Control Setup
Remote Key Setup
Closed Captioning Setup
Cable Box Setup
Audio Setup
Guide Colors Setup
Text Language Setup
Screen Position Setup (when I click on that, it’s a totally black screen with an up arrow at top, a down arrow at bottom, and left and right arrows at the far sides… no words or numbers at all, no 4:3 nor 16:9, nothing, so I don’t dare do anything on that page because nothing is explained, no direction at all)
I clicked on all of the above options and there's nothing about ratios, no 4:3 nor 16:9.
When I clicked the Cable Box Setup option there is nothing about Ratios either, no 4:3 nor 16:9, nothing like that at all.
When I click the TV button on the remote and then press the Menu button, nothing happens at all, no menu.
I even clicked on a Help option that I saw and nothing there about the ratios.
Roxip suggested it could be an Option button. There’s no Option button on my remote. I have the old silver remote from Comcast.
Up at the very top of the remote, there's a Setup button. When I press that button, nothing at all happens, not in cable mode nor TV mode.
Bottom line, there's nothing about ratios on the Menu button options. This is so frustrating.
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Spear
Member
08-05-2001
| Monday, July 02, 2018 - 6:13 pm
If your TV is HD but your cable box is SD, doesn't it look stretched out (horizontally)? Or did you get used to it?
Anyway, it sounds like your cable box outputs 4:3 SD. Letterboxing is added on many SD feeds since a lot of content is 16:9 now, but that started years ago, so I'm not sure why it only happened recently for you. Here's a similar report from a Comcast customer in 2015:
https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/TV-Archive/Over-half-of-channels-suddenly-changed-to-letterbox-format/td-p/2559127
There was no solution for that person, but you have an HDTV instead of an SDTV so maybe you have some options.
If you have the TV remote (not the cable box remote in TV mode), I think Panasonic might have the "Aspect" or "Format" button on it. You might have to select some sort of "Zoom" option to make the letterboxed content look better . The non-letterboxed content will have its top and bottom cropped off but you may not care if it's just commercials.
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Tuesday, July 03, 2018 - 4:40 am
Thanks a lot, Spear. I much appreciate you trying to help. I do have the Panasonic remote. I've never used it but I have it. When I get home tonight, I'll put a battery into it and look for Aspect or Format. Thanks again.
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Tuesday, July 03, 2018 - 6:49 am
Spear, sorry for not answering your question. No, the picture was never stretched out. It's always been a beautiful, crystal clear, perfectly proportioned picture in every way, filling the entire screen.
I'm just not using the TV as a high def TV, no high def cable box, no HDMI cable, just regular SD setup.
Even now the picture itself is still beautiful, crystal clear, perfectly proportioned except 3 inches are cut off the top & 3 inches are cut off the bottom with those thick black lines.
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Littlebreeze
Member
02-18-2001
| Wednesday, July 04, 2018 - 6:23 am
Spear.... Thank you!!! I looked at the Panasonic remote and, just as you said, there was a Format button. I pressed that and could choose from 16:9, 4:3 or Zoom. With 16:9 the TV screen was cut off at top and bottom (what I had) and 4:3 was cut off top, bottom and sides. So I hit Zoom and bing, bang, boom... it instantly went back to 100% full screen (no black showing top, bottom or sides). And the picture is just as it was before, crystal clear, no distortion, no stretching or disfiguration, no part of the picture cut off. Yay!
I still have no clue what I did to mess it up in the first place but it's fixed now.
Thank you soooooooo much, Spear!!!  I would never in a million years have thought of the Panasonic remote. It's been in a dresser drawer since the TV was first delivered and set up to the Comcast remote 4 or 5 years ago.
And thank you too, Karuuna and Roxip. 
This is one reason why TVCH is a wonderful place.... people with big hearts, big brains and a big willingness to help others.
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, September 17, 2018 - 9:18 am
Not a question but a comment...I just switched from U-verse to Direct TV (mainly because I save over $40 a month) and now I have to learn all new channel numbers...FIRST WORLD PROBS! I almost wept as I watched my u-verse DVR leave with several years' worth of recorded favorite movies (not to mention all those episodes of Deadliest Catch I was planning on watching in my spare time...LOL), and trying to figure out a new remote is taxing my 60-year old brain. LOL!
Not sure it was worth $40 a month.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, September 17, 2018 - 9:24 am
Roxip, we get so attached to our DVRs, don't we? Mine is 60% full with stuff I am sure I will watch someday. It's old tech so Comcast keeps trying to get me to switch it out for a new one, but I keep telling them that unless I can keep the programs, I'm not going. And there's no charge for the new one. LOL
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, September 17, 2018 - 9:28 am
I can understand. I made myself sit down and delete the shows I just knew I wasn't going to be able to watch (I only had a week after I made the decision to switch). I serial watched a few others (although I missed the last episode of SYTYCD). Mine was like a dear old friend who moved to another country where I will no longer be able to visit...LOL! I understand why you don't want to switch...there have been times in the past where my DVR has broken down entirely and I was saddened because there was no way of retrieving my saved copies of White Christmas and 16 Candles.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Wednesday, October 02, 2019 - 7:13 pm
Okay, what can I do about my DVR cutting off the ending of all my shows lately? It is very annoying. I tried to find where I could reset the clock, but do not see anything. It is a PACE. Cable is Mediacom. As much as I pay for all this, it should be perfect.
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Mack
Member
07-22-2002
| Thursday, October 03, 2019 - 4:24 am
Actually the DVR’s clock is set by the cable provider’s system so there’s nothing for you to reset. I’d contact the provider. I’m thinking their own feed is cutting the recording off a few minutes too early so they have to make the adjustment. Unless there is something specifically wrong with your DVR it’s probably a system wide issue.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Thursday, October 03, 2019 - 4:48 am
It's the channel itself. Mine cuts off a lot of shows, and I know it stops recording at the proper time.
BUT, with comcast, each individual series pass has a setting that you can extend the recordings by 3 minutes, or more. You can do it to each recording as well, but it's easier just to do it to the series pass. Maybe your DVR has that setting as well.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Thursday, October 03, 2019 - 5:36 am
I extend a few shows that way. For example, it always cuts off the last minute of Survivor so I use the option to add five minutes to the end.
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Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Thursday, October 03, 2019 - 8:33 am
I also add minutes to the front of survivor, as it starts early. But yes, very frustrating when it cuts off the end of your shows.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Thursday, October 03, 2019 - 9:00 am
I think a lot of it has to do with broadcasters purposefully starting a bit early or ending a bit late and not entering the correct times in the guides.
So the cable company uses their standard clock time, but we lose out.
Like others, I add a minute (or more) to recordings that are often cut off. CBS (Survivor, The Amazing Race) are two that are the worst!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, October 03, 2019 - 9:37 am
I have Spectrum and they do show the actual times, and the conflicts created by them. Frustrating, but at least I am aware, as long as I look for the conflicts.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Saturday, October 05, 2019 - 8:01 pm
So I tried to extend several shows by a few minutes. Now it says they are in conflict with each other. Set at normal time(cutting off early), they do not say that.
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