Help with picture width on a Vizio TV

I am trying to help out non-technical older friends with an HD TV that their
son gave them. He's out of state so I volunteered to take a quick look. They
have a smaller (under 32", not sure of the model #) Vizio TV and cable TV
through Time Warner. I was able to solve the main problem .. no picture ..
pretty quickly. The output from the cable box/DVR to the TV was using a
component cable. After showing them how to select 'COMP' on the TV remote,
the picture from the cable box appeared.

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I couldn't
get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen. I might
mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model VR3) with about 20
buttons which means that you have to plow through menu selections to do a
lot of stuff, including picture width. I also checked the setup of the cable
box and didn't see anything related to picture size. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks ahead of time.

N.Morrow

"N.Morrow" wrote:
I am trying to help out non-technical older friends with an HD TV that
their son gave them. He's out of state so I volunteered to take a quick
look. They have a smaller (under 32", not sure of the model #) Vizio TV
and cable TV through Time Warner. I was able to solve the main problem ..
no picture .. pretty quickly. The output from the cable box/DVR to the TV
was using a component cable. After showing them how to select 'COMP' on
the TV remote, the picture from the cable box appeared.

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I
couldn't get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen.
I might mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model VR3)
with about 20 buttons which means that you have to plow through menu
selections to do a lot of stuff, including picture width. I also checked
the setup of the cable box and didn't see anything related to picture
size. What am I doing wrong? Thanks ahead of time.

N.Morrow

You might have been on a channel that didn't have any
hd programming. Therefore, it won't show in widescreen.
If you want to get an sd picture to fill the screen,
which I don't think you should because it distorts the
picture, look for a button labeled format.

Chip

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On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:19:00 -0800, N.Morrow wrote:

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I
couldn't get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the
screen. I might mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model
VR3) with about 20 buttons which means that you have to plow through
menu selections to do a lot of stuff, including picture width. I also
checked the setup of the cable box and didn't see anything related to
picture size. What am I doing wrong?

Maybe nothing. I don't think you can get HD form cableco unless you have
ordered it. If the TV has a QAM tuner, you could hook the cable direct to
the TV and scan for the locals. They should be in HD.

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"N.Morrow" wrote in message
...
I am trying to help out non-technical older friends with an HD TV that
their son gave them. He's out of state so I volunteered to take a quick
look. They have a smaller (under 32", not sure of the model #) Vizio TV and
cable TV through Time Warner. I was able to solve the main problem .. no
picture .. pretty quickly. The output from the cable box/DVR to the TV was
using a component cable. After showing them how to select 'COMP' on the TV
remote, the picture from the cable box appeared.

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I couldn't
get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen. I might
mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model VR3) with about
20 buttons which means that you have to plow through menu selections to do
a lot of stuff, including picture width. I also checked the setup of the
cable box and didn't see anything related to picture size. What am I doing
wrong? Thanks ahead of time.

N.Morrow



You aren't doing anything wrong. Forcing 4x3 NTSC video to fit the full
width of a 16x9 TV will always result in
"Stretch-O-Vision"/"Stretchy-Vision" or will result in the top and bottom
being cropped off. Option 1 leaves people short and fat and turns perfect
circles into ovals and option 2 risks cropping off info such as sports
scores and news tickers. Neither one is a good thing although for some
reason every single WS TV I have seen to date has had the 4x3 video in
stretch mode which makes it unwatchable to me while inexplicably others
don't seem to even notice that it is stretched.

BTW I stole my terms from he
http://www.stretchovision.com/2009/0...etwork-hd.html

N.Morrow wrote:

I am trying to help out non-technical older friends with an HD TV that their
son gave them. He's out of state so I volunteered to take a quick look. They
have a smaller (under 32", not sure of the model #) Vizio TV and cable TV
through Time Warner. I was able to solve the main problem .. no picture ..
pretty quickly. The output from the cable box/DVR to the TV was using a
component cable. After showing them how to select 'COMP' on the TV remote,
the picture from the cable box appeared.

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I couldn't
get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen. I might
mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model VR3) with about 20
buttons which means that you have to plow through menu selections to do a
lot of stuff, including picture width. I also checked the setup of the cable
box and didn't see anything related to picture size. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks ahead of time.

If it isn't an HD cable box, it will only put out 4:3 video. The only
alternative is to "zoom" or "stretch" it on the Vizio (which I don't
recommend. Watch 4:3 video in its native 4:3 aspect ratio.) If you feel
you *must* fill the entire screen, the answer is in the owners manual.
Some Vizios have a menu selection called *"WIDE"*, which lets you zoom
or stretch a 4:3 aspect ratio picture to fill the screen. Again, I find
the left/right vertical black bars more acceptable than "zooming" or
"stretching" the picture.

On Feb 11, 4:19*pm, "N.Morrow" wrote:
I am trying to help out non-technical older friends with an HD TV that their
son gave them. He's out of state so I volunteered to take a quick look. They
have a smaller (under 32", not sure of the model #) Vizio TV and cable TV
through Time Warner. I was able to solve the main problem .. no picture ...
pretty quickly. The output from the cable box/DVR to the TV was using a
component cable. After showing them how to select 'COMP' on the TV remote,
the picture from the cable box appeared.

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I couldn't
get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen. I might
mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model VR3) with about 20
buttons which means that you have to plow through menu selections to do a
lot of stuff, including picture width. I also checked the setup of the cable
box and didn't see anything related to picture size. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks ahead of time.

N.Morrow

Piling on what others have said. You say that the cable box is
connected to the "COMP" input. Are you sure that's not a *composite*
input rather than a *component* input? Composite uses 1 yellow cable
for video. Component uses 3 cables for video: red, green, and blue.
Composite only carries analog (SD) video, so the only shape you will
get (without stretching) is 4:3 or narrow screen. (Of course the 4:3
might be only using a 16:9 subsection of the 4:3, but the signal is
still 4:3.) Only an HD channel will fill the 16:9 widescreen without
stretching. And you will ONLY get HD from the cable box IF they
subscribe to an HD service, AND they have an HD box or DVR, AND they
use a Component or DVI or HDMI cable, AND the TV is HD capable (which
we assume is the case). A cheap way to get some HD would be to split
the cable *before* the cable box, and run the new branch directly to
the TV. However, if these people have a problem figuring out which
input to use on their TV, they may have a bigger problem grasping the
concept of using the TV Tuner for some channels and the cable box (via
the COMP input) for other channels. Not to mention knowing to have
the TV rescan the channels if the cable company moves them around.

Dan (Woj...)

Dan (Woj...)

dmaster wrote:

I am trying to help out non-technical older friends with an HD TV that their
son gave them. He's out of state so I volunteered to take a quick look. They
have a smaller (under 32", not sure of the model #) Vizio TV and cable TV
through Time Warner. I was able to solve the main problem .. no picture ..
pretty quickly. The output from the cable box/DVR to the TV was using a
component cable. After showing them how to select 'COMP' on the TV remote,
the picture from the cable box appeared.

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I couldn't
get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen. I might
mention that this Vizio has a really wimpy remote (model VR3) with about 20
buttons which means that you have to plow through menu selections to do a
lot of stuff, including picture width. I also checked the setup of the cable
box and didn't see anything related to picture size. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks ahead of time.

Piling on what others have said. You say that the cable box is
connected to the "COMP" input. Are you sure that's not a *composite*
input rather than a *component* input?

The OP noted that "...select 'COMP' on the TV remote, the picture from
the cable box appeared." On the Vizio remote, "COMP" means component.
Composite is labeled "AV" or "AV/S" on both the remote and on the TV.

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:19:00 -0800, "N.Morrow" wrote:

The other problem I had was with picture width. Try as I might, I couldn't
get the Vizio to show any channels the full width of the screen.

Assuming the DVR box is HD, you might also check the menus in the
cable box and make sure the cable box output is set to an HD format
720p or 1080i.

Mike O.