Problems with my aspect ratio on my tv?

Question

o a couple of days ago I turned on my TV, turned to watch The Office, and I noticed that my aspect ratio was all messed up. Before it had the black bars on the top and bottom like it should and that's what it did when I first plugged all of my stuff in. Now the picture takes up the whole screen and some of the screen/show is being cut off. This is only on the local channels, you know NBC, ABC, the rest. It not on any of my other channels, they are still the same. I called my cable company Time Warner, they said it was my TV, but nothing has changed on my TV. I don't even have a setting to change aspect ratio. I have a Sony Trinitron, not sure about the exact model number. I'm sort of lost and very annoyed.

Answer 1

Most HDTVs have a Format button, which lets you cycle through "Normal", "Zoom", and "Stretch" modes.



Normal means the picture is displayed the way it's being transmitted. For non-HD material, this means you'll see the picture in the middle of your screen, with black bars on the sides. For HD or widescreen material, the picture should fill up the screen.



Zoom keeps the aspect ratio the same, but "zooms" in on a section of the picture so that it fills your picture. The result is when watching a non-HD TV show, the picture fills up the screen, but sometimes the tops of people's heads may be cut off. However, people will appear normal.



Stretch, meanwhile, alters the aspect ratio. It takes the full non-HD picture, but expands, or stretches, it to fill the entire screen. The result is that people appear slightly fatter than they normally would.



Try changing the format mode on your TV to see which mode you prefer. I personally like Normal, even though I end up with black bars on the sides of my screen.

Answer 2

You do not say whether you are getting digital cable or analog cable. If you are getting digital cable with a cable box, make sure it (the cable box) is set to 4:3 aspect ratio. It looks like the box thinks you have a 16:9 TV. If it is set correctly, call the cable company again and keep after them. It is their problem, and tell them that only the local channels have the problem and there is no way for your TV to be able to tell what channels are widescreen letterboxed. There is no way your TV can do this. It's their problem. Don't give up. If you still get the same response, ask for a supervisor. Threaten to switch to satellite if they don't fix it.

Answer 3

wdwqdwqdwq