kaelfer valioney jaydryan
Asia Jordan
Netflix has been playing all videos in 16:9 on my ultra-widescreen monitor, for some time now. The problem was occurring on and off initially, so I was waiting for it to go away again, but it never did. I can't take a screenshot due to DRM, but 21:9 movies play as below, for example:
The problem goes away if I disable hardware acceleration but then videos seem to play in 720p only. Videos in 16:9 play fine (at full screen height, with black borders at the sides as expected). The issue doesn't affect Legacy Edge so it's probably not a driver problem. It hasn't coincided with any driver updates either.
If I watch Netflix through the Smart TV app, it does not do this, so I don't believe it's any setting for the TV, but rather the Ignite box. (Yes I know, I could just watch it on the Smart TV app. But this is driving me nuts.) Any suggestions?
I can imagine how frustrating it must be to view the Netflix app with a stretched screen. This is not an issue that we have encountered before so we definitely want to troubleshoot this for you. Please provide us with the answers to the questions below:
Many TVs will remember the stretch mode invoked for each input separately. Make sure that you haven't invoked some sort of stretch for the IgniteTV input on the TV (and also on Ignite). Rebooting the IgniteTV box should get rid of the issue if the problem is there, but if it's the TV that's doing the stretching, then you'll need to "de-stretch" that TV input. You would be able to tell if the TV is stretching the input by tuning to a channel like CP24 which would have missing information.
So the stretched screen is only when playing a 4:3 program. A widescreen program / film will play normally, and if I go back to the 4:3 it again zooms in. The menu / title screens are also normal; it only zooms / fills the screen when playing the 4:3 selection.
I have tried refreshing and restarting both the app and the Ignite box. I haven't restarted the modem, but as I noted, this does not happen on the same television when I run Netflix through the Smart TV app rather than the Ignite app.
I'm pretty sure it isn't the TV; as I mentioned, the Smart TV (Samsung, for what it's worth) Netflix app plays the 4:3 program properly. I've played around with the TV settings anyway, and it didn't correct the issue. Also, when I use the Netflix app through the Ignite box, it only fills the screen for the 4:3 program. If I select a widescreen program or in the menu / title screen, everything is as should be. If I go back into the 4:3 show, again, screen filled. Exit it, everything normal again. I'm truly perplexed.
@Jeremy_K The only setting that I know of on the set-top box that might be causing this is Settings / Device Settings / Video Display / Zoom. The default is "Full", which stretches 4:3 content. Try changing this setting to "None".
Is there a setting in the Netflix app itself (on IgniteTV) for "preferences" or something similar of what the app should do with 4:3 programming? Sometimes this preference may be set to "stretch" or similar so that people don't see black bars?
Yesterday I discovered the same issue with the Netflix app on my (4) Ignite TV set top boxes, in that 4:3 programs (such as old Star Trek episodes) are being expanded to full screen. Captain Kirk and crew look pretty weird all stretched out! I submitted a complaint on this very topic to Rogers today, and provided a link to this forum thread. The agent advised she has "escalated" the issue. Hopefully this will trigger the Rogers tech folks to resolve the problem.
In order for this to be fully investigated, we will need to escalate Tickets to our video networking teams to review. If you are being affected by this issue please send a private message to @CommunityHelps so we can get started. Not familiar with our private messaging system? No worries, Click Here.
^ Thanks @RogersTony . Per your advice I've sent a PM to @CommunityHelps and yourself to describe the issue and to have the problem investigated and fixed by Roger's video networking teams. I understand that @-G- has done likewise.
Edit - I realize that the Netflix issue is different, since it stretches 4:3 content. I was just attempting to show that there are various options available for streaming which we may not be aware of and may be enabled by Rogers.
I just bought my WD TV Live to hook up to my old CRT TV. I use the Composite cable (RCA A/V cable) to connect my WD TV to my TV. In the WD TV setup menu under Video Output I selected Composite. Then under Aspect Ratio, I select Normal (4:3). However I find that the WD TV is still running widescreen. The menu items, the fonts, etc, all look as though they are squeezed. If I switch to Widescreen, that has no effect, switch back to Normal and that too has no effect, everything looks the same. When I go to a service such as Netflix, the writing is barely legible. The video is fine on Netflix. I also notice that the menu items are being cut off to the left as you can see from the screen shot I attached to this post. Any ideas as to what is happening here?
Thanks for all the info guys. Good to know that at the very least my WD TV is not broken. What I find odd is that when I use my Wii to access Netflix on that same TV, the Netflix UI looks great with the Wii.
Kudos to channel Nine for finally screening the third season of the wonderful Six Feet Under - but why are they using 4:3 format tapes of it? This series was produced in the 16:9 ratio for high definition broadcast - just like the most recent series of The Sopranos, which WAS shown in its full widescreen glory on digital.
With Six Feet Under, the opening titles are shown in the 16:9 ratio on analogue - as was tonight's "previously" compile - but as soon as the credits finish the frame "opens up" to 4:3 fullscreen - obviously these are intionally 4:3 source tapes.
So come on, Nine - get on the phone to HBO and source tapes in the correct ratio. The opening episode last week was a travesty when cropped down to 4:3, with characters disappearing off screen while talking and some quite obviously cramped framing, safe area or no safe area. And of course on digital, the entire thing's a windowboxed square - hardly a stunning advert for DTV
Nine usually gets it right when it comes to sourcing 16:9 versions of shows; with Six Feet Under someone's screwed up. Note that HBO prepared 4:3 versions of that show's third-series episodes, and it may well be HBO's (or their distributor's) fault for sending the wrong format tapes.
What Nine should be doing (since centre-cut obviously won't work well with this show) is what they do with West Wing and ER - use a 16:9 source and fully letterbox it on analogue as well. Nobody complains - the other two shows have proved that.
I'd hate to see either West Wing or ER broadcast as centre-cut 4:3, simply because the producers of both shows have obviously mandated that they be shown in the 16:9 ratio regardless of broadcast format - understandable, since they use the full width of the wide frame, and entire characters would disappear from scenes in a centre-cut version.
In Canberra, The West Wing used to be broadcast in 16:9, it is now widescreen 4:3 (postage stamp) with black bars top and bottom, left and right. Both analogue and digital. You are getting the full screen size, just a smaller version of it.
I have been in touch with WIN (Canberra and Wollongong), and they don't know what is causing this! If anyone in this forum can give them some advice, I am sure it would be gratefully recieved (I am not joking).
Yep - one of the most obvious was the scene where David and Keith were returning from their vacation and were talking in the car. The pan-and-scan plug-in was working overtime to try and keep up with the conversation...!
On the mention of 4:3 pillar boxed shows (black bars left and right). There is NO Black bars top and bottom, your STB is adding that because you have a old 4:3 TV/Display. Get a 16:9 Display and you will only have the left and right pillerbox bars to keep the aspect ratio correct.
The only "postage" black bars top/left/right/bottom here in brisbane are on some adds. This i guess is where the advertisers have a choice with their widscreen adds to have it full 16:9 on digital and cropped to 4:3 on analogue OR in letterboxed 16:9 on analogue and "postage stamped" on digital.
That's all very interesting Darklord, but here in Canberra shows like ENTERPRISE and ER are NOT shown in 14:9 on analogue -- they are letterboxed 16:9. The only difference is that the digital picture takes up slightly more of the frame (maybe 10-15% more than analogue, at least on my W/S TV). So I'm doubtful about the idea that WIN are altering the OAR. Another puzzling thing is that some 16:9 shows are treated properly, eg THE SOPRANOS and CSI. Even ENTERPRISE was fully 16:9 for a while last year. So its a real mystery why they are doing this.
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This process is what we refer to as cropping. It was very common on older TVs, as their shape was more like a square and not like the current batch of widescreen flat-screen TVs. When movies aired, often the ratio would get altered: a widescreen movie would have the sides removed so it fit into the screen. This means you sometimes would see the following message before a movie:
We want to offer the best picture and provide the original aspect ratio of any title on Netflix. However, unfortunately our quality controls sometimes fail and we end up offering the wrong version of a title. When we discover this error, we work to replace that title as soon as possible.
However, the Netflix Original film, which launched on the service September 4, is also notable for its inclusion of a cinematic technique that has become all too rare in feature films: a 4:3 aspect ratio.
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