dstv picture problem

The best I can get the picture to look on all channels now is to have my settings like this:

TV set to 16:9
Decoder set to 4:3 with view 16:9 as cropped picture.

This isn't right but every other setting looks rubbish.
 
I am glad that they finally decided to add 16:9 on mnet - got tired of waiting for series to rebroadcast on the series channel before i get widescreen images ^^

TV: Samsung 32" HDTV
currently my tv and dstv are both set to 16:9 - no pillar boxes anywhere
 
What decoder do you have? I have the old Dual View SD decoder. They're probably pushing me to upgrade to an HD decoder. Reminds me of when they started to screw around with the analogue MNET decoder at the time DStv launched. Swine.
 
Still no joy with this. If I set things to 16:9 on both decoder and TV I have those white stripes on the top of the picture whenever there is a widescreen show on. I simply can't find any way of getting rid of them other than using the cropped picture settings. :(
 
I have the same issue on my 40" LCD. Have tried all different aspect ratios and everything. No luck. I have given up for now. Not struggling with their kak!!!!
 
I'm still trying to get to the bottom of this. Why can't the cretins at multichoice send the same AR settings to all the channels?

Does this also happen with HD decoders?
 
Yes it does, and its down to MC being plainly pisspoor at anything even vaguely technical..

They can't even implement HDCP properly which feks me off NO end, since I'm forced to use it for their damn HD channels.
 
I have resorted to using the 16:9 settings, which then pillar-boxes most of the channels that are still being broadcast in 4:3. Of course some of those channels also show 16:9 material so now not only do we get pillarboxes, we get letterboxes on the same channel too.

It never used to be this way. What the hell are they trying to do? Surely the whole country should be asking them these questions or do they just not give a fark?
 
If you have a 16:9 TV the settings on the TV should always be set to 16:9 according to me. Your decoder should also always be set to widescreen 16:9 in this case. The only options should be how you would like to view 4:3 content/channels - either stretched (to fill the screen but distorting the picture) or normal (with black bars to the left and right). I never have any problems on any channels.

The picture posted at the start of this thread shows that some setting is incorrect - either on the TV or on the decoder - since a widescreen transmission is not being shown as widescreen on the tv - there's black bars at the top/bottom. This is not a dstv fault but a setting.
 
Krugie, that appears to make sense, however, when you set the 4:3 content to display as stretched (on your 16:9 TV), it doesn't stretch it, it crops it so that it looks like 16:9. The net effect of this is that you lose a significant amount of picture top and bottom of your 4:3 content, which is particularly unacceptable on the sports channels as you lose the entire score bars shown at the bottom of the page.

This is the problem and it rests with DStv, not the users.
 
Is it not possible for somebody at myBB to get DStv to comment on this?

The problem as I see it is that when you go into the advanced options on your decoder and set your aspect ratio for your TV to 16:9 and then set the View 4:3 content to stretched, instead of stretching it, the decoder zooms and crops it so that the whole TV screen has a picture. This is wrong.

Now, if you leave your TV aspect ratio (as set on the decoder) to 4:3 and you set the "View 16:9 content as Cropped Partial Picture" it displays the 4:3 channels properly on 16:9 televisions (i.e. slightly stretched).

So, somewhere the decoder is screwing up the options for displaying the 4:3 content when you have the TV AR set to 16:9. I seriously cannot believe that they can't see this problem with their decoder software.
 
Pixual said:
Krugie, that appears to make sense, however, when you set the 4:3 content to display as stretched (on your 16:9 TV), it doesn't stretch it, it crops it so that it looks like 16:9. The net effect of this is that you lose a significant amount of picture top and bottom of your 4:3 content, which is particularly unacceptable on the sports channels as you lose the entire score bars shown at the bottom of the page.

This is the problem and it rests with DStv, not the users.
Click to expand...

I do not watch 4:3 content stretched - I watch it Pillarboxed with black bars on the left and right. I know this is a personal choice but I believe in watching the picture exactly as broadcast. As a matter of fact, it irritates the living hell out of me when I see someone doing it differnetly. :)

I do not know which decoder you have but on the HD PVR you have 3 options for 4:3 content:
- Pillarbox (black bars on left and right) - ARC1 on HD PVR
- Zoomed (picture fills screen but content is lost top and bottom) - ARC2 on HD PVR
- Stretched (picture fills the screen and gets distorted - no content lost though) - ARC3 on HD PVR

Their is also ARC4 & ARC5 but those decide how people with 4:3 TV's watch 16:9 content - either Zoomed (content lost on the sides) or letterboxed (black bars top and bottom).

My understanding is that the Zoomed option for 4:3 TV's is not available on some decoders (and this is a big problem from DSTV's side) but all the other options are available on all deocders. For 16:9 TV's, make sure you use ARC3 and not ARC2 to avoid picture loss if you insist on having the TV screen filled. I do believe the terminlogy used is different on other decoders but the option is available.
 
I have the original dual view decoder - not a PVR.

We simply don't get the stretched option to watch 4:3 content, even thought the option says its going to stretch it, it zooms it instead - which is clearly wrong.
 
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