When is a widescreen telly a widescreen telly

[SteveH]

Ok had my 37inch widescreen telly now for a few weeks, but after watching a few films on sky I still have to put up with words off the edge of the screen something I thought I would never have to put up with again :smt089 you know when a film starts and you have the credits etc.
So anyone want to tell me where I'am going wrong? and yes I have changed the pic mode from wide norm etc
p.s thought it might be sky showing the films in like cinema screen or something

[arenalife]

There are so many vision permutations now,this happens all the time.

Basically, conventional TV is 4:3, your tv is 16:9 ratio, 16 units wide per 9 tall. Movies are even wider, think about it, your local cinema is way wider than they are tall. Also, many Plasma screens are neither movie size or 16:9 so there's another whole minefield there.

A full cinema profile film won't fit on yout TV without bars, they usually chop a bit off for the DVD. If it's a TV showing, it may end up with missing words depending on how it was shot/cut etc. An old panamorphic tv conversion of a film will be all to **** too.

Also, check your sky box is outputting in the correct format and the tv is receiving the same.

[TSM]

Your tv may have a mode to zoom in so you can fix that, but as arenalife said, cinema movies are shot at a diffrent aspect ratio, so 16:9 is a compramise between standard 4:3 tv and ratios used for movies.

* 1.33:1 A standard television set; roughly equivalent to 4:3.
* 1.37:1 Referred to as the academy aspect ratio. The standard for films shot before the mid-1950s.
* 1.66:1 A bit wider than a standard TV, but not by much.
* 1.78:1 The dimensions of a widescreen television set; roughly equivalent to 16:9.
* 1.85:1 Popular aspect ratio for many movies.
* 2.35: Another popular aspect ratio for movies.

More info here http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html

[peterco]

As arenalife say's go into the service menu of your sky box and alter the picture setting to 16:9 and save,also set it to RGB output.Set the tv screen to Auto,then it will alter the screen ratio's to what is output by the sky box.

pete