Cable tv - HD help

ScottK

ScottK

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ScottK
My in-laws have a wide screen HD tv, but don't have HD on their Xfiniti cable. Will not having HD affect the screen width/size. I've gone through every setting on both the tv and the box and I can't find anyway to make the picture fit the tv. The picture is oversized and you lose the edges. Spent 1/2 hr on hold with Xfiniti, but never heard from anyone.

Any ideas?
 
There should be a setting in the TV menu that will allow you to set the scan width for bot an HD signal and regular signal. Mine has stretch, zoom, partial zoom, normal, and grey bar (on the sides).

What we don't know is whether the cable box puts out normal or HD on the HDMI port.
 
Find it hard to believe they don't have HD on Xfiniti.
 
Surely they have HD on their cable plan. Theres probably an easy way to fill the screen with 480 or w/e the output is. Fit to screen option or something like that on the TV menu. Non HD blown up on an HD screen will look like azz though.
 
HD and aspect ratio are two different things. Everything today is broadcast in 16:9 vs the old 4:3 even if it is not HD.

Every cable carrier will have a cable box that should have HDMI out, even if it is just a mini converter. Use that to get signal to the TV.

From there it is just finding the right picture setting in the TV to make sure it the image is not over scanned or stretched.
 
Everything today is broadcast in 16:9 vs the old 4:3 even if it is not HD.
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This is certainly NOT universally true. Both my satellite (DISH Network) and my former cable (Verizon FIOS) have things that come out as SD 4:3. Most TVs will auto switch (usually with a choice of what to do about mapping the 4:3 into the 16:9 screen).
 
I'm guessing you're trying to watch a signal that was at one point 16:9 and somewhere between the studio and your box it was converted to 4:3 by cutting off the edges. Unless you pay a couple bucks extra each month, Xfinity will filter out the HD channels and feed you a SD version that they converted at the CATV head-end. If that's the case and those are the channels you're trying to watch, the edges are gone. You can't get them back.

So forget Xfinity. Put up a terrestrial HDTV antenna on the roof and subscribe to Disney+, which includes Hulu.
 
Shawn said:
HD and aspect ratio are two different things. Everything today is broadcast in 16:9 vs the old 4:3 even if it is not HD.

.
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Ron's comments are spot-on.

That's not necessarily true. Some of the HD secondary channels can be 4x3, and some cable systems don't pass along full HD on some channels. Some of the cable boxes have old NTSC outputs, and some cable systems, even today, haven't put in full HD on all channels. Also, there are still a few old LPTV transmitters in certain parts of the US that transmit 4:3 NTSC. Those are dwindling thanks to the repack.
 
wsuffa said:
As long as you're not a sports fan...
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ESPECIALLY if you are a sports fan. 50 times the sports channels for half the price.

goeHzD.jpg
 
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kgruber said:
Both teams on HULU.
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They're not shown in the list of available channels in my zip code. The Caps & Wizards are (they're an NBCSports channel).

It's possible that they're available through MLB TV's out of market feed, but that restricts them from the home markets. The majority owner of MASN (the Orioles) have been very clear about not allowing streaming in the home market areas.... even the former DirecTVNow (now some ATT name) doesn't have their feeds in the service even though it's available in their DirecTV satellite service.

Believe me, I've been down this road before. It's a frustrating situation to have to pay for some kind of cable/satellite service and get a heap of channels that I have zero interest in (people really watch the Hallmark channel?!? And families without kids really watch the Disney stuff?). I *can* use a VPN to watch them via MLB-TV, but that's a pain in the rear to set up and operate (and the networks have been tamping down folks that try to avoid regional restrictions.

So Hulu will provide games that are national broadcasts (ESPN, etc) but not all the games broadcast on MASN.

The only OTT service that carries them is Layer3, now T-Vision. Requires a connection of 50MB/s for the service alone (plus more if you actually want to use the internet for other stuff while watching or you plan to have 2 boxes), and it's $90/month. At that price, might as well get a cable bundle.
 
wsuffa said:
They're not shown in the list of available channels in my zip code. The Caps & Wizards are (they're an NBCSports channel).

It's possible that they're available through MLB TV's out of market feed, but that restricts them from the home markets. The majority owner of MASN (the Orioles) have been very clear about not allowing streaming in the home market areas.... even the former DirecTVNow (now some ATT name) doesn't have their feeds in the service even though it's available in their DirecTV satellite service.

Believe me, I've been down this road before. It's a frustrating situation to have to pay for some kind of cable/satellite service and get a heap of channels that I have zero interest in (people really watch the Hallmark channel?!? And families without kids really watch the Disney stuff?). I *can* use a VPN to watch them via MLB-TV, but that's a pain in the rear to set up and operate (and the networks have been tamping down folks that try to avoid regional restrictions.

So Hulu will provide games that are national broadcasts (ESPN, etc) but not all the games broadcast on MASN.

The only OTT service that carries them is Layer3, now T-Vision. Requires a connection of 50MB/s for the service alone (plus more if you actually want to use the internet for other stuff while watching or you plan to have 2 boxes), and it's $90/month. At that price, might as well get a cable bundle.
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Have you tried YouTube TV? I can get my regional sports networks on that so my Cubs and Blackhawks are there. But now the Cubs are going to their own network and I might lose them. Maybe that’s the same for you then.
 
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