Slightly 'wider-than-widescreen' Chorus/NTL reception

[WhoAmI]

Here's a weird one which has been puzzling me for a while for y'all to mull over as the New Year approaches. My widescreen TV here in my house on (formerly) Chorus analogue service and my parent's widescreen TV on (formerly) NTL analogue service, now both of course UPC, both behave in the same way. The picture they receive seems to be slightly wider than the screen can display, even when they are put into 4:3 mode. The credits for a film, for example, take up the full width of the screen and then some.

Neither TV is the latest and greatest, but that shouldn't make a difference.

Anyone else getting this and can anyone enlighten me as to why it's happening?

 

[rgfuller]

I have noticed that the analogue signals from UPC are usually 4:3 sized so that sometimes the credits/other things onscreen are cut-off to left and right and I get (grey) bars on the sides of my widescreen TV, however when I switch on the UPC digital I get a full widescreen transmission on the same channel, so I suspect the analogue signals are formatted for 4:3.

 

[gnubbit]

I have basic NTL and same happening with me. It's really annoying and I'd love to know why. If I switched to Sky would it do away with the problem?

 

[WhoAmI]

I have basic NTL and same happening with me. It's really annoying and I'd love to know why. If I switched to Sky would it do away with the problem?

Glad to report that the answer is 'Yes'. The initial setup was displaying the same way. I had to change the display ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 in the System Setup, and then all was well. Yippee!!!

 

[gnubbit]

Glad to report that the answer is 'Yes'. The initial setup was displaying the same way. I had to change the display ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 in the System Setup, and then all was well. Yippee!!!

Thanks! As it turns out I've just signed up for Sky but won't avail of it till I move house in a few months. Can't wait to be rid of NTL!

 

[becky]

We are ahving awful problems with NTL and are thinking of changing to SKY. Is SKY better?

 

[Chris]

We are ahving awful problems with NTL and are thinking of changing to SKY. Is SKY better?

Haven't much experience with NTL, but have Sky for last 3 years and have never had trouble. It's not cheap, depending on what package you take, but the picture quality is superb and the system is very easy to use.

 

[WhoAmI]

We are ahving awful problems with NTL and are thinking of changing to SKY. Is SKY better?

Haven't much experience with NTL, but have Sky for last 3 years and have never had trouble. It's not cheap, depending on what package you take, but the picture quality is superb and the system is very easy to use.

For us, with 5 of the standard 6 'mixes', as they call them, and no premium channels (movies or sports - Eurosport gives me what I want, as I've mentioned before), it actually works out at exactly the same per month!

And yes, the picture and sound quality are both stunning, when compared to what we were getting on ntl.

 

[Frank]

Had Sky for a few years only got caught out when the dish shifted in high winds twice over 4 years.

As mentioned sky can be pricey but so is NTL.

I now have NTL for tv and broadband for the last 3 months in my new place. So far so good.

Although the experience with the sales staff didn't inspire confidence.

I like the fact that I can still ditribute the analogue channel to other rooms pretty easily and watch different channels on each tv.

 

[johnbcnone]

I had exactly problem mentioned in first post where picture did not fit into width of screen. I have a brand new Normendie 32ins flatscreen. Adjusting aspect ration on TV remote control will not do the job.
Had to adjust aspect ratio in Set Top Box Converter from 4:3 to 16:9.
Proceed as follows in Set Top Box Converter Menu. MAIN MENU/INSTALLATION/SET TOP BOX INSTALLATION/TV& VCR INSTALLATION/ TV SCREEN SIZE.

Thanks to WhoAmI all is well now