Verizon FiOS TV → Re: Screen size got small.. help!

As others have said your TV is showing the 16x9 channel letterboxed. When the channel shows 4x3 it uses sidebars and you get the square in the middle you described.

Active Format Descriptor

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ac ··· scriptor

was made so a 4x3 source fills a 4x3 channel while letterboxing widescreen programming. Both the broadcaster and cable provider need to use this. Otherwise you get what you have with the square in the middle or you have widescreen programs with the sides chopped off due to center cut.

IMHO the best solution is to allow cable/FiOS customers the option to zoom or not by putting that option in the boxes (as it exists in OTA STBs) and providing all 16x9 channels in 16x9. Just IMHO, YMMV.

Much agreed. I don't own an HDTV, but I love watching shows in 16x9. However, I hate recording shows in HD because they take up a lot more space than SD. If I would could watch all the local SD channels in 16x9, I'd be very happy.

That's the problem though. If you are sticking in the SD domain, you CANT'T provider 16:9 content as 16:9 content. You can only provide it as a 4:3 frame with 16:9 content letterboxed. If you provide a zoom mode on that for 4:3 content, then the 4:3 content would only have like 1/4 the resolution as they should.

The only viable solution to provide from the STB end is to eliminate the SD channels altogether and give everyone an HD STB, even if you are using it with an SDTV. That way, the downconversion happens at the box and you can provide a centercut mode like the OTA STBs do.

So, it's more than just providing options in the STB. You have to change the type of STB that SD users have and you have to make changes at the VHO to eliminate the SD channels.

Agreed, and these HD channels would look better on an SD set than the SD channels. And the HDs can be on the regular channel numbers and not stuck somewhere in the 4 digits. And it would free up bandwidth with the removal of redundant channels.

Gees, how many reasons do these dudes need?

P.S.: I was thinking the same (give everyone HD STBs) but I thought I was alone in this thinking.