DirecTV DVR40, DVR120 manual TV Aspect Ratio

C h a p t e r 6 M e s s a g e s a n d S e t u p

4:3 16:9

Standard Screen Wide Screen

TV Aspect Ratio

This screen lets you choose one of two settings, the default Standard Screen–4:3 or Wide Screen–16:9. If you have a normal television, you should leave this setting at the default. If you have a wide screen set, select “Wide Screen–16:9.” Doing this allows programs transmitted in a wide screen format to fill the wider screen. If you are unsure of the correct setting, leave it at the default Standard Screen–4:3. If this is the wrong setting for your television, programs in wide screen format may appear 'squashed' horizontally—people would seem very tall and thin.

Movies are generally made in a wider format than standard television images. Movie images on television deal with the difference in one of the following three ways:

Standard or “Pan-and-Scan”. The edges of the movie are carefully edited to make it fit the television format. This format is unaffected by the TV Aspect Ratio setting.

Letterbox. The full width of the movie image is displayed. On standard TVs, this leaves a black margin on the top and bottom of the image. Some wide screen TVs can eliminate the margins and make Letterbox fill the screen. (See the owner's manual for your wide screen TV.) This format is unaffected by the TV Aspect Ratio setting.

Anamorphic. This method allows the DVR to choose how to display the image. If TV Aspect Ratio is set to Wide Screen, the DVR displays a wide screen image. If TV Aspect Ratio is set to Standard, the DVR displays a Letterbox image.

98 DIRECTV Central Messages and Setup My Preferences TV Aspect Ratio