Chapter 1: Technical overview
16:9 TVs showing 4:3 programs
For a wide screen 16:9 TV showing a standard 4:3 TV program, the program is too tall to fit on the screen. The DIRECTV® High- Definition Receiver gives you 3 ways to fix the problem:
Pillar box: If you choose the pillar box format, the 4:3 image is shrunk until the entire height of the program fits on your TV. Since the aspect ratio of the program is maintained, the image is no longer wide enough to fill your screen, so black/gray bars are seen at the left and right edges of the screen.
Full: | If you set your DIRECTV HD Receiver to the Full |
| setting, 4:3 images are shrunk to fit the height of the |
| screen,like in the Pillar box format. But instead of |
| applying black/gray bars to the sides of the screen, the |
| program image is stretched horizontally until it is wide |
| enough to fill your screen. Your entire TV screen is full, |
| but the program images are a little stretched to |
| compensate for the program – to – screen mismatch. |
Zoom: | In this option the program image is magnified until |
| your entire screen is filled while keeping the 4:3 aspect |
| ratio intact. This eliminates the distortion present in |
| the Full option, but as the image becomes wide |
| enough to fit your screen, it pushes some of the |
| program content off the top and bottom edges of the |
| screen. |
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