hdtv on comcast the regular/cable channels to look right, some of the ondemand HDTV movies are too wide. why?

Question

I have a comcast turner, a samsung tv. Previously the setting for the ypbpr was set so that the picture was too wide (although still crisper than regular tv). Now it is set so that hdtv channels (espn, abc, nbc, etc.) are fitted onto the screen in the wide screen format (much easier to see the score of games etc now). Problem is though that when I go to watch movies in HDTV onDemand that some of the movies are still too wide. Is this a setting I can fix or is it just that the movie is formated in the size that cannto be properly shown on my tv? (Sorry if my technical language is lacking)

Answer 1

Do you mean "too wide" that left and right edges of the picture are cut off? That should not happen on a widescreen TV, if you are getting proper formatting on other HDTV material. Stations do not broadcast cropped widescreen. On the other hand, if you mean that the picture does not fill your screen vertically (black bands at top and bottom), and it happens only on movies, then that is the way they are broadcast. This is because movies are wider than HDTV screen (movies mostly at 2.35:1, while HDTV is 1.78:1. They broadcast it with the vertical reduced so as not to crop off the edges of the picture.

Answer 2

If part of your picture is lost on the right and left edges of the screen your problem is the image setting. There are two possible sources for this problem; 1 is the Comcast cable box; 2 is the Samsung TV. Most likely both of these devices have an image setting option. Your TV can probably be set to either normal mode(Classic Square for low def and 16:9 for HD), stretch mode, zoom mode, wide mode - or some variation of these modes. Your Comcast cable box probably has the same image mode options. The verbiage may be different for various brands. If you set both your TV and your cable box to normal mode your problem should be solved. HD cable boxes automatically display widescreen programing the proper way if your TV and box are set to normal. TV programming that is not broadcast in widescreen format will be displayed with empty space on the right and left edges of your screen. If you place your TV in zoom or stretch mode to view regular TV programming and then switch to a hidef channel you will not get your complete HD picture. Read about HD programming on cable TV at http://www.hidefster.com/ loaded with HDTV information.

Answer 3

you need to formated according on your manual,you have to play with it with the remote