when I install the SCI ATL 4200hd with a 16 by 9 tv I have trouble getting the picture to fill the screen at all times. I know that i could just zoom in on the picture and have a full screen with no bars on the sides or bottem. I don't want to lose any of the picture on the HD channels. What I am looking to do is have the HD channels that are broadcast 16 by 9 not be streatched while the 4 by 3 channels are. How are you guys setting your installs up. Does anyone know if there is a setting in the cable box that will acomplish this?

The problem is that the "4 by 3" channels are actually being broadcast 16 by 9. The side bars are usually added by the tv station. So the cable box and the TV think they are receiving a 16 by 9 HD station even if the program is in 4 by 3.

You are stuck with zoom scaling....very frustrating.....Here in San Diego some stations are starting upconvert everythign (even commercials) so that the screen is filled.......Just a side effect of the transition to HD.

I just got back from one of the houses that I was running into this problem and I discovered how to solve it. I put the cable box into an HD setup mode that I had learned of from another post on this site{turn box off and hold guide and info on the front of the box}. It then askes what size the TV is 4 by 3 or 16 by 9. After I entered 16 by 9 all the standerd def channels that were normaly 4 by 3 with bars on the side were streched to fit the screen. The HD channels were not zoomed in. Then in the settings menu I made sure that the picture was set to normal and not streched. I hope this helps anyone that may have been running into the same problem.

Are you sure this works with 4 by 3 programming on a digital station? I can see it would work with analog transmissions but don't understand how this can work with a digital channel where the bars are part of the transmitted signal. The cable box sees a 16 by 9 signal, it does not know there are bars on the side.

True. If the station is broadcasting the bars as part of their signal, this is what you are stuck with unless you use the SA box's zoom mode ( the wide button is also the "#" button)

I posted a lot of info I found by playing with this box if anyone needs it

[Link: remotecentral.com]

John left out the last step... Goto 'General Settings'/'Set:Picture Format' and set it to 'Pass-Through'. This way the TV stretches the 4x3 Lo-Def, and its Aspect controls still work, but the Hi-def still passes through on the hi-def channels.

But this still does not solve the problem....4 by 3 material is transmitted on the digital stations as a 16 by 9 signal including sidebars and there is no way of automatically getting this expanded to fill the screen...

Valid Point... It won't be automatic, but you can hit stretch in quick settings... Customers don't love that, however...

Stretch wont do it. It's zoom that will.

As I said in my post above, The wide button is also the "#" symbol found on the remote. that way the customer doesn't have to get into the settings menus.

i end up hooking up hi def and standard def cables from the cable box to tv. on your crestron, pronto.. whatever, i have an icon for hdtv and standard. tap standard and it will go to your s-vid input, hit hdtv and it will go to your dvi or progressive in. i find this better than a toggle stretch button on your control. keep everything as macros,nice and easy for the end user.

Good Idea but in my area the SD inputs don't output guide info or channel descriptions