OK, so I'm a bit confused on why my Dish Network receiver has a setting for 16:9. As far as I can tell, it doesn't do anything. I was hoping that somehow, satellite signals were being sent in an anamorphic fashion for those shows that I sometimes see with bars at the top and bottom of the screen (E.R., to name one). But setting the receiver to 16:9 and switching my RPTV to 16:9 Standard mode still shows squashed images. Changing back to 4:3 mode has the same effect, as expected.

So, what's the 16:9 setting good for? It seems like I remember seeing some TV shows that have "extra information" on the edges that I don't see on 4:3 TVs. Like, when I'm in Sears and they have a widescreen TV next to a 4:3 and I'm seeing about 5-10% extra information on the sides. I was hoping this would magically appear when I switched my Dish receiver to 16:9 mode, but it ain't.

Is there any way to make shows like E.R. fill the screen (without scaling tricks) or are they simply letterboxed with no extra information, no matter how it's delivered?

I called DISH about this and they told me that this setting was there for future applications, and had no effect now.

Thanks. Should've guessed. So, I suppose all hope is lost for seeing any magical extra information on the sides.