As some of our content was filmed in 4:3, these shows will remain in that format now that we have converted to widescreen, and may appear with black bars at the sides of the picture. This is so the content is not stretched or squashed.
If your satellite or cable receiver is connected to a widescreen television, we would recommend setting the output to widescreen/16:9 so that the picture is the correct shape without the appearance of being stretched horizontally or squashed vertically. If your satellite or cable receiver is connected to a 4:3 television, we would recommend setting the output to either ‘4:3 Centre Cut Out’ or ‘letterbox’ mode, which will ensure the picture is the correct shape with either the middle of the widescreen picture shown filling the non-widescreen television, or as a letterbox (black bars at top and bottom), allowing you to see all of the widescreen picture.
In addition, some television sets also have options to zoom or auto-stretch pictures. We recommend selection widescreen/16:9 for widescreen television sets to preserve the correct picture shape. You may choose to stretch or zoom that picture to fill the whole screen, according to your personal preference.