Cable Box issues/questions

[Nolan B]

I have a couple of questions about the below cable box my cable company cant even answer.

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Television/Digital/Hardware-HDPVR.htm

1. In the advanced setup menu there is an option called "4:3 Overide" and the choices are 480i, 480p or stretch.

I already have "TV screen type set to 16:9 (because mine is)" and output set to 1080i.

2. For some reason since I go my new cable box I can only set the sound options on my Processor to Dolby settings i.e. Dobly Digital 2.0; DD PL11 (music or cinima); Dolby Digital. I can not set to settings like 5 Channel stereo. This is not something I had an issue with in my last cable box. Any ideas?

[Chris D]

My guess would be that because you have your TV type set to 16:9 already, everything is going to be output to widescreen. So the "4:3 override" would be choosing how you want to have 4:3 material output to your widescreen TV. I'm guessing that by choosing "stretch" it will do just that to 4:3 material, stretching it to fit your screen, and the other two will put black bars on the sides to keep it displayed as actual 4:3.

No idea on the sound issue.

[Nolan B]

My guess would be that because you have your TV type set to 16:9 already, everything is going to be output to widescreen. So the "4:3 override" would be choosing how you want to have 4:3 material output to your widescreen TV. I'm guessing that by choosing "stretch" it will do just that to 4:3 material, stretching it to fit your screen, and the other two will put black bars on the sides to keep it displayed as actual 4:3.

No idea on the sound issue.

thanks for your reply. I am thinking it just over rides it since I have 16:9, your right. Makes me wonder why they have the "stretch option at all? If I have it set to 16:9 then it steches.

with regards to sound Im guess that since its DD it only lets me choose DD settings..maybe for copy protection? For example if you play a DVD with a DD sound track you are unable to switch to 5 channel stereo.

[Alaric]

2. For some reason since I go my new cable box I can only set the sound options on my Processor to Dolby settings i.e. Dobly Digital 2.0; DD PL11 (music or cinima); Dolby Digital. I can not set to settings like 5 Channel stereo. This is not something I had an issue with in my last cable box. Any ideas?

My HT receiver will only process audio in the same format as received. My HD cable channels are Dolby Digital D (most DVDs , too) and most everything else goes PL II. Example: I can't set my receiver to PL II if the source is DVD or HD cable. Of course , I have a cheap receiver so this may bear no relevance to your situation Just thought I'd toss it out there.