"Squashed" DTV picture on analog CRT TV
 

My RCA CTC185 CRT TV works well on cable, but lately I've noticed the pictures on most cable channels do not fill the screen vertically. This set was working perfectly well before the DTV transition; has something happened to the TV since then (it has not been used much since I've had a flat screen), or is this just the way analog CRT TVs handle digital TV signals? My Zenith Sentry 2 CRT set does the same thing, so I seriously doubt the set itself is at fault. I wouldn't be concerned about this too much, but I intend to use one of these sets as a daily watcher if and when my flat screen quits; I don't want to have to use a cable box if it isn't necessary to get a full picture.

Thanks much.

Most everything is broadcast in 16:9 wide screen now so it won't fill a 4:3 screen vertically unless your converter/Cable box allows you to change it.

Yup. If you let most HD programming fill a 4:3 set in both directions, everything will appear to be too tall and too skinny.

It's absolutely disgusting how the powers that be have distorted the TV viewing experience since the time of the DTV transition. This is one of the reasons why I don't watch present day TV anymore, in addition to the stench of all the crappy programming the regime now fills the airwaves with.

I'm so glad I gave cable the boot back in 2008.

Your converter box may have some display options in the menu.
Look for "zoom", which pushes in on a widescreen image, excluding the left and right sides... a center cut of the widescreen image. So, no distorted image, and it's full screen. Most network programming is still optimized for center-cut, so you won't miss much. Worth a look, or even worth looking for a different converter that does support it.

HD signals contain data that describes the aspect ratio of the signal, which can switch displays to letterbox, pillarbox, whatever. Some converters may have options that can be triggered by this flag, too.

Chip

i agree ,me and my wife cant stand what they class as programing ,if they would charge [ cable ] for what we watch it would only be about maybe 6 stations ,and i have a 48" sanyo we watch with the picture setting so that it fills the boarders and the people shape look right ,but you cant see nothing like words at the bottom without changing the shapes of objects were there all smashed or gaps at top and bottom.

I had to become an antenna nut to get a select few channels (RT, METV, etc) avoid costs of cable and the usual junk programming.

Over the last 8 years since I have been trying different DTV STBs, antennas, etc I noticed some programming allows the aspect to be changed to either full or zoom, thus distorting/stretching OR cropping the picture as ischmidt observes. Sometimes it is "set by program" which I really hate. Just give me an option if im using 4:3!

We just got our first 16:9 HD (CRT) set, so the STB is still needed and outputs 1081i as set on the rear of the STB, not perfect either as some programs as 4:3 get pillars and I still get letterbox on other stuff. Having two formats is a real pain for sure!

The Magnavox box I use has this feature.

I know at times we get the squeezed pic on the antenna TV's. I had to teach Mom how to use the settings on the DTT-900(1) boxes for standard 4:3 viewing the other day.