TV tuner cards, widescreen TVs, and basic cable

[Merkuri]

I have a dilemma here, and I was hoping there'd be someone here on EN World that knew more of the subject than I and could save me some hours searching the web. Let me get you the facts here first.

I'm cheap when it comes to cable. Our apartment currently gets basic cable only (things like Fox, ABC, and CBS) and with our rate of TV watching that's not likely to change any time soon.

However, a few years ago I bought a TV tuner card and turned a spare computer into a DVR station, and we loved the setup so much that when that PC died for good we bought a new (cheap) one and stuck the TV tuner card into that.

My husband and I just recently got married, and a significant portion of our wedding presents were in cash, so we were thinking of upgrading our cheap little CRT television into a bigger flatscreen.

Now, after the upgrade to digital cable I began noticing that some of my favorite shows (mostly on Fox - notably House and the Simpsons) were obviously created for a widescreen TV but being show to me in full screen, meaning the sides were being cut off. This was not being tastefully done, either. For example, in the latest House there was one scene where House was talking to his psychiatrist on the other side of the room and the view had cut off both of their heads. We could see their bodies just fine since they were both reclining in chairs, but their heads and faces were out of view.

I have no problem with seeing the letterbox black strips on top and bottom, but cutting off the sides of my TV really annoys me. House used to be shown in letterbox, but now it was shown fullscreen and cropped.

My question is this: Will getting a widescreen TV and/or a different tuner card solve this problem?

I don't know what's causing the cropping, whether it's my fullscreen TV, the TV tuner card, or if that's just how the signal is getting sent to my house from the cable company (and maybe there's an HD version of Fox somewhere that doesn't crop off the edges). I don't know how to find out what's causing this, either, without just buying a new TV and possibly a new tuner card.

I'd really rather know what I'm getting into before we drop a lot of money on a TV only to find out that there's nothing we could do to see "proper" widescreen TV when we only have basic cable.

If there's anyone who knows more about this stuff than me or if you know of a good website that explains it all, let me know!

 

[drothgery]

I don't know what's causing the cropping, whether it's my fullscreen TV, the TV tuner card, or if that's just how the signal is getting sent to my house from the cable company (and maybe there's an HD version of Fox somewhere that doesn't crop off the edges). I don't know how to find out what's causing this, either, without just buying a new TV and possibly a new tuner card.

You're almost certainly getting cropped shows because that's what either your local station or the TV network has decided to show to SD customers. The HD signal will be on a different channel, and, depending on your cable company (or other TV provider), may cost extra. In fact, going to a widescreen TV if you don't get HD channels will make things worse -- you'll have the cropped show AND you'll have big vertical sidebars or a stretched-out picture.

 

[John Crichton]

Sounds like you have the TV set to zoom. You need to change it to either 16:9 or 4:3 resolution. That should solve the heads-cut-off prob. Try that first. Otherwise it may be a similar setting on the tuner.

 

[Merkuri]

You're almost certainly getting cropped shows because that's what either your local station or the TV network has decided to show to SD customers. The HD signal will be on a different channel, and, depending on your cable company (or other TV provider), may cost extra. In fact, going to a widescreen TV if you don't get HD channels will make things worse -- you'll have the cropped show AND you'll have big vertical sidebars or a stretched-out picture.

That's what I was afraid of. My new husband really wants a larger TV, but I have a feeling no matter what I get it's actually going to look WORSE than what we have now if we stick with basic cable. And upgrading to the next tier of cable is going to be $50+ extra a month, which I am not willing to pay for the amount we watch TV right now. At least movies will probably look good.

Sounds like you have the TV set to zoom. You need to change it to either 16:9 or 4:3 resolution. That should solve the heads-cut-off prob. Try that first. Otherwise it may be a similar setting on the tuner.

The TV has no zoom, and neither does the tuner card. They're both analog.

I should note that normally heads are not cut off. It was only when two characters were sitting on chairs, reclining and facing each other, meaning their heads were closer to the sides of the screen than their bodies. But that was just an example of stuff that happens all the time (particularly with House, which seems to have really embraced the widescreen format) where it becomes painfully obvious that there are things on the sides of the screen that I should be able to see but I can't.

 

[John Crichton]

That's what I was afraid of. My new husband really wants a larger TV, but I have a feeling no matter what I get it's actually going to look WORSE than what we have now if we stick with basic cable. And upgrading to the next tier of cable is going to be $50+ extra a month, which I am not willing to pay for the amount we watch TV right now. At least movies will probably look good.

One other possibility is that you could look into other things to get a cheaper monthly rate to afford the HD feeds. There are lots of places that have bundles and deals with other companies to get cheaper prices on stuff like internet, cellphones, TV and home phone. And you can usually get a DVR with it so you can maximize the TV you watch and make it more worth while.

I have DirecTV combined with AT&T internet and home phone. We get a ton of DTV extras and our bill is pretty high per month but it could be an option to explore. I think they are having a deal right now for a discount on service that lasts a few months so you can try it out.

You can also just drop the cable completely and go with places like Hulu and the like to get the shows you like. Those HD feeds aren't great but for many of them they would look better on an HDTV. Sometimes my DVR craps out and misses a show so I hit the web to catch whole episodes.

And they are free.

The TV has no zoom, and neither does the tuner card. They're both analog.

Doh. I didn't pull that from your post. Oops!

I should note that normally heads are not cut off. It was only when two characters were sitting on chairs, reclining and facing each other, meaning their heads were closer to the sides of the screen than their bodies. But that was just an example of stuff that happens all the time (particularly with House, which seems to have really embraced the widescreen format) where it becomes painfully obvious that there are things on the sides of the screen that I should be able to see but I can't.

It's likely the feed that's the problem, as droth outlined.

And yes, regular HD feeds will look worse most of the time on a widescreen HDTV.

 

[Merkuri]

I already do most of my TV watching on Hulu and this lack of letterboxing would have driven me to watch these shows on Hulu full time if it wasn't for the fact that Hulu (or more properly, the networks) has been delaying a lot of their more popular shows so that they come out a week and a day after the "live" air date instead of just a day after.

Right now I already get my TV bundled with internet and I don't believe the cable company offers phone in my area so I can't really get that bundled. My husband and I only have three shows we watch on a regular basis and one of those just got canceled (RIP Legend of the Seeker, the awful show we just couldn't stop watching ) and that would probably only expand to four or maybe five if we got expanded cable.

To make it worse, the cable company recently dropped the "middle" tier of cable service. That means my choices are ~$10 a month (what I'm paying now) or ~$80 per month. The extra $70 a month is just not worth it.