Hauppauge Software

[techno]

no distorted picture, its just black bars on the sides of the screen

[PrinceBytore]

Then the broadcast is probably 4x3

[techno]

hmmm not true because I can connect it to a widescreen TV, configure the sky box to show 16:9 and it does it just fine.... but not on the PC using the wintv application

[PrinceBytore]

For the tuner to put a 16x9 signal in a 4x3 box you would have to get either a distorted picture or black bars all around the picture. It sounds as if your tuner is only receiving a 4x3 signal.

[techno]

ah ok Thanks.

shame cant do anything about it as it sucks and specifically got this new card since I am using digital sources than analogue as before I had the WinTV GO PCI card...

[PrinceBytore]

Have you tried connecting your Hauppage tuner to an antenna instead of the box? Not sure where you are at but if they broadcast digitall over the air in your area you r antenna should pick it up. You may find that a different digital source solves your dilemma.

[techno]

thanks. no i dont have an antenna unfortunately.

ah well, i guess ill have to live with 4:3 on a widescreen monitor!

[PrinceBytore]

not even rabbit ears

[techno]

nope!

[PrinceBytore]

sorry, good luck though!

[techno]

thanks matey

[drfsupercenter]

If the show is 4:3, why would you want to cut the top and bottom off?

Or are you saying it's a widescreen channel but it's not anamorphic (meaning it's essentially 4:3 with black bars on it)

On that note, does anyone know any third-party software that can play/record stuff from a Pinnacle PCI card? I replaced my internal Hauppauge with a Pinnacle HDTV card, because it's able to do ATSC and QAM as well as NTSC (the Hauppauge only did NTSC). But Pinnacle's software sucks even more than WinTV... it sucks up SO much CPU that I can't even play it in real time. And so far I haven't found any third-party alternatives.

[techno]

maybe its best if i make a video out of it... hang on a sec

[techno]

http://www.sandlerltd.co.uk/img/IMGA0001_re.jpg

http://www.sandlerltd.co.uk/img/IMGA0002_re.jpg

[drfsupercenter]

Ooh, two monitors... fancy

And yeah. That's a 4:3 program. (What's with that guide, anyway? I figured you had it on an actual TV channel) If you make it widescreen, it'll either stretch it horizontally (this makes everything look horrible - trust me, do NOT do that), or cut off the top and bottom.
That's one problem with owning a widescreen monitor... it makes watching movies nice, but if you're watching TV, and it's a 4:3 broadcast... you're not using all that extra space.