Why do I get black bars on HD TV with FIOS

January 30, 2016 7:33 PM

I have an HP ENVY 32-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor Quad-HD with a display resolution maximum of 2560 x1440 pixels. I just hooked Verizon's FIOS TV to it, and even on the HD channels, I have black bars on the top and bottom of the picture. What gives?

I have not had anything approaching cable TV for seventeen years, so bear with me:

I have the HDTV set top box. It connects to FIOS via a coaxial cable, and to the TV via an HDMI cable. I have gone through every setting I can find on both the set top box and the monitor, and I cannot find a fix.

My only guess is that the resolution of the monitor (2560 X 1440) does not match up with the FIOS signal, which is 1080i. Could this be it?

Thanks, as always, for your help.

posted by 4ster to Technology (7 answers total)

2560x1440 is still 16:9 like 1080p, so you should be able to fill the screen, if the monitor can interpolate the resolution, most can.

I don't know what modes the monitor has, but you'll want something like 16:9, screen fit, etc. Then you'll need to get the fios box to output proper 1080p widescreen.
posted by TheAdamist at 7:45 PM on January 30, 2016

Does the programming guide fill the screen? If you press the Info button on the remote, is it at the actual bottom of the screen or above the black bars? It's possible that whatever you're watching isn't presented in an exact 16:9 ratio, so unless you set the TV to stretch the image to fill the screen, you're going to get those black bars.
posted by Venadium at 8:52 PM on January 30, 2016

Response by poster: Yes, the programming guide does fill the screen, but that appears to be all that does.
posted by 4ster at 4:43 AM on January 31, 2016

Perhaps a stupid question, but are you certain the things you're watching are in 16:9 ratio?

Movies made for theaters aren't usually 16:9 (a.k.a. 1.77:1). They're usually more like 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 or more (wider). When broadcast on television, they keep their original ratio (and thus have black bars above/below).

Television shows made for HD, though, will be 16:9, because they're shot with that ratio in mind.
posted by tocts at 7:43 AM on January 31, 2016

Response by poster: Not a stupid question. I set it up right before bed, and only tried a few channels. I will recheck and make sure this is happening on all channels.

Thanks, everyone.
posted by 4ster at 10:41 AM on January 31, 2016

Best answer: You should also make sure you're watching the true HD versions of the channels. On our FIOS TV in Rhode Island, a channel under 500 will be SD (including letterboxed 16:9 content which displays with a full black frame unless you zoom the TV) and [(the same channel number) + (500)] will be the true HD channel. So if you're watching channel 165, try channel 665 for the same content in actual HD that should probably fill your screen.

Also on our FIOS remote, clicking the '#' button will cycle through different zoom modes to let the SD channels fill the TV in one room, but not in another ... it seems to matter somehow.

Good luck!
posted by BlackPebble at 2:29 PM on January 31, 2016

Response by poster: The pound symbol did it. Thanks everyone.
posted by 4ster at 11:28 AM on February 6, 2016