standard definitions channels display with a black box around picture

[Sl33man]

I hope this is in the correct forum, I wasn't sure where this question best fit.

So my setup is the following. Server installed on WHS, and my client is on windows 7. My tuner is a HDPVR in conjunction with a SA 4250 HD receiver. My monitor is a Dell 24 inch, and the problem only occurs when watching SD channels.

So to be more specific. When I watch a HD channel the image fills my entire monitor. However when I watch a SD channel it only occupies the middle of my monitor. I have black space above and below and sides. Even if I choose different aspect ratios such as fill I still get the black boarders.

I also tried to change the settings on my HD receiver, but that will negatively impact my HD channels. I choose Zoom, then my HD channels are too zoomed.

Am I missing something simple here?

[Oats]

Fill only stretches the picture horizontally, same as using the 16x9 aspect. You can customize the Fill aspect to also stretch vertically so the SD widescreen material will fill the entire screen.

[Sl33man]

OK and how does one customize this? and can it be done only for SD channels? not sure whether it would negatively impact the HD channels by stretching them too much.

[ke6guj]

What I do is set the 4x3 aspect ratio to zoom in 133% horizontally and vertically. That will make the postage-stamped SD programs display properly. You can adjust the settings in Setup>Detailed setup>Multimedia>Aspect ratio settings.

then, I have the 'auto aspect ratio changer' plugin set to automatiically switch to the proper AR ratio, depending onthe rules I set.