I have the Sky Digibox connected to my widescreen TV via the RGB scart and the picture is great for any 16:9 programming, but for some reason the RGB won't allow the screen go to normal again for any 4:3 programming. I have tried messing about with some of the zoom and auto settings but I hate doing that and nearly always switch the digibox back to Pal for 4:3 viewing. Is this a normal thing on all Widescreen TV's or is it some kind of (hopefully fixable) fault?

I have the same problem and it has been well documented on these forums.

You need to set up your TV to read the auto switching signal which should allow it to display each programme in its correct format and automatically switch between each.

Most do it with no trouble - but mine doesn't!

What kind of TV do you have?

Really? My Hitachi widescreen TV never automatically switches to 4:3 with black bars to the left and right of the picture, and nor do the Philips and Sony sets belonging to two of my friends. I either watch in stretchy-vision (if I'm feeling lazy), or manually change the aspect ratio. Needless to say, my digibox and television are set up correctly – I know this because when I watch German digital satellite (without changing any of the settings) and a 4:3 programme is being shown, the TV behaves perfectly and switches itself into 4:3 mode, but only on certain channels (ZDF, Bayern3 and a few others). I had therefore always assumed that this was a case of "technology allows, but broadcasters can't be bothered to implement".

Before I got my present TV, I had a Hitachi 32" WS set which switched back and forward between 4:3 and 16:9 perfectly on all digital signals with no intervention from me.

That's what makes my present set very frustrating...

So I'm not so sure your Hitachi is set up OK.

Have you tried switching the TV to 4:3 on a 4:3 broadcast, then switching the set off then on again?

Then when you go to a widescreen broadcast, the TV should automatically switch to widecreen, and back to 4:3 when you go back to the 4:3 broadcast.

What make is the TV?

Panasonic WS TVs do this.When in RGB mode they don't switch to 4:3 but to stretched 4:3 mode when viewing a 4:3 program.

I have a Sony WS set which does the same.

Any RGB signal is stretched to fill the 16:9 screen and if you want to watch 4:3 you need to use composite video.

What's more - this is proudly listed in the service manual as a feature...

But the Hitachi should work if the TV is set to 4:3 and the auto switching - which detects "black bars" on the top and bottom of the picture - is switched off as it overrules the correct switching signal from the Sky Box.

My current Samsung WS TV refuses to respond to any switching signals from anything and needs manual switching which is a pain.

Just as Samsung refuses to reply to any e mail asking why it's designed that way...

Thanks Jim and FusionLad for the suggestions, and I have checked all my settings thoroughly once more, but I simply cannot get my set to behave in the way you both say it should.

The "auto" setting on my 28" Hitachi set is very misleadingly named. Far from automatically detecting black bars on a 4:3 letterbox image, responding to any switching signal, or anything remotely clever like that, all it does is simply to engage whatever aspect ratio you have previously selected as the default in one of the set-up menus. Feeble.

If I select 4:3 while watching a 4:3 source, then power down and up again, then select a widescreen channel, I just get a tall and thin 16:9 image squashed into a 4:3 box. Likewise, the television refuses to switch into 4:3 mode from 16:9 if I do the reverse of the above. "Auto" mode, as I say, simply sticks steadfastly in 16:9 or 4:3, irrespective of the nature of the source material, depending solely on my user settings.

I've tried using both the composite PAL and the superior RGB outputs from my Digibox to no avail. By the way, what is the "SCART control" option in the picture settings menu supposed to do? When I switch it on, extremely strange things happen: namely, I cannot watch terrestrial channels, getting instead the correct sound but a scrolling (non-synced, I guess), yellowish, dimmed version of the Digibox output which fades in and out like a graphic effect from Dr Who. I can, however, watch the RGB output via AV1 on the television set, which means the picture is perfectly centred, rather than being offset slightly to the right, which is what happens when I switch SCART control off (which I need to, to watch regional terrestrial services) and use the dedicated RGB input channel on the TV. Any ideas?

My theory is as follows: there are two methods of sending a switching signal to the set, one involving a hidden signal on one of the lines of video, and the other setting the voltage on one the pins in the SCART lead. I reckon my set responds to the former (such as when receiving a 16:9 analogue terrestial film on Channel 4, which, miraculously, does correctly zoom automatically; or when watching the German channels on DSat, which switch happily between 16:9 and 4:3). I guess that with Sky Digital, however, this in-video signal is not sent, only the SCART pin version, and it is this that my Hitachi won't respond to. Does this sound feasible?

Occasionally, when flicking past Channel U, and when Sky News goes to an outside feed, my TV flicks into 4:3 mode. I guess the in-video switching signal is invoked by mistake in these instances. (A while back, Discovery Wings always used to force the TV into 14:9 letterbox mode – bizarre!)

Yes, there are two standards for WSS signals - line 23 video (via composite, s-video, composite scart) and scart pin 8 (RGB scart only). Sky chose to implement only the RGB pin 8 version. See elsewhere on these forums for details.

As an alternative test, have you tried getting a DVD to do the switching? Many DVDs have 4:3 extras available from 16:9 menus (deleted scenes with timecodes are a safe bet) - a good source for a constantly-changing-ratio signal (but again, your DVD player may choose not to implement line 23 WSS).

As for the "Scart Control" option, I believe this is just a classic case of bad labeling - it seems to do two things - an RGB/composite scart option (same as RGB/PAL), and also send a control signal so that when you switch the digibox on the TV switches to AV1 etc. Switching between TV and AV channels a couple of times will cure your rolling picture problems, but not sure why this happens (only that it sometimes does).


Have they changed then? My Panasonic seems to work fine - I'm sure 4:3 feeds can be displayed as either 4:3 or just (use the red/green buttons to select) but I keep in 4:3 as just looks awful, incoming RGB is either 16:9 or 4:3 (then treated as your 4:3/just preference, or zoomed if letterbox).

Wide screen signalling via pin8 doesn't only work with RGB, composite video works just the same... as to how various TV's will respond is another matter.

I know that recent widescreen TV Panasonic models have less viewing modes when using an RGB source...normally you get several modes such as 4/3 - 14/9 - 16/9 - Zoom - 'Just' - Auto.... but when using RGB you might find you only get 4/3 - letterbox zoom and 16/9.... switch the digibox back to composite video and you'll get more aspect viewing modes.

Other TV's do odd things too... some Sharp widescreens are reported as going to 16/9 anamorphic mode whenever an RGB 4/3 image is present... so you get stretched images...

As you say, Sky only use scart socket 1 - pin 8 signalling... whereas many digital terrestrial boxes use line 23 switching (which is better in some respects, especially with video recording)

Yes, my TV is a Sharp and that's exactly what it does. I take it then from all the above replies there's not much I can do about it?

The trick being to get the digibox to output the pin 8 signal in the first place - my digibox is set to speak to the TV in RGB and with WSS, and I never had any reason to try anything else, although I'll bet the RGB on/off option selects between composite (RGB not available) and RGB+composite (TV decides which of the two to show). Maybe that's the secret of the various combinations of scart control and pal/rgb options. Agreed, what your TV does with all those signals is another thing.

It seems madness that anyone would build a TV which refuses to display a 4:3 RGB scart signal (that's gamecube owners stuffed for one, although nintendo seem to want you to play in crappy composite), but then a quick count of the number of scart sockets on the average set suggests that TV manufacturers don't live in the real world...

I use a black 24inch WS Sony. I have a Sony 701 DVD/SACD drive on RGB scart-1, and a Pany 31 Sky box on scart-2 (composite). The VHS is then daisy chained to the Pany. WS switching works very well on both the DVD player and Sky box. The Sky box is set to Widescreen option with scart switching on. If I want to view 4:3 channels as proper 4:3 (not stretchy vision), I just press the manual switch on the Sony tv remote to put the tv into 4:3. When I put a 4:3 prog on the screen (Sky or otherwise), the tv stays in 4:3. When I then play a WS DVD disc or put on a WS Sky channel, the set "jumps" to Wide mode. When going back to the 4:3 progs, the tv will "jump" back automatically to 4:3 mode. I can also choose "SMART" (4:3 stretched to fill the screen) manually on the tv remote. And as before it will change automatically to WS mode and back into SMART again when the content changes.

I can also say that the latest "flat" 24inch Sony Wega also works in the same way. That is currently connected to a Bush 2024 DVD player giving very impressive pictures.

The only *fault* I find is the recording of WS progs from Sky. When playing the tape back, the tv doesn't switch to WS mode automatically. I understand that this a limitation on most Sky boxes in that they only supply the switching signal down the tv scart connector, not the one used for video connection.