TM 600 16:9 Widescreen problem

[installer]

the Irish RTE channels are affected also, I have a dm500 clone and the resolution is fine on it but on a tm500 600 its screwed up.

 

[Timbo]

This is interesting, my widescreen problem has fixed itself.

I left the box on all night on the ENTER PIN screen when u press the blue button(accidently) and changed to the music channel Clubland TV and noticed that I was getting all the screen again. Very strange, and I daren't turn off the box in case it goes again lol.

So, try leaving your box on over-night on the pin entry screen and see if that does anything for you!

 

[k217ajw]

Some folk have got confused thinking it's TV related. I can replicate the issue on a 10 year old TV and a 3 month old TV, makes no difference. In fact you can completely take the TV out of the equation by plugging a TM600 directly into a dvd recorder and hitting record, then playing it back on a PC. It will display widescreen correctly on an old UR image and not on the latest UR image. This is using the same test channels on both images.

Yes people are getting confused and its annoying when they keep saying its a tv peoblem.

This is a great bit of detective work mate! I have just loaded the July Technomate Original image (02/07/09) to my receiver and it's the first time I have seen the screen being displayed correctly on a 544x576 - 16:9 channel (in my case I am using the FTA channel "Clubland TV" on 28.2e. Here's a picture of the correctly displayed screen using the Technomate Original Image (02/07/09):

Note how the Clubland logo at the top left is displayed


I have kept all hardware settings / configs exactly the same between flashing the images on the receiver (ports, leads, scart settings, same tv and settings) and just flashed the receiver with the latest UR image and here's the result:

Now, note how the Clubland image at the top left of the screen is displayed

As I said, I have changed nothing between flashing the different software versions, so it HAS to be the software?! I hope this makes sense of what we are currently experiencing. Fine on old flashes, but recent ones don't seem to work correctly

P.S. Please forgive crap quality of images, taken with camera phone

Thanks . I like testing and stuff like this.

@Timbo

UR looked into it and were unable to recreate problem on whatever TV/Display's they were trying on, you might be able to help be sending them the TV it happens on

possibly posting TV manufacturer/model etc might help..

Its very strange how experienced people like them cannot see the problem.

This is interesting, my widescreen problem has fixed itself.

I left the box on all night on the ENTER PIN screen when u press the blue button(accidently) and changed to the music channel Clubland TV and noticed that I was getting all the screen again. Very strange, and I daren't turn off the box in case it goes again lol.

So, try leaving your box on over-night on the pin entry screen and see if that does anything for you!

Interesting, or was it after a fresh install of the image? Remeber the problem is not there until the first reboot of the reciver after a fresh image. Also, when you change to NTSC then back to pal while on one of the problem channels it fixes it. until you got back to a 720 or 702 wide channel then back again. Of course this temp fix will not work on the most recent images as they have taken away NTSC mode.

 

[k217ajw]

This issue is completely unrelated to the TV in use. It's entirely software related. I could replicate it every time when I had the TM600 here. I've had a look at UR's test and noticed they used ITV4 which is a 704x576 res channel which the widescreen issue doesn't affect. I'd like to see this test carried out again on an ITV 544x576 res channel like Border, Meridian, Tyne Tees or Yorkshire and no pin 8 Scart TV switching.

Good point. Just realised they used CITV which i belive is actually ITV4, shares same broadcast channel.

UR need to do their test again with the right (wrong) channel.

 

[wolftje]

It is indeed tiresome...
Like i said before, all is working fine on the following models :
TM5300
TM5400
TM6900
DM500
DM600
DM800
QBoxHD Duolabs

Come on Guys, Please use your common sense and solve this SHITTY BUG
Can't be so hard to get the 16:9 format right no ?
The only way to get this some sort of ok is to select 16:9 with black band up and low the screen. then I have a stretched 16:9 Image on a 16:9 Screen....;


@Digidude,

you have many boxes, can you give me your findings with a tm500/tm600 on a 16:9 widescreen Scart connected, as we are running in circles here ?
I have the feeling that something is embedded on a lower level then the Image itself ? (or maybe a hardware revision ?)

 

[digidude]

what image did this problem start in? as every time i reflash, i do a factory reset first, then twice after, and as yet have been unable to replicate this problem, even on clubland tv

if someone tells me when they think it started, i think someone mentioned july, ill keep loading images on top of each other without resetting anything

 

[wolftje]

Hi Digi,

My TM500 Box Arrived 15 January 2010
I started directly with the UR-image Dec 2009 Image and the problem was there already.

Afterwards i tried other images like Nabilo Darkstar with no good result. Even Gemini (which runs on UR it seems) had the 16:9 problem.
Still I find UR-Image is the best image !

ANother problem arised as well when I installed different images(after installing NabiloDS), I lost my Tm Boot reset Functions... Very Strange !
I can only update via network or serial for this moment beeing. (I cannot reset by pressing the buttons on the front of the TM500)
I even tried the original TM500 firmware but no Go !

 

[digidude]

i have a new bootloader image that ill find and upload for you m8

when i reflash, i always reset via the boot loader menu AND via the remote, but ill try the december image

 

[Timbo]

Just a quick question, but should this box have a standard 4:3 option? In the settings I see 4;3 panscan and 4:3 letterbox but no pure 4:3.

Anyone shed any light on this?

 

[ToneDeff]

not sure what "standard 4:3" would be but, "4:3 letterbox" = black bars added so no picture is missing, "4:3 panscan" = picture cropped so there's no black bars.

 

[digidude]

ok, this is wierd

using clubland tv, on my harwa widescreen tv, no issues at all, but on a samsung widescreen tv (new one, ive always used the harwa before now) i have the issues described, so its a combination of the image AND TVs being used

 

[Timbo]

are u using the same scart lead? see, we weren't making it up

PS - thought u'd blown the tm600 up?

 

[digidude]

i did blow it up m8, this is its replacement

everything is the same, except the TV set

 

[Timbo]

Jeez, that was fast! When selecting your AV settings in the menu what screen sizes are u presented with? I notice that the "16:9" screen size (when on Clubland TV) is the same as the "16:9 panscan" screen size when changing the menu values - try it and see if urs is the same. No idea if that has anything to do with it.

Typo in previous releases is the word "Panscan" on one of the screen size wordings. Has that been corrected in the latest UR release? (maybe needs to be added to bug list, just to make the next release even tidier?)

 

[Timbo]

and another thing, does the problem get "fixed" when u use the earlier July version of the Technomate software when u use it with the Samsung TV?

 

[tonybod]

I've noticed the widescreen problem as well on my TM600.

Toshiba TV, don't know if that makes any difference.

Tony.

 

[tonybod]

I'll experiment with a different scart lead in a short while (and also with component cables) and report back.

Tony.

 

[tonybod]

I used GemsTV as the test station on 28E.

If I select "16:9 letterbox" as the display mode, I get the full picture, but with black bands top and bottom as expected.
But when I then select "16:9 always", 16:9 or any other display mode, the black bands are gone, but the picture is zoomed in so the widescreen part of the picture is cut off (almost as if it has zoomed in on the "16:9 letterbox" picture and in doing so, cut the left/right edges off.

Tried it just now with the scart lead from Argos, and also component cables (YyPbRr or whatever they are called). Same result with both ways of connecting to the TV.

Is this an image/software problem? And is there anyway I can have a go at fixing it myself if it is (script/programming/whatever)?

Thanks in advance,

Tony.

 

[tonybod]

PS. I'm on the latest UR image (March 2010).

 

[Timbo]

read the whole thread mate and you'll find we already know pretty much what you have just put above.

My receiver seems to sort itself out randomly, but then when I need to reboot it or cycle the power it goes back to having the problem.

I think we are now 99.9% certain it's the image that causes the widescreen problem.

To proove this you can load a technomate image or UR image from early July 2009 (make sure the image is for the remote you have)

Give it a go and report back - I am sure you'll find the same as what I (we) have.