Nimbus

"Starsky and Hutch" is on HBO HD right now and the entire screen is filled. The film was shot in 2.35:1, so there should be the small bars at the top and bottom. Do they normally show OAR on their HD channel? Showtime HD is showing Last Action Hero now and it's in the correct aspect ratio.

The image on S&K doesn't look stretched at all, like most presentations on TNT's HD channel.

I've had my 16:9 HD for about a month and its aspect ratio is set correctly. I just got my HD digital box from Time Warner a couple of weeks ago and never looked at the settings until today. The input signal was already set to 1080i, which is what my TV accepts. Also, the aspect ratio on the box was at 4:3 standard. I changed it to 16:9. Didn't notice a difference in picture. Should I have?

Also, once you set the 16:9 ratio, it asks what to do with 4:3 presentations. I have it to fill the screen rather than sidebar (bars on sides of course). Should this be set with the sidebars?

Nero

No, it doesn't always broadcast the films in OAR. I believe there was some fuming over their cropping of Star Wars 2 as well.

redford

No it doesn't. I noticed this several times. Many of the scope films are reformated to 1.78:1.

Getting OAR will be a never ending battle I'm afraid. One of the reason I dropped HBO was the fact they weren't bothering to show many movies in OAR.

Augustes

No, however Ocean's 12 has been shown in its correct ratio on HBO HD

Nero

Luckily, stations like Showtime will actually put on their website if it's shown in OAR. I don't believe HBO does.

redford

Showtime is much better about OAR than HBO. The best channel for HD OAR is HDNet Movies though. They always show their films in OAR and do not show upconversions. I'm not sure if you get it on TW though.