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CRTLover
New Contributor
6 years ago

Support for Motorola DCH3416 ending - Do Contour Boxes Have Same Zoom?

Cox support told me that support for the Motorola DCH3416 boxes will end in Omaha next year. If so, Cox needs to supply Contour boxes with component connections (not just composite like they are now). Not everyone has a TV with HDMI, and composite does not have as good a picture as component. Please do not screwover customers who do not have a TV with HDMI.

Also, the DCH3416 has a zoom feature (when outputting 480i, accessed in the menu) that deals with non-widescreen video which is stuck into a widescreen channel. When viewed on a non-widescreen TV, such video appears as a tiny image in the middle of the screen and is unwatchable. The Motorola DCH3416 zoom will zoom the picture and crop the blank space to restore this video to its original size. (Fills a non-widescreen TV,  without stretching anything out of porportion, the way the non-widescreen videos were originally shot.) On the Contour 2, the zoom option and user interface appears to be disturbingly similar to Comcast's horrible boxes that I saw when visiting someone out of state. The "full" option on the Comcast simply stretches the picture vertically and out of porportion, and is totally useless. Does the Contour 2's "full" option stretch vertically and out of porportion on non-widesceen (4:3) TV setting, or does it actually crop/zoom like the DCH3416? IF the zoom feature isn't on the Contour boxes or the Contour box just does a vertical stretch, many things would be unwatchable and I'd have to seriously consider canceling when those boxes are forced on me.

Examples of the  zoom on the Motorola DCH3416 are below. This is the zoom I'm looking for.  (The non-contour mini boxes also zoom the same as the DCH3416, but on the mini boxes it is accessed by pushing the zoom button on the remote twice.) Note the zoom always works on HD channels being downconverted to SD, but only works on some SD channels. (But it works on most of the SD channels I need it for.) Does the Contour 2 "full" option for zoom do exactly the same thing as the DCH3416 zoom shown below?

UNWATCHABLE: Non-widescreen show shrunken to middle of screen on non-widescreen TV.

ZOOM function accessed on DCH3416 box.

With DCH3416 zoom activated: Picture now normal for non-widescreen show on non-widescreen TV. Notice it was NOT stretched vertically or horizontally, but the blank space was cropped and image zoomed to its original size as it was originally shot.

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1 Reply

  • Hello CRTLover, We can understand not wanting to upgrade a set just due to compatibility issues. We would not have the answers to the two main questions today. Production teams are always working on improvements with our products. Meaning a feature that you do not see today, could be available at a later date. As for the port concerns on the receivers themselves, this could also change but would be more in line with the manufacture of the actual equipment and if those improvements will be added on later as demand grows to have them implemented. Dan S. Cox Support Moderator