Left and Right Sides of TV Picture Cropped

FWIW - The manual was the most difficult ever to obtain on-line.

The u-verse zoom setting should have no impact on menu/guide display.

with HDMI connection & widescreen TV thee u-verse aspect should be set to either of the two HD settings.

The tv picture size (page 38) shoule be set to full (most likely) or natural.

Thank you, Ace-Master -

The settings you suggest are what I have in place, now - Natural for the TV picture. I also tried the TV picture setting at Full, with no luck. The picture is still cropped on the left and right sides.

I agree with you that getting the Toshiba TV 19LV61OU owner's manual online is a challenge. I couldn't find my paper copy that came with the TV and tried to find it this past weekend through the Toshiba web site. I didn't find a PDF version of the manual there, but did find it for free on another website. I printed it off and saved it as a PDF in my documents on my computer.

I will try calling U-Verse Technical Support. I did see through the eHow web site that as of April 1, 2011 (hope it isn't an April Fool's joke) AT&T Tech Support Agents can adjust TV picture Aspect Ration settings remotely.

@Jeannie_DI do think it is the TV setting & not U-verse settings. & those cannot be changed remotely by u-verse techs. The announcement is refering to STB settings that affect the TV.

There is another complication I saw with your TV - the use of a computer on the HDMI input. I cannot really get into it without having the TV to work with. I thought it said natural would only apply when using a computer & be greyed out otherwise. Whereas Full would apply to TV.

Some things for you to try -

Can you find a menu item to reset the TV to factory default?

Can you try it with component cables? You can steal RCA cables from another (stereo) use in the house. You only need the three video connections, not the two audio to test. Possibly even get away with one video cable if you get a picture on one of the three connections?

Can you see if you have a setting for the computer connection I mention above & make sure you are not using it?

Maybe contact Toshiba?

I googled toshiba picture too big for screen & got this result - https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=Toshiba+picture+too+big+for+screen&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=&gws_rd=ssl

I found another setting on the TV on page 43 - Auto aspect turn it on or turn it off to see if it has an impact.

To get manual at Toshiba

Toshiba.com

click support

Enter model number in box

click Go, get error

place cursor at end input

delete a couple of chars, select model number from top of list

Manuals & specs is grey box on right down page - click

click on - Toshiba On-Line Users Guide for 19lv610u 22lv610u 26lv610u 19lv611u 22lv611u

Thank you, aviewer -

I've tried the TV Reset, to reset the picture back to the original factory settings, many times (since the cropped picture problem began this past weekend), with no postitive result - meaning: the TV picture remains cropped on both the left and right sides after Reset and then after choosing what seem to be the proper picture size/Aspect settings.

On my TV, the Full picture mode stretches the picture out making all the people in the picture look overly "chubby." Natural is the one that does not stretch the image out and distort it. It is the setting I had for the TV picture before the cropping problem occured.

I've made sure I am not using the computer connection. Also, prior to posting my problem, I tried changing out the cable and HDMI connections.

I will check out the link you provided and see what other possible solutions are given.

Thank you for your time. It's a little problem with my TV, but extremely annoying as I know the picture was fine before this weekend's goof.

Thank you, mythoughts -

My TV does have picture size/Zoom options, but they do not give the number ratio options you state. My old TV had those, so I know what you are talking about.

Thank you for the tip on the cost of an AT&T Tech visit. I won't call AT&T U-Verse tech support. 🙂

Trying to get hold of a Toshiba service representative by telephone may be the final option.

Thank you, aviewer -

I've tried the change of the auto Aspect more than once since the picture problem began, too.

Thank you for your diligence in finding the Toshiba TV Model 19LV61OU user's manual on the Toshiba site. I'm not sure why the company makes finding the manual on their web site so difficult. It doesn't give me much hope if I finally need to contact a Toshiba service representative in person.

By the way, this weekend when I went to the Toshiba site to find the owner's manual for my TV, when I followed aviewer's steps outlined above, and then clicked on the Manuals & Specs tab, I got no results to click on, as the web page now gives:

Toshiba On-Line Users Guide for 19lv610u 22lv610u 26lv610u 19lv611u 22lv611u

How annoying is that? I did find the PDF version of the manual through a non-Toshiba site this past weekend.

I got off the phone with a Toshiba TV service representative about 10 minutes ago. She suggested trying to play a DVD on the TV (it's a TV/DVD player combination unit) to see if the picture cropping (side cropping) problem existed with the DVD images.

I ran a DVD and while it was playing I tried all the picture size variations for the TV. I couldn't tell if small parts of each side of the DVD images were cropped or not. I chose the best picture choice for viewing the DVD and left that as the TV picture settings.

I ejected the DVD to check the TV pictures. The left and right sides are still cropped.

The Toshiba TV service representative told me that if after viewing a DVD and checking the picture size for DVD viewing, the TV picture was still cropped, then the problem may be with the the HD cable TV service - which for me is AT&T U-Verse. Sigh . . .

I'm going to wait until the replacement U-Verse remote comes and then, I will telephone U-Verse technical service.

Note: I did find the Toshiba troubleshooting and community help forums. They gave the same advice for resetting the TV picture as I found in the TV owner's manual and on other web sites.

I've also tried unplugging all the connections from the TV, along with the TV power cord and re-connecting them.

So far, nothing seems to fix the cropped picture problem.

Thanks for keeping us up to date & discussion brings other ideas.

I hope you have another STB that you can try on the Toshiba. Is it easier to move the Toshiba or the STB? Try the STB now connected to the Toshiba on the other TV & vice-versa.

Kudos to you for your persistence & seeking other avenues.

I can't believe I did not mention the aspect setting when talking about the zoom in an early post.

I do see that MT mentioned it, but not in that detail.

The thing is, if you are set on widescreen SD, you are not optimizing your picture. It is a very good picture. But, I believe it will be better on one of the two HD settings.

Your previous setting must have been one of the first two, not one of the last three. You should try the HD settings. You can always go back.

Since you have changed it, you know you have to move the cursor to accept the change after the test.

Thank you for your advice, aviewer. I will try out your suggestions.

As you can tell from my posted solution, I like step-by-step instructions, as do many people. I write out any instructions I provide to someone like I would write the directions for a recipe. That is how I learned to provide technical writing.

To aviewer -

I did use the U-Verse remote and the MENU button (as I outlined in the solution I found and posted step-by-step) to try out the HD settings. They set my TV picture into a side cropped mode, again - both HD choices. So, the one I determined worked for my TV and U-Verse settings is the one that works for me.

By the way, my thoughts mentioned the GUIDE button on the U-Verse remote, not the MENU button. I tried the suggetion from my thoughts, which did not get the proper solution.

I've printed off the picture cropping solution for my TV and am keeping it with my hard copy Toshiba TV owner's manual. I have both the manual (PDF version) and the cropped picture solution (Word document) saved in my Toshiba file on my computer.

Again, my thanks to you and to my thoughts for your time and input.

Thank you for all of this information.  We spent quite a bit of time on the phone with support, reset the DVR box twice and finally I did  a search of the problem and came upon this.  The same solution worked for us and we had the same issues with trying to use either of the HD settings even though we have a wide screen HD TV that isn't that old.  So we have to lose some of the HD resolution if we want to be able to read the guide.