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Question

Netflix programs not displaying Widescreen on UNF6400

Jul 17, 2015 11:22AM PDT

I've been on the phone to both Netflix and Samsung multiple times, for hours, with this issue:
on anybody ELSE's tv, when I use MY account, I can view several programs in "widescreen" (16:9). At my own home, they come up "square".

I've only experienced this with former TV programming (Star Trek, Voyager, Futurama). But before you say "oh - it is recreating the original square format of the programming", let me say that it applies also to post-16:9 programming also (ex: season 8 of Futurama). So while I might expect a show from the 1960's (Twilight Zone) to show up square, I certainly don't expect it of HD programming like "Enterprise".

So after summer travel where I could access MY account on multiple tvs and watch this content in widescreen format, I thought I would outsmart my smart tv at home by accessing netflix using my blu-ray (avoiding the app on the TV entirely), but amazingly it didn't work.

Unfortunately, the Blu-ray player is ALSO Samsung.

So: am I crazy or can others confirm this problem? Samsung and Netflix keep pointing their fingers at each other, and I'm just going in circles.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
PS:
Jul 17, 2015 11:30AM PDT

I've made sure I have the most recent software for the TV, I have deleted and re-added the Netflix app (after also verifying the most recent version)...

there doesn't seem to be anything "wrong" with the TV or my netflix account, the problem is the APP (and since it is developed jointly by netflix and samsung, I get all the reciprocal finger-pointing).

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Answer
hd is extra
Jul 17, 2015 12:35PM PDT

do you pay an extra buck a month for hd streaming?

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Yup I get HD
Jul 17, 2015 2:13PM PDT

I called netflix to double check, as I was grandfathered in and don't pay anything extra, and they said "yes" (which makes sense, since everything else I watch BUT television shows is HD). It was a good thought though.

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Answer
Re: Netflix
Jul 18, 2015 11:13AM PDT

Is it the square size on all titles? If not, some titles are in standard Ratio. Therefore it will not fill the screen fully. This is simply how the signal is being broadcasted. It wouldn't have anything to do with the actual television, as it's just a monitor. It only displays the signal it is receiving.

-- HD Tech

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Original format
Jul 19, 2015 6:02AM PDT

Well this was my thought precisely: when I was watching an old program like "twilight zone", I had no expectations it would be 16:9, but when I watched more recent programs I was confused. Then I used my accounts on older TVs and realized it was just MY tv that was square.

If someone else reading this goes into their own netflix account and pulls up an episode of "Voyager", and can tell me if its square or 16:9, it will support my theory that the issue is specific to the Samsung smart tv (and the Samsung Blu Ray too!)

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The thing is
Jul 19, 2015 7:08AM PDT

I only have Netflix on a Roku. So it works on that. Try it on a PC and/or Roku.