I am sure Mark will not mind me publishing what I said in the two PM's as requested by Phil.
I initially said
The whole area of picture formatting has been a problem area for B&O and they never really got it 100% correct until the Mark II AVANT DVD. That said, a lot depends on which version of AVANT VCR you have and the software version in your Beolink Video.
AVANT VCR had two versions which means the 4 digit "Type" number will either be 840X for a Mark I or 842X for a Mark II -- Please confirm which you have.
Also, on the back of the AVANT will be in very small print on a blue background the software version, we need to know this
Finally, on the back of the Beolink Video will also have a software version which I hope will say at least version 1.3, please confirm
Mark replied to say he had a Type 8423 with software version 3.5
I then replied and said
Whilst I did not mention it in my previous PM, there is also a Mark III version which has the same "Type" numbers as the mark II because it was only a software update.
So, you either have a Mark II or Mark III AVANT VCR and we can only tell which you have by the serial number. The Mark III was introduced around May 1999 as from serial number 13868421, so if your serial number is after that number, then you have a Mark III which is good.
The latest TV software version is 3.6 and there was two revisions between 3.5 and 3.6 and neither effected picture formatting.
The Mark III versions were delivered with 15:9 Format from the factory. If you have a Mark III after the serial number above then it will be possible to change the default format from 15:9 to 14:9 individually for each programme in the TV tuning menu.
Also if you have a Mark III then format handling changed from the Mark II, so that instead of 6 formats you have only 3 main format possibilities. Do you have 3 or 6 formats on your AVANT ?
I am awaiting Mark's response to my last PM yesterday.