Having invested in Masterlink to allow me to distribute signals from my Avant around the house, initial tests are disappointing.

The Avant VCR in the main room connects via Masterlink and BeoLink Video to each MX3500. The Avant sources (DVD and STB - all non-B&O) are set to LetterBox, in order to drive the Avant correctly. However, the Avant is clearly transmitting LetterBox on the RF output, which produces long faces on the MX3500s.

I can't believe that this is how B&O intended the system to work - I certainly didn't buy all this kit in order to get distorted pictures in the Link Rooms.

How can I get the Link Room pictures to look right?  I assume that there must be some adjustment to either the Avant to transmit 4x3 or to each MX3500 to display a 16x9 picture correctly.

Mark 

Only on the most recent B&O 4:3 TVs you can set the format. Otherwise you need to set the source to 4:3 for the whole system.

p.

That suggests that I've just wasted rather a lot of money.

Mark 

Mark,

I have answered the PM you sent me..

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.