Hi, I have a Roku Express playing on an 4:3 tv. Connected by RCA input.
I've had this set up for several years (Previously had an older Roku before the current one, which was purchased a couple years ago.)
It would always display HD movies and programming in widescreen (letterbox) when the 4:3 display option was selected. Several weeks ago, some weirdness was going on, like Prime would only play audio with no picture and nothing seemed to fix it. When I tried it again several days later, that problem seemed to resolve itself, because Prime was playing. So, I'm not sure if it's related, but I then noticed that everything was playing back in "fullscreen" mode with the picture being squashed. It doesn't matter what setting I have the display options set at. It's the same problem.
Any suggestions? (Other than "get a new tv!")
Thanks.
Have you tried changing the aspect ratio to “16:9 widescreen”, then back to “4:3 standard”? If that does not fix the issue, viewing in fullscreen mode is probably caused by viewing content (most content recorded back when 16:9 did not exist yet) that was recorded in 4:3.
Also, the Roku Express only has HDMI output, so if you are on “4:3 standard”, you actually have a Roku Express+.
Please let me know if this solution fixes your issue. Thanks!
~Jordan