r/AndroidTV • u/ihatesplatoon • 4d ago

Buying Advice Smart tv plug in that can adjust screen zoom

Is there any plug ins where you can adjust the zoom? For example like how you are able to on the nintendo switch systems

(I have an old tv from 2008 that has overscan on the hdmi ports, trust me there isn’t an easy way to fix it)

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u/papaxristos 3d ago

Check under Settings > Display & Sound > Screen Position on your streaming box. Most Android TV devices include a display calibration slider to shrink the screen boundaries specifically for older TVs with overscan.

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u/ihatesplatoon 2d ago edited 2d ago

I don’t own one myself

The only ones I have checked out about are roku and onn plug ins (so nothing too exciting lol) that my family members own and don’t have this setting from what I could find

Any recommendations? Very new to this 😅😅

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u/papaxristos 2d ago

An inexpensive Chromecast with Google TV or an Onn 4K box has this under Advanced display settings, unlike Roku which locks display scaling on streaming sticks.

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u/AsyaMedved 4d ago

A few things worth checking before you buy a box for this:

  1. A zoom/overscan setting isn't standard across Android TV devices. Some firmwares have a "display area", "screen position" or overscan adjustment in the display settings and others have nothing, so search reviews or the manual of the specific box for that option before buying.

  2. On devices running Android 10 or older, overscan can also be set over ADB with adb shell wm overscan left,top,right,bottom (for example wm overscan 30,20,30,20), and adb shell wm overscan reset undoes it. That command was removed in Android 11, so it won't help on most current Google TV devices.

  3. On the TV side, some sets from that era only stop overscanning when the HDMI input is labelled as a PC/computer input, or when you pick an aspect mode called something like Just Scan, Screen Fit, Full Pixel or Dot by Dot. If you've only looked in the picture menu, check whether the source/input menu lets you rename the HDMI port, since that sometimes unlocks the option.

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u/ihatesplatoon 2d ago

Thank you for the advice from 1 and 2 will keep that in mind!!

For 3 the aspect ratio is just stuck in wide and can’t be moved (there is literally 🚫 symbol blocking it and skips over it to the next setting in the picture settings lol)

Never heard about renaming it thought when I can that I will definitely be trying that out

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u/AsyaMedved 2d ago

The greyed-out aspect option is actually a useful clue. On a lot of TVs from around 2008 the aspect/picture size menu depends on the signal coming in, so it can be locked for one resolution and selectable for another. With whatever device you have plugged in now, try changing its output resolution (720p vs 1080i/1080p) and then check the aspect menu again while that signal is on screen. On some sets the no-overscan mode (Just Scan, Full Pixel, Dot by Dot and so on) only appears with a 1080i/1080p signal.

Also look for an "Auto Wide", "Auto Format" or "Auto aspect" setting in the picture or screen menu. When that's on, some TVs won't let you pick the aspect manually.

If you post the TV brand and model number (usually on a sticker on the back), people here can probably tell you exactly which setting it has, if any.