I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago - I was able to fix the problem by changing the DisplaySize parameters in XF86Config. Refer to: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/archive/MythTV_C2/Users_F11/Vertical_letter_boxes_on_playback_%28Epia_M10000%29_P105230/ (or just search for "black bars" in the MythTV archives) -Brent