Three questions I need answers to, please:

1.) When you change a channel, a blue screen taking up nearly half the page (somewhere in between a quarter and a half a page, actually) pops up from the bottom of the screen with the time and channel information. Is there any way to turn this off so that it doesn't show up every time I change the channel?

2.) SOME channels, not all, seem to have black stripes at the top and bottom of the screen - I think they're meant for newer, flat screen television sets, but we only have an older TV and those black stripes show up. Is there any way to set it up so that we can get rid of those strips? There's an option to straiten the picture so that it's center, but it doesn't allow me to do anything else beyond just centering.

3.) The channels change so incredibly slowly. WOW! I assume there's no way around this? I'm use to the channels changing as soon as I hit the channel button, but with this new service there's a delay which, IMO, is very, very annoying. Is this something I'll have to get use to or can I make it the way it was, "back in the day?" lol

Thanks!