Irremovable gray bars

That is done through the remote.

bring up the on screen menu, find the aspect ratio and used the volume buttons to adjust to correct ratio, go ok then exit

CHANGING THE SCREEN ASPECT RATIO: ( From Manual )
The TV can display images in four different modes: Wide, Zoom, Panoramic, and Normal. Each mode displays the picture differently. To change the screen aspect ratio:
1. Press the MENU button on the remote.
2. Use the Arrow buttons to highlight the Wide icon. Press OK.
3. Use the Arrow buttons to highlight your desired screen mode and press OK:
• Normal preserves the content's original aspect ratio. Since the 4:3 aspect ratio is not large enough to fill the TV's screen, black bars are added to the left and right of the display image.
• Wide stretches a 4:3 aspect ratio picture to the edges of the screen. Since the picture is being stretched, the display image may appear distorted. If the program is already formatted for widescreen viewing (1.85:1 or 2.35:1), then black bars will appear on the top and bottom of the display image.
• Zoom expands images with black bars to fit the screen.
• Panoramic expands the display image to fill the screen.
images may appear wider than intended.
If you are watching widescreen (1.85:1 or 2.35:1) content, black bars will still appear on the top and bottom of the display image. This option is only available when the TV is displaying a 480i/480p source.

when the screen ratio is different than the pic ratio, the tv uses gray or black bars to hide the difference, this is normal

Press the "Format" or "Aspect Ratio" or "Wide" button on the remote or look for these options in the display section of your menu. Note that this will normally change only analog signal aspect ratio.

Hi, the aspect ratio is set incorrectly for the source material or the screen is simply set to 4:3 aspect (old TV size) manually. There will be a menu function or an aspect button on the remote for doing this. Set it to auto which is usually good enough for most viewing though the ratio may change during adverts and back again for the film on tv watching. This can be annoying so when on tv mode observe the ratio set when the film is on and manually set this ratio, usually 16:9. The display will normally tell you the ratio setting at the point of change so you can do this. I hope this helps.

Steve at Olive Country Computers in Spain

enter in the menu and change background to black.

It's bad.

Jeff, make sure to check the satellite receiver's set up menu it also has ratio adjustments the need to be set for 16:9 or whatever ratio your comfortable with. Good luck !