Mark Paquette

A question of settings

I couldn't decide if this question belonged in the Display Devices section or the Audio Video Sources section. Admins please move if I chose incorrectly. I have a Toshiba 50H82 that is connected to a Huges E86 Directv receiver. I'd like some opinions on which settings everyone uses when watching standard 4:3 programming via satellite. On your TV do you use Theater Wide 1,2,3 etc? And on the satellite receiver do you set the picture ratio to 16:9 or 4:3. Also do you use full, cropped or sidebars on the satellite receiver. I've had this setup for a while and I can't decide which combination of these setting provides the best picture.

Mark Paquette

Tim K

well, I don't have satellite but I do have digital cable. For most 4:3 broadcasts I have my cable box output at 16:9 and use the natural wide mode on my TV. It looks pretty good, but I can't speak for your stretch modes. I am not a huge fan of watching 4:3 with side bars.

One thing to be careful of...if you do decide to watch 4:3 material on a 16:9 TV make sure that you let your TV add the sidebars not the cable/sat box. If you set your cable/sat box to 4:3 and output the signal to your TV the sat box will likely add BLACK sidebars whereas your TV would add GREY bars. The grey bars are more desireable because your TV will vary the level of grey with the brightness of the image thereby creating a more even wear on your projector. The pure black bars your box may add will result in uneven wear over time.