Buying a new RPTV - Widescreen or not? (1 Viewer)

SandeepS · May 9, 2003

My living room TV (a 6-yr old RCA 27" Tube TV) is approaching its deathbed so with a little help from my parents,financially, I wanna finally indulge into the luxury of big-screen TV's. (preferably Toshiba/Hitachi or Panasonic)

I reckon 42-48" TV's will just suit my apartment. Now this is the first time I'm buying a RPTV so the choice comes down to which mode to buy - Widescreen or regular RPTV?

We normally watch a lot of cable, DVD's and VCR's as gaming needs are fulfilled on my bedroom 27"JVC flat-screen.

I'm also aware of burn-ins associated with RPTV's so the widescreen TV rings a bell as the usual 4:3 programs would be watched with bars on the side, right? And regular RPTV's have a 16:9 compression mode that kinda simulates the widescreen mode(like my JVC 27" Flat screen has)but then most people say, widescreen TV's are the way of the future.
........so very confusing!

What do u guys recommend?

Appreciated

Steve Schaffer · May 9, 2003

Choose what will be the best display for the stuff you care about the most.

This may not necessarily be the stuff you watch the most. If you use regular tv mostly for the news and background noise, but really care the most about how dvd movies look even though you don't get to watch as many as you'd like, go for the widescreen.

While I'd always use the sidebars for classic 4/3 movies, I have no problem using a variable stretch mode for the news or some sitcom.

A 4/3 rptv with squeeze will actually be more subject to burn in when showing widescreen material than a widescreen set showing 4/3 with gray bars.

As long as you keep it out of torch-mode you shouldn't have a problem.

JoeHard · May 9, 2003

I would go with the widescreen.DVD is awsome on widescreen and you can use stretch modes for your cable viewing.If hi def ever becomes available it will be widescreen too.

Rob Tomlin · May 9, 2003

I would strongly recommend the Widescreen. Certainly, if you are going to get an HD ready model, don't get anything other than the Widescreen.

David Preston · May 10, 2003

I just changed from 4:3 to widescreen wouldn't have it any other way now. DVD looks great on wide screen. I don'y miss my old rptv at all.

Inspector Hammer! · May 10, 2003

Another strong vote here for 16x9! As stated dvd's on a 16x9 look incredible, plus you'll be ready for HD as well.

IMO, I don't know why they even bothered making 4x3 HDTV's, HD's native AR is 1.78:1 not 1.33:1.

4x3's are so old school, 16x9 is where it's at.

Michael Silla · May 10, 2003

In another year, this question will be moot in the RPTV world. With that in mind - 16X9 all the way.

Michael.

Frank_Ber · May 10, 2003

Please avoid the full and get a widescreen.

Jan Strnad · May 10, 2003

Gosh, I feel so...unneeded.

Jan

Inspector Hammer! · May 10, 2003

Great link, Jan!

Informative and funny, especially the photo of Laurel and Hardy.

Michael Mathius · May 11, 2003

If dvd's and Hdtv are your main viewing habits then a widescreen is a must. There is still a lot of 4X3 television out there but ask youself which of the two formats will you want to enjoy the most. Then decide.

BenK · May 12, 2003

4x3 shouldnt even be a consideration. 16x9 all the way.

James Edward · May 12, 2003

What they said...

Tyler DJW · May 12, 2003

Choose what will be the best display for the stuff you care about the most.

This may not necessarily be the stuff you watch the most.

That's a great way to put it. I care most about DVDs and they look incredible on a big widescreen RPTV... HDTV looks amazing as well and I watch every last bit of it I can. I still watch 4/3 material that I care about with the sidebars, and everything else in a stretch mode or on another older 4/3 set.

Another vote for 16/9.

Click to expand...

DaViD Boulet · May 12, 2003

Choose what will be the best display for the stuff you care about the most.

This may not necessarily be the stuff you watch the most. If you use regular tv mostly for the news and background noise, but really care the most about how dvd movies look even though you don't get to watch as many as you'd like, go for the widescreen.

Agreed. I say this all the time. So many people say "but we'll be watching more VHS and cable TV than widescreen DVDs" and I always say "But why would you want your display to be *optimized* for your poorest-quality sources and give back-seat to your highest-quality sources like DVD and HD? It doesn't matter what you watch the most of...it matters what you WANT to look its best."

here's another objective way to think about this:

If you go 4x3, then your (generally crappy) 4x3 stuff is HUGE and so you have to adjust your seating to get a watchable picture (farther away) from the screen. Now you switch to an WS DVD or HD image. Your much higher-quality picture which *should* allow you to sit much CLOSER to the set to enjoy...is now *smaller* than your regular programming...and so relatively even *father* away from your line of sight.

Trust me...the "WOW" factor is no where to be seen when you switch to a WS DVD on a 4x3 TV when your friends come over. Instead, you end up appologising for the small picture and having to explain (defend) the merits of OAR and letterboxing while they all say "but it's too small".

Contrast this with a 16x9 display. You've watched cable TV with it's less-than-remarkable PQ. Now you switch to a WS movie on DVD or HD. Suddenly your image gets BIGGER *and* hihger-quality at the same time. This is the "WOW" factor my friends and it makes objective sense...the highest-quality images are displayed with the relative largest size allowing your one seating distance to make sense no matter what the program material (in general).

Now all your friends start asking how much you paid for your 16x9 set and starting saying things like "WOW...I never knew that DVDs really could look that good...I can't wait until we need to get a new TV!".

What's even better?

if you have a light-controlled room (can make it dark) to go with a 16x9 *projector* and *really* get the WOW.

-dave

Click to expand...

ManW_TheUncool · May 12, 2003

I agree w/ the 16x9 crowd for the most part, which is why I ended up w/ a 16x9 Panny RPTV 6 months ago.

HOWEVER, you should be aware of some additional caveats when shopping. One is that if you have lots of non-anamorphic, letterboxed DVDs (or LDs for that matter), you should shop for an RPTV w/ a good zoom mode OR at least has DVI/HDCP input. Actually, at this late date, there's really no good reason to skip DVI/HDCP anyway--so if you're looking at Panny, wait til the summer when the new ones come out.

The reason why DVI/HDCP matters for this is that some DVD players w/ scaling capabilities are coming out now, but require the DVI interface (and probably DVI/HDCP in most cases) for this. So if the TV doesn't have a good zoom mode, having DVI/HDCP should open up your choices of DVD players--currently, players that scale AND offer top notch PQ via component output is non-existent.

_Man_

Bill Will · May 12, 2003

16:9

4:3

DaViD Boulet · May 13, 2003

HOWEVER, you should be aware of some additional caveats when shopping. One is that if you have lots of non-anamorphic, letterboxed DVDs (or LDs for that matter), you should shop for an RPTV w/ a good zoom mode OR at least has DVI/HDCP input. Actually, at this late date, there's really no good reason to skip DVI/HDCP anyway--so if you're looking at Panny, wait til the summer when the new ones come out.

Excellent points. I know that many (almost all right now) digital Front-projectors have DVI (HDCP compatible) inputs and allow full aspect-ratio adjustment with these inputs (and since that's where most of my attention has been I guess I never thought about this regarding RP sets).

-dave

Click to expand...

DaveF · May 13, 2003

I'll be the voice of dissent and advocate the 4:3 screen format. When I bought my 36" Sony Wega last year, I decided against widescreen models for these reasons:

* I watch much more TV than DVDs (which also implies that I really do care more about TV than movies) and I wanted my money spent to most benefit my primary viewing material.

* The 16:9 "squeeze" mode doesn't "kinda" simulate a widescreen set, it provides a true, widescreen picture equivalent to the picture on a widescreen set of similar diagonal size.

* 4:3 TVs were less expensive than widescreen TVs, for a give *widescreen* diagonal size! I got a larger widescreen TV by buying a 4:3 TV! That's generally been the case for the past few years, but perhaps it's no longer so.

* Widescreen TV broadcast may be the future, but they are not the present. I don't have any widescreen HD broadcasts in my area, and I prefer to buy according to what is, not what might (or might not) be.

* My purchase decision is mostly driven by functionality. I don't care that 16:9 is considered "cool" compared to the "old skool" 4:3.

Regardless, enjoy your purchase!

Richard Paul · May 13, 2003

HDTV will be big in the future though even today the majority of HDTV buyers don't watch HDTV on their sets. Of course for the San Francisco area there are over eight DTV stations (looked it up at the National Association of Broadcasters website). Anamorphic DVD's look wonderful on a widescreen HDTV but 4:3 material will have grey bars on the side. The grey bars on widescreen HDTV's are there to help prevent burn-in since they help prevent uneven burning of the CRT's phosphorus (though adjusting brightness is still very much recommended). All 4:3 HDTV's can do 16:9 compression but this can burn in a set as well and most 4:3 HDTV's have around 810i resolution instead of 1080i on 16:9 HDTV's. I VERY much recommend that you buy a HDTV with DVI-HDCP though if you wait till September Panasonic will be releasing some HDTV's with HDMI (same as DVI-HDCP but carries audio and control data). HDMI is supposed to make it simpler to control components though I still haven't heard anyone who knows what it can control and to what extent

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