Anamorphic DVD on Panny 51HX41? (1 Viewer)

[Erik J]

My girlfriend and I are looking at getting the Panny 51HX41 4:3 HD set to replace an old Sony 27" CRT. She wants a big screen for sports, I want it for movies. Probably 75% of our viewing will be from the dish (less time for movies now that I have a life).
Does anyone have any information on the 16:9 mode for this set? I was able to get a local dealer to hookup a non-progressive DVD player and the set looked really good with s-video (compared to the piped in signal on all the other tv's). I currently have a non-prog sony DVD player that I'll be using with component cables. Will there be any difference when playing an anamorphic disc over a non-anamorphic disc? We had to set the dvd player to 4:3 letterbox to get final fantasy to fit right. It was doing the horizontal stretch from the 16:9 setting on the dvd player.
If I get a progressive DVD player will the set go into the 16:9 mode or is that only for HDTV? Would a player like the RP91 help in getting the maximum resolution out of this set? Will I see any benefit if I spend the money on a progressive player?
Sorry for the newbie questions, I've spent more time with sound than video

 

[Jesse Leonard]

It does have a 16x9 mode and will accept a progressive signal. And since it does have a 16x9 mode, you will see a difference in anamorphic and non-anamorphic DVD's. I don't know why you had to set the player to 4:3 to get Final Fantasy to play correctly. Perhaps the dealer wasn't familiar with the set.

An RP-91 would be a good choice for this set. It would scale non-anamorphic DVD's for you and give you progressive output. Whether you will see a difference with a progressive DVD player is totally subjective. Some see it as a HUGE upgrade while others claim to not see a difference. I find the difference to be rather big and definetly worth getting a progessive player if the monitor will accept the signal. But, hook up the player that you currently have and see if you are happy with the picture. If you are happy, then enjoy your setup and save your money for future upgrades.