Those "Damn Grey Bars" and OAR (1 Viewer)

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

I have a Panasonic Tau Widescreen TV as well. It doesn't have Picture In Picture like the TV you linked to David, it is a smaller older model, but it is a regular TV technology.
Your english/american expression don't mean a thing to me, but I guess it would be a tube. With Clue, the norwegian expressions billedrør and bilderør, which means exactly the same thing in my book is translated as "s. (TV) kinescope, picture tube" and "cathode ray tube (CRT) [edb] display tube" respectively.
Anyway, the point is my Panasonic 32" TAU (Can't remember the model either) uses black bars on the side in 4:3 mode, and I can not see any form of burned in images at all. I have seen burn in on old computer screens so I have a fair image of what it would look like. Posts on HTF actually had me worried about getting a WS set as well, but in the end I figured a WS set was the way to go anyway, as anamorphic DVD's was what I was watching the most anyway. For regular 4:3 image I do not think this is a big compromise at all, my 32" TV still provide a bigger 4:3 frame than any other 4:3 TV me or my family have ever owned. The letdown is letterboxed nonanamorphic widescreen material, but I use the zoom function for this. I lose a little bit of info on the sides, and for 1.85:1 I even lose a little bit on top and bottom (about a centimeter). I could theoretically fix the latter with a kind of manual horisontal squeeze, which do not alter the picture very much in a way that I notice it, but since I can not do the same for the vertical, I leave it alone and just zoom in. This still provide acceptable results even on TV broadcast.

I don't know about anamorphic 4:3 but some DVDs with 4:3 supplements send some sort of flag that tells my TV to automatically drop into 4:3 mode. I'd guess this must be an authoring package issue but apparently if you have RGB connections to your TV it will automatically make these adjustments for you.

On my TV, and I think most WS TV's, it is the other way around. Anamorphic DVD's send a signal to switch to width mode (Can't remember the exact english term as I have switched to Norwegian expressions in the menu) when an anamorphic DVD is inserted, then switch back to the last modus you used when you are playing nonanamorphic material such as extras often is (Except for Anchor bay ) But anyway, because of this mixing anamorphic and nonanamorphic material is not a big issue for me.
Rambled on a bit there with stuff most of you will find uninteresting I guess, but I felt like addressing some of the concerns I had after reading about burn in on HTF for half a year before buying a WS set myself.

 

[David Lambert]

Thanks for all the info, guys. Now we'd better cease and desist before this thread gets moved into hardware!

 

[Artur Meinild]

I always watch DVD's in the OAR, but since I don't have that many DVD's in 1.33:1, it's quite rare that I have grey bars on the sides.

For standard TV viewing, I use a "panoramic" stretch mode to prevent burn-in.

 

[MichaelG]

I have had a 56" widescreen projection TV for over 4 years, and I have watched about 50% in 4:3 mode and 50% anamorphic DVD. So far NO burn-in at all. When I first got the TV I calibrated with VE (immediately after turning contrast from 100->35), then later did an ISF calibration. My contrast is at 38. Since I have a Toshiba it has gray bars on the side for normal TV viewing.

I think that if the TV is properly setup gray bars will prevent uneven burn-in when watching 4:3 sources, at least in my case it has. I have watched using stretch modes from time to time, but generally I watch in OAR for TV. Of course I don't have my TV on 10 hours a day, but in 4 years it has had plenty of use.

 

[Ted Todorov]

It sounds to me that RPTV is definitely not ready for prime time, at least if your belief in OAR is more than just empty words.

Moral: get CRT (tube) based 16:9 sets until plasma, DLP, LCD, etc. are ready for prime time in terms of quality/price points.

And yes, all 16:9 CRTs that I know of use black bars: certainly my Sony WEGA does.

Ted

 

[Richard Kim]

I have a 43" Hitachi 16:9 TV, and the stretch mode sucks. I hate the distortion it causes, and it is apparant when the camera is moving.

Also, if you watch alot of 2.35:1 material on a prejection TV, isn't there more of a risk of burn in since the bars are black instead of grey?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I haven't really understood the reason behind the grey bars; one of my friends had a Toshiba and the grey bars burned in anyway! That's why I've never bought a projection TV though; I don't want to have to worry about what I show on it harming the set. Instruction manuals for video games have always had a "warning to owners of projection TVs" advising that they not be used with them- a number of arcade games have been using projection monitors though and have very obvious burn-in. I have a Donkey Kong with a regular CRT and it has the screen for the game's first level and the scores at the top burned-in, even though the 'demo' mode alternates between high scores and a title screen after showing the game demonstration, but I'm told this takes literally months of continuous operation to happen. I have a Macintosh computer bought in 1987 that has no burn-in at all on it, even though it has shown basically the exact same thing on its screen.

 

[Brian_J]

It sounds to me that RPTV is definitely not ready for prime time, at least if your belief in OAR is more than just empty words.

The whole idea behind OAR is not to force anyone to watch a movie or show in its OAR but to make sure that the original OAR is commercially sold and readilly available. When you get it home you can do any damn thing you want to it for all I care.

And regarding CRT projection sets, there is just too much misinformation in this thread. Just vary your viewing.

Brian