Widescreen Question (1 Viewer)

[Alexander Kuch]

Hey guys, I am going to apologize in advance in case this isn't the appropriate forum for this thread.

Ok, if you have a 36 inch sony HD TV, standard 4:3 ratio and you are watching an HD program. So it comes in widescreen, and you get the letter box on the top and bottom. Does that mean you are losing those lines of resolution that the black bars cover up. Is there such thing as V Compression mode for HDTV's? What's the deal.

Second question: Let's say I am watching basketball on TNT and it is broadcasted in HD. I don't have an HDTV in my one house. When I am watching that program on my analog TV via DirecTV, am I receiving that HD signal, I know I am not tuning it because my TV isn't capable of it, but am I receiving it? If I am and it fills my whole screen, is my picture being stretched on my 4:3 TV beacuse HD is filmed in widescreen right?

Thanks

 

[Jack Briggs]

No, you are not receiving the HD broadcast. It's on a different channel from the analog channel to which you are tuned.

So, are you thinking about getting the Sony HDTV?

 

[ChristopherDAC]

To make things a little more clear: you seem to be asking whether a 4:3 HDTV compresses the 1080 visible lines of the input signal vertically to a 16:9 ratio, or whether it downconverts the input signal to 810 lines before displaying it. I believe I can say with confidence that it is the former, a vertical squeeze operation on the deflection circuits which has no practical effect on resolution.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Some early 4/3 HD-ready rptvs did not have the line compression and did indeed only use 810 actual lines to display the picture--notably the Hitachis and Toshibas. This was about 5 years ago. Sony's 4/3 hd ready rptvs and I believe Mitsubishi's did have the line compression.

I don't know of any 4/3 HD ready direct view sets currently available that do not do this squeeze.

 

[Alexander Kuch]

Yes Jack, I have decided on the 34XS, it just has a beautiful picture. I thought it was better than the PLasma XS!