Widescreen TV's (1 Viewer)

[david-drtspike]

I plan on getting a new TV soon. I don't know whether to stick with 4:3 or not. Is widescreen worth it? And will the picture be distorted much when watching a regular TV broadcast on widescreen?

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

All widescreen TVs have a mode which allows you to format 4:3 broadcasts with unused space on the sides, preventing any distortion at all. This would be the "proper" way to watch 4:3 formatted material-- sets also offer various methods of stretching and zooming to reformat the picture.

I think 16x9 is the only way to go, personally, but I guess it is a question of what your viewing habits are and will be.

 

[Michael Reuben]

You may want to look at a recent thread entitled Regretting my RPTV 16:9 purchase . It underscores the importance of carefully assessing your viewing habits before choosing what shape screen to buy.
M.

 

[PaulSmith]

Another thing to keep in mind. If you take a 53" 4:3 ratio TV and make 16:9 with the black bars, the TV becomes a 48" letter box. Not a terrible loss.
A 53" 16:9 ratio TV becomes a 45" 4:3 ratio TV with the black bars. A slightly bigger loss.
It was these calculations (plus the cost difference between the the two) that made me go with the 53" 4:3 TV.

Hope this helps,
Paul

 

[Michael Lomker]

It depends upon what you'll be watching. Since I upgraded to HDTV I find that I rarely watch regular TV anymore. I spend most of my time watching the HDTV movie channels (most shows are 16:9) or watching DVD's (most of which are widescreen these days).

I think Paul did his measurements using 16:9 material. That isn't very accurate with DVD's since most of the big pictures are released in 2.3 or 2.4:1. Those movies look MUCH better on the 16:9 set than on a 4:3.

 

[Alex Prosak]

Another thing to consider is that HDTV is broadcast in 16:9 format. While you may not have it in your market yet, you should soon and should strongly consider the 16:9. I recently bought a widescreen RPTV and have not regretted it a bit. Also, if you watch regular 4:3 in the standard 16:9 format, it streches everything across the screen evenly. You get used to it after awhile but I do find that I rarely just sit down to watch TV, pretty much movies.

 

[DanaA]

To me, 16:9 is the way to go. I don't watch an enormous amount of broadcast TV, but rather usually use my TV for DVD. I can't really imagine the benefit of 4:3 in that circumstance.

 

[Jack Keck]

DanaA,

About half of my DVD collection is the set of Monty Python tv shows, which don't play in widescreen. I will perobably collect more old tv shows than movies, but I still can see to point of widescreen tv. I woiuldn't wantto watch a movie any other way.

 

[DanaA]

Oops, I didn't even consider TV shows on DVD. I have to look into that. There're an awful lot of old TV shows that I'm fond of, but, to my recollection, the only DVD we have of one is of the old Maverick and I still haven't gotten around to watching it yet.