Widescreen vs Std 4:3 Page (1 Viewer)

[RussellTodd]

Can anyone lend some guidance as to which is better. I'm sure this topic has been discussed before. However, I am about to purchase an HDTV(not plasma). I typically watch more TV programming(most of which is not HDTV) & play video games more than DVD movies. Although I would like an HDTV in order to get the full experience of HD sports and DVD's. When watching regular programming on a widescreen the picture has to be stretched in order to fill the screen. Otherwise you are left with black lines on the side which I am told will burn your screen even if its not plasma. If I buy a regular 4:3 then when I watch HDTV I get black lines on the top and bottom of the screen. I am told by my local dealer that within 2 years most programming will be available in HD therefore I am better off with a widescreen. However, I am not convinced this is true. I don't want to pay 2k for a widescreen when 80% of what I watch will be in 4:3 format and therby causing me to watch a stretched picture. Conversely, I don't want to pay 2k for 4:3 TV and have it be oboselete in 2 years and everything I watch have black bars at the top and bottom.

Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated. Can someone tell be which brands do the best job of not distorting the picture when stretching a 4:3 picture to fill the widescreen.

Thanks,
Russ

 

[Don_Berg]

Toshiba and Panasonic have an excellent non-linear stretch mode on their widescreen HDTVs. You can also use a zoom mode to fill the screen without any stretching, just cropping on the top and bottom - though you can shift the image vertically to crop off just the bottom for example. The non-linear stretch works very well, it leaves most of the center of the screen close to normal and stretches more on the extreme sides - very good for most shows.

 

[RussellTodd]

I originally posted this thread in the wrong forum. I think it better suited for here.

Can anyone lend some guidance as to which is better. I'm sure this topic has been discussed before. However, I am about to purchase an HDTV(not plasma). I typically watch more TV programming(most of which is not HDTV) & play video games more than DVD movies. Although I would like an HDTV in order to get the full experience of HD sports and DVD's. When watching regular programming on a widescreen the picture has to be stretched in order to fill the screen. Otherwise you are left with black lines on the side which I am told will burn your screen even if its not plasma. If I buy a regular 4:3 then when I watch HDTV I get black lines on the top and bottom of the screen. I am told by my local dealer that within 2 years most programming will be available in HD therefore I am better off with a widescreen. However, I am not convinced this is true. I don't want to pay 2k for a widescreen when 80% of what I watch will be in 4:3 format and therby causing me to watch a stretched picture. Conversely, I don't want to pay 2k for 4:3 TV and have it be oboselete in 2 years and everything I watch have black bars at the top and bottom.

Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated. Can someone tell be which brands do the best job of not distorting the picture when stretching a 4:3 picture to fill the widescreen.

Thanks,
Russ

 

[Michael Reuben]

Russell, I've combined your two threads so that all replies are preserved. In future, if you want a thread moved to a different forum, please ask a moderator to move it; don't just start a new thread. Thanks!

M.