LCD TV Widescreen

[dirtydwarf]

Hey all, was gonna buy a LCD in a few days and just had a question..I know they are shaped and made for the widescreen aspect to fit perfectly on their screen, but if you have a non-widescreen version of a movie on dvd does it come out distorted?? Or does it just not use the entire length of the screen?

[axlish]

You'll need one with a "zoom" function in order to blow it up.

[SymphonicX]

some 4x3 images will have black bars on the side

[MinionZombie]

Or you can just use the resize button on the remote to widen then image out - which is what I do - you really don't notice it after the first 5 minutes, trust. :)

[Skippy911sc]

Or you can just use the resize button on the remote to widen then image out - which is what I do - you really don't notice it after the first 5 minutes, trust. :)

Most tvs have several options for this...the black bars on the side as was stated above is the way it should be viewed to keep the correct aspect ratio. I have seen the image stretched out and to me that is a horrible crime...I cannot stand an image that is not in correct aspect ratio...and on tbs or spike or something like that they do this all the time (the HD version of the channels) I turn on a pretty decent movie and blah! stretch...my tv changes the image on its own so the non hd channels come in with the black bars and the hd ones are full 16x9...however many movies out there that are shot in widescreen are still a little different than the size of the tv and will result with smaller black bars on the top and bottom ala letter-box.

[MinionZombie]

See this is the odd thing, I'm a big fussy-pants over having the correct ratio, but I seem to really mostly only be bothered about widescreen stuff getting cropped to fit 4:3 (pan & scan) or 4:3 stuff being cropped to fit 16x9 (essentially, the new Pan & Scan for DVD).

However, it annoys me watching 4:3 on a 16x9 telly, I just stretch it out, I know it's stretched, but I don't notice it most times. It is annoying though when many channels do widescreen, but they don't do it properly, they do it somewhere between 4:3 and 16x9, so you're screwed either way! :mad:

Then of course indeed, there's films in 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 on a 16x9 TV. You change the setting to wide, but cos it's 16x9 you still get black bars of course - however that I'm fine with, cos you're getting the correct ratio anyway, and I always liked have the black bars at the top and bottom to be honest, I duno why, I just like them...makes a widescreen film seem more natural to me I guess ... probably from watching widescreen stuff on a 4:3 TV for all those years...

[GhostWolf]

I recently purchased a polaroid 32 inch LCD widescreen. It has a function to change the screen aspect between wide, zoom and full screen. I've not noticed any distortion when using the full screen aspect. Was under the impression that this was a common feature.

[MinionZombie]

Well when you take a 4:3 image on a 16x9 and then widen it out to fill that TV screen horozontally, the vertical aspect hasn't changed, but obviously the horozontal aspect has, so essentially everybody will appear wider than they do in reality ... however, I use that all the time for 4:3 programming and rarely notice the difference to the point that it bothers me.

[Legion2213]

My Plasma has several options, I think all LCD/Plasmas have 'em.

I usually use the zoom feature or the corect 4:3 ratio...sometimes I just leave it stretched, as others have said, you quickly get used to the stretched image, but there are options if you simply must watch 4:3 films in the corect 4:3 ratio.

Oh, and it's only my opinion, but I'd go for a plasma over an LCD, they look better to my eye and I am told they ghost less (I've never seen any ghosting on my plasma)


MZ...I always liked have the black bars at the top and bottom to be honest, I duno why, I just like them...makes a widescreen film seem more natural to me I guess

Yeah, the black bars seem natural to me as well, probably for the same reasons they do to you, years of watching WS on a 4:3 TV. But I ain't complianing when all 42 inches of the screen are filled with the picture in the corect ratio.:)

[Neil]

I've found on my Sony LCD, and Panasonic Plasma, setting the TV to 4:3 seems to work a treat. All 16:9, 16:10 and widescreen stuff means the sets adjust to the appropriate setting... And then when you watch something 4:3, yuo see it in 4:3 (with bars down the let/right).

[Skippy911sc]

I've found on my Sony LCD, and Panasonic Plasma, setting the TV to 4:3 seems to work a treat. All 16:9, 16:10 and widescreen stuff means the sets adjust to the appropriate setting... And then when you watch something 4:3, yuo see it in 4:3 (with bars down the let/right).

Thats exactly how my 60 inch Sony works. If the image is in HD it automatically switches to fill the entire screen (in most cases) and if it is SD it has the Bars on the side. There are some exceptions, some shows on TBS or TNT show in HD and yet are 4x3 so they are distorted on the TV and CNN HD often has bars on the side of the screen with CNN HD printed on them. Just find a TV that looks good in both HD and SD and you will be happy.

[MinionZombie]

See, now if I had a 60inch telly, I wouldn't mind bars down the side for 4:3 stuff ... but I don't ... I've got a 20inch telly, so I stretch it out, otherwise I might as well be watching a 14inch CRT like I used to back in the day in my bedroom on Friday nights trying to make out Emmanuelle's minge on the muffed up Channel 5 transmission. :lol:

[Neil]

See, now if I had a 60inch telly, I wouldn't mind bars down the side for 4:3 stuff ... but I don't ... I've got a 20inch telly, so I stretch it out, otherwise I might as well be watching a 14inch CRT like I used to back in the day in my bedroom on Friday nights trying to make out Emmanuelle's minge on the muffed up Channel 5 transmission. :lol:

My Sony (in the bedroom) is 20", and I have to watch 4:3 in 4:3. Gets on my nerves to much seeing all those short squished fat people...

[MinionZombie]

My Sony (in the bedroom) is 20", and I have to watch 4:3 in 4:3. Gets on my nerves to much seeing all those short squished fat people...
It's definitely not that bad! :p

[Skippy911sc]

I have a hard time with a widescreen image cut to pan and scan...its the movement of the screen or something...my wife does not notice this but I get chills and usually turn it off.

[MinionZombie]

Aye that's the scanning part, there was a great feature on the Die Hard DVD where they showed the true image and then showed it cropped to 4:3 in pan & scan and how it adds in camera movements that were never intended, as well as drastically reducing the clarity of the image itself.