Help with my E44W46LCD!!

[cops33178]

I recently purchased an E44W46LCD. In the price and size range it was great, and the image LOOKED great. I got home and I hooked it up to my regular cable, (im trying to get HD but im just researching companies) and the picture looked not so good. I don’t know how to explain, but it looked like every pixel was stretched, or that the image had been stretched to fit the screen. The problem is that LCD Projectors are not supposed to stretch images so im kind of not satisfied with the image. Anyway any of you can help me with this?? Like I said have regular cable that my neighborhood includes. It uses a coaxial cable that comes out of the wall directly onto the TV...

Thanks in advanced,

Carlos Pernia.

[av8torjim]

Carlos,

I purchased the same set a little over a week ago. I'm extremely pleased with it. I'm not sure I understand your problem, but will try to address it. First, with standard definition (SD) television, the set looks OK but not great. My older JVC 4:3 CRT television had a much better picture with straight SD broadcasts. The Zenith's picture is much better with a progressive scan DVD player and is amazing with a real HD feed. I'm using Time Warner Digital Cable and real HD broadcasts are truly fantastic. NFL football games on Fox are breathtaking, particularly with the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

As for the stretched pixels, are you viewing SD in 4:3 mode or using the 16:9 mode? The other options, Horizon and Zoom 1 and Zoom 2 may be better for you if you are using 16:9 for SD broadcasts. The 16:9 mode simply streches the 4:3 picture to fill the screen, which distorts everything a little. The Horizon mode leaves the center of the screen normal and stretches only the right and left edges, which is fine with a broadcast without much movement. If you are watching a sporting event, for example a basketball game, where the action moves back and forth across the screen, the Horizon mode can be very distracting. The Zoom 1 mode cuts off the top and bottom of the streched 4:3 picture, so you lose information at the top and bottow of the screen. Not sure exactly what the Zoom 2 mode does. My advice if the stretching bothers you is to watch 4:3 broadcasts in 4:3 mode. It's still the equivalent of a 37" diagonal screen.

Keep in mind that even when you get a HD feed, most television is not broadcast in HD (and especially not in true HD) so you need to find a preferred way to watch SD broadcasts. Good luck!

Jim