Why get a widescreen?

[Tom_BZ]

Why even get one when there is still black shades on the top and bottom on some and most of my DVDs. I know about the different ratios but come on your going to get burn in when watching braveheart for 3 hours. I know the zoom fiture but it looks dumb. I do like that my tv has "just" setting where the middle of the screen is normal shape for 4:3 and the edges are stretched. What can you do? Nothing I guess. Any comments.

[Jester]

I guess I'm lucky that most of my DVDs are 1.85:1 and look great on my new widescreen. But don't let the hype about burn-in scare you too much. I just retired a 50" Mits 4:3 RPTV that I have had for 9+ years to the basement and it shows NO SIGN of burn-in at all. I have been watching 3-4 widescreen DVDs per week the whole time. Just make sure that you purchase a quality set, watch 4:3 material stretched and CALIBRATE it properly to avoid overdriving the picture and the burn-in will stay away. It takes a lot more than 3 hours of watching to age your phosphors.

Sometimes the hype surrounding burn-in can take on a life of its own. It's like believing that you are going to get mugged everytime you go outside because that's all you see on the news. I am of course not implying that it is not real, but let's keep it in perspective.

[phenom]

I nearly shuddered when I read the thread subject.

:D

[BrianW]

I am going to asume that most of your DVD movies are live action and in an aspect ration of 2.35:1 which is wider then the regular 16:9 (or 1.85:1). This is why you still see little black bars on a widescreen tv. Now if this is your concern why would you suddenly want to jump back to a 4:3 TV which will have big black bars on the top and bottom?

And watching a movie for three hours isn't going to cause burn in. Just turn the set to a regular HDTV broadcast (in 16:9) every once in a while if you are still concerned. And again why would a 4:3 TV fix this when it has even bigger black bars?

[mikehbkwm]

Ummmm nevermind

[hdexpert]

three hours are never going to cause burn in...if you are really worried about burn in...and i assure you it is real...(i see it every day) then simply lower your contrast. lower contrast slighly lowers the brightest of your set yet improves the picture quality and lowers the risk of uneven phosphor aging (burn-in)..also most manufactures assure us that watching stationary objects 15-25% of your total viewing time is not a problem

[TIMMY D'S]

Why get a widescreen?



Because I can.:p

[57U]

For all the reasons posted in the FAQ section - 7th one down on the home page - see the post "4:3 vs Widescreen".

There are still people who prefer 4:3, but there are fewer and fewer of them, especially with almost 70% of network primetime viewing now available in HD.

If you watch HD and DVDs the choice is clear. If you watch mostly SD, the choice is more difficult.

[Tom]

Now that I've gone to a widescreen HD set vs. the old Toshiba box type, I see that I seem to own a majority of dvd's that show up as 4:3 on my screen, with the lovely bars on the sides.

I should be looking for dvd's with "Wide Screen" on the box from now on, right? I can't stand the sight of a dvd stretched to fit 16:9 - no matter what, it still sort of distorts at the outer edges.........and I'm anal about that...........it drives me nuts........I need a drink...........it's making my head spin..........I can't stand a non- perfect picture anymore...........somebody help me!

:rolleyes:

[Jester]

They used to call DVDs that are good for widescreen sets "anamorphic." This means that in order for the picture to look right on a 4:3 set, the DVD player actually has to add the bars at the top (or make them bigger). This is why you have to tell your DVD player what kind of set you have. It is not uncommon for people to forget that they made this setting on their player when they bought it and forget to change the setting for their new widescreen tv! So DON'T FORGET!

The studios must think that the term "anamorphic" is too confusing for the general public, because they have started to put "Optimized for Widescreen TVs" on the DVD box instead. Most recent releases are this way, but keep checking the box for a few years. It is very disappointing to get home and see the bars...

[Tom]

Originally posted by Jester
They used to call DVDs that are good for widescreen sets "anamorphic." This means that in order for the picture to look right on a 4:3 set, the DVD player actually has to add the bars at the top (or make them bigger). This is why you have to tell your DVD player what kind of set you have. It is not uncommon for people to forget that they made this setting on their player when they bought it and forget to change the setting for their new widescreen tv! So DON'T FORGET!

The studios must think that the term "anamorphic" is too confusing for the general public, because they have started to put "Optimized for Widescreen TVs" on the DVD box instead. Most recent releases are this way, but keep checking the box for a few years. It is very disappointing to get home and see the bars...

So, Jester:
(How's that Hitachi?) :D If the box doesn't say 'Widescreen', then I'm stuck with a sh*tload of dvd's in my collection that are gonna have bars on them when I watch them on my new set, right? I never paid any attention to the dvd box labels when I bought all of my collection - because with a square screen they all looked pretty great. Now, I'm seeing I have very few that fill up the 16:9 screen.............:mad: :(

[BrianW]

My rule: Doesn't matter what TV type. Always get the Widescreen version of the DVD.

I would rather see the whole picture even with the black bars then miss some of the image. I have been watching widescreen movies from my original 27 inch tv that eventually became a 53 inch 4:3 and is now a 51 inch widescreen. I am now most happy with it because now the picture does fill the whole screen (or mostly 2.35:1) and is a much bigger picture. But, I am not sad about all the years (12) I have spent staring at (ignoring) the black bars.

[Tom]

Originally posted by BrianW
My rule: Doesn't matter what TV type. Always get the Widescreen version of the DVD.

I would rather see the whole picture even with the black bars then miss some of the image. I have been watching widescreen movies from my original 27 inch tv that eventually became a 53 inch 4:3 and is now a 51 inch widescreen. I am now most happy with it because now the picture does fill the whole screen (or mostly 2.35:1) and is a much bigger picture. But, I am not sad about all the years (12) I have spent staring at (ignoring) the black bars.

Brian:
I wish I had had the sense to do what you did from my early days of buying dvd's. I guess at the time I figured the widescreen thing was just a fad..........everyone was buying square screens and b*tching about how silly it was to watch dvd's with lines on them. That was then - this is now.

I guess I'm gonna have to have some Ebay sales..........:(

[kevinw]

Sell your old DVD's on ebay or at the flea market OR you can sell them to all the people who still think widescreen is a fad....:D Now don't start yelling at me because you own a 4:3 tv. I am just kidding..OK

[mikehbkwm]

I think most of my DVD's are kinda half and half some are 2.35:1 ratio and some are 1.85:1 ratio. Noticed most of my older movies fill the screen while alot of the new movies that have come out recently are 2.35:1.......

[BrianW]

I also think the 2.35:1 are the same movies they had to widen the screen in the theater. Most new live action blockbusters seems to be extra wide.

[Tom_BZ]

If most of the new DVDs are going to be 2:35:1 are we going to have to buy a even wider TV? I'm joking but come on can't they pick one standard. I think they like us buying new tv that is why they change the ratios. Then when everyone has a 2:35 widescreen they will change it again. Always something.

P.S. Don't get me wrong I love my new widescreen it just gets old haveing things change all the time.

[mikehbkwm]

Yeah I agree it does get a little annoying. I think the reason they have it so wide is mostly for action movies.. Ive noticed that most of my movies that arent action are 1.85:1 ratio. I could be wrong though.

[Tom]

Originally posted by mikehbkwm
I think most of my DVD's are kinda half and half some are 2.35:1 ratio and some are 1.85:1 ratio. Noticed most of my older movies fill the screen while alot of the new movies that have come out recently are 2.35:1.......

So, with the widescreen Hitachi now, I look for Widescreen dvd's..........are the ratios on the boxes? I never noticed before. I need to be more observant. Sheesh.............I'm as confused as a newborn baby in a titty bar - is 2.25:1 or 1.85:1 the one I'm looking for to fill my screen? :(

[Tom]

I meant "2.35:1"...........

[aj327]

I think you just have to look for widescreen. 1.85:1 is the format that entirely fills your screen, and the others don't quite make it. I don't mind the widescreens that don't entirely fill your screen though, becaue the black bars aren't anywhere near what they used to be on a 4:3 television. Though I do agree that it's annoying that they can't come up with one standard.

But what really burns my ass are the dvds that say widescreen that aren't formatted properly for widescreen tvs. So that you get bars along the top and bottom AND along the sides. It's enough to make you want to scream. So far I've discovered that Annie Hall and Sliding Doors are this way. Basically you have to watch it in zoom mode to get rid of both sets of bars - but then it looks grainy...and there's no way to tell by looking at the dvd cover if this happens to be one of those fubared dvds. They should make it illegal really - because everyone gets screwed with that one.

-a

[hdexpert]

if you have bars on the sides and top and bottom you have either your dvd or your tv in the wrong mode...there isnt a format as far as i know that actually has lines on both

[Tom_BZ]

2.35:1 is the extra wide and the 1:85 will fit your widescreen.

[aj327]

hdexpert - I dont' think you're right about this one. I watch dvds all the time and have adjusted my settings only once - when I first purchased my dvd player and tv. I don't see how I can put in one dvd and it fills the screen nicely, and then put in another and I get bars on all sides. It has to be the dvd.

[Jester]

There is a difference between widescreen and "optimized for widescreen TVs" (AKA anamorphic widescreen). A DVD that is simply widescreen is actually encoded 4:3 with the bars in the picture. That means that when it is viewed on a widescreen TV, you will see both bars above and on the sides. That is why your widescreen TV has a 16:9 zoom mode.

These normal widescreen movies were quite common before the widescreen TVs made it on to the scene (even as VHS tapes -- if you remember that far back). As soon as widescreen TVs because more than an expensive fad, Hollywood producers were eager to take advantage of the new format, so they cooperated with DVD manufacturers to establish a 16:9 format capability for the new movies. The trick is to encode the 16:9 movie FULL FRAME in a 4:3 format.

What??? What is that? How does that work? What it does is increase the number of vertical scan lines to include more resolution. The horizontal resolution is NOT changed. In effect they are using the scan lines normally reserved for the black bars and shoving more picture data in. Now if you viewed this on a regular 4:3 set, it would look stretched VERTICALLY -- everyone would look taller and thinner. So the DVD players have to know how your TV is formatted so they can remove some scan lines in the picture and put black bars above and below the frame to fill in the blanks. Science project -- take a DVD that says "anamorphic" or "optimized for widescreen" and play it on a DVD player that is connected to a 4:3 TV, but set to 16:9. Now you see all the lines, but the TV can't stretch the picture horizontally to properly format the aspect ratio. This is why the 16:9 mode of your widescreen TV will stretch DVDs and regular analog channels, it's widening the picture at the expense of horzontal resolution.

One of the reasons that the people behind HDTV specified a widescreen format is that they wanted to increase the horizontal resolution too. Another reason that HDTV looks better than DVD, more lines in both directions.

I hope you guys don't hate my longwinded posts... I just love jammering about the tech behind these things and my wife stopped listening years ago!

BTW: someone had asked how I like my new Hitachi widescreen and I have to say now that I have addressed the manual focus and red-push I can't stop watching! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!