Your Universal Remote Control Center
RemoteCentral.com
Audio, Receivers & Speakers Forum - View Post
Previous section Next section Up level
Up level
The following page was printed from RemoteCentral.com:

Login:
Pass:
 
 

Topic:
Widescreen TV shows?
This thread has 8 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Tuesday September 25, 2001 at 00:53
Justin2576
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
September 2001
8
I am shopping/researching for TVs and will probably buy something at the end of the year, or sometime early next year. I am trying to decide on getting a widescreen TV (16:9) or a standard (16:9) TV. I do watch a lot of DVD movies, but the widescreen TVs cost a lot more. So for the price I thought I would just get a standard (16:9) TV.

BUT...I have been noticing something the last few days. I was watching "ER" and noticed that there were black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. I also noticed several commercials were this way as well. Over the past few nights I noticed several TV shows are this way. I'm not talking about movies, but regular TV shows.

Is this some kind of new broadcasting? Will all shows start broadcasting this way in the future? Should I reconsider getting a 4:3 TV?

Justin
OP | Post 2 made on Tuesday September 25, 2001 at 00:55
Justin2576
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
September 2001
8
opps typo at the top...i meant standard(4:3) but somehow my keyboard decided to say (16:9)
Post 3 made on Tuesday September 25, 2001 at 03:19
Brett DiMichele
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
August 2001
296
Hello Justin,

I went with a standard 4:3 aspect because I do watch
TV and I did not want vertical letterbox lines on the
sides of normal broadcast TV. The other solution would
be to run the TV in widescreen mode and it will stretch
the image to fit but it also distorts the image which
is not acceptable to me. My theory was that if I went
with a large enough 4:3 TV I would still have a larger
viewing area when watching 16:9 DVD's than if I just
bought a 50 something inch theaterwide screen. And I
was correct, my mothers fiance bought a Pioneer HDTV
Theaterwide 50 something inch (54 I beleive) and my
61" has far more viewable space even when watching a
16:9 than his theaterwide has.

If you watch as much TV as you do DVD's I say just go
with a 60-70" Digital or HDTV 4:3 and you will be happy
with that. If space is a concern the Theaterwide models
are half the height of a large 4:3.. My 61" stands a
good 5.75 to 6' tall where as the theaterwides may be
4 to 4.5' tall.
Post 4 made on Tuesday September 25, 2001 at 09:05
Mike Riley
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2001
620
I support Brett's position on this issue. I too bought a standard aspect (36") set; in 10 or 11 years when I'm ready to retire it to (what... the bedroom?), the new wide-format TVs will have long since settled into a bunch of standards for everything and the price will not be an issue. Meantime, with theatre-wide DVD movies, I still get a fairly decent-sized picture... unlike, say, the $5000 Panasonic widescreen, which is a beautiful TV but would show the same movie about 12' in height. ... Mike
Post 5 made on Tuesday September 25, 2001 at 20:41
Steve13
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2001
346
If you're not interested in HDTV, buy 4:3 if you want to buy something that can be ready for HD, absolutely buy 16:9. By definition HDTV IS 16:9. I've had a 16:9 projector for the last year and I really prefer the 16:9 format over 4.3, even for regular TV viewing. The first few times, I was bothered by the stretched mode, but now I don't even notice a difference.

I probably will never buy another 4:3 set again.
OP | Post 6 made on Tuesday September 25, 2001 at 21:12
Justin2576
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
September 2001
8
I guess My main question would be: what is the future of TV broadcasting? So far I have noticed only a few shows that were in widescreen format with the black bars on the top and bottom. But if more and more shows start doing that then I wonder if it would be pointless to get a 4:3 TV. I think it would be annoying to watch both DVD movies AND TV shows with black bars on the top and bottom.

Post 7 made on Wednesday September 26, 2001 at 09:40
Mike Riley
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2001
620
The problem is that you will get those black bars for a number of years to come. Hollywood movides are not shot in 16:9, so you will always get black bars. And the majority of TV shows are not in 16:9, so you will get lots of 'em with black bars. And some of the stuff you're going to see will have bars on the sides. Not only that, make sure you check for sets that vary the colours of the bars, so you don't get the dreaded "burn in". ... Mike
Post 8 made on Wednesday December 5, 2001 at 14:38
Lance
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
November 2001
8
It DOES seem that many of the more interesting shows may be moving to the 16:9 format on regular (non-HD) broadcast TV. In addition to "ER", this season "Enterprise" and "The West Wing" are using this widescreen format. Also, major cable programmers like HBO and Showtime are providing widescreen programming (including "Band of Brothers"). Are there others out there that folks have noticed?
Post 9 made on Wednesday December 5, 2001 at 18:00
ttiger72
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2001
74
I have noticed CSI and I think one of the Law and Orders in the widescreen format as well as NYPD Blue..both shows are broadcast in HDTV (at least Chicagoland)....Tony


Jump to


Protected Feature Before you can reply to a message...
You must first register for a Remote Central user account - it's fast and free! Or, if you already have an account, please login now.

Please read the following: Unsolicited commercial advertisements are absolutely not permitted on this forum. Other private buy & sell messages should be posted to our Marketplace. For information on how to advertise your service or product click here. Remote Central reserves the right to remove or modify any post that is deemed inappropriate.

Hosting Services by ipHouse