Itsme

I already have a 61" TV (4:3 aspect ratio) in the living room for movie and TV viewing, but am in the market for a smaller TV for use in my home office...in the 19-20" range.

I want to buy a LCD flat panel TV since space is a premium.

At first I thought I'd buy a set with 4:3 aspect ratio because since HDTV is coming everywhere, you can save $100-$200 by buying a 4:3 aspect ratio TV.

Then, I thought about the coming TV station conversion to all digital (and maybe all HDTV?) so thought I should buy an HDTV capable set now even though I don't plan to use HDTV in the home office for a year or two or more.

But, I have been to friend's homes with 16:9 aspect ratio sets and don't like the way the current TV channels are stretched or squished when shown on those TVs.

I was reading about a specific Sharp TV and one of the features said...


That really intrigued me.

Question for those who might now...shouldn't all the latest 16:9 aspect ratio TV's have this feature for this transition peiod? Do other TV have this feature, but just don't highlight it, or is this feature from this Sharp TV something special like it sounds.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

AlpineJay

To my knowledge, most 16:9 TVs have this feature. The image stretching feature that's described in your quote is called "Just" in Panasonic, for example.

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ArkiStan

Although I'm against any kind of image manipulation, I don't care too much about 4:3 content either, so the "smart stretch" feature sounds interesting.

Also, I have one tip I have for determining the screen size you need:
Always add 5-10" to what you think would be suffiient. Make the axtra investment. Don't ask. Just do it.

Agent Plissken

All widescreen TVs have these features, but they are called different things. I think mine is called "smart zoom" "subtitle zoom" etc etc

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cheapchinese

I second that,
initially I wanted a 26" LCDTV, but buying a 32" was basically just an extra benjamin.... i am satisfied with my decision

Paymaster

I also don't like the way the 4:3 content is stretched, but just like most TVs have some sort of intelligent streching, they also have a way to just turn the streching off. You will have black pillars on the left and right side of the screen, but the original aspect ratio remains intact.

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ArkiStan

I remember hearing that having black bars all the time will cause irregular burn in. I wonder if that's still the case in sets these days.

attgig

also, you'll get used to the stretch....so just get the widescreen

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ArkiStan

Yeah it's funny how after a couple days you don't even notice that the picture is distorted. Then after a while, when you look at a 4:3 image it looks square (1:1).

Itsme

Well, today I bought my LCD TV for my home office.

I bought a 19" with switchable aspect ratio. From the remote control I can have it be 16:9, 4:3, or zoom.....where it takes the 4:3 mode and zooms it larger to fill the whole screen. I love it.

sizemic1

I heard that too..not sure if it's true. My TV lets me display the sidebars in black or gray. I use gray, not that I think it really makes any difference.

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Houdini

Hmmm... From the widescreen TVs I've seen, I find the stretch mode annoying. People's faces get all screwed up, etc.


Not sure about this myself. I know some TVs were more prone to burn in and others aren't at all, but I've forgotten which ones (plasma/dlp/tube/lcd/etc).