okay, there might be a thread with my question, but I didnt find it. I'll apologize in advance...

This is a dumb question, but I have to ask. Today i ordered a Panasonic TH50px80U. I already own a Toshiba 46h84 projection. On my Tosh, everything I watch is in full screen and I rarely, with exception of an on-demand movie broadcast in 16:9 or a DVD, have black bars at top and bottom.

Today I was at my cousins watching the sucky Lions lose again and he had black bars on top and bottom of his almost equally sucky Vizio. He says that he has them on everything he watches on HD. We 'zoomed' to fit the screen and 'behold' the image sucked as much as the Lions!!

Anyway, this leads me to my question. does my Tosh do such a good job of image resizing that I never notice the enlargement? Does he have a setting off or wrong on his broadcast? When I get my new Panny in 7 days from newegg.com with free shipping and no tax for 949, will I be delegated or disappointed when I get the black bars that I am not used to?

When specifically do the black bars appear? Is it just when watching DVD's or On-demand 16:9 movies or will I have to deal wiht it all the time?

I guess this is a stupid question even though I have a 46" HDTV which has been a GREAT set by the way... Great quality and a clear picture. Just want to upgrade to a plasma..

THANKS TO ALL IN ADVANCE! GO RED WINGS!

The black bars will only appear when the image being watched is not 16:9. The Lions game was 16:9 and will not have any black bars. Your cousin's TV is not setup properly.

^^Or his cable box.

Whether or not you see 'black bars' depends on the format you're viewing. The Panasonic will have a variety of zoom and stretch options to get rid of the bars, but that's at your discretion.

Most SD television is broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Properly displayed 4:3 content will have black bars on the side, and the image in the middle on a 16:9 display. You can either stretch this image horizontally to fill the screen, or zoom in.

Some SD content, such as anamorphic DVDs, have a 16:9 aspect ratio. Most broadcast HD content is 16:9. When watching anamorphic DVDs or HD movies on Blu-Ray, you should be aware that 16:9 is 1.78:1.

Most broadcast television is shot 1.78:1 and will display with no black bars. Often times, your TV will add overscan, and you'll be missing some of the picture.

Most movies are shot somewhere between 1.85:1 or 2.39:1, at the discretion of the cinematographer or director. Proper display of either format without overscan will result in black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. The wider the aspect ratio, the larger the bars.