[gu4u]

Presently we own Hitachi 50ex8k with a big dish c band and 920 GI 4DTV receiver. The wife would like to get a newer larger screen TV........At present we have no means of receiving HD signals. We went to look at the newer models and it seems the majority of the newer units are wide screen.............What I am concerned about is that we do not presently get many HD broadcast over the air on local TV nor via the satellites........ If we purchased a wide screen TV and seeing our the majority of our viewing would be in standard format we would have to deal with the black

letterboxing and possible screen burn with a wide screen....... The stretch option don't impress me at all either.............. Now if we went and purchased a HD unit with a standard shape screen and when HD becomes the standard we would have to deal with the black letters boxing in the future............ Seems like a catch 22. If she would not be so impatient It would probably be best just to keep our present system until things get moving as far as HD becoming the standard..............If we went with a wide screen would screen burn something to be concern about seeing the majority of our viewing is standard broadcasts??????Anybody have any suggestions experience or advise?????? Thanks for you patience....................

 

[Salmoneous]

Just to be clear here, you wife is pushing you to go out and get a newer, bigger TV, and you see her impatience as a problem??? I think this may be an AVSForum first


The issue comes up a lot, and here are some general pointers:


1) Unfortunately, you are right about there being no good solution. As long as there is material in both 4:3 and widescreen, no one TV is going to work best with both.


2) Widescreen includes both HDTV as well as most DVD's. For many people, DVD's alone make a widescreen TV worthwhile. Future HDTV use is just a bonus.


3) Buying a new HD 4:3 TV makes sense only in rare circumstances.


4) If you really don't like stretch modes, there are newer technologies that don't suffer from burn-in. See posts on DLP and LCD-based RPTV's.

 

[ProofTech]

You won’t have to worry about burn-in if you get a DLP, LCD, or LCoS TV. The down side is the high cost of these TVs.


In regards to the black bars on the sides of 4*3 video, you might get used to it so you don’t even notice it.

 

[gu4u]

Quote:

Originally posted by Salmoneous Just to be clear here, you wife is pushing you to go out and get a newer, bigger TV, and you see her impatience as a problem??? I think this may be an AVSForum first

Yea how do you explain to a woman that a a 65 inch TV with only and 8 foot viewing distance is overkill??????????/

Thanks for the reponses and suggestions...... I'll check out some DLP and LCD-based RPTV's as an alternative.....................