[rob8558]

i just received my comcast HD motorola receiver today. everything is hooked up and working, but i have 1 question about "burn". the abc and nbc do not fill the entire screen, is this a major problem, or is this "burn" thing just "overhyped"?


did a search, and really couldnt find what i was looking for. any help would be much appreciated as i am new to this.


thnx

 

[sangs]

Don't let the "burn in" issue ruin the enjoyment of your TV. Just make sure the contrast and brightness levels aren't too high. Plus, it's not like you leave the TV on these channels 24x7 right? And besides, the bars on the sides disappear when NBC and ABC show HD content at night.

 

[rob8558]

thnx sangs. havent watched HD at nite yet so i didnt know that those bars disappeared good to know. hopefully comcast will bring on discovery and cbs soon.


appreciate response

 

[Matt_Stevens]

rob, what type of TV do you have? (company and model #) Is it widescreen or 4:3?


What do you mean by "abc and nbc do not fill the entire screen"?

 

[rob8558]

hey matt, i have a panasonic TH-42PW5 widescreen. i have comcast in jersey city nj and they currently have 4 channels in HD (178 showtime, 179 HBO, 180 ABC, 181 NBC)


during the day when i have the abc or nbc channels on they come in 4:3 screen on my widescreen. i cannot change the aspect ratio on the television like i can when it is on other channels i.e. no-digital channels.


am i doing something wrong?

 

[Jim Boden]

rob8558:


If you’re concerned about bars with 4:3 material, connect your STB’s S-Video output to your plasma. This will allow you to zoom 4:3 material to fill the screen.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

OK. That makes sense. Only evening dramas and comedies will be in 16X9. The rest will be 4X3. As long as your settings are calibrated correctly, you should be fine if your viewing of 4:3 material is in the minority. Just make sure your contrast is not too high. That is the #1 cause of burnin.

 

[rob8558]

thnx jim and matt for the advice. just getting used to the HDTV thing and unfortunately rhere is NO info out there. thank God i found this site!

 

[rob8558]

i have watched about 5 movies now on showtime and all 5 have had those friggin horizontal bars going across my 16:9 screen. HBO doesnt do this. whats going on? do they only show movies like this?


confused.

 

[greywolf]

1:2.35 peg, 1:1.78 hole. Showtime makes the hole bigger. HBO hits the peg with a big hammer, breaks the sides off, and throws them away.


Notice that movies have different aspect ratios and 16:9 TVs don't. The majority of people here like to watch movies and it's very hard to see black friggin horizontal bars in a dark room anyway.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Quote:

i have watched about 5 movies now on showtime and all 5 have had those friggin horizontal bars going across my 16:9 screen. HBO doesnt do this. whats going on? do they only show movies like this?

Those "friggin horizontal bars" are supposed to be there. If HBO had showed those films, they would have zoomed them in and cropped the sides of the picture.


Do yourself a favor and go to widescreen.org and educate yourself on 2.35:1 widescreen.

 

[JStanton]

Quote:

Originally posted by rob8558 i have watched about 5 movies now on showtime and all 5 have had those friggin horizontal bars going across my 16:9 screen. HBO doesnt do this. whats going on? do they only show movies like this?

It's not that Showtime's adding black bars, it's that HBO is removing the left and right sides of the movie.


Check out the Widescreen Advocacy Page for more info and examples of why what HBO is doing is the (IMO) wrong way and Showtime should be applauded for their OAR (original aspect ratio) transfers. He gets a little preachy with the 'Artists Rights' stuff, which I could somewhat care less about, but the example scenes where it shows what you are missing on an HBO-type (pan & scan or open-matte) transfer did it for me.


There are several things you can do to minimize the noticeability of the unused section of your screen. First, be sure that you have set your black levels and contrast correctly using something like the Avia DVD . Second, a backlight behind the TV can help. Search the forum for 6500K light.


- Jim