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I own a 55" widescreen rear-projection Mitsubishi TV.
It only gives three choices for viewing.
1.) 4:3 with grey bars on the left and right
2.) "stretch" - pulls the 4:3 image to fit the screen
but distorts the picture (everyone now looks short
and fat)
3.) "zoom" - cuts off the top and bottom and blows up
the rest (picture is now too fuzzy and you miss
things like the top of people's heads)
The 2nd option works well for anamorphic DVDs.
The 3rd option is what I used to use for letterbox
(non-anamorphic) DVD
Recently, however, I realize I have two additional
options.
1.) I can select a PIP mode that moves the 4:3 to
the extreme left and then puts three small 4:3 squares
on the right. The main image is no longer centered,
but there's no longer two 2:9 grey bars (which are
distracting). I get this extra stuff on the right
but the main image is no longer distorted
and I apparently don't have to worry about burn in
because there is a constant movement on the entire
16:9 surface. I've found for music laserdiscs
(which are usually 4:3), if I set the PIP so
that the laserdisc is selected for the main image
AND the laserdisc is the PIP input, I end up
with a wierd time-delayed repeat of the music
images on the right. It actually seems cool
this way. Kind of like a "video wall" in
a bar or a store...
or
2.) I do the same as 1.) - but I set the PIP
input to a source that isn't on (like my SVHS
recorder). This makes the three little 4:3 squares
go black. So I end up with a 12:9 (aka 4:3) image
on the left and a 4:9 black bar on the right.
My biggest concern is that the 4:9 black bar puts
a strain on the television more than those grey
bars - which are apparently there for a reason -
but not one I really understand.
Wouldn't a black image translate into nothing being
sent from the guns ? (hence no danger of anything
being burned into the screen)
On the other hand, I understand that a grey signal
would sit at 50 IRE - exactly halfway between 0 IRE
(black) and 100 IRE (white) - thus minimizing the
work that a signal has to do to get to some point
between 0 and 100 (at most a 50 IRE "swing" - versus
a "swing" that can vary between 0 and 100)...
Is it the swing being sent to the guns that wears
them out ? I thought in the old days on a CRT,
it was the electrons hitting the phosphers on a CRT.
I'll admit that I really don't understand how
a rear projection TV works. Something about
colored light hitting mirrors and then being
projected onto the back of a screen. But thats
harder to imagine than a beam of electrons hitting
little green, red, and blue dots...
I own a 55" widescreen rear-projection Mitsubishi TV.
It only gives three choices for viewing.
1.) 4:3 with grey bars on the left and right
2.) "stretch" - pulls the 4:3 image to fit the screen
but distorts the picture (everyone now looks short
and fat)
3.) "zoom" - cuts off the top and bottom and blows up
the rest (picture is now too fuzzy and you miss
things like the top of people's heads)
The 2nd option works well for anamorphic DVDs.
The 3rd option is what I used to use for letterbox
(non-anamorphic) DVD
Recently, however, I realize I have two additional
options.
1.) I can select a PIP mode that moves the 4:3 to
the extreme left and then puts three small 4:3 squares
on the right. The main image is no longer centered,
but there's no longer two 2:9 grey bars (which are
distracting). I get this extra stuff on the right
but the main image is no longer distorted
and I apparently don't have to worry about burn in
because there is a constant movement on the entire
16:9 surface. I've found for music laserdiscs
(which are usually 4:3), if I set the PIP so
that the laserdisc is selected for the main image
AND the laserdisc is the PIP input, I end up
with a wierd time-delayed repeat of the music
images on the right. It actually seems cool
this way. Kind of like a "video wall" in
a bar or a store...
or
2.) I do the same as 1.) - but I set the PIP
input to a source that isn't on (like my SVHS
recorder). This makes the three little 4:3 squares
go black. So I end up with a 12:9 (aka 4:3) image
on the left and a 4:9 black bar on the right.
My biggest concern is that the 4:9 black bar puts
a strain on the television more than those grey
bars - which are apparently there for a reason -
but not one I really understand.
Wouldn't a black image translate into nothing being
sent from the guns ? (hence no danger of anything
being burned into the screen)
On the other hand, I understand that a grey signal
would sit at 50 IRE - exactly halfway between 0 IRE
(black) and 100 IRE (white) - thus minimizing the
work that a signal has to do to get to some point
between 0 and 100 (at most a 50 IRE "swing" - versus
a "swing" that can vary between 0 and 100)...
Is it the swing being sent to the guns that wears
them out ? I thought in the old days on a CRT,
it was the electrons hitting the phosphers on a CRT.
I'll admit that I really don't understand how
a rear projection TV works. Something about
colored light hitting mirrors and then being
projected onto the back of a screen. But thats
harder to imagine than a beam of electrons hitting
little green, red, and blue dots...