Stats

Pioneer owner here.

I use Natural Wide (probably like Tosh's TW 2) to watch almost all regular TV.

But I use Zoom to watch WS shows (like ER), and also sometimes on ESPN or Fox football to prevent burn-in from static signals like ESPN's Bottomline or Fox's score/time bar.

I use 4x3 mode only to watch classic movies filmed in 4x3 (or 1.37:1 to be precise), like Casablanca.

jfoobar

The gray bars don't bother me in the slightest so that is how I watch 4:3 material. I have a Tosh 40H80.

Hokie99

JustinS,

that's what I was doing is watching tv in normal 4:3 mode with the gray bars, because it didn't bother me. Now I have slightly noticeable lines on each side of the screen.

Be careful watching tv in that mode, so that you don't get burn in like I did.

matchpenalty

I have a panny 34wx50 and I view 4:3 stuff in stretch mode. The tv also has an autodetect for signal type and will adjust for the input signal switching to 16:9 which is quite nice and the feature is for each individual input source.

Mammal

Stretch modes bother me, so I watch TV in Toshiba's zoom mode, Theaterwide 2. It's only TV, after all. For 4X3 movies I use the standard mode with gray bars.

By the way, one of the most delightful things about a 16x9 set is the ability to use zoom mode to convert "open matte" material to the proper aspect ratio.

Xytraguptorh

I totally agree. Movies like Eyes Wide Shut and Death Race 2000 look great using THEATERWIDE 2.

NotThatGuy

For people with the panny 47" 16:9, how do you watch normal TV.....I am looking to pick this TV up in a few weeks, i think i can find a good deal on it, so I'd REALLY like some feedback. Thanks.

-pedagogue

Foole

I've had this same set for about 1.5 years and I watch all 4:3 material in TW1. It works well for anime I've found, since most animation by nature is exaggerated already...what's a little stretching? I never use Standard mode unless I wanna see a hot girl's true shape

BTW, no burn at all in any mode.

My settings:
CONTRAST: 27
BRIGHTNESS: 45
COLOR: 60
COLOR TEMP: WARM
SHARPNESS: 40
TINT: 50

Give these a try. Experiment and see what works well for your eyes and protects the TV.

baseballfan

It depends. Most of the time I use the "Just" setting (more stretched on the edges, less so in the middle). Other times I'll use the "Zoom" which cuts off the top and bottom and zooms to fill the screen - obviously this is the setting to use for any broadcast TV that is in widescreen, such as West Wing. And infrequently I'll use the 4:3 mode.

Make sure you turn down the factory defaults, especially the "Picture" which is set at 100%.

CitizenKaneRBud

isn't zooming in on the picture to get rid of the bars on a widescreen TV just as bad as getting pan and scan titles on a regular title to get rid of the bars?

stevevt

Pan and scan versions of widescreen movies don't get rid of bars, they get rid of some of the picture.

In the case of zooming on a widescreen tv for tv shows that have black bars, you're not getting rid of any of the picture, at least ideally.

baseballfan

No.

In fact, that is the preferred way to watch a show broadcast in analog widescreen. Here's the choices on my Panny:

4:3 - this way you'd get gray bars on the sides and black bars on the top and bottom in the center portion. Ugh....

Full or Just: black bars on the top and bottom, and the picture stretched from side to side to fill the screen. Not really optimal.

Zoom: zooms in on the picture enough to fill the screen horizontally without any stretching. To do so the top and bottom get cropped, meaning no black bars. Result: Full screen 16X9 with no stretching of the image to fill the screen.