I've got a few letterbox vhs tapes in my collection and I'm in the market for a new HDTV.

Naturally, as a DVD fan, I plan to go HDTV.

After reading all the great info in these forums, I have a feeling that my letterbox vhs tapes will display as non-anamoprhic on a widescreen tv. Is that correct?

If anyone with similirar circumstances mind would mind sharing their experience or tips in viewing these letterbox tapes on a widescreen tv, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

Correct

To properly view it you would have bars on the top, bottom and the sides othe the picture. Otherwise you have to view in streatched or zoomed mode.

I would use a zoomed mode.

Warning all your VHS tapes probably will not look very good on a 55" Widescreen HDTV.

Not probably, definitely will not look good. But it will make you appreciate DVD even more.

Thank you very much for the feedback guys.

I wasn't planning on going VHS-free, not yet at least, (many of my sons children's video are still VHS) so I guess I'll have to consider staying in the 36"-48" widescreen HDTV range.

I'll also plan on taking a few of my VHS tapes to the stores to see how they would look on any TV I plan to purchase.

I wouldn't let that decide the size of the TV you are going to buy. No HDTV will make VHS tapes look good, so you might as well get the TV you want. I'm sure most of your son's videos in the future will be DVD. Plus most kids are not as picky about video quality as posters in this forum. (He will probably enjoy the large picture, though) IMO if you spend the money on an HDTV you might as well get one in the 50-65" range.

It is my understanding that VHS tapes (particularly widescreen, if zoomed-in) will not look good on a HDTV.

BUT, just how “un-viewable” will the picture be? I always hear people talk about how bad it is, without really describing what the picture will look like.

Just curious.

Most HDTV's will have an EXPAND mode which will vertically stretch the picture to the correct ratio. To me VHS is unwatchable anymore because I'm spoiled. My kids still have a few VHS and they don't care what it looks like.

A lot of jitter, very fuzzy details, color bleeding...

this is why im getting a 4x3 hdtv when the time comes.

I know what you mean Rypro, I was all set for a HDTV 16x9 but now I'm not sure.

I have a good amount of VHS (letterbox and regular) and I have a few older non-amorphic DVD's.

Given how much cheaper the 4x3's are than the ws, I hate to say that I'll have to consider it when buying my big screen tv.

Why spend the extra for a 4:3 HDTV set? Why not buy a good quality regular 4:3 with plenty of input options (read: component inputs)?

A few months ago I purchased a 16:9 34" Toshiba flatscreen HDTV and it has been wonderful. Toshiba's Theaterwide settings do a very nice job of formatted 4:3 material.