danos

Hello from a newbie,

A bit of background: I live in Cyprus (just south of Turkey). It is very difficult & expensive here to get the latest equipment (most electronics shops here have only last year's or older models in stock and try to sell it as new; very few manufacturers have offical representation here so returns are very difficult too). Even when you find good kit, it is very difficult to find someone professional who can install / calibrate / maintain it.

So, I am in the market for a LARGE screen TV to replace the 29" Sony 100hz tube I have now. I looked for a while at front projection, but don't like the idea of having to have a dark(ish) room to watch in (11 months of sunshine a year here), nor the hassle of professional setup, lamp replacement, doo dah doo dah.

So, I've pretty much narrowed my search down to rear projection TVs and here, that means Toshiba (which is fine; they're the best I've seen here anyway).

Okay, my question (though please feel free to comment on any of the above too):

Toshiba 57WH18 (57" widescreen)
or
Toshiba 61PH18 (61" 4:3)

We have Sky Digital here (and at least a few of those channels seem to broadcast in widescreen), and MOST of the useage will come from watching this digital satellite service (my son watches Carton Network a lot).

DVD player gets quite a work out too (I've got the full Polk reference speaker setup and have spent a f***ing fortune on that), but this usually nor more than a couple of films of week (and isn't 70mm wonderful on a small screen -- NOT).

Thrown in to all of this, my wife does not speak English well so we watch ALL of our DVDs with subtitles turned on (and what happens when you have a widescreen TV and the subtitles are positioned almost squarely in the bottom black bar; can you still read them or reposition the picture frame???). This is VERY important.

Please let me have your thoughts on whether I should go for the Widescreen or the (bigger) 4:3? I calculate picture size of a 16:9 film shown on the 61" 4:3 will be about the same as the same film shown on the 57" 16:9; will the resolution be [significantly] different? Will the picture look better on the widescreen than on the 4:3 with large bars?

Sorry for the above novel; as you can see, I've done a fair amount of thought about this and I am looking for quite specific answers. I really appreciate a forum where people who know what they are talking about can give me honest advice.

THANKS VERY MUCH EVERYONE!!!

Best regards,
Dan

highdef

Go with the 16:9 set. For the money, Toshiba really makes a terrific product. 4:3 would be a complete waste of your time,
and yes you will see a significant differenece in your picture res, especially on 16:9 enhanced dvd's.

Mammal

Toshiba sets - at least the USA models - have an adjustment mode so that the theaterwide 2 mode (which you'll use for non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs) can be shifted up or down if there's a problem with the subtitles. I've been very pleased with the performance of my set. The Toshiba website has downloadable manuals in the customer service section, so you can read up on the features.

danos

Okay, the widescreen TV is much better for DVDs (even if the 16:9 physical picture size is about the same on both sets).

How do you suggest I watch regular (4:3) TV? No worries about burn in (being that 4:3 TV will be the bulk of the viewing, I think) if I really watch in 4:3?

Dan

Mammal

European sets may differ significantly. US sets can be watched in "standard" with grey bars on the sides, or black bars with a progressive DVD player, or in "theaterwide 1" which stretches the 4x3 picture, mostly at the sides to fill the screen, or "theaterwide 2" which zooms the picture to fill the screen, cutting off a bit at the top or bottom.

SLee

This isn't true. As long as the 4:3 TV has the anamorphic squeeze feature, you will get the full resolution of anamorphic widescreen DVDs and look essentially the same as the widescreen TV.

In your case, I think the 4:3 TV (as long as it has anamorphic compression) will be the better choice.