Binger

I didn't find anything about this here so I'm going to ask. Currently I have a Toshiba 57HDX84 CRT RP TV. I'm thinking about upgrading to the 70" SXRD because the ones that I have seen have a great HD picture. Unfortunately BB and CC that have SXRDs on display don't have them hooked up to anything except their in house HD feeds which makes it impossible for me to sample the stretch modes. I watch quite a bit of SD and even though I prefer OAR DVDs, I can't stand watching SD with sidebars. The Toshiba has a beautiful picture and the Theater Wide 1 stretch mode is with out a doubt the best stretch mode on any TV out there. I would buy a 72" Toshiba DLP but I am sensitive to rainbows and the SXRDs don't have that problem. I can't find a display in this size that isn't a DLP and I'm not interested in going front projection at this time. A buddy of mine has a 2 year old Sony RP LCD and I'm not to impressed with the strech modes. So finally to the question, do the new Sonys have new/better stretch modes than older models? Any opinions on "fat heads" with the Sony SXRD series?

The Bus

I personally never use stretch modes. They always make things look unnatural or remove information.

The Edit King

What he said.

dhmac

A friend just got a Sony SXRD 50" a few weeks ago and I helped him set it up. Checking it out, I saw that it had 3 basic modes for 4:3 material: zoom, stretch, and stretched zoom (i.e., a combination of both). There were also some configurable settings to control the zooming, which were great to have although unfortunately hidden under some menus (making them more of a pain to find than they should've been). But, overall, though, I thought it was a good set of options.

starman9000

You might want to try the 65 inch Hitachi CRT. Not quite as big, but I think it looks better and it's cheaper. The stretch mode on the Hitachi's is decent, but there is a little too much overscan to begin with, so you may have to adjust that.

That said, the stretch mode I've seen on a smaller model Sony was OK, but was more noticeably distorted than others.

BravesMG

I've actually got both the last generation 50" SXRD (upscale 1080p) and the new 50" SXRD (native 1080p) and I've got to say they are the best a/v investments I've made. Since burn-in isn't an issue, I much prefer to watch the 4:3 programming without stretching it. But if there's a downside, if you must stretch it, I've found that the stretch modes are pretty bad. I couldn't find a setting that didn't look way too horizontally distorted or WAY too closely zoomed in.

Dave C

I agree. I've got a 55" Sony A20 (purchased about a year ago). I don't like the stretch mode on it, but I quickly found the 4:3 picture was so damn big that there was no need to stretch it. I would also say that changing my cable box borders to "dark" made 4:3 easier to take. The bright gray borders are distracting.

Binger

Just got my 70" SXRD and this has to be the best HD picture that I've ever seen. The Wide Zoom stretch mode isn't bad at all. This is one of the best investments that I've made in HT equipment.