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What screen format do you use for old movies/tv shows?

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What screen format do you use for old movies/tv shows?

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Old 12-30-06, 03:57 AM
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What screen format do you use for old movies/tv shows?

I'm just curious how folks view older movies on widescreen TVs? Everytime I put a 1.33:1 movie in (currently watching Dr. Mabuse the Gambler) or a tv/anime disc, it automatically sets it to 4:3 - expanded -- so that it fills the whole screen. Sometimes it looks decent for some scenes and then others look a little more distorted. Most of the time I've just ended up setting to basic 4:3 and turning on black side bars.

Does anyone use the expanded version or do you find it too distracting.

On a similar note, what settings do most folks use for playing games on their TVs? I know that not all xbox games will optimize widescreen -- DOA2 Ultimate looked good enough last night (waiting on HD setup cable).
Old 12-30-06, 05:56 AM
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Depends. Anything 4x3 letterbox I expand both horizontly and verticaly so it's displayed as if it was 16x9. Same with 4x3 transfer of 1:85 film. Anything suppose to be 4x3 I watch 4x3.
Old 12-30-06, 08:26 AM
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For most TV and games I use a 16:9 stretch. I have done it this way for over 4 years and now I don't even notice any difference, except sometimes actors look really fat!
Old 12-30-06, 08:31 AM
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I have to admit that I am bad and do the stretch to fit my screen...Its more for the burn in since my TV is a couple of years old and I need to make it last a little longer, and also so my wife doesnt bitch about it
Old 12-30-06, 08:32 AM
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I stretch. My TV has 'panorama' so the center is stretched less than the edges, so it's usually not very noticeable. My DVD player does a pretty good job of it as well.
Of course, this can backfire--I put in a 4:3 dvd into the HDDVD player, which doesn't stretch; my boy said "I want to see it big!" So he watches widescreen programs in widescreen, but 4:3 programs in 'widescreen' as well.
Old 12-30-06, 02:15 PM
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I've never stretched widescreen material to fit my 4:3 TV, and I'm not going to stretch 4:3 material to fit my 16:9 TV. OAR is OAR.
Old 12-30-06, 03:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Salty
I've never stretched widescreen material to fit my 4:3 TV, and I'm not going to stretch 4:3 material to fit my 16:9 TV. OAR is OAR.


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