If you watch regular/cable TV on a 16x9 tv, how does it look? Meaning, is the screen "full"? please explain!

thanks so much

The screen is not full on a 16:9 tv. Television is broadcast in 4:3 which is how it shows up on widescreen tvs. Basically you will have black bars on the left and right side of the screen. TV will however eventually be broadcast in widecreen.

Toshiba and the new Mitsubishi models allow you to stretch 4:3 material with no noticeable distortion. Most people use "TW1" on the Toshibas to stretch cable or other 4:3 pictures. You can, however, watch 4:3 material with black bars on the sides but this is not good for your CRTs in the long run.

[This message has been edited by cwwallace (edited September 21, 2000).]

Zendog:
Curious as to where you came to the conclusion that all TV will be broadcast in widescreen. That would be fantastic and make the decision about which TV to buy next year easier, but I have not heard anyone voice this opinion including the broadcast stations. I have emailed quite a few of them asking them this very question and have received no clear response.

The shape of 16x9 TV's is the shape of broadcast TV of the future(HDTV). The FCC says 2006 for full conversion and no more NTSC broadcast but I bet that gets extended.

Just goes to prove my stupidity. I hadn't even bothered to look into the HDTV stuff othher than very superficially and only regarding the increase in resoltion. Thanks!

I have a 16x9 TV (Pioneer SD582) and 4:3 material is essentially a non-issue, because the set has a quality stretch mode. There is also the option of displaying a 4:3 image with grey bars on the sides, but I rarely use this.

RD

I have the Toshiba DW65X91 HDTV & for most standard shows, I watch them with the bars on the right & left (they're actually grey, not black- unless I'm using progressive-scan player for 4x3 dvds which makes the bars black for some reason). It depends on the show though. If it's cartoons or sports, stretching them works, but some shows look funny stretched out. I can also cut some off the top & bottom of the 4x3 (like matteing it) and make it fill the whole screen. I get 3 local stations in HD (ABC, CBS, & Fox) & when I watch those I can't change the screen type- shows not filmed in HD are still 4x3 & it puts black bars (yes black) right & left, but shows filmed in HD and some movies are shown 16x9. Almost all of CBS's shows are in 16x9 HD. And everything, including the credits looks different from the regular feed. I flipped back & forth and it was pretty cool how much more I could see on the sides than what was on regular tv. And on the HBO HD station, they'll sometimes even show movies in 2:35:1 (16x9 with some bars top & bottom), but most are P&S down to 1:85:1 (Matrix unfortunately). They still look great though.