Just an informal poll:

If you had to choose a TV from these two options, which would you choose?

A regular 4:3 TV or a 16x9 TV? What if the 16x9 has a poorer picture quality than the 4:3? Furthermore, the 4:3 has component video inputs but the 16x9 doesn't. Assume they are about the same size vertically.

I had a 4x3 tv & now have a 65" 16x9 HDTV & there's no comparison. 16x9 all the way. And I would think that all 16x9 tvs would have component video- mine has 2 component-ins. And if you din't mind seeing letterboxing on a 4x3 tv watching dvds, why should you mind left & right letterboxing on regular tv shows on the 16x9? And this year all of CBS' shows, except the news (news, not new) shows are in HD. Plus about half of Fox's are. There's no way I'd ever go back.

I have like a really old 16x9 TV which has a crappy picture, and no component inputs. I only have enough money to buy a decent 29" 4:3 TV though. So should I get the 29" TV or stick with my 16x9?

It really depends on what you use it for. If you primarily watch movies, 16x9 is the best way to go. For mostly TV, get a 4x3.

Personally, I lived with my 18 year old 4x3 (which is all I needed since I only watched TV) and then I saved up for a good 16x9 once I got into DVD. Now I watch TV and DVD on 16x9 and it works out great.

Well personally, I'd buy a 4:3 TV that could do the squeeze trick to 16:9. I've got a 32" Toshiba CZ32V51 that has superb image quality through component inputs. Anytime I watch an anamorphic dvd, I go into the service menu and squeeze the picture down to 16:9 ratio. This gives me the best of both worlds until HDTV gets into full swing.

Over the last couple months, I've been watching all my dvds over because the image quality is so much better at 16:9 with the component inputs.

16x9 if picture quality was the same

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by L. Gowron:
16x9 if picture quality was the same<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The picture quality is actually better with a good 16x9. The higher resolution makes it look like a movie screen, not a TV.

I just got my first 16:9 TV. It's a Pioneer Elite PRO-510HD 53" and I love it. I was considering one of the Sony Hi-Scan 4:3 sets until I really looked at the picture and thought about the content that I'd be watching. With HDTV and DVD, most content is going to be 16:9 (Movies, sport events, maybe even concerts) Viewing 16:9 content on a 4:3 has the familiar black bar problem, which is annoying and distracting especially when watching a movie. Some people are so annoyed by it that they mask that area with paper, cloth, wood, etc. But viewing 16:9 content on a 16:9 screen without that distraction gives you something else. I've actually found that I feel more immersed in the image, so much so that I sense movement as on a roller coaster or widescreen fly-overs.
On the other hand, I did not want to see most 4:3 material (news broadcasts, etc.) at the large size of a 4:3 bigscreen. (It's intimidating to watch a talking head at that size on a news broadcast.) But I have found that there is a very pleasing viewing mode for 4:3 on my 16:9 screen. It's called "Natural Wide" which is probably unique to Pioneer although other makers have their own flavor of it. It stretches the outer sides horizontally to fill the rectangle, but the center area is close to normal. When you see panning in a scene it reminds you of looking through a wide-angle or fisheye lens. So in effect I can view all content on my 16:9 with no wasted screen real estate and without the black bar distraction when I'm watching a movie.

I have a 60" progressive-scan 4:3 Hitachi model and what dvdsleuth says about watching 4:3 news broadcasts and weather on a TV this big is kind of true....hehe some people shouldn't be watched on a screen this big (unless of course you are sitting a long ways away). Never realized how bad so many people's teeth are...

This set is just plain awesome for full frame DVDs though....concerts, older academy ratio, and IMAX films look awesome. I will not watch pan and scan films BTW but there are quite a few good DVDs that are full frame in their OAR. I use two black bar masks when I'm watching 16x9 material...they are transparent to the viewing once in place on the set. Pretty happy with this TV but next time I'll probably buy a 16x9 model - prices will probably be quite a bit better by then.