shows such as Boston Public and 24 that say they're
in widescreen at the start of the show, are you supposed
to flip a widescreen tv from 4:3 mode to 16:9 widescreen
to watch them?

do you actually gain any picture? or does it just make the faces
fatter.....which is what I seem to experience.


thanks for any input

That's just your equivalent of NBC/ABC/CBS saying that their shows are in HD - the reason Fox says widescreen instead of HD is because they don't broadcast in true HD (not near enough pixals). They do however broadcast certain shows like Boston Public and 24 in digital widescreen if you have an HD decoder box (or if it's built in to your 16:9 TV) and get the necessary stations.

Changing from 4:3 mode to 16:9 widescreen just stretches - do not do that unless you just love watching everything fatter.

Fox does broadcast in EDTV (480p 16x9), and you do get some more video information on the sides of the picture, so it's not just stretched to fill a display with the 16x9 aspect ratio.

Just to clarily, Fox has a separate digital channel available in select areas that broadcasts their shows in 480p widescreeen. This is akin to the other networks that have a separate digital channel for their HDTV broadcasts.

The normal Fox analog channel continues to broadcast their shows in 4:3 standard definition.

yep, I watch fox shows in the fox widescreen format, doesn't even compare to the HD on other channels but oh well..

ok, so you to watch the HBO original shows you'd have to tune into HBOHD channel to experience full widescreen effect.

otherwise it is just black bars on a 4:3 and stretching on 16:9?

Yes, and not all HBO series are high-definition. The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Carnivale are, but Sex & The City, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and K-Street are not. On the HD channel, those shows are presented in 4:3 with pillarbox bars on the sides.

True, but it's still a lot better than their analog channel, so I'm not complaining too much.