TV question

Atheist

Atheist

Who'r u calling a Junior?
Nov 11, 2003
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My TV broke down. 8 year old Sony - cathode tube is broken. I'm never buying Sony again.

So I am looking around to buy new one and all new TV's are 16:9. Our TV program is 4:3, so I wanted to know if TV program is 16:9 in the rest of the world (and we are in iron age here) or it is just some stupid trend?
 
Nah, regular TV is still 4:3 here in the US, it's only HD programming that's in 16:9 - whenever I'm watching 4:3 content, I set my (16:9) TV to stretch it out horizontally, which isn't as weird looking as you might think
 
Metaltastic said:
Nah, regular TV is still 4:3 here in the US, it's only HD programming that's in 16:9 - whenever I'm watching 4:3 content, I set my (16:9) TV to stretch it out horizontally, which isn't as weird looking as you might think
Click to expand...

I've been wondering why a lot of the day time TV shows we get over here from the US are only 4:3. That answers it!
 
Atheist said:
My TV broke down. 8 year old Sony - cathode tube is broken. I'm never buying Sony again.

So I am looking around to buy new one and all new TV's are 16:9. Our TV program is 4:3, so I wanted to know if TV program is 16:9 in the rest of the world (and we are in iron age here) or it is just some stupid trend?
Click to expand...

Wait, you're mad b/c it only lasted 8 years? That seems like a reasonable lifespan to me.
We are rapidly moving to HD and 16:9 content in the US. All of the major networks now broadcast their prime-time shows in HD and many of the major cable networks have followed suit. We are definitely in an awkward time period between formats right now but 16:9 makes more sense now than when people starting buying them a few years ago.
In my house we have a no imagine distortion rule. I'm kind of fanatical about it. I consider sidebars on 4:3 the same way I considered letterboxing of DVD's on my old TV -- I'd rather see a program/film as intended than distort it to fill the screen. Of course to each his own.
 
Samsung is really shity here. But I think eastern Europe get's all the stuff that has failed on quality tests for western Europe and USA. I know it sounds like conspiracy theory, but I heard it from few people who travelled a bit. Same product, better quality.
 
Atheist said:
Samsung is really shity here. But I think eastern Europe get's all the stuff that has failed on quality tests for western Europe and USA. I know it sounds like conspiracy theory, but I heard it from few people who travelled a bit. Same product, better quality.
Click to expand...

eBay dude...:)

If you search around you can probably find one with a warranty. Just make sure they have stallar feedback.

-Joe
 
egan. said:
Wait, you're mad b/c it only lasted 8 years? That seems like a reasonable lifespan to me.
Click to expand...
It has to be the leftover reflex from USA embargo when we need thing to last indefinitely. :)

In my house we have a no imagine distortion rule. I'm kind of phanatical about it. I consider sidebars on 4:3 the same way I considered letterboxing of DVD's on my old TV -- I'd rather see a program/film as intended than distort it to fill the screen. Of course to each his own.
Click to expand...
Same thing here. I can't stand distortion.
We sometimes get 16:9 movie stretched to fill 4:3 on some programs and I just have to shrink it. I don't mind the black bars.
 
As far as the US is concerned we are at an awkward transition point. The HD channels we do have obviously broadcast 1080i at 16:9, but not all the commercials follow suit. Between the TV and the cabel/sat box you can change aspect ratios and definition options to best make use what's coming in to your house.

As far as Sony goes I never assume a Sony device will work. Their XDCams are phenominal, their consumer digicams are great for their market and various other devices but as a whole I've never seen a consistency with Sony that I'd like. Unless I know the device's history, make and model, I steer away. But I am extremely picky when it comes things like TVs and cameras since my job is videography. ;)
 
egan. said:
In my house we have a no imagine distortion rule. I'm kind of phanatical about it. I consider sidebars on 4:3 the same way I considered letterboxing of DVD's on my old TV -- I'd rather see a program/film as intended than distort it to fill the screen. Of course to each his own.
Click to expand...

I thought I would feel that way before I got my 32" 16:9 LCD, cuz I've never had a problem with the horizontal letterboxing for widescreen stuff on a 4:3 TV, but the vertical letterboxing of 4:3 to 16:9 just takes up so much more space - I can't deal with those gargantuan black bars, it makes the viewable area of my TV something like a 20" screen :erk: Besides, it's very rare that I watch anything I really care that much about in 4:3 anyway ;)

Oh, and "phanatical?" :D
 
Metaltastic said:
I thought I would feel that way before I got my 32" 16:9 LCD, cuz I've never had a problem with the horizontal letterboxing for widescreen stuff on a 4:3 TV, but the vertical letterboxing of 4:3 to 16:9 just takes up so much more space - I can't deal with those gargantuan black bars, it makes the viewable area of my TV something like a 20" screen :erk: Besides, it's very rare that I watch anything I really care that much about in 4:3 anyway ;)

Oh, and "phanatical?" :D
Click to expand...

haha...oops. I guess I can't claim English as a second language.
Spelling aside, the fact that everyone bought these really expensive "sharper" high resolution tv's and the FIRST THING THEY DID was distort the image just baffles me. I know why people do it I just don't understand why they feel less ripped off by everyone weighing 400lbs than they do by a smaller picture.

The thing that makes me angrier than that is when "HD" channels show SD material and just stretch it to fill the screen. I want to find the lazy engineer who came up with that great idea. I imagine I know how his tv is set up at home. The flipside of this that I find equally enraging is that my local NBC station has taken to cropping the HD signal for SD rather than letterboxing so, for example, you can't see the headline graphics on the news if you are watching on an SD tv....what a great idea.

Anyway, enough of that rant. These things will sort themselves out once HD actually becomes the pervasive standard.
 
Well I bought an HDTV pretty much solely for my 360 and PS3, cuz I probably watch a combined 2 hours of broadcast TV per month (and that's being generous)
 
The only place you're going to get real unbiased information:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/tvs-services/tvs/index.htm


Here's a couple of helpful hints: If the TV is under 50" in size, you'll never tell the difference between 1080p and 720p. You'll also almost never be able to tell the difference between a 60hz and 120hz LCD tv, except in the most extreme circumstances.

I bought a 42 Panasonic Plasma (720p) based on Consumer Reports' recommendations & it's been amazing. Seriously, it'll blow most 1080p LCD's out of the water, especially on terrestrial broadcasts. (LCD's don't 'scale' lower resolutions very well, much like a computer LCD, and most terrestrial broadcasts, as well as satellite are in 720p, or 1080i, if they're in HD at all. I've yet to see a 1080p terrestrial broadcast! On standard definition,which is still a great deal of today's programming , the Panasonic is vastly superior to an LCD.
Just don't leave a Plasma on a static image for more than an hour.... serious burn-in risk!
You've really gotta ask yourself what you're using the TV for before you buy.
 
Metaltastic said:
Yeah, if you're gonna be playing video games, DO NOT get a plasma - hello burn-in! :ill:
Click to expand...

I once had a job installing professional/commercial AV gear. When plasmas were very new things, and we sold them for $15,000...a local university had us install a bunch of them in several buildings for the purpose of....get this....bulletin boards! (blue background and white text) Want to guess how long those lasted? :loco:
 
It just makes all them celebri-tays look more like reg'lar folk.

before horizontal stretchin' : "Who does that Tina Fey think she is?"

after horizontal stretchin' : "That gal's alright. Didn't I see her at th' Walmart?"
 
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