Do all wide screen TV's distort the picture so everything seems too wide?

I have a Phillips, and it only does that when I watch a 4×3 show and force it into 16×9. I can change the format to fit what I am watching, so I watch a 4×3 in 4×3 format.

I am on Comcast Cable, and subscribe to HD channels, all new or recent programming on the HD channels are in 16×9 and have no distortion.

Go to good TV store and ask lots of questions and make sure they let you work the remote to see the features.

It’s called the aspect ratio. When you watch fullscreen movies they are for 4×3 like @zenvelo said, but its trying to display them as 16×9.

I find that annoying. too. Just change the Aspect ration on the set. Every set is different but the setting is something like Menu > Setup>Picture >Aspect ratio. It is easy to select the right one. .

“Does this dress make me look fat?”. “No. It’s the Aspect ratio on my new LCD.widescreen”

I’m astounded by how oblivious most people are to wide-screen tvs with wrong aspect ratios. What’s the point of filling up the screen if you have to stretch the image? How is it that such unnatural distortion passes for acceptable? (These must be the same users that don’t mind looking at displays forever flashing 12:00:00.)

For wide-formatted HDTV programming, however, the picture is magnificent.

So what it looks like I have been seeing is people either don’t know how to adjust their sets or are lazy and just live with it all the time? So it has something to do with the signal and the TV is trying to make it work or making it work and it doesn’t know anything? Is this a transitional problem that in enough years all broadcast/ cable will be compatible making the switch unnecessary? So with DVD’s or old DVD’s there will still need to be the switch to make the picture right.

The control has several settings, and I use the wide-screen one only when the movie is in a wide-screen format. It’s a simple matter to scroll through 5 settings and choose the one with the right aspect ratio. I can’t imagine why anyone would watch a picture with distorted images just to fill the screen.

One option has a zoom that fills the screen by cutting off the left and right sides of the image, which gives you a bigger picture but doesn’t show you the full image that the director and cinematographer had in mind. In some movies you aren’t really losing much that way.

I’m speaking only of movies; I don’t watch TV. But when I watch a movie that was made for TV, it fills the screen from top to bottom, and the left and right sides are empty. That’s the right aspect ratio for a TV image. I’m sure it must also be the right one for broadcast TV.

@Jeruba thanks that makes a lot of sense. As long as it’s a no big deal to simply make adjustments without my head exploding I should be gtg.

@woodcutter I think it also has to do with people wanting to get their money’s worth… they have this big tv, and they want to see it all used or they feel like they wasted their money. It drives me crazy, too.

As well noted already, there should be a setting to make it right. Regular TV will occupy the center of the screen with black bars in the extra space on the sides.

But I was discussing the phenomenon with a friend whose brother insists on playing regular TV stretched to fit the screen – i.e. looks stupid to a lot of us. We concluded it was a matter of “I bought all those pixels and I’m damn well going to use every single one of them!!”

I don’t have this problem at all and I never need to adjust anything at all. It occurs automatically.

I have an Epson Moviemate which is a projection TV. When doing my research, I realized that this was a more economical alternative if you really want a nice large picture.

Most large screen TVs (48, 72 inch or greater) are in the thousand or more range and this cost me half of that. Plus when I move, I don’t have to worry about how to safely transport a large fragile LCD screen. All I have to do is picvk up my 10 lb. little box with handle and carry bag included.

It also handles input other than cable or satellite. The connection for either of those is HDMI so it handles Hi-def

It has a DVD player and great speakers included. There is also an input to connect a computer.

And reading this Q, just made realize how neat it is that it automatically adjusts the aspect ratio.

www.epson.com

@Buttonstc: 2 questions about using a portable projector: Don’t you need a pretty dark room? Can you always find a blank wall?”

Those black bars on the sides of the screen never bothered me. After you get invested in the movie it’s barely noticeable. I admit when I first noticed that years ago I was sure my TV was on its last leg. I have seen the price of these big TV’s going down slowly as they become more common so it’s why I even have thoughts of getting one. When you get old it seems we feel the need to sit closer to the set to watch. The big screen sure looks nice as long as the picture is proportioned right. Waiting until a movie comes out on DVD is common for us but they still don’t look right on a normal TV. Just dreamin for now.

Thanks for all the great answers folks.

@woodcutter, I love the big screen. I bought it in about 1998, having promised my son that if I got my first bonus that year I would buy one. I did, and I did: paid about $4000 for a receiver with 42” Samsung plasma screen. It has worked perfectly ever since, without a single moment of trouble.

The same or equivalent screen would go for far, far less now, but I have had 13 years of enjoyment from mine already.

As I said, I watch no TV. But I go through a lot of DVD rentals from Netflix. The difference is enormous. It’s almost like being at the movies. I have used every setting except “panorama” to fit screen images of different aspect ratios, from films of the 1920s right on up to present-day wide screen. Having the picture in the right proportion makes for comfortable viewing; a black or gray panel at the sides or the bottom quickly becomes invisible.

@gasman

Brightness has never been a problem for me. I watch it in full daylight without needing to darken the room. The one exception is really dark and dim night scenes in some TV shows and so far only one program has been difficult for me personally. That’s “Falling Skies” the new Sci-Fi drama on TBS. but it’s really exceptionally dark in places by the intention of the producers since they don’t have a movie-sized budget for depiction of the aliens. So they’re often depicted in dark night scenes to camouflage that. So I just make it a point to watch that show at night only. Everything else is fine in broad daylight.

The Moviemate has a lamp output of 2,000 ANSI Lumens which is higher than most other units at the same price and size.

Regarding wall space, it hasn’t been a problem for me personally. Right now I’m just using my bedroom wall which is ordinary white and the pic is fine.

Eventually I’m going to get the companion screen for this projector. It’s called the Epson Ultra Portable Duet and it’s one of the few projector screens I’ve seen with dual aspect ratio. Most are one or the other and are significantly more costly that this. And most are far more difficult to set up.

It’s difficult to explain it because a simple demo shows it all. If you just put it into YouTube Search there are some excellent videos posted for both the screen and the projector.

One of the most interesting things I saw in those was where folks had tacked up a white sheet to their garage doors and were sitting in their driveway watching a DVD Movie.

I love this unit. It really is a “home theater in a box”. Just watch some of the promo vids and I think you’ll see what I mean. One of the best ones is from HSN when they had it on special sale about a year ago or so. It’s very comprehensive and covers everything. And its obviously shot in real time in their studio and I think they even have it showing a few mins before they dimmed the studio lights. I was surprised at the picture quality.

I bought mine from Best Buy and called ahead requesting a demo and that was the tipping point for me. Obviously, they couldn’t darken any area of the star so they just put in a DVD and the pic was decent in spite of the brightness of the store lights.

Considering it’s reasonable price and all of the inputs it can handle, this is a really good deal in my opinion. I’m really glad I got it. Plus, Epson has been a leader in the quality projector business for a long long time.

@Buttonstc: Thanks – I might get one!

I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I love mine. Projectors have really improved immeasurably in the last few years.

The other forbidding thing used to be the need to have connections for external speakers and (usually) a drop-down screen installed in the ceiling or on the wall.

But this unit has everything needed. It really is plug and play.

I did quite a bit of price research before buying and ended up buying through Best Buy Online and saved about $150 over what they quoted me at the store.

There was a NY camera place which had it for about $15.00 less but that would have been eaten up by delivery charges.

With Best Buy, there was the option of “ship to store” for free so I just went down to pick it up.

Another thing I did at home here was to have it set up with both the Moviemate AND my small TV connected to the Satellite connector box (we have Direct TV but I’m sure it would be the same with a cable company).

The main reason I did it is because the lamp has a lifespan of approx. 2,000–3,00 hours and for some TV programs (Documentaries, news and talk shows) large screen TV isn’t strictly necessary so why waste lamp life.

Anyhow, if you do get one, let us know how you like it.