Luke

There is enough techno gaget freaks here to get a good answer...!!

We dont realy watch a lot od DVD's etc. Not interested in dolby 5.1 etc. Just a good picture . Noticed the price of "Square" TV's have realy dropped!!! (Didnt know Subaru made TV's..)

Should we just get an older style or try a wide screen??
Also are there any problems with a wide screen when watching normal TV??

Cheers


Luke

JackClark

You've got space for a huge one then go square, if space is limited go for wide. More and more programs and films are broadcast in Letterbox and I can't see that trend swinging.

Only problem with normal programs on widescreen are people who insist on stretching the picture to fill the gaps they've paid for!!

Tiggs

watch every thing on 36inch wide and would be weird/bad to go back

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

virtually everything is widescreen now if its you main tv then you are wasting your cash IMHO going for a 4:3 tv

uksti

I have 36" and have been praised for it...

Watch more DVDs - much better freeze frame !

Seriously, once I'd sold the family to pay for it, then BIG widescreen + 5.1 is addictive.

jonny32

I got a 28in panasnic w/s ,when i go to me parents house there sony 28in square, looks very srange indeed,all compresed..

Leg@cy

iTrader: (2)

Yo gotta do it...... change to wide!!!!!

I got a 32" Panasonic w/s Dolby prologic!!

Don't know why I didn't get one sooner....

Had it for over a year now ..... much easier on the eyes, more natural view.....

You'll think people who have 4:3 are nuts!!

IanW

Do it!

My Wide Screen TV went pop tonight Have dug out an old 4:3 TV and it all looks odd now.

Dracoro

It's all about streching or having black lines.

W/S for normal boradcasts make people look fat.
W/S for W/S looks goob but most films are Cinemascope so you still get the black lines at the top & bottom.
W/S broadcasts on a 4:3 make people look thin (why women love W/S tvs )

Over time widescreen will be better as many more broadcasts are done that way. But I'd rather a LARGER 4:3 and have the black bars (you have the same viewing area as a W/S tv depending on the size of the TV) and have more viewing area for normal broadcasts with no stretching.

Problem is, they don't make large 4:3's anymore (largest I see is 29" & any others probably cost loads) so I ended up getting a pro-logic 32" W/S for £240! with warranty

I'd have a 29" 4:3 rather than a 28" W/S as you get more viewing area, but better to get a 32" or larger W/S as 4:3's in the larger sizes are rare.

I wonder if any manufacturers do Cinemascope TV's for PROPER Movie experience

ChrisB

Care to spill the beans on where Drac?

Chris... shopping for a TV at the moment.

Hammy Hamster

Go for a widescreen. Most, if not all, w/s TVs can be easily switched from w/s to 4:3 from a button on the remote.

Nearly all recent programs are filmed/broadcast in w/s.

My advice is, go down your local Currys and have a play.

Sub97

If you have sky digital you can set that up to output a widescreen picture, thats what Ive done. Things that look stretched filling the whole screen on aerial BBC1 look perfectly normal on sky digital BBC1. Presumeably somethings getting chopped off somewhere, but its never affected me. Everything alsways looks normal, fills the screen, and I get all the picture (i.e. football scores can always be seen at the top and bottom of the screen etc)

Just a though incase you have sky digital.

Dracoro

ChrisB - Box Clever TV rental place closed their local store (company still going though, so got warranty from them) and they were having a sale. I got in on the 1st day so was lucky. It's a Phillips and quite new although black (which I prefer incidentally). Works perfectly and got the extra speakers in the deal too!

Just a 'in the right place at the right time' opportunity really.

Jodster

High end widescreens only stretch the edges of a 4:3 transmission so the whole image isn't fat. Most noticeable with scrolling credits that fly in, slow down and then fly out again. Freeze frame on 100htz versions only, me thinks.

Once switched to a decent flat, widescreen tube you will never want to go back.

pbee

Like any technical question "it depends". If you recive your TV by sky or freeview then most of these chanels are widescreen with the longterm aim for them all to become widescreen. so buy a widescreen tv. If you still receive analouge tv then these will be 4:3 signals until they are switched off in a few years time when you will have no choice but go to sky / freeview.

If i didnt have digital tv and didnt planning on getting it soon i would probably buy another 4:3 as they are so cheap and then buy a widescreen telly when I switched to digital tv. Then you will have the best of both worlds.

But I have didital TV and have a widescreen 50" sony in the front room and 28" widescreen in the bedroom and a 20" widescreen in the kitchen. all linked up to my sky satellite system, problem is I dont get much time to watch it.

Dizzy

my only gripe with my widescreen is the f**kin subtitles are off the bottom [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

ariel

Wide screen is good esp for DVDs but it does annoy me when you have verticals that aren't. I think it's the 4:3 getting stretched and once you notice it is very annoying.
You do need at least 32" as 28" widescreen is poor (IMHO).
Anyone got ideas on the vertical problem?

JackClark

>>my only gripe with my widescreen is the f**kin subtitles are off the bottom<<

I watched the whole of 12 Monkeys with missing subtitles, didn't have a bloody clue what was going on!!

Luke

Good second hand 4.3 it is then. Will wait for The full change of analogue to digital before spending big bucks!!

Cheers lads.

Diesel

Bottom line - get a widescreen if you have a proper 'anamorphic' source. You get these 'horizontally squashed up' pics from a DVD player, cable and SKY - the TV then 'unsquashes it to fill the screen 'naturally'

If you are watching off air (standard broadcasts) these are mostly spat out in 14:9 (halfway between square 4:3 and widescreen 16:9). If you dont drool at 16:9 TV's (even when they are switched off) and can live with some smallish black bars showing top and bottom of your square TV, then this is OK for you

I just dont like the butchery that these widescreen TV's do to any 14:9 or 4:3 source to fill up the screen they were never composed or shot for... Soft noisy pics with captions and heads off screen. Noses in the wrong places! Dont mess with the director's framing (and the TV director is always told to shoot '4:3 safe' so you arent getting any new info either!

D
(I have a 16:9 Proj TV with a Cable box and short fat people fed from the PS2 )

PS Luke - if you are still in that flat, get a Casio palm TV so you can still make it to the kitchen :O

Luke

Diesel

hello mate cheers for advice!!
yep still here... Waiting to buy... See what the war does first!!

O'what to do..?? used to have a loewe studio art with Bose sound few years ago.. Still got a wife now !! So not much time.

Luke


[Edited by Luke - 3/17/2003 10:31:41 PM]

JackClark

Keep circles round.

Diesel

"SIR we do circles in oval, elongated and today's special is an aspect cropped semi circle in red with Matzo *****..."

Luke, dont beat yourself up mate - get a widey and some kind of cable or Sky box!

(Just saw my first HDTV pic here in the US on a Texas size telly - very nice indeed, but not holding my breath for it in the UK)