Replacing a 17 year old rear projection with a wide screen rear projection.

Is most of broadcast tv and basic analog cable now broadcasting in the newer
format?

If watching older shows/movies that were formatted 4/3 how will the display
show on the TV? Will there be black out bands on the sides or top/bottom?

For what its worth: upgrading from Mitsu 45" rear projection to Mitsu Gold
Series 55" wide screen.

Thanks!!

If the program content is not in 16:9, the picture will be cut on the
sides. If you force the wide mode, the picture will be stretched.

Most stations are not set up or broadcasting in the wide screen mode,
and will not be for some time. This mode is only broadcasted by
specific specialty channels. You would require digital cable service or
have a satellite dish, and subscribe to these services. In Europe and
Japan, the wide screen mode is more common than in North America. If
you are going to watch a lot of DVD's and your player has this option, I
would go for the wide screen format set.

If you are going to mainly watch the standard TV stations, this would be
a waste of extra money to purchase a wide screen set. As for thinking
about the future, in about 5 years your set will be old, and there will
be additions and changes in the industry. I think it is best to buy a
TV for the present, since they do wear out after a number of years.

The wide screen mode will not be common in NA for a while yet. The cost
of conversion is very expensive especially for the broadcaster, and for
the consumer. There are not enough sets out in the market place to
warrant the conversion and expenses for the broadcasters. Only specific
broadcasters are venturing in to this for experimentation, additional
promotion, and they can write off the losses.

Your cable company, and local broadcasters would be able to tell you
information about the standards in your area, and what is available to
you.

As for the make of TV set, I personally only like sets that are made by
the same manufactures who make broadcast equipment. Sony, Panasonic,
and Hitachi are some of the major manufactures of broadcast equipment in
the world, that are sold in North America, and Europe. Sony is
considered the top in the broadcast field along with Ikigami, Leitch,
Ross, CDL, Avid, Abekas, and a few others.

From what I am hearing, Mitsubishi has been getting out of consumer TV
equipment and consumer audio, and slowing down to give support in these
lines. I would not depend on them for future support in their home
entertainment products. Mitsubishi is staying only in their high end
industrial and computer lines.

Personally, I do not like rear screen sets. I find their pictures to
be much softer than the CRT, LCD, or Plasma displays. I found them to
not be as stable over a long period of time. Also, we are seeing a much
higher failure rate in the rear screen sets, than the other technologies
available.


--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
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"Confused in Illinois" wrote in message
.com...
Replacing a 17 year old rear projection with a wide screen rear
projection.

Is most of broadcast tv and basic analog cable now broadcasting in the
newer
format?

If watching older shows/movies that were formatted 4/3 how will the
display
show on the TV? Will there be black out bands on the sides or
top/bottom?

For what its worth: upgrading from Mitsu 45" rear projection to Mitsu
Gold
Series 55" wide screen.

Thanks!!

"Jerry G." wrote in message
...
If the program content is not in 16:9, the picture will be cut on the
sides. If you force the wide mode, the picture will be stretched.


Some RPTVs (and direct view) widescreen sets have a 'cinema' (or similar)
mode where the 4:3 picture is cropped top and bottom to fill the screen,
avoiding picture stretching. This has the added bonus that the station logos
are often cut out, avoiding the dreaded burn in! The downside is that
sometimes tops of heads are lost, and subtitles at the bottom, though my
Toshiba has a 'subtitle' mode which crops the picture more at the top than
the bottom for viewing subtitled programs.

There's also (on my Toshiba) a 'super live' mode where 4:3 images are
stretched far more at the left and right of the picture than the middle,
which means the most important part of the screen doesn't look silly. This
actually works rather well considering.

Here in the UK most sets on sale now are widescreen, with a great deal of
transmitted content being 16:9 format. I would never recommend buying a 4:3
set to a UK resident, but obviously things are quite different in N.
America. As you say a lot depends on what it will be used for, a DVD fanatic
will likely want a widescreen, whereas a TV buff may prefer 4:3.

Dave