High Definition Televisions

[Teddman]

What model tv do you have? I have a KV36"XBR250 and I'm pretty sure I don't have that option in my menus (gotta check at home).

It auto-detects the anamorphic signal just fine (and it looks great) with DVDs on my regular Toshiba DVD player. Don't know why XBox is hassling me.

Anamorphic PS2 games I've tried don't activate the mode on my set either by the way.

I have the KV32FD model, it's about two years old now. The standard mid-range Wega with the speakers on the sides, but not the XBR. Interlaced, non-progressive set.

Anyway, are you sure your XBR doesn't have an option to be forced into 16:9 enhanced mode? Pore through the manual... I find it hard to believe that Sony would only have an auto mode enabled, because some DVD players and consoles don't send the signal that triggers it. PS2 is incapable of sending an auto signal.

My cheaper 2 year-old Wega has the option, yours ought to have it too...

[Cheebs]

I would also recommend against a widescreen set if you're like me, and play a lot of SNES etc shit. Sure you can put on bars to give you the proper 4:3 aspect, but it just feels weird playing and having that part of the screen un-usable. I just couldn't get used to it.

I never have this problem with letterboxing. To me the black bars are no different than the plastic frame around the screen, the stand the TV is sitting on, the wallpaper, or anything else in the entire room that is not part of the picture. I look at the picture, and I ignore everything else that is not the picture.

[GameCynic]

My GC SCII has a widescreen option. The XBox one doesn't?

No, it doesn't. Fucked up, eh?

I have the KV32FD model, it's about two years old now. The standard mid-range Wega with the speakers on the sides, but not the XBR. Interlaced, non-progressive set.

Anyway, are you sure your XBR doesn't have an option to be forced into 16:9 enhanced mode? Pore through the manual... I find it hard to believe that Sony would only have an auto mode enabled, because some DVD players and consoles don't send the signal that triggers it. PS2 is incapable of sending an auto signal.

My cheaper 2 year-old Wega has the option, yours ought to have it too...

I think its a problem with the Xbox in general, I have the same problem. The Xbox dashboard goes automatically into 16x9 mode, as does my DVD player. Every widescreen Xbox game in 480p mode goes to full screen, and you have to manually turn on widescreen enhanced mode otherwise you get a stretched out, ugly picture.

[Compass]

Anyway, are you sure your XBR doesn't have an option to be forced into 16:9 enhanced mode? Pore through the manual... I find it hard to believe that Sony would only have an auto mode enabled, because some DVD players and consoles don't send the signal that triggers it. PS2 is incapable of sending an auto signal.

My cheaper 2 year-old Wega has the option, yours ought to have it too...

Yeah, I double-checked. The only way to force it on is through the service menu which is a fairly big hassle not to mention ridiculous that I should have to do that in the first place. Good ol' Sony.

[K3V]

On my old 24" WEGA you had to do it in the service menu, but on my new 36" it's an option right in the menu system.

[Teddman]

Damn. Well, now I know to check that any 4:3 HDTV set I buy in the future has both a ON mode for anamorphic squeeze and can play progressive material in full-screen.

[Riptwo]

Has anyone checked out Samsung's new DLP line? I'm usually pretty anti rear-projection, but the demo model I've been looking at is stupidly beautiful. Since I'm thinking of getting a massive one in February, I'm wondering if there's any info that I should know; maintenence, average life, blahblahblah.

[SmoothCriminal]

Now I'm pretty much debating on getting a 32" Zenith HD non-widescreen or a Samsung 32" non-widescreen HDTV or go with widescreen Phillips Widescreen 30" HDTV, or a Samsung 30" Widescreen HDTV.

I guess the real desicion maker is if I really need the true widescreen aspect. The non-widescreens have 16:9 compression so I could still use that, plus they are $100 cheaper and I lose 2". Anyone have any experience with the big differences in these? Also if anyone has ever had any Zenith or Samsung HDs, which should I go with if I chose non-widescreen?



Hold the phones, it seems that the Zenith model has optical audio out and DVI input, skip you Samsung!

[Tones]

For all of your Home Theater a/v questions, some really good help can be found at:

http://www.hometheatertalk.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/index.php
hometheaterforum.com

They know their shit.

[mollipen]

Everyone keeps calling 27" TVs "small," but here I have a 20" and like it just fine. *shrugs*