Topic: Technical Question

[stooged and confused]

I was curious to see how many of you with widescreen TV's watch the Stooges or anything else with a 4x3 aspect ratio with the bars on side of set versus having the image fill the entire screen (creating a "stretched" image). While I think it looks superior with the bars, I was told that if you watch it that way for too long, the bars create a permanent "burn" image on the screen.

Your thoughts.......

[falsealarms]

I haven't heard that one, but it wouldn't seem to be an issue with any halfway decently made TV. When I watch the Stooges on anything widescreen (i.e TV, portable DVD player) I usually stretch it out. Sometimes, I watch them on my 19' desktop LCD (5x4 ratio) and the 4x3 image leaves slight black bars on the top and bottom. But with Media Player Classic (my computer DVD player of choice) you can manipulate that and get rid of the small bars. When you do, the picture is like zoomed in slightly but not anything that would cause distraction.

[xraffle]

I don’t have a widescreen TV. I’m a century behind. I still use those big 4:3 CRT TVs. But I do watch a lot of widescreen movies on them with the black bars on the top and bottom. I never experienced any burn-in. If my CRT doesn’t burn in, then these newer 16:9 LCD HDTVs shouldn’t because LCDs don’t burn in. They do, however, have image retention, but that’s not permanent. Those go away. So, watching 4:3 content on a widescreen TV (with black bars on the side) shouldn’t be an issue for anyone.

[FineBari3]

When I first got my widescreen, I watched it in 4:3, because the widescreen was difficult to get used to. Now I watch it in widescreen all of the time.

[Larry Larry]

It does look superior with "the bars", but its not because of the bars.  Its because it looks ridiculous to stretch and distort the image.   I always watch programs in their OAR (original aspect ratio).

Besides, burn in is not much of an issue anymore on modern TVs.  Theoretically, you could burn in an image, if you paused a 4x3 image for hours or played a video game for 10 hours straight (static video game scores and graphics in the corner, etc.).   

But you won't have a problem watching a few Three Stooges episodes.  Chances are, you'll be mixing in HD & widescreen TV shows and DVDs (or Blu-Rays) and this will mix up aspect ratios. 

And if someone isn't watching HD or widescreen DVDs on their widescreen TV, then really was no point in them buying it to begin with.

I have two large plasma TVs (50" and 65") and have never had 1 problem.  I watch plenty of Stooges, Seinfeld, and other 4x3 classics alongside my Blu-Rays and HD programs.  There are a lot of rumors out there.  I work in the professional post-production and DVD authoring industry and I know what I'm talking about. 

[xraffle]

I have two large plasma TVs (50" and 65") and have never had 1 problem.  I watch plenty of Stooges, Seinfeld, and other 4x3 classics alongside my Blu-Rays and HD programs.  There are a lot of rumors out there.  I work in the professional post-production and DVD authoring industry and I know what I'm talking about. 

Yeah, I believe the burn-in problem was fixed on plasmas. So, that shouldn't be an issue anymore on newer models.

[FineBari3]

Yeah, I believe the burn-in problem was fixed on plasmas. So, that shouldn't be an issue anymore on newer models.

Hmmm, I wonder what about burn-in on a DLP TV?

[Larry Larry]

Hmmm, I wonder what about burn-in on a DLP TV?

DLP is immune to burn in. It projects light and reflects it off dozens of little mirrors.  It stands for Digital Light Processing but some people refer to it as Digital Light Projection.  Don't worry about burn in on a DLP.