Square TV or widescreen tv? Which to buy?

scuzzo84 · Post by **scuzzo84** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:10 pm

I wanted to a get a larger tv that is around 45-65 inch, somewhere between there.

I will be using it for my video games, stuff I get from torrent, and dvd movies. I dont care much about HDTV but I did read something about HDTV becoming a standard and you must have it sometime in the future, I dont remember exactly what the article said.

The square TVs seem to be 50% cheaper than the ones that are widescreen and HDTV .

For example this square tv is "52" Big Screen TV for Sale - $399" http://baltimore.craigslist.org/ele/140397215.html

And this widescreen one is "Hitachi 53" HDTV Widescreen TV - $900"
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/ele/141563780.html

On craiglist its abou 4-600 for square tvs that are 50 inch at least, for hdtv widescreen ones they are 600-1000

So why do people get the widescreen tvs? Is it so they can watch the widescreen dvds and not have those black bars on the top and bottom?

If I play my videogames on a widescreen tv will I have black bars on the left and right?

I am confused about what reason there is to get a widescreen. I need to know if its worth it to get a widescreen, since its like double the cost.

I dont care about super quality, and I do hate those black bars. As far as HDMI and HDTV and DVI stuff I dont care about that either.

So which tv should I get, square or wide?

crazyrom · Post by **crazyrom** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:23 pm

Get the widescreen that's what i have, who want's to look at a big box tv they are a thing of the past.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:29 pm

We have a widescreen, while it's good for movies, normal non-widescreen stuff is sort of annoying with the blackbars on the sides. I'm rather used to the black bars on the top and bottom, so I'd probably go with a 4:3 TV. I do however hate fullscreen movies, so if you use it mainly for 16:9 stuff, so a widescreen TV is good.

Post by **|darc|** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:30 pm

Widescreen. I use my TV mostly for movies, and I hate having the black bars on bottom and top and hate more fullscreen versions of movies.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:44 pm

scuzzo84 wrote:So why do people get the widescreen tvs? Is it so they can watch the widescreen dvds and not have those black bars on the top and bottom?

A standard definition 4:3 (square-ish) television and a standard definition 16:9 (widescreen) television will have exactly the same resolution - about 480 lines in NTSC land. The pixels are just a different shape, that's all.

So, if you've got a 4:3 television, and you're watching a widescreen programme, you have to add borders, which reduce the vertical resolution to 75% of its original size.

However, if you've got a 16:9 television, and you're watching a widescreen programme, it fills the screen, and so uses all 480 lines. This means you enjoy an extra 33% vertical resolution over watching the same content on a "square" television.

Here's a small diagram to explain:

scuzzo84 wrote:If I play my videogames on a widescreen tv will I have black bars on the left and right?

You can have vertical borders or stretch the screen. Some allow you to crop the top and bottom instead, or crop slightly and then resize slightly. A few of the better brands have an intelligent stretcher, which resizes the edges of the video more than the middle, so the screen gets filled but it doesn't look all stretched out.

If games are your primary concern, get a regular fullscreen television.

scuzzo84 · Post by **scuzzo84** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:50 pm

I asked this question 2 other places and everyone says widescreen, but they dont tell why, 1 person did though...he said get widescreen since everyone else and thats the way people are moving.....but this is a stupid reason. I dont want to pay double just for something that I dont really care for

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:51 pm

I think az_bont just gave you good reasons.

scuzzo84 · Post by **scuzzo84** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:57 pm

Just read your post az_bont, thanks!

scuzzo84 · Post by **scuzzo84** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:57 pm

Just read your post az_bont, thanks!

psorules803 · Post by **psorules803** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:08 pm

Get a wide screen tv, a lot better.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:29 pm

Also, if you can't stand side borders on your 4:3 content, some televisions have a stretch mode that preserves the aspect ratio in the main portion of the screen, and gets progressively more stretched towards the left and right edges, so that the "important" part is the proper aspect ratio. This is the least noticeable stretch, and only really causes things to look funny if you have a lot of action at the edges of the screen.

I have a 51" Toshiba rear projection TV, and it has excellent image filters and stretching, for about half the cost of a Sony. I'm very happy with it, the stretch-mode I described looks very good for about 90% of 4:3 content (my TV is mainly for DVDs and GameCube, the latter of which has remarkably little widescreen content, and it's never bothered me), and you don't get artifacts/pixelation like you do with some larger TVs when they upscale the image. Everything is very clean and smooth, without being blurry.

If you're looking for a rear projection, I'd definitely recommend a Toshiba. And if you don't care about HDTV, you can save some money getting a unit that's "HDTV ready," which means it can display HD content, but only has a standard TV tuner built in...most people who subscribe to an HD service have a box (either a TiVo, or a cable/satellite receiver) that handles the signal conversion externally anyway, so an internal HD tuner wouldn't do you any good.

JuddWack · Post by **JuddWack** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:40 pm

I prefer watching movies in widescreen. Even if that means a 4:3 screen with black bars across the top and bottom.

When I am watching a regular 4:3 signal on my widescreen TV I set the TV to 16:9. My friends say everyone looks a little flat but I am so used to it I barely notice. Besides, most the shows I watch are cartoons, haha.

Plus if your thinking about buying a next gen console I believe they are all utizlizing HD capabilities, but I could be wrong.

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:15 pm

depends on how long you plan to go without buying another

scuzzo84 · Post by **scuzzo84** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:13 am

You think its worth it to get this?

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/ele/139330378.html

46 inch High Definition TV - $500
Reply to: sale-139330378@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-03-05, 10:42PM EST

This is a 46 inch Toshiba rear projection TV. I bought it 4 years ago for over $1,200. It works excellently. It has a widescreen and 16:9 format. It takes component inputs and DVI.

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:29 am

If you are planning on keeping this as your primary television for a while, you may want to get one with an HDMI jack. It's the up-and-coming standard (it's a truly digital connector, which carries audio, video, and control signals all in one cable), and some high-definition devices in the future will likely require it.

I am very happy with my 51H84, and if you shop around, you can find those relatively cheap refurbished these days (it's a 2004 model). You should be able to score on for $800 or so plus shipping.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:31 pm

DaMadFiddler wrote:If you are planning on keeping this as your primary television for a while, you may want to get one with an HDMI jack. It's the up-and-coming standard (it's a truly digital connector, which carries audio, video, and control signals all in one cable), and some high-definition devices in the future will likely require it.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players will come with the older analogue connections (Composite, S-Video etc), as do ATSC tuners. They aren't going to disappear any time soon.

Ross L. wrote:They are gonna phase out standard televisions in 3 years. Switch now so you aren't forced to later.

The only extra equipment he would require is an ATSC tuner, assuming the HDTV already has one.

As an aside, I can't believe they're asking $172.65US just so you can watch the same four or five channels you can watch now, but in higher resolution. You can guarantee that for years the majority of the population will either still have a standard definition TV, or will have one so poorly configured that they won't actually benefit at all.

Makes me appreciate ?28 for 30 TV channels and almost as many radio stations even more

.

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:42 pm

DaMadFiddler wrote:If you are planning on keeping this as your primary television for a while, you may want to get one with an HDMI jack. It's the up-and-coming standard (it's a truly digital connector, which carries audio, video, and control signals all in one cable), and some high-definition devices in the future will likely require it.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players will come with the older analogue connections (Composite, S-Video etc), as do ATSC tuners. They aren't going to disappear any time soon.

Ross L. wrote:They are gonna phase out standard televisions in 3 years. Switch now so you aren't forced to later.

The only extra equipment he would require is an ATSC tuner, assuming the HDTV already has one.

As an aside, I can't believe they're asking $172.65US just so you can watch the same four or five channels you can watch now, but in higher resolution. You can guarantee that for years the majority of the population will either still have a standard definition TV, or will have one so poorly configured that they won't actually benefit at all.

Makes me appreciate ?28 for 30 TV channels and almost as many radio stations even more

.

Square TV or widescreen tv? Which to buy?

Square TV or widescreen tv? Which to buy?

Re: Square TV or widescreen tv? Which to buy?