Stretch, partial zoom, zoom, etc.

[skierrob]

Here's a question to all of you with 16 x 9 Plasma TV's and VIP-622 systems.

Which aspect mode do you use when watching SD 4x3 content? Black bars, grey bars, stretch, partial zoom or zoom?

And do you output 1080i or 720P to your 1024 x 768 42" plasma if that's what you have?

Also, if you use grey bars, do you still see a small black line on the right side of the screen before the grey bar begins? For some reason I do.

Just trying to find the best settings for a Plasma system.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[mjrusso45]

I usually go for Zoom, especially if the SD content is letterboxed.

I have my Dish set to output 720p to my 42" 1024x768 Panasonic plasma. I tried 1080 and I didn't really see a difference.

I never use gray bars so I can't say for sure on that topic.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I have a CRT Rear Projection, for which I also need to be mindful of screen burn-in.

I use 4:3 with gray sidebars for programs that I care more about. Like say a good movie. The image is sharper, the characters are shown accurately, and you see all of the image.

I use Partial Zoom if I don't care much about it. You cut off a bit of the vertical image and everyone is a bit fatter, but on many programs it doesn't make much difference.

I use Zoom on standard definition 16:9 / Letterbox, as that correctly expands the image to fill the screen. On rare occasions I also use Zoom on regular 4:3 in order for the characters to not be so "fat." Although this cuts off a fair amount from both the top and bottom of the image.

I never, never use Stretch as that is terrible. And I never use black bars as that invites burn-in.

And yes, the Dish graybar is off a bit and there is almost always a thin, black line on the right side of the image, between the image and the gray area. Some 4:3 material is slightly wider so that the line isn't there, other material is narrower and you can have thin black bars on both sides. But Dish did miscalculate the typical 4:3 image size and does leave a bothersome (and potentially burn-in troublesome) black line on the right.

 

[tigershere]

I use normal 4:3 with black bars most of the time
I can't stand stretch and zoom at times looks fair but if the PQ is crap it just makes it worse

 

[MikeD-C05]

I use normal 4:3 with black bars most of the time
I can't stand stretch and zoom at times looks fair but if the PQ is crap it just makes it worse

I'm just the opposite. I can not stand to watch tv with black bars of any kind. I paid for a 57" hd tv and I want all 57 inches of it at all times.

 

[Julien]

I'm just the opposite. I can not stand to watch tv with black bars of any kind. I paid for a 57" hd tv and I want all 57 inches of it at all times.

So if you bought an original Picasso and got it home and it didn't fit your frame you would just get out the scissors?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Worse yet, if the frame were too large, he would pull and stretch it to fit, distorting every figure in the painting.

I paid for a high resolution HDTV, I cannot stand to watch highly distorted images on it.

Well, I guess if someone watches all 4:3 in Zoom mode, it won't be distorted, it will merely have 25% of the image cropped off.

I would watch with black bars if I had a TV that wasn't susceptible to burn-in. As the OP has a plasma, I highly recommend watching with gray bars over black bars.

 

[MikeD-C05]

So if you bought an original Picasso and got it home and it didn't fit your frame you would just get out the scissors?

Sorry, I don't compare Tv to Art like Picasso. Although sometimes the video quality of certain sat channels looks like a Picasso with the smearing that makes the picture look out of focus and hard to tell what you are looking at.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Worse yet, if the frame were too large, he would pull and stretch it to fit, distorting every figure in the painting.

I paid for a high resolution HDTV, I cannot stand to watch highly distorted images on it.

Well, I guess if someone watches all 4:3 in Zoom mode, it won't be distorted, it will merely have 25% of the image cropped off.

I would watch with black bars if I had a TV that wasn't susceptible to burn-in. As the OP has a plasma, I highly recommend watching with gray bars over black bars.

I watch the 4x3 shows in Partial Zoom which fills the screen properly and it compares to my Toshiba tv that uses" full " to do the same. I do not use ZOOM unless I am watching say the Sci Fi shows like Battlestar so it will fill up the screen. I am sitting about 12' from the tv and the screen is 57 " so it looks fine to me and everyone that comes into the house. What looks best to me is in stretch mode and 480p , then use my Tv to put it in full mode and it makes analog shows looks just like it should . But I don't want to change the tv to 480 p just to watch sd shows. So it is normal for hd and partial zoom for analog.

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

I'll watch sd stuff with the black bars. I don't even notice them anymore. If an sd show is letterboxed, I'll usually do full zoom, but it if it looks really crappy because it is bitstarved or something, I'll go back black bars. That annoys me, though.

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

And I wish TNT HD would stop stretching their crap so I could make the decision myself. Their stretching algorythm is worse than my tv's or my receiver's.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

TNT is so bad that I wouldn't care if E* dropped it. The other night they were showing a movie that had been shot in 2.35:1, but were airing the 4:3 Pan & Scan version that was then stretched to 16:9. It was unwatchable.

 

[retorq]

How will black bars have more of a chance to burn in then gray bars??

I too have an CRT RP and I watch with the black bars 90% of the time.

 

[stuckingoo]

Partial zoom for me on my 50" plasma. I was partial to the Directv h10 proportional stretch before I moved over to Dish. Unfortunately that is one zoom/stretch not available with Dish.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

How will black bars have more of a chance to burn in then gray bars??

I too have an CRT RP and I watch with the black bars 90% of the time.

Burn-in occurs when one area of the screen is used much more than another area. That's how bright game icons and symbols burn in, and how screen logos can burn-in. They burn down the phosphors of those areas.

The area within a black bar gets no use. So the 4:3 area with the image is burning that area down a bit. Eventually the 4:3 area will be slightly less bright than where the black bars are. At that point, every full-screen image will be slightly brighter on the ends. These can continue to worsen until it is very obvious all the time.

The whole purpose of the gray bars is an attempt to burn/wear down the sides at the same rate as the middle. It isn't perfect and you can still get some burn-in even when using the gray bars, but it will burn-in at a far slower rate than if you use black bars.

People with CRT rear projection sets and older plasmas should use black bars very sparingly. Newer plasmas don't burn as readily, but it is still wise to play it on the safe side.

 

[Kaydigi]

Black bars for 4:3 content letterboxed or not. A lot Dish SD looks terrible pillar boxed (ESPN and 2 SD lately) and looks horrific stretched or zoomed.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I agree, stretched or zoomed SD looks terrible. There have been 5 or 6 threads on here from people getting new HDTVs and asking how to make the SD look better and I always pop in to say to not stretch or zoom it.

This is why I use the gray bars as much as I dare to with my CRT-RP.