The Costs and Benefits of a Widescreen HDTV


Defined Tag: Hdtv Widescreen.

Typically, a widescreen HDTV has a 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio monitor. Its widescreen format usually decodes a digital standard-definition picture by anamorphically compressing it. It is generally used along with the 720p/1080i HDTV broadcasts and widescreen DVD disks.

Widescreen HDTVs are highly compared with the 4:3 TV sets. This is because a 4:3 TV is more familiar and popular among American households than widescreen HDTV. However, during the past two years, the number of widescreen HDTV items bought by American consumers was doubled despite its expensive pricing. Its average price tag is between $700 to $2000 depending on its screen size and functionality. In fact, a widescreen TV set cost more per square inch of screen size than an ordinary TV. Nevertheless, a widescreen HDTV has lots of advantages to offer. One improvement is the enhancement of the “letterbox bars” – the black bars on the edge of a TV. Widescreen HDTV can stretch, crop, or zoom a 4:3 display so that it occupies entirely the screen. The widescreen HDTV’s menus include the Normal or 4:3, the Zoom or Enlarge, the Wide or Full, and the Panorama, TheaterWide, & Natural.

The Normal mode lets “letterbox bars” or windowbox bars displayed on a 4:3 screen. The Zoom or Enlarge style gets rid of the letterbox bars therefore expanding an image’s size. However, this method crops the image’s top and bottom areas. The Wide or Full mode is mainly applied for early 16:9 element such as that found on DVDs. The Panorama, TheaterWide, and Natural modes are the manufacturer-defined screen settings. It lets images stretched, zoomed, centered, and cropped.

One of the most branded widescreen HDTV item is the 30-inch Phillips 30PW8420/37. Its display screen type is a real flat picture tube. Its picture enhancement features include the Scavem, 3D Combfilter, and the Active Control + Light sensor.