High Definition

[Jim Clark]

Are any of you guys watching HD on a 4:3 display?

No. I think part of the definition of HD is that it's widescreen format although I'm sure that there are some HDTV sets in 4:3 size but why bother? I was like you, the several thousand dollar custom furniture didn't fit accomodate a larger screen presentation. The good news is that now she can participate in buying new furniture. Of course you could always go with the wall mounted variety which typically has a high WAF. That's still going to leave racks for the gear, which typically get no WAF.

I spent a long time looking for the right pieces to accomodate a 55 inch LCD rear projection. Along the way I found several nice pieces including some really nice looking Ethan Allen solutions. In the end I went a different route but there are several choices and one is surely bound to please the wife. In the end it can easily add a couple thousand dollars to the cost of HD, but for me it was worth it. Your results could of course vary.

Good luck,
jc

[EdwardGein]

The Problem when you go to places like Best Buy & casually look at say a football game on their widescreen HD (ready) TVs is the picture looks distorted and you're not seeing actual HD because they're not getting the feed from an actual HD cable or satelite broadcast. I was hesistant for a while of getting anything on widescreen because of the distortion shown in stores like Best Buy. However, when an HDTV picture is truly broadcast on HD, it looks fantastic, as people on this board initially reminded me when I expressed reservations about widescreen. In the case of non HD 4:3 filmed broadcast shows, the picture on widescreen sets 34" or bigger look great (I can't vouch for 32" sets because I haven't seen anything on one) but look like crap in my opinion for sets 30" or below. DVDs also look great in widescreen if they were filmed in widescreen, for those that were in 4:3 like old TV shows & movies, I recommend you watch them in 4:3 as they look too distorted to me on full widescreen.

[recoveryone]

Jim, I think part of the FCC definition of HDTV is that the screen must be in a 16:9 format, so if someone is selling a set lable HDTV or HD-ready in a 4:3 format is selling smoke up peoples butts

[dean_martin]

I can't tell you how many times Iv'e read, my wife won't let me.
Don't they understand that a home theater is just that, a HOME theater.
My wife loves our stuff. When we sit down on a saturday night to watch
a movie, we are transported away from our everyday lives. We are imersed (sp?)
in the experience. We snuggle, have a cold one, share some popcorn...ect.

I must admit that we got the entertainment center several years ago before I had seen a widescreen set or heard about HDTV. I think the tv compartment in the entertainment center was designed for a conventional tv up to 35" (the whole is taller than it is wide). I don't think an adequately sized widescreen HD-ready or HDTV will fit.

So, I can't blame her for it not being compatible (even though I never have liked that big-assed piece of furniture). We may start with our bedroom. Even she has suggested that we get a bigger tv for the bedroom - the door is open.