On our 16:9 inch screen, some local broadcasts are sent in 4:3 format, causing vertical black lines. I was told that there is a device that I could purchase that would actually convert that to 16:9. I think it probably does what my TV already will do and expand the image, cutting off parts. Is there something that will actually allow the entire screen to be shown and no image to be lost.
I doubt any third party product would do better job of expanding a 4:3 image to 16:9 than your built in converter. Sounds like yours does the same as mine: as it stretches the image out to the sides, you lose a touch from the top and bottom, but its not usually enough to worry about, except for sportscasts where the scores are sometimes trimmed off.
My set actually leaves the center of the picture the proper size then slowly stretches the edges so you don’t notice any distortion in the picture except when the camera pans or action comes in from the side, but it’s not that bad.
I’ve come to notice that practically nobody who buys a 16:9 TV seems to know how to use it properly. I see broadcasts and even DVD’s being displayed in illogical fashion all the time. The majority of non-HDTV broadcasts are in 4:3, which for 16:9 users gives them a couple of viewing options - leave it at 4:3, with bars on teh side of the screen (sort of a reverse letterboxing), zoom it in, cutting off the top and bottom (sort of like a reverse pan&scan), or use a stretch, which will fill the entire screen, but make things look a bit crushed. There should be a button on your remote for changing the display between these.
I’ve noticed this as well and wonder how much it’s going to hinder widespread the adoption of HDTV. The other thing I notice is that almost nobody understands the dramatic difference in picture quality available when properly viewing anamorphic widescreen DVDs on a 16:9 television. I wasn’t even aware that most widescreen DVDs were anamorphic until I bought my HDTV a few months ago. When I mention this to others I get the vacant stare.
My television offers a number of options to help the picture fill the screen. I rarely use them and don’t recommend using them unless you have a CRT that might be subject to burn-in. Options are:
Normal
Wide - stretches the image horizontally only (picture will be distorted)
Panorama - stretches horizontally only in a non-linear fashion to minimize the appearance of distortion
Zoom 1 - stretches both horizontally and vertically, no distortion but may cut off part of the picture, used to force window-boxed content to fill the screen or to allow letterboxed content to fill the screen vertically with loss at the sides.
Zoom 2 - greater expansion both horizontally and vertically than zoom 1, used similar to Zoom 1, except aimed more to 2.35:1 content (very wide letterboxing) to fill the screen vertically with significant loss at the sides.