Benefits of Widescreen HDTVs

The original thrust for HDTVs came from wide screen movies. In 1995 the US Federal Communications Commission set the standard for HDTV standard to 1920 by 1080 pixel format which is in line with the 16 by 9 widescreen aspect ratio favored by movie producers. This widescreen format is now used along with the 720p/1080i HDTV broadcasts and widescreen DVDs.

Television standards have largely remained unchanged for 30 years. Because of this 4:3 TVs are more familiar and popular among American households than widescreen HDTVs. However, during the past two years, the number of widescreen HDTVs 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 HDTVs can stretch, crop or zoom a 4:3 display so that it fills the screen. The widescreen HDTV’s menu allows the selection of Normal or 4:3 format, Zoom or Enlarge, Wide or Full, and the Panorama or TheaterWide formats. In Normal mode you will see black bars on both sides of your screen when watching a regular program that is broadcast in 4:3 format. The Zoom or Enlarge style gets rid of the letterbox bars by stretching the image. However, this method crops the image’s top and bottom areas. The Wide or Full mode is mainly applied for early 16:9 elements such as that found on DVDs. The Panorama, TheaterWide, and Natural modes are the manufacturer-defined screen settings.

The huge perceivable improvement in the image quality and cinema like experience of widescreen HDTVs will no doubt fuel demand and wider acceptance of this new format. With economies of scale kicking, prices of widescreen HDTVs will tumble to the benefit of consumers and enthusiasts.

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Our thanks to Henry Miller for this informative article on the Benefits of Widescreen HDTVs.