Picture size on 16/9 TV :: What to choose?

[RathO]

I have a WS HDTV. I have 5 options for the screen size.

0-Natural (would use for 4/3 tv, but i don't like the grey bars)
1-theater wide 1 (??)
2-theater wide 2 (??)
3-theater wide 3 (??)
4-Full (i use it to watch tv (4/3))

When and how should i use the options 1, 2 & 3 to keep the good ratio?

Regards

[Shinigami-Sama]

hmm
I keep mine at 3
and 2 sometimes works but it cuts some bits off even thouhg it says it won't in my book..
but generaly keep at 3
hte 'natural' doesn't so much and I find veiwing 4:3 as 16:9 look just as good or better than 4:3
but then again I'm not to picky

[RathO]

I've test it alot yesterday with different sources, and i'll go with the option 3 for all my 16/9 sources. I was looking at faces and they don't look distorded with this last option. True that we lose image with option 1 & 2. I keep thinking that option 4 (full) is the best for me when i watch tv 4/3, but that's just me.

So why they do options like 1 & 2 if we still lose? What's the idea behind it?

Thanks

[Shinigami-Sama]

thats hte way they streach it
a stupid way..
you can use hte arrow botuns to scroll thru hte cut off parts
but
yeah
I keep my on thre and 4

[Sycho]

OK, I'll explain the settings

natural is for viewing 4:3 sources without losing picture.
theatre wide 2 is for 4:3 letter-boxed programs, thus when use with letterbox, no information is lost.

theater wide 1&3 are for viewing 4:3 sources, both will lose some picture, (1) stretches the sides more then the middle and the other (3) will stretch the image evenly

full is only for 16:9 and not for 4:3, I would say never use 16:9 on any other setting

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/images/theaterwidemodes_small.gif

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/brandspecific/toshiba/miscellaneous/theaterwidemodes_defined.html

[Shinigami-Sama]

I mostly keep mine ong 2 and 4
and sometimes 3
but it;s a bit differant from tv to tv the way it does it
but I had 16:9 on 2 because on 4 it didn;t streach all hte way in ht middle even though it had no bars
and 2 fixed it
so Iuno

[rjgn]

Hmm must say I'm surprised to find that anyone here uses ANY setting that distorts the picture at all. Personally I view 4:3 material in 4:3 and 16:9 in 16:9 ;)

It's like the Pan and Scan issue, just like I'd avoid watching a movie that had been cut up to fit into an almost square screen, I avoid trying to squeeze a 4:3 picture into a frame that won't take it without distortion.

It's just well, not right imho. But well that's just me :)

[Shinigami-Sama]

well by local cable corp
they well..
2/3 of whats on it 16:60 being squished into 4:3
or vise-versa
it;s like they broadcast w/o hte tags 0_o
but once you get used to it