HDTV question

[SweetPete]

Guys,

I've got a new HD 1080p flat screen arriving on Friday, as well as a 1080p up-converting DVD player. I was in the supermarket last night by the video section, and I saw the movie "300" was available in 4 formats:

1. Regular
2. Widescreen
3. HD-DVD
4. Blueray

Obviously, 3 and 4 won't work until I get a HD-DVD or Blueray player. So, which will work best, 1 or 2? My hunch is 2.

[marcus]

A widescreen DVD, especially if it is anamorphic widescreen, will be your best bet. Which TV did you get?

[SweetPete]

Thanks Marcus.

After much research and analysis paralysis, I settled on a Sharp AQUOS 46" LCD, model LC46D82U. All the bells and whistles: 1080p, 120hz (4ms) refresh, 3 HDMI inputs, etc. It was a tough decision: LCD vs. plasma, screen size, features, etc. SO many damn choices.

Got what I believe to be a great deal thru Amazon, including free shipping and no sales tax. Local stores couldn't even come close.

[Bri]

Like I'm always telling my wife "We have a wide screen TV, we NEED widescreen DVD's.

1. is usually referred to by Fullscreen because it fills the 4:3 screen. Fullscreen is for Fools who don't want to see the whole image.

What will frustrate you most is there are many shows that are shot in HD, but the network won't be in HD yet (ex. Sci Fi). So unless your TV has the right zoom option (mine doesn't, it always over zooms) you'll get black bars on all sides. It sucks to have a 61" screen showing a ~47" image.

LG has a dual Bluray/HD DVD player so you don't have to sweat the format war.

[VinceV]

You spend good moeny on a widescreen tv. Why on Earth would you consider anything but widescreen DVD?

On a side note, don't get tricked into the "you need these expensive cables". Unless you running a huge in home theatre with cable running 100's of feet, any decent price cable will do, I suggest you use the HDMI that your tv and up converting DVD player will have.


This is a good place for cables

https://www.Monoprice.com

[SweetPete]

Thanks Bri and Vince. Yeah, those HDMI cables - as it's a digital interface, it either works or it doesn't, right? Cheap cables for me (ie. no Monster)...

[VinceV]

Yeah it works or it doesn't. Monster cables are a huge ripoff, that I have fallen for in the past myself.

Those kind of high money cables may make a difference, in multi hundred thousand dollar reference setups, where you have lots of cables running over large distances, but for the average home user. The inexpensive stuff is just fine.

[Axewielder]

Even anamorphic widescreen DVD's are disappointing on a big HDTV set. They are not optimized for NTSC signals, and will painfully show the crude limits of that format. HD-DVD or Blu-ray all the way.