Sony Wega LCD rear projection question

[DannyB]

We've had our Sony Grand WEGA KDF-42WE655 42" LCD Projection TV for about two months now, and I had two questions for those who know:

1. Is there any danger of burn-in from the black bars on the left and right that appear when non-letterboxed material is on the screen?

2. What "wide" setting is best for watching letterboxed programs on non-HD channels? Full, Wide, or Wide Zoom?

Thanks.

[hifiman]

I also own a Sony LCD 42". Part of my decision for purchasing this was that LCDs are not susceptible to burn-in of any kind. so black bars are definitely of no concern. As for letterbox viewing - I don't know, I'm too lazy to put one in the DVD player at the moment, but I think it is on the "full" setting on my set. In any case just try the different modes and see which looks best. I know on mine I decided to do a little tinkering with adjusting the screen height to get a picture that looked right to me.

[DannyB]

Thank you for the prompt response.

I thought burn-in was less of a problem, but the manual still warns of it.

My concern with letterboxing is less with DVDs (my player automatically adjusts for 16:9 ratio DVDs) and more with broadcast non-HD stations that letterbox their shows (e.g., TNT's WANTED which was broadcast this evening).

[MDS]

LCD does sometimes suffer from 'image retention', which is not quite the same as 'burn-in'. Burn-in is permanent. Image retention will go away after awhile.

[BMXTRIX]

Originally Posted by DannyB

1. Is there any danger of burn-in from the black bars on the left and right that appear when non-letterboxed material is on the screen?

No, LCD does not burn in. Image retention occurs very infrequently, and may look similar to burn-in. If on some VERY off chance you experience image retention, you can get rid of it by powering off and unplugging the set for 24 hours. You likely will never, ever see this happen.

Originally Posted by DannyB

2. What "wide" setting is best for watching letterboxed programs on non-HD channels? Full, Wide, or Wide Zoom?

The correct way is to view them as 4:3 letterbox, which sucks... So, the next best way is to use normal zoom. Not wide zoom, or wide, or stadium. You just want to zoom in which will eliminate the letterboxing and the pillarboxing. Usually letterboxed 4:3 is a converted HD broadcast, such as Smallville on the WB. So, this was originally shot 16:9 in HD and it shown letterboxed on SD channels.

[Shallowmander]

DannyB,

I've had my Sony for LCD for 2 years now. I have found that Widezoom sometimes looks better than zoom depending on the material and quality of it if it is in 4:3 but sometimes zoom looks better than wide zoom. Remember allot of viewing is subjective to lighting, source quality, calibration, etc. These sets are ultra-sensitive and should be calibrated before watching anything in my opinion. Even so, my set is unforgiving with average broadcasts and shows artifacting and blocking like all the other HDTV LCD's on the market. Sometimes its better just to watch things in 4:3 just for quality sake.
________________________________
Sony 42" Widscreen HD LCD projection
BOSE Lifestyle 18 w/ AdaptIQ
DVDO iScan+ Scaler
Denon DVD 2910
Monster Reference Power Center HTS 3500