Devin79 said:
I have a high end Sony HD CRT RPTV (KDP-65WS550). The satellite reciever I use is the Dish DVR 942 which has the ability to show a 4:3 picture on my widescreen TV with black bars on the sides, as opposed to the gray bars which is more common.
My question is, is their a reason why one shouldn't watch a 16:9 TV with the black bars on the sides. My TV is pretty well calibrated (not ISF calibrated unfortuntately) and the picture looks very natural, and I have not had any "Burn In" problems like I did with my last Sony TV.
So I am wondering if their is any particular reason why I should use a stretch mode.
Burn in is a wearing out of the device in question (in your case, CRTs). If you watch too many shows with the black bars on the sides, you will wear out the portions of your CRTs that correspond to the center of the screen faster than the sides (as black is basically off). Now, if you have it properly set up, it would take quite a long time to make a noticeable difference. How long depends on the settings, and the images viewed. If most of your viewing is of 16:9 sources, and if you have your TV properly adjusted, you probably have nothing to worry about (though I am making no promises, obviously). If you have the brightness and/or contrast set too high, and if you watch mostly 4:3 sources, you may have a problem after a while.
As for black versus grey bars, the black will look better, but be more likely to cause a problem after extended viewing. Again, you may have nothing to worry about, depending on your viewing habits, your settings, and the quality of your TV.
