I am looking to buy a new HDTV set, and I need some opinions.  I have seen the regular aspect ratios and the 16:9.  Which would you recommend and which brand.  The 16:9 looked great for movies but every else looked a distorted.

I would go with a panasonic set right now.  I work in the TV industry and right now they seem to be the best.  I would stick with the 16:9.  Have you looked at it with the Dish Network HDTV feeds?

We just got an RCA 52130 HDTV Monitor, and its great.  My only gripe is that it doesn't accept a SVGA signal without a transcoder.  

If you plan on having a Home Theatre PC, make sure that you either get a model that will accept RGB 5BNC, or one that has an actual VGA Input, [i]not[/i] a "Data" port.  

Our RCA is 4:3, but it has a 16:9 mode which is still very large.  Most of the programs/movies that we were watching beforehand were 4:3, so we didn't see the logic of getting any other aspect ratio.  Widescreen HDTV broadcasts and DVDs would be the only reason to go with 16:9, and if widescreen HDTV broadcasts aren't going to be available in your area for a while, then why sit through years of black bars on the sides of your screen?  

They didn't have the tv set up right then.  There would be a setting for standard tv mode that leaves black bars on the sides, thereby no distortion.

Get the wide format.  For the movies, for the future.  IF they can get HDTV off the ground, 16:9 is the future.

You get SO much more information in a widescreen movie.  The pan & scan versions lose so much, I can hardly watch them.  My TV is a 50" standard, so I get the black bars watching widescreen.  I don't even notice them.

I have a Toshiba 34" Direct Veiw 16:9.  It is OK but I wish I would have spent the extra to go with the Panny or Sony, as the build quality on the Toshiba kinda sucks.  Lots of geometry problems too.

16:9 is definitely the way to go, especially if you get a big screen.  The 4:3 will be smaller but you will mostly be watching cable feeds which suck anyhow, so they just look worse bigger.

Remember, if you don't get a tuner built in you will have to buy a set top box to decode the HDTV.  Make sure you can get something over the air by going to [url]www.titantv.com[/url] and seeing what is available in your area.  Direct TV has a coupld HD channels but that is it.  To tell the truth there is not much to watch out there except CBS which has most of its prime time in HD.  Plus HD quality varies as well, most of it is remastered film.  True HD video is awesome, but you don't see too much of it.

Even if you don't do HD, the set is worth it for DVDs as you get rid of all your scan lines.  Looks like you are watching film.

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Good luck with your purchase.

BTW, prices vary and places do deal.  Sears has been a really popular place to buy as they will match internet prices in most cases and you have a local place for service and returns.  And remember if you do decide to get the extended warranty to haggle with them as they are cash cows for the dealer.  I had mine extended to five years just for asking.

Yeah, the whole DVI debate is turning some people off.  For me, I just don't care.  The HD I get is OTA so that won't be affected.  And there will always be some way to convert the signal, no matter what they say.  But if it bothers you, most sets should have DVI by summer, but then again that may not be the standard, so who knows.  By the time it truly gets figured out I'll be ready to replace this set with a five foot plasma screen anyhow. [:)]

I have the 53" Pioneer set. It was worth every cent I spent on it. We are planning to pick up a model 6000 HD Receiver from Dish Network in the summer. If the merger between Dish Network and DirecTV goes through, you will see more HD channels. I had heard that as many as 9 to 12 more channels would be added due to the increased bandwidth that would be available after a merge. Either way, I still love watching DVD/s on the progressive scan DVD player. Good luck!

If I were to buy a direct view HDTV set I'd definitely consider only those with 16x9 screens.   The future of television is not 4x3.

I would also spring for a large set.  Getting a 27 inch HDTV is POINTLESS.   Size matters.

Personally, I use a front projection setup. (Projector mounted on the ceiling, projecting the picture on a 4x8 foot screen...since it's used almost exclusively for movies in widescreen format on DVD and laserdisc, I didn't get a 4x3 aspect ratio screen)  Although it's not HDTV, there's something to be said for a 9 FOOT diagonal screen and a well-set-up Sony projector!  The nice thing is I can watch movies in true anamorphic mode and stretch out the picture with the horizontal width control, thereby losing NO scan lines.   If I do get a movie that's not in widescreen format, I just roll back the horizontal size control.  Easy.

HD-capable projectors are becoming reasonably affordable now.  I'd recommend looking into one. It's SO much better than your tiny little 50 inch diagonal rear projection screen.

CJ

have a pioneer 64" theaterwide (16:9) HDTV it has a few stretching modes built into it. Full (used for 16:9 anamorphic signals) 4:3 Standard (grey bars on sides to prevent burn-in) Natural Wide (streches 4:3 to close 16:9 by cutting off a bit of top and bottom, Cinema Wide (a little more cutting, but so little happens in the small area lost that you wont notice it) and Zoom (just zooms it up from whatever is fed to it).

now the 2 special modes, Natural and Cinema are good for 4:3 watching on 16:9

Natural does a pretty good aproximation, with a slight bit of distortion. people look a little wider. not very noticable.

Cinema does even better. there is very little noticable distortion, if you get a perfect circle on screen it may appear a bit (very very little) narrower than normal.

all in all very nice.

Hey, has anyone had experience with the Sony WEGA type TVs.  Sony, and at least one reviewer (Crutchfield), claim WEGA is as close as you can get to HDTV.  Judging from the graphics in the Crutchfield catalog its pretty damn close.

Anyone have a WEGA??