Ultimate HDTV Buying Guide

By CNET Staff
Feb 22, 2008

4. Wide-screen vs. 4:3

Television screens today come in two shapes. The most familiar one is called 4:3, which represents four inches of width for every three inches of height. You can also buy wide-screen, or 16:9, televisions, which take the same shape as many movies. Wide-screen sets cost more per square inch of screen than standard TVs, and most people watch more regular TV than DVDs and movies, so 4:3 sets are the most popular choice. Almost all large flat-panel and rear-projection TVs are wide screen, however, so it's just a matter of time before 16:9 becomes the most popular choice.

If you have $700 or more budgeted toward your next TV, you should seriously consider going wide. With huge numbers of anamorphic (enhanced for wide-screen) DVDs and the appearance of more wide-screen TV and HDTV shows, there's plenty of wide-screen content out there, and even more will appear in the future.

Black bars and unused screen

Many people choosing between 16:9 and 4:3 TVs wonder how much picture they'll be missing when viewing differently shaped programs. DVD and other wide-screen video shown on a standard TV have black bars, known as letterbox bars, above and below the wide-screen image. Conversely, regular programs shown on a wide-screen TV have windowbox bars on either side of the picture.

Screen size calculator

To find out exactly how much picture you'll be missing with either kind of TV, check out our calculator below. Just enter the diagonal screen size and aspect ratio of the set you're considering, then hit Calculate.

STANDARD 4:3 TV

WIDE-SCREEN 16:9 TV

Wide-screen TVs and 4:3 programs

All wide-screen TVs have ways to stretch, crop, or zoom the regular 4:3 image so that it fills the screen. These methods distort the image somewhat, but many wide-screen TV owners prefer looking at slightly stretched people rather than windowbox bars. Here's a quick rundown of the different names for selectable aspect-ratio modes found on 16:9 sets:

		Normal or 4:3: Places windowbox bars on either side of the 4:3 screen.

		Zoom or Enlarge: Magnifies the entire image, eliminating the windowbox bars but cropping the top and bottom of the image. Often, more than one level of zoom is provided.

		Wide or Full: Used for native 16:9 content such as that found on DVDs. With 4:3 content, such as regular TV, it stretches the image horizontally, making people look shorter and fatter.

		Panorama, TheaterWide, or Natural: TV makers have many names for modes that compromise between stretching and zooming to fill the screen. Some stretch the sides of the image more than the middle, so people in the center of the screen look correct. Some crop a little so that they don't have to stretch as much.