Major help required

[SloppyJoe]

Okay this is the scenario. At present I have a 4:3 28" tv which works very well - it plays all disks as required and I've never had any bother with it. I really like the idea of upgrading to a 28" widescreen (no bigger, the room and my wife wouldn't take it), but am seriously concerned about the benefits. I am not at all bothered about bars at the top and bottom of the screen and the sound goes through external amps so isn't a concern either.
My question is what are the real - if any - major advantages of widescreen over 4:3. (I'm only going to gain acouple of inches extra viewing space).
Should I or shouldn't I.
By the way I've got a model looked out if I go for this which I believe will be fine so I don't need any help there - just general widesceen versus 4:3 would help.
Cheers.

[ob1rob]

I think you've almost answered your own question. If you're not bothered about the black bars seen on the 4:3 (which will still appear on 2.35:1 films on WS anyway) then theres little point.
The size increase for a 1.85:1 film will be nice on the WS set but not a great deal, the flip side of this is standard broadcast will be quite a bit smaller.

If you find stretching an image uncomfortable (which you might if you dont mind black bars) then setting the WS to display 4:3 might be your preference. A 28 WS set in 4:3 mode will be a lot smaller than a 28 4:3 (something like equivalent to a 24 set I think). A lot of the time the height of the screen will seem very small compared to before.

So to cut a long story short, if you watch more TV than DVD I think you may be dissapointed since you're not increasing the tube size. IMHO to really appreciate the move you would need to change to at least a 32" WS set since you already have a good sized screen, since you're decided on 28 I think it wouldn't be worth changing.

HTH:D

P.S I changed from 29 4:3 to 32 WS and have just about got used to it, while for DVD the change is fantastic for general TV viewing its almost a let down.

[SloppyJoe]

Thanks for the comments - it pretty much sums up what I thought except I didn't mention the fact that all the tv I watch is through Sky Digital (apart from ITV) - does this make a significant difference?

[ob1rob]

That may be a crucial point. I think Sky are planning to move to WS broadcast more than ITV. If they do make the switch fairly soon then it would make changing much more worthwhile.
It might be worth finding out more about when Sky are decided to move to WS broadcast (if they even do..)

[APPRIA40WR]

Keep the 4:3 set.

If you move to a bigger room or wife then you can think about investing some dosh :D

[DunkWho]

Sky would be the crucial one for me ... i think just about everything is transmitted in WS apart from sky's own channels (sports 1,2,3, sky1 etc). You can configure the STB to use WS by default - that'd let you know what is and isnt WS roughly speaking (by broadcasts at that time). I have an ITVD box ... all bbc channels are in WS, itv is in WS apart from the itn news, ch4 is generally w/s ... and all the pay channels are in widescreen unless the broadcaster decides to force 4:3 (if the original material is 4:3). I too couldnt see the point of a WS set before i got a digital receiver ... now just about everything i watch is in WS ... i just cant convince the missus to get one (cos she knows where the WS button on the remote is and switches back to 4:3 all the time :( ) he he

Dunkwho

[SloppyJoe]

If you move to a bigger room or wife then you can think about investing some dosh

God do I have to make the wife pile on some weight to go widescreen ???? (I'd put a smiley here but don't know how !)