Widescreen TV vs Standard TV

How width effects height

This applies to both Computer Monitors and Wide Screen TV's. When you buy a wide screen, you have to think beyond the basics. Screens are measured diagonally, the standard ratio for TV is 4:3 and widescreen is 16:9. If you draw two boxes one a 4:3 ratio and the other a 16:9 widescreen, and size them to the same diagonal measurement, then watch a 4:3 picture, you will notice the picture is considerably smaller. This is due to the squattyness of the screen. Bringing the diagonal 19 inch, (for an example) down to an angle to fit the widescreen, shortens the height of the screen while making it longer.

Both these images have matching diagonal measurements, but the 4:3 image in the widescreen version is much smaller than the 4:3 image in the full screen window.

I drew 2 boxes here, each with the same length diagonal measurement, then inserted a 4:3 image and sized it to fit the height of the screen. You can see that the 4:3 picture on the widescreen image is considerably smaller, about 81% it's original size. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I like my widescreen laptop, I can open two windows side by side for reference, and when it comes to movies I prefer renting widescreen versions anyway, but this is all personal preference.

The reason I'm telling you this is, if you are basing your TV size on what you are used to or would like to have, and say you want a 26 inch TV, a standard broadcast will be smaller, roughly equivalent to a 21 inch TV. So if you want a widescreen and not loose the height but maintain the image size of a 26 inch TV, you would probably be happier with a 32 inch widescreen set, which would be very close to a 26 inch 4:3, or standard broadcast image.

The next issue with Widescreen, and I don't own one myself, is with standard tv transmission either you get the letterbox lines on each side of the picture, as seen in the pink area's of the second image, or the picture is stretched or zoomed. Stretching causes people to appear short and squatty, if the picture is zoom to fill the widescreen, it cuts off some some of the picture on the top and bottom. This is a small issue in my opinion, I normally watch widescreen DVD's, and I would use the bars on each side to maintain the proper aspect ratio of the people and images.

Both of these choices are in the $800 out of pocket price range until the rebate is issued, I don't know what your budget is. On a cheaper line you may consider the Olevia LT26HVX 26" or the Olevia LT27HVX 27" TV's. There are no rebates on these at present, and both are in the $600 price range. Remember these are not necessarily the BEST in quality, but rather a money conscious, yet desirable quality products. Most people are not in the market to spend $3000+ for a TV, especially with technology closing the gap of significant difference in quality.

As far as using a monitor for TV or Media usage, and bearing in mind the issues spoken of to this point, for a 19 inch monitor that can be used for video and gaming from your PC, I like the Acer AL1916W . It comes with the standard VGA cable, but you can also use a DVI cable if preferred. Acer has been around a while, and is getting good reviews as well. If I wanted a 19 inch wide screen monitor, I think this is the one I would buy, it is a little more than the Hanns 19 inch, but you generally pay more for widescreen than the standard 4:3. A 19 inch widescreen LCD monitor will be a little shorter than a 19 inch CRT monitor, roughly the same height as a 17 inch CRT monitor, with the added width. If you wanted to go larger than this, I would forget about the widescreen monitor, and go with a small widescreen TV since monitors in excess of 19 inch go into the $300+ price range. Most if not all the LCD TV's also have the DVI and other PC input options. LCD TV's are the same technology as the monitors, and do not rely on the signal the way the old televisions, so they are compatible.