HD TV Newbie. Got a 720P DLP TV w/single HDMI being used w/Direct TV HR10-250. A Sony RDR-GX300 w/Component to TV. I have to set TV to 4:3 aspect ratio for the wide screen DVD to look normal, or it is streched w/16:9. Then it has bars all around, what a waste. Does a upconverted DVD fill in the 16:9 ratio normally.
Alot of people say that a home theater should have a 16:9 TV or projector with a 16:9 screen. But it may or may not be right for you. There are a number of great 4:3 and 16:9 tvs or projectors on the market, and both have advantages and disadvantages over each other. So which is best for you -- 4:3 or 16:9? Well it depends on the trade-offs you want to make, and how you want your home theater experience to be for you. So what type of viewing experience you want to create for different kinds of movies and videos. Any given TV or projector comes in its own native format typically either 4:3 or 16:9. Now movies and video come in many different aspect ratio formats. TV programs and videos intended for regular TV are in 4:3 format, which is often 1.33(4 divided by 3 = 1.33). And programs made for HDTV are in 16:9 format, which is 1.78(16 divided by 9 = 1.78). So Movies, music videos, and other content on DVD comes in a variety of formats including 1.33, 1.66, 1.78, 1.85, 2.00, 2.35, 2.40 and higher. No matter which format TV or projector you get, either 4:3 or 16:9, all size formats will not fit the size screen you want or have. As far as TV or projector formats go, there are only two ways to set up your home theater. You can get a fullscreen 4:3 TV or projector with a small not wide size 4:3 screen which will always have black bars on the top/bottom for any format size that 1:66 and larger. Or you can get a widescreen 16:9 TV or projector with a larger and wider size 16:9 screen which will have black bars for formats of that are 1.85 and larger, and will also have black bars on the right/left sides for anything that has a 1:33(4:3) format size. Both of these TV or projector combinations have advantages, and both have disadvantes. One is not better than the other they are just different, and it is what is better for you.
For me I like to watch movies, so a widescreen 16:9 TV or projector with a larger and wider size 16:9 screen is better for me, because a widescreen 16:9 is larger and wider then a fullscreen 4:3 TV or projector.