Do Widescreen TVs Burn Out?
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A widescreen TV won't "burn out" due to watching 4:3 material all the time. However, on a rear projection TV (which is what I'm guessing your looking at given the price range and size) the tubes may burn unevenly. That's one of the reasons why in 4:3 mode, widescreen TV's have grey side bars (not black). Grey is some color so the tubes are being used, but it's still not good to watch too much 4:3 material on a widescreen.
Hitachi's have a nice "expanded 4:3" setting which stretches the sides of the image, but not the center. So the sides look a little odd sometimes, but the center (which is where most of the action is anyways) is normal. You get used to it.
If you are watching DVD's most of the time, go widescreen. If you're watching TV most of the time, go 4:3. Video games... well there are some games that support widescreen though the vast majority do not. So for DVD & games, I'd go widescreen. For TV & games, I'd go 4:3. In other words, DVD vs TV is more the deciding factor.
Hitachi's have a nice "expanded 4:3" setting which stretches the sides of the image, but not the center. So the sides look a little odd sometimes, but the center (which is where most of the action is anyways) is normal. You get used to it.
If you are watching DVD's most of the time, go widescreen. If you're watching TV most of the time, go 4:3. Video games... well there are some games that support widescreen though the vast majority do not. So for DVD & games, I'd go widescreen. For TV & games, I'd go 4:3. In other words, DVD vs TV is more the deciding factor.
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While any given type of TV has it's price range and they all overlap in some manner or another, ON AVERAGE they are (from least to most expensive)
Good old Direct View TV set (these hit size limits though. I don't know that anybody makes one bigger than 40", and trust me, you don't want a 40" direct view TV)
Rear projection TV (best bang for the buck)
Plasma/LCD/LCoS - All pretty close in price. Note they are listed in order of worst to best technology. Plasma/LCD are virtually flat displays (usually around 3-4" deep) capable of being hung on a wall. LCoS, while dramatically slimmer than rear projection (usually about 1/3 as deep at any given screen size) are not wall hangable.
Front Projection. I list this last because while you could put together a front projection system that is about as expensive as a rear projection setup, it wouldn't be any where near the quality of any of the others listed above. To get into the quality range of any of the preceeding types, you will (again on average) have to spend the most here. There are lots of extra costs when dealing with front projection (usually ceiling mount, cabling, install, a screen).
So to answer your question... depends on what you mean by "tube". Somebody says tube to me and I think of a direct view TV.
Good old Direct View TV set (these hit size limits though. I don't know that anybody makes one bigger than 40", and trust me, you don't want a 40" direct view TV)
Rear projection TV (best bang for the buck)
Plasma/LCD/LCoS - All pretty close in price. Note they are listed in order of worst to best technology. Plasma/LCD are virtually flat displays (usually around 3-4" deep) capable of being hung on a wall. LCoS, while dramatically slimmer than rear projection (usually about 1/3 as deep at any given screen size) are not wall hangable.
Front Projection. I list this last because while you could put together a front projection system that is about as expensive as a rear projection setup, it wouldn't be any where near the quality of any of the others listed above. To get into the quality range of any of the preceeding types, you will (again on average) have to spend the most here. There are lots of extra costs when dealing with front projection (usually ceiling mount, cabling, install, a screen).
So to answer your question... depends on what you mean by "tube". Somebody says tube to me and I think of a direct view TV.
No, in general tube TVs are (much) less money than plasma or lcd, but they're much builkier and heavier also. However, you get better image quality with tubes and they're more reliable as well. Unless you're really pressed for space or really willing to pay in both price and performance for the chic factor of a plasma or lcd, I'd get the tube one. And as mentioned above, DVD vs. TV should really be the deciding factor on widescreen or not - which do you do more of? If it isn't strongly towards DVDs then I personally would get a 4:3 instead of 16:9 just because I think it looks really weird to have blank space on the sides of the TV not being used and almost all DVDs have 4:3 cuts on them as well as the widescreen format.
I thought pretty much all big-screens these days were direct tube technology and not rear-projection. I remember the old rear-projection sets with a fabric display layer and gigantic RGB projectors in the body of the set...I guess that's what I think of when I hear rear-projection. If I walk into a circuit city and look at a top-of-the-line 60" Sony/Hitachi/whatever "normal" big/heavy TV, what technology is that that I'm looking at?
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This is exactly why I went with a 4:3 tv when I got mine. That was a few years ago though, and the decision is tougher now as SOME tv shows are in widescreen now, but most still aren't.Faster954 said:
Mine is a 53" so DVDs still look good, but are a bit smaller than tv in 4:3. That's why I'd say if you do go for a 4:3 tv, get the biggest one you can afford, as you will lose some size watching DVDs.
Oh yeah... it's better to burn out, then to fade away!
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You got it. That's what rear projection is. The technology has improved, but that's still basically what it is. Usually it's pretty obvious what you're looking at. Plasma/LCD are super thin. LCoS is fairly thin. Direct view doesn't go bigger than 40". Front projectors are obvious, everything else (the vast majority right now) is rear projection.
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Rear projection TV's used to be much more susceptible to burn in. They're much better now, but you can still burn them. So if you played a lot of old 8-bit Nintendo or Atari games you could burn in the screen (just like a computer monitor) due to the static images. Games these days don't have much static images so you're pretty safe.
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Most newer 16:9 big-screens have a "stretch" mode for watching 4:3 television. We NEVER have black bars on our 52" unless it is the SUPER large formats that George Lucas and others like to use.
Oh and an XBOX can be setup to display its output in widescreen format!
Oh and an XBOX can be setup to display its output in widescreen format!
Do you mean burn-in correct? Rear projection can yes. LCD's can have a burn-in effect but its reversible if you watch widescreen programming. Plasma's can develop burn-in. Both Plasma and LCD can also get dead cells or pixels on them over time with use.
The thing with plasmas and lcds is that they fade no matter what you do. After a couple of years your blacks and whites are both going to be headed towards grey on one of those things. That doesn't happen with regular TVs. I wouldn't want to spend $5k + on a plasma/lcd tv just to have it all washed out in a few years.
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