Merkuri
Explorer
I have a dilemma here, and I was hoping there'd be someone here on EN World that knew more of the subject than I and could save me some hours searching the web. Let me get you the facts here first.
I'm cheap when it comes to cable. Our apartment currently gets basic cable only (things like Fox, ABC, and CBS) and with our rate of TV watching that's not likely to change any time soon.
However, a few years ago I bought a TV tuner card and turned a spare computer into a DVR station, and we loved the setup so much that when that PC died for good we bought a new (cheap) one and stuck the TV tuner card into that.
My husband and I just recently got married, and a significant portion of our wedding presents were in cash, so we were thinking of upgrading our cheap little CRT television into a bigger flatscreen.
Now, after the upgrade to digital cable I began noticing that some of my favorite shows (mostly on Fox - notably House and the Simpsons) were obviously created for a widescreen TV but being show to me in full screen, meaning the sides were being cut off. This was not being tastefully done, either. For example, in the latest House there was one scene where House was talking to his psychiatrist on the other side of the room and the view had cut off both of their heads. We could see their bodies just fine since they were both reclining in chairs, but their heads and faces were out of view.
I have no problem with seeing the letterbox black strips on top and bottom, but cutting off the sides of my TV really annoys me. House used to be shown in letterbox, but now it was shown fullscreen and cropped.
My question is this: Will getting a widescreen TV and/or a different tuner card solve this problem?
I don't know what's causing the cropping, whether it's my fullscreen TV, the TV tuner card, or if that's just how the signal is getting sent to my house from the cable company (and maybe there's an HD version of Fox somewhere that doesn't crop off the edges). I don't know how to find out what's causing this, either, without just buying a new TV and possibly a new tuner card.
I'd really rather know what I'm getting into before we drop a lot of money on a TV only to find out that there's nothing we could do to see "proper" widescreen TV when we only have basic cable.
If there's anyone who knows more about this stuff than me or if you know of a good website that explains it all, let me know!
I'm cheap when it comes to cable. Our apartment currently gets basic cable only (things like Fox, ABC, and CBS) and with our rate of TV watching that's not likely to change any time soon.
However, a few years ago I bought a TV tuner card and turned a spare computer into a DVR station, and we loved the setup so much that when that PC died for good we bought a new (cheap) one and stuck the TV tuner card into that.
My husband and I just recently got married, and a significant portion of our wedding presents were in cash, so we were thinking of upgrading our cheap little CRT television into a bigger flatscreen.
Now, after the upgrade to digital cable I began noticing that some of my favorite shows (mostly on Fox - notably House and the Simpsons) were obviously created for a widescreen TV but being show to me in full screen, meaning the sides were being cut off. This was not being tastefully done, either. For example, in the latest House there was one scene where House was talking to his psychiatrist on the other side of the room and the view had cut off both of their heads. We could see their bodies just fine since they were both reclining in chairs, but their heads and faces were out of view.
I have no problem with seeing the letterbox black strips on top and bottom, but cutting off the sides of my TV really annoys me. House used to be shown in letterbox, but now it was shown fullscreen and cropped.
My question is this: Will getting a widescreen TV and/or a different tuner card solve this problem?
I don't know what's causing the cropping, whether it's my fullscreen TV, the TV tuner card, or if that's just how the signal is getting sent to my house from the cable company (and maybe there's an HD version of Fox somewhere that doesn't crop off the edges). I don't know how to find out what's causing this, either, without just buying a new TV and possibly a new tuner card.
I'd really rather know what I'm getting into before we drop a lot of money on a TV only to find out that there's nothing we could do to see "proper" widescreen TV when we only have basic cable.
If there's anyone who knows more about this stuff than me or if you know of a good website that explains it all, let me know!