The grey bars are a hold over from CRT sets and aren't needed anymore. There are a few manufacturers like Toshiba and JVC who still use them for some reason. As mentioned earlier, certain STB's will output black bars with you set the 4:3 option to "off" which will then use the HD resolution setting (i.e. 720p or 1080i) and use the black bars to fill the screen on 4:3 images. The problem with this is you can't use the stretch modes of the TV. I prefer to set my STB to 480i or 480p for the 4:3 menu option and use my TheaterWide I stretch mode to fill the screen. This Toshiba mode keeps the center of the screen intact and slightly stretches the left and right side to fill the screen.
__________________
Toshiba 62HMX94
Motorola DCT6412 and Motorola Cable Card
Sony DVP-NS975V DVD Player
Sony STR-DE935 Receiver
|