Sony 61HS20

[gakaman]

I know this set does not have an aspect ratio setting. Will a dvd or sat box that upconverts to 1080i(i.e. hd content) always show wide black bars top & bottom? I tried to set my dvd w/ component inputs to 4:3 pan and scan and the bars are still there. I would like to by a hd receiver but if all hd content will display with these bars doesn't make sense.
Thanks

[aud19]

From what I can see from a quick Google search, the Sony 61HS20 set is not a "widescreen" (16:9 or 1.78:1 aspect ratio) set but a 4:3/1.33:1 set. In that case any DVD or HD material that is not filmed and/or recorded in 4:3 will have black "letterbox" bars at the top and bottom of the screen. A good portion of DVD's and almost all HD content is in one form or another of widescreen.

Not all widescreen movies are presented in the 16:9 (1.78:1 aspect) format. Some are filmed in/presented as 1.85:1 or even 2.35:1 which is still "wider" than a 16:9 TV. As such, films presented in those formats will still have black bars on the top and bottom of a widescreen set, just smaller than what would be on a 4:3 set.

Also, just to clarify an "upsampling" DVD player will not give you true "HD content" You can not get more resolution than what is in the original source, it may however appear more detailed due to the upsampling.

So yes, unless you buy a widescreen HD set, 99% of HD programming will have the bars at the top and bottom. But you will get higher resolution programming with way better colour saturation, more accurate colour not to mention Dolby Digital sound in most cases as well.