[rr man]

I just purchased a 32" Olevia LCD HDTV and can't seem to get the horizontal picture adjusted. In 4/3 aspect mode the picture looks perfect, but in the full screen 16/9 mode the picture seems to be stretched horizontally and people look fatter than they really are. The panarama mode is even worse for distortion. Any advice as how to get the "stretched" look out in the full screen 16/9 mode?

[robertva]

To fill the full width of the 16:9 screen without distortion you will need to tune to a program that would appear letter boxed (black bars at top and bottom) on a 4:3 screen or a high definition program (720i, 720p or 1080i - 1080p programs are not yet generally available except on Blu-ray or hd-dvd optical media).

Note that while your TV might indicate that it is receiving a high definition signal, many "high definition" channels will enlarge standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio material to fit the wider 16:9 display for a significant portion of their broadcast day. Sometimes that material will appear "pillar boxed" on the wider displays with bars on both sides of the program. Unfortunately some channels sometimes expand the 4:3 aspect ratio by stretching it horizontally, which tends to leave many TVs with no way to correct the issue.

Note that some commercials during a high definition program might be pillar boxed 4:3 material or even letter boxed material within a pillar boxed 4:3 ratio, producing bars on all four edges.

Options for 4:3 material broadcast as analog, 480i digital (SD) or 480p digital (SD):
* Leave zoomed out for undistorted "pillar box"
* Zoom in for undistorted view with top and/or bottom cut off
* Stretch horizontally for distorted "fat actor" view

Some TVs feature a mode that stretches the sides of a 4:3 ratio picture, which allows the actors near the center of the image to remain slim at the expense of the actors near the sides.

Check your owners manual for advice on watching pillar boxed material for extended periods, but that is reportedly more of a issue for plasma based displays. The picture elements on some plasma displays fade with use, which leaves the sides noticeably brighter if pillar boxed images are viewed too much

Some TVs might feature ways to shift the portion of the image you are viewing when you are zoomed in. Check your manual.