technology Something useful I’m saving for later

Posted May 10, 2006 • Comments Off on Something useful I’m saving for later

Just read this on Woot! from a forum user named WindowPain:

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If you currently have a 4:3 set and you want to know how big a 16:9 set you need to purchase so that you really do get a bigger picture, multiply your current set’s size by 1.22. For example, if you currently have a 32 inch 4:3 set you’d have to buy a 39 inch (OK, 40 inch) 16:9 set to get equivalent 4:3 picture size.

If you want to know the equivalent 4:3 picture size for 16:9 set multiply the 16:9 set’s diagonal measurement by 0.82.

HD promoters like to tak about how HD gives you a “bigger” picture. It’s only bigger if you buy an HD set sufficiently large so that its 4:3 picture is equivalent to your current 4:3 set’s picture.

If you were to go from a 32 inch 4:3 set to a 32 inch 16:9 set you’d actually be getting a total screen area that’s more than 10 percent smaller.

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This earlier entry gets a different result from more math. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but it stands to reason that a 16:9 set, with a ratio of 1.77, with the same diagonal measurement as a 4:3 set, with a ratio of 1.33, would be less tall and overall smaller. Not even counting the fact that 4:3 sets have different measurements and “viewable” measurements.