1. Before i buy it i would like to know if those who have widescreen tvs- when gaming- is the entire screen being used, or, for some titles they crop the image vertically?
2. Also, when using linux, is the entire display used?
I own a wii and since i got my 50" plasma, i quit using the wii bcoz in some titles there are vertical sidebars(for the games purchased online and dvd games like "resident evil-umbrela chronicles"), even tho, the wii settings are for widescreen and etc...
I haven't come across a game that fills the entire screen on my HDTV. Then again, it's much smaller than yours.
For the record, the only reason that those widescreen games aren't filling up your screen (even when on the widescreen aspect) is because your screen's resolution is very big. I'm surprised you haven't come across a tv show on HD that doesn't fill up your 50" tv. A friend of mine just bought like a 56" HDTV and even when they select the choice for displaying whatever the original aspect is (in the case of an HD channel, widescreen), it still doesn't fill up the entire screen. If they then select the choice to fill the entire screen, it'll look distorted.
But, again, I haven't come across a game that doesn't fill up my screen.
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I have a 37 inch LCD tv and my whole screen gets used except when I play ps2 games then I have the sidebar issue. My linux also displays full screen with nos sidebars.
I have no issues with any of my consoles with sidebars (as far as I know or have seen) as I have everything properly setup (either through the system itself or with the TV's options).
Keep in mind, there is a difference between "filling" the screen and "fitting" the screen. I am a custom home theater installer in the Atlanta GA area. In the past, I have posted more questions than answers, but this one is right up my ally. Every game that I have played so far was designed for a 16:9, or widescreen, display. If there are people who own a widescreen monitor who claim that the game doesn't FIT, then I would submit that the overscan on their display is screwed up or their is a problem in the settings portion of the TV. It has nothing to do with screen size or resolution capabilities of the display. I move my PS3 between my lcdprojector in my theater. The PS3 is a safe bet for the HD era and the games are definitely geared towards widescreen displays.
as far as hdtv content(local HD programing, commercials) i always strech the 4:3 images to get rid of sidebars.... it doesnt bother(me) the fat heads, i got used to it... and if there are horizontal bars theres nothing i can do unless i zoom in the pic, something no1 wants to do because 1 loses too much info(pixels)...
now for gaming is a different situation... the wii's home screen fits the entire screen, no problem, but for example, resident evilz game, when it started, it had side bars- since the game opening to game play. so the overscan possibilty is a "maybe" also considering the fifa 08 fits the entire display.
my main concern is avoiding burn-in as im babysitting my pdp... my friends are even making fun sometimes coz i am always looking for blemishes or image retention on it. hehehehe
mr_pink, i experienced something similar to what u are saying... i connected my compaq notebook on it and there is no "exact" screen resolution on my video card-1280x768, and the tv is something like 1365x768 so it gets some unused pixels.... then i tried my friends macbook pro, and it was a perfect fit.
