[tagtastic]

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Um no...almost every movie is filmed either in 16:9 or 2.35:1...at least movies that are past the 1940s/50s. The OPs issue is a TNTHD one, not a TV issue. They broadcast things that should be in HD in 4:3 and then "stretch" the picture for the 16:9 channel.

Yes if you hardcode your TV for 4:3 it will fix the problem, but the issue is TNTHD. They need to letterbox their non-HD content like every other station does, not stretch it. Or perhaps they should just stop showing converted 2.35:1 or 16:9 movies in 4:3 pan-and-scan mode stretched to 16:9 on their HD channel. If you get TNTHD check it out. It's a really poor HD channel imo.

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TNT HD makes me want to hit someone. Well over half their "HD" movies are the 4:3 edited versions that they stretch, ridiculous - they could just broadcast the freaking DVD and it'd look better. Also every single commercial is stretched 4:3, grr. Their broadcast quality on real HD movies doesn't seem very good either compared to other channels, I think their equipment is just terrible. Not to mention all the commercials.

There is a reason to watch 4:3 content on an HD channel however (unstretched please!) - the HD channels have significantly more bandwidth than the SD channel on most cable/satellite systems. Stuff like Simpsons & Family guy look a lot better on the Fox HD channel than the SD because of this.

And to people saying "if the original broadcast wasn't HD, it can't be made into HD" are wrong in most cases. The vast majority of quality, non-live television shows and pretty much all movies are shot on film. To make a broadcast or DVD, they scan this film. Since Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, they release HD versions by re-scanning the original film at a much higher resolution than SDTV or DVD.