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HDTV widescreen - Grey bars on side, not black?

I have a small (23") Sony Bravia HDTV and the bars on the side for regular 4:3 television are bright gray, not black. It's driving me crazy. I've been on the phone with Sony and they don't know if it's possible to change the bars to black, but the salesman and J&R World says there is but he doesn't know how. My cable company says it's a TV issue and Sony says it's a cable issue.

This particular TV has been discontinued so I can't find it in a store to ask a salesman.

Anybody have an idea?
kublakhan
kublakhan OP
718 posts
 
Hey Ed,

I'm thinking that it's my cable box now. I have a Scientific Atlanta HD 8300 cablebox/recorder from Time/Warner. The 4:3 programs that are on the HD channels have black bars. On the regular channels the bars are grey. (btw, the TV is a Sony Bravia KDL-23S2010.)

The cable company tech support people don't know how to change this. I'll try again when I have more patience (and stop sobbing!) and ask for a higher level of support.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Why Gray Bars and Sometime Black Bars?
Plain and simple the gray bars are used by the TV manufacturers to reduce the phosphor aging difference between the SD picture and the pillar box areas of the screen. If the pillar box areas of the screen were left black, the phosphors would not age as fast in those areas as the picture area would. Using the gray pillar box areas will cause the phosphors to age roughly the same as the picture area.

Well that's a whole lot more technical (and longer-winded) than
gray is better because there actually is a signal and therefore less chance of burn-in.

Not to toot my own horn, but I am reminded of Mark Twain's famous line on brevity as a (time consuming) virtue- It goes something like this "Sorry this letter is so lengthy, but I didn't have time to write a shorter one". Maybe sometimes knowing the concept w/o the details is an advantage ;~)
rwwear
2,871 posts
 
Swampwalker why would you be tooting your own horn? What did you say that wasn't said above?
joeyboynj
621 posts
 
Kublakhan, I have one of those Sony LCD TV's and the bars are always black. I dont have a cable box. Just direct cable into the TV, over the air HDTV and a DVD player connected. The bars are always black no matter which 3 of these sources I watch. I guess its your cable box. I hope that helps.
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