Also the reason for overscan on older TVs was because analog CRT TVs would display the image with an unexpected shift and magnification, so since the image was unexpectedly shifted and magnified, TV set manufacturers made the image display sightly larger so you wouldn't see the black bars on some programming. But with the invention of Digital TVs this is no longer needed because the TV can display the image pixel-for-pixel accurately. Unfortunately, most HDTVs are still equipped with overscan. I think in HDTV, if there is overscan, it should be no more than 4-8 pixels on, because some TV shows do appear to have distorted lines towards the edges (I've noticed this mainly with NBC HD broadcasts and almost all analog broadcasts)
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Andy @ Aug 20th 2007 7:57PM
Also the reason for overscan on older TVs was because analog CRT TVs would display the image with an unexpected shift and magnification, so since the image was unexpectedly shifted and magnified, TV set manufacturers made the image display sightly larger so you wouldn't see the black bars on some programming. But with the invention of Digital TVs this is no longer needed because the TV can display the image pixel-for-pixel accurately. Unfortunately, most HDTVs are still equipped with overscan. I think in HDTV, if there is overscan, it should be no more than 4-8 pixels on, because some TV shows do appear to have distorted lines towards the edges (I've noticed this mainly with NBC HD broadcasts and almost all analog broadcasts)