What is the white line along the top of my screen? (Morrison's Mailbag)

(Credit: Screenshot by Geoffrey Morrison/CNET)

CNET Reader R. Savoy asks:

I recently purchased a 60-inch plasma and used your recommended picture settings. Question: I have my picture settings set to Screen Fit instead of 16:9 and on some stations when they go from hi-def to 4:3 I get a white flickering line right above the top of the picture. This problem doesn't present itself on the 16:9 settings, please advise, thank you.

Good question. Annoying answer, sadly.

Each manufacturer calls its per-pixel mode something different. Finding this mode is important to minimize artifacts with full HD images.

It's not you, and there's nothing wrong with your TV. It's the station.

There are two types of programming broadcast by TV stations: HD and upconverted SD. Your TV interprets these both as "HD," but in fact they're radically different. True HD, like almost all prime-time programming, is the clear, detailed amazing image you bought your TV for.

Upconverted SD is older, standard-definition content "blown up" to fit your screen. It's blurry, looks like crap, and makes you wonder how we lived with such terrible picture quality for so long (hint, it's not as noticeable on smaller screens).

Two articles that further explain this a... [Read more]