A great TV to look at is the Mitsubishi WS-48311. It is one of the better looking rear projection tv's in your price range. The TV does this with some Mitsu only features like the Color tuned screen sheild and Velocity Scan Modulator, http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/. The TV has viewing modes that can manipulate a 4x3 aspect to 16x9. Doing this you distort your picture somewhat. Any decent TV retailer should be able to demo this feature to you.
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