Bought a 30" Phillips Widescreen flat tube yesterday...open item with no manual...and I am having trouble with getting the image to fit on the screen. If I get the top and bottom to work then the picture is streatched out and distorted. Is this a fallback for this type of TV?
Nothing wrong with your set. Just about all wide sets have 3 viewing modes with various names, depending on whose set you're talking about. First is the "Standard/Normal" mode, which gives you a standard 4:3 picture with bars on the side of the screen. Then there's the mode your Philips is in right now, where the edges of the picture are stretched to the edges of the screen while the center retains its proportions. I'm not a big fan of that one myself. Finally is the "Zoom" mode, where the picture stays in its proper proportions as it gets zoomed. This one's handy for leterboxed movies because it usually removes the bars from the top and bottom of the screen.
BTW, Heath, I checked Philips's website, philipsusa.com, and they have manuals. Just go through the drop-downs and click on your model, then you can download and print the entire manual!