A couple of comments:
I have basically the same TV, and I sit about 11 ft. away. The picture looks awesome at that distance.
Putting the TV above the fireplace is not the best location, although it may be your only option. The heat from the fireplace could shorten the plasma's life.
If you get a better picture from component vs. HDMI, by all means use that. The picture quality is pretty close to the same, the downside being that you also need to run audio cables. Not a big deal for a better picture.
As for the letterboxing, there are settings in the cable box, TV and maybe the AVR that could cause this. Make sure they're all set for 16:9 or widescreen without any zoom or justification.
Hope this helps. Stick with it and you'll eventually get everything working the way you want.
Last edited by Joe_in_Ct; 11/11/08 01:59 AM.
