Okay, here is a message I just sent to Samsung support:

"My television seems to have a problem when playing DVDs which are supposed to be enhanced for 16:9 sets.

The 2767 which I have has a 16:9 function, but when I select that and have my DVD player on 16:9 output, the movies are not showing at their correct aspect ratios.

I compared how the films looked when I set the player to 4:3 letterbox and put the tv screen setting on "normal" and there was a noticeable difference. Is this a problem common to 16:9 televisions, or is this a defect with this one set?"

I tried a few searches and couldn't find anything that exactly matched (if anyone know of a link, please let me know). I realized the problem when I put in CLEOPATRA and noticed that parts of the image seemed squeezed vertically, as if the tv wasn't able to stretch the scene correctly.

Being a relative novice, I 'm wondering if this is just the "nature of the beast," or is the tv messed up and I should take it back.

Opinions?

is this your tv?
TXL2767
it seems to be a 4:3 tv not a 16:9 tv. you should set the dvd player to 4:3 and the tv to normal. not sure what the 16:9 feature would do on a 4:3 tv anyway

First off, thanks for replying! The tv has three screen size settings: normal, zoom and wide. The wide (and I'm quoting from the owner's manual) "sets the picture to 16:9 wide mode." Now according to the manual for the Sony player, I should select the 16:9 output if (quoting again) "...when you connect to wide-screen tv or a tv with a wide mode function."

As to what the wide function does, it does unsqueeze an anamorphic image, but not enough, for the lack of a better explanation.

The thing is, I just don't need something bigger than a 27" right now, so I was pleased to find this model. It just seems to be a waste to have the function that it does and for it to not work correctly.

that tv does have a wide mode. basically when you put the dvd player in 16x9 mode it makes the picture 33% taller than it is supposed to be while taking up 480 lines in a 4x3 window. when you put the tv in 16x9 "wide" mode while the dvd player is 16x9 mode you get the same "size" image as the tv in 4x3 mode with the dvd player in 4x4, except you get 480 lines of resolution in a 16x9 window instead of the 4x3 window (entire screen).

Just leave your TV in it's normal mode and let the DVD player play it in widescreen as it normally would and it should work fine. At least that's what I do and I have no idea how to use that feature of the TV (I have a similiar Samsung TV in the 20" version).

It "squeezes" the anamorphic picture. You should try it, it looks incredibly good for an analog TV. All you have to do is set the DVD player to 16:9 and the TV to wide.

Brian - It sounds like the "wide" mode isn't set correctly on your set. I'm not sure if I read it right but it sounds like your problem is that it's sqeezing too much. I have the TXL2791f and the picture looks right as long as the DVD is anamorphic and the TV is in the right mode. You could either call Samsung and have them fix it or, if you know what you're doing, you could adjust the setting in the service menu.

I think you guys are missing the point. If you can play your DVD's in 16X9 mode you get 33% more resolution. Thus a better picture. I do a screen smoosh on my 27" and I love the increased resolution.

Listen to e_hartnett. Call Samsung so you can get th emost out of your DVD and set.

Thanks for the advice! One thing I did when I bought the set was to get component cables. The sharpness alone is a big improvement.

I did email Samsung and have yet to hear back from them, so I may just try calling. I wish I could describe the problem better than saying it doesn't "look right."

Is the service menu hidden? I don't think I've ran across it. I can change the screen mode from the TV menu, but there doesn't seem to be a way to "fine tune" it.

You can get into the service menu by pressing mute, 1, 8, 2, power on the remote. Be really careful though, you can really screw up your TV if you change the wrong values. You can find some info about what's in the service menu (at least on the 2791f, I don't think they'll be all that different) here. If you do decide to change anything make sure you know what it does and make sure you write down the original values. I know there's a section called h 16:9 parabola that changes the size of the 16:9 window but you might want to call Samsung so they can reset it the right way.

-Evan