widescreen aspect ratio
 

if you viewed a movie with the normal aspect ratio(tv show on dvd) on a widescreen tv...what would the picture look like?

thanks

I don't know if you meant to start two threads?

For watching 4:3 (traditional TV aspect ratio) material on a 16:9 set (widescreen) most sets give you several options including windowboxing, and several stretch modes. Some of the new stretch modes stretch less in the center and more on the sides of the picture so they are not as noticeable. Windowboxing can burn in if you watch a lot of material like that, but I've heard that newer sets resist burn in better. At most nice A/V shops you can check out how the stretch modes look like before buying.

You also have to consider the "stretch" modes when viewing letterboxed but non-anamorphic DVDs. Wherein you get a 4:3 image that's letterboxed. Most 16x9 sets have a "zoom" setting in addition to "stretch" settings. I imagine you would zoom in on the image to move the letterboxes off the screen so more of the image itself fills the viewing area. Of course, you still lose resolution on non-anamorphic discs so zooming in on it might not look so hot. I dunno, I don't have a 16x9 set yet (4 weeks and counting!).

All I wanted to say, really, is that non-anamorphic DVD has the same issues as standard 4:3 television.