Watching DVDs on widescreen TV
 

If I have a widescreen TV, how is it best to view DVDs that are advertised as 1.66:1 enhanced for widescreen TVs?

The integrated DVD player (a Grundig) has the following settings available: 4:3, 14:9 and 16:9 (plus a couple of rogue settings that I don't fully understand)

Is it best to watch 1.66:1 movies (indeed any ratio between 1.33:1 and 1.85:1) in the 4:3 format and accept that you will have a smallish picture with black bars top bottom and at the sides? Or are there clever tweaks that I am not aware of.

Re: Watching DVDs on widescreen TV
 

In 16x9 mode. You'll either see very slight bars on the sides or they'll be lopped off entirely due to overscan. I don't see the benefit of viewing a 16x9-enhanced 1.66:1 DVD in 4x3 mode on widescreen set, since you'd be wasting screen real estate and losing resolution. An anamorphic widescreen 1.66:1 DVD has the same "height" as an anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 disc.

A tougher question to answer would be what to do with a 1.66:1 DVD that's <i>not</i> enhanced for widescreen TVs; in that case, I probably would view it in 4x3 mode, although if your player has a 14x9 mode, that might do the trick in those cases.

Thanks for that!

Can I assume that if a DVD has been "enhanced for widescreen TVs" then the 16:9 setting is the best (and intended) viewing mode?