simple question about viewing DVDs
 

We have a Sharp Aquos TV but an older dvd player. I'm confused about when playing DVDs because it doesn't seem to matter if they are anamorphic or not. Each time we load one up it will never fill the screen-- we have to use the remote to either soft stretch, stretch, or zoom the image.

Is the dvd player supposed to work this out, and ours is just too outdated? Or is it necessary to use one of those options I posted above?

Does your DVD player have a 16:9 setting? That's what it should be set at.

It also depends on the aspect ratio of the movies you're watching. If the movies are 2.35:1, they won't fill your screen.

Maybe you can give us some examples of the movies you've tried. And are you getting bars just on the top and bottom of the image, or on all four sides?