I used convertxtodvd and winavi converter 9.0 on the same file with the same results. the resultant DVD looks fine on a 16:9 TV but the picture is smushed and the actors look real thin on a 4:3 TV. The file to be converted is being converted as a 16:9 file. I have tried everything I know to get it to look right on a 4:3 TV but so far have failed. Any Ideas. I tried letterboxing to no avail. By the way it looks great on a widescreen. Help!
SInce it seems you have a good, anamorphic, 16/9 dvd, the way to play it on a 4/3 TV is set within the DVD player. Somewhere in the dvd setup, you set it to 4/3 TV (letterbox) and the player itself "squashes" the image vertically to restore the proper aspect ratio.
Your setting on the TV and the dvd might be different and maybe they have to be different, double check picture size and resolution on your widescreen TV and the setting on your DVD player, remember you are trying to watch the same video file on 2 different TVs, using 2 different DVD players.
Actually I am only watching the video on my 4:3 TV and my computer. I also have a portable 16:9 DVD player that is obviously self contained. My DVD player is set to a 4:3 TV screen and the TV itself has no settings. The image on the portable...and in power DVD... is 16:9. The info tab says the video is 16:9. When I play it in the DVD player attached to the 4:3 TV the image is smushed. When I play it in the portable it is perfect and fills up the entire screen. Converting it several different ways produces the same result.
