I had to change the aspect ratio of my DVD player to get the widescreen of I am Trying to Break Your Heart. There was a blurb about it on the http://www.wilcofilm website around the time it was released on DVD. Try that and see if it works.

Amen, I need binoculars when I sit on my couch my TV is so small. Santa? can ya hear me?

I'm usually a widescreen fan, but I was over at a friend's the other day, and she only has a cheap little TV, and it's pretty far away. The TV isn't any smaller than mine (on which I've been watching the extended version of the LOTR trilogy, and it shows up just fine, but then again, I am watching from about 3 feet away), but combine the picture quality with the distance, and we opted to watch the fullscreen version of the movie (Mod Squad).

I have another friend who has a pretty chintzy setup -- she can afford better, but just doesn't feel like upgrading. I want her to see a good widescreen setup just once, hoping that'll convince her (but I really don't think it will -- she's just one of those people who don't understand "videophiles"). Whether it convinces her or not, I will defend the choice of which one to watch to the death -- the cost of making both kinds of DVD's is fairly insignificant, I really don't see why they don't just put both in the same carton, so you only have to buy it once. It's not like they have to raise the price or anything (if it does, then that would be a good reason why not to, but it shouldn't).

I followed the instructions but I think my old DVD player didnt have the necessary controls. On my newer one, its all good. Probably some sort of Tweedy pity plot

And a lot of European movies are shot in 1.66:1.

When I was in high school (ten years ago) my friend and I were obsessed with letterbox ("widescreen") and the original aspect ratio of movies. At this time only AMC showed movies in letterbox (I don't think TCM existed) and very few VHS tapes were released in letterbox. It was also pre-DVD, and we couldn't afford laserdisc. Slowly, though, more and more things were released in letterbox and we became happier. Now there is no excuse for something not being in letterbox. I have a big widescreen TV now too, so all my widescreen DVDs must also be "anamorphic widescreen" so that the 1.85:1 image fits my whole screen (though it is slighty cropped, to 1.78:1, which irks me). However, I've also discovered that movies shot in 2.35:1 are victims of what is called "overscan" by my goddamn dvd player, which projects the ratio at 2:1. That's a lot to be cropped off. To fix this, you need a dvd player that has a zoom out function, which mine of course does not. So, I'm planning on buying one that does and am holding off on watching too many dvds that feature a movie with the 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Basically, though, I think people who prefer "full screen" are Philistines.

History shows that, on the whole, the Philistines actually preferred legitimate theater.