32" view area

I have a Dynex 32" HDTV. Works fine so far.
However, when I play movies on DVD it displays them in a box smaller than the screen.
The view area is like the old letterbox on the CRT.
There is a zoom, wide, cinema feature, but they all distort the picture.
Old non-HD movies play in full screen vertically, with bars on left and right.
This is hugely disappointing as I was expecting to view movies on a bigger screen, but got a 27" view once again.

Spend sometime reading, then you will understand.

Link: http://widescreen.org/index.shtml

On your DVD player, make sure that it's display mode is set to 16:9. If it is set to 4:3 Letterbox or 4:3 Pan & Scan, then you will always get a 4:3 picture with black bars on the left & right even when playing 16:9 movies. Most DVD players I've seen are usually configured to 4:3 Letterbox by default, so this is likely the culprit.

Most recent movies on DVD using 16:9 aspect ratio, so if every DVD you play has black bars along the left & right, then your DVD player is most likely set in one of the 4:3 modes. The best way to check is to find a DVD with '16:9' or 'Widescreen' written on it, as this should definitely fill your TV's full viewing area if the DVD player & TV are correctly set up.

For your Cable or Satellite box, make it is also configured to 16:9. Otherwise, non-HD broadcasts in 16:9 will result in a 4:3 picture also.

Once you are sure your equipment is configured, the TV's wide or smart stretch mode should work better when viewing older 4:3 movies and other content in the legacy 4:3 format.

i think it's with the cd's resolution. if that can't be maximized, or if it can be zoomed but it compromises the quality.. buy a dvd tape that would fit the resolution.. i think that's the problem.

Heightwise with a 32" WS you basically still have a 27" CRT view anyway. You should have went up a size.