Why do old TV shows on DVD look stretched horizontally?

[LDO]

I bought some Bewitched and Green Acres DVDs. Everyone looks like they gained 100 pounds. I would guess it’s a result of making the image fit a 16:9 screen. Is there a way to restore the picture?  
 

Mr. Douglas flying a P-51 Mustang was a surprise. Bailing out was, too. Well, I’m sure the bail out part was government footage. 
 

Thanks. 

[JollySipper]

Hey, Lee man....... You might have to go into your TVs settings and change the aspect ratio........

[Mark]

Can't you adjust the picture setting on the TV set to accommodate the video image?

I'm still in disbelief that, when television was created, it's screen wasn't proportioned the same as a theater screen.  Someone had to have figured, even then, that old movies would eventually end up on TV.

[Dave Van]

On my TV I have to change the Ratio depending on what I am watching......it's different for DISH, streaming and DVD watching. 

[slusher]

1 hour ago, Dave Van said:

On my TV I have to change the Ratio depending on what I am watching......it's different for DISH, streaming and DVD watching. 

My model room television has setting depending on the picture and quality of picture and it’s a 13 inch flat screen  Emerson from Walmart..

[Brian Austin]

On 10/25/2024 at 9:55 PM, Mark said:

 

I'm still in disbelief that, when television was created, it's screen wasn't proportioned the same as a theater screen.  Someone had to have figured, even then, that old movies would eventually end up on TV.

4:3 was a common film format ratio, in both still and movie types. Throughout the middle 20th century wider screen formats of various sizes were introduced to compete with home TV viewing, along with other gimmicks such as 3-D.

According to this article, movies were broadcast on television as early as the 1930s and '40s. 

https://pictureshowman.com/what-and-when-was-the-first-movie-shown-on-television/

 

 

[peteski]

Yes, the modern TV have a setting which controls how the programs from various video sources appear on the screen.  On many TVs the default setting is for the TV to fit the program being displayed to the aspect ratio of the screen. The will cause the old programs to be stretched to fit the wide screen of the modern TVs. On mine the optimal setting is "use original aspect ratio".  But it doesn't work 100% of the time.

[Mark]

The cheaper/smaller the TV is, the fewer features I'd expect, and those that are present can be expected to be cruder than on a more costly TV.

Too, Walmart usually wants the lowest price on a particular item, so one bought there will likely not be quite as good as the same size TV of the same brand bought elsewhere.

The appliance stores play a similar game: "nobody can beat our price on this item" because the larger chains get their own model numbers.  The instruction manuals always list multiple model numbers...all may have the same features but only one store in a given area will have a particular model number.

[rattle can man]

And why do efforts to "improve" (colorize and/or digitally remaster) old movies look so bad?