I am playing around with playing stuff and I am wondering about something.

I have set up both my DVD Recorder and BR player to 16:9, but when I play back a widescreen 16:9 DVD on the recorder it's pillar-boxed.
The only way that I can get the picture to display correctly (at least somewhat) is by using the Smart Stretch feature on the TV's remote.

I thought that the entire reason for 16:9 DVDs were to display with smaller bars and using all of the widescreen ratio of the TV. Right now if I don't use the Smart Stretch feature 16:9 DVDs are shown only in the middle of the screen.

Even the BR player shows Blu-Rays the same way via the SD connection, but correctly in 16:9 via the HDMI. So I know that I have the BR player setup correctly.

Is this just a normal feature of HDTVs and how they display SD pictures, even 16:9 Widescreen DVDs? Or could the problem be with the AV receiver?

most of the HD tv's have picture display or 'zoom names such as normal / Full ( wide) / zoom/ zoom wide .
If your TV is pillarboxed or window boxed  ( BUT NOT Letterboxed ) that means the information being shipped to your TV thru coaxial / rca video jacks is not anamorphic  ( or high def ).. and to remedy the situation you can go zoom or full zoom .. Wide will distort the image or squeeze the image ..

If you have hdmi or componant video out the image should automatically default to normal or wide will display bars for 2.35( letterbox)  but not for 1.85(dvd)  it will default to 1.78 .. full screen 16x9  ..

there are some older dvd's in 1.85 that will display with a small amount of black bars ... but the industry today tries to compensate this will now transfer those 1.85 films into 1.78  ..
most of the cable HD channels (movie channels)  are kinda like the the old ways of the video stores who never brought in letterbox titles as customers complained about the black bars .. so some or most of the wide screen films of yesteryear are now being broadcast on Highdef TV  as 1.78  such as  Ben Hur was recently ...... BUT you'll never have that problem with bluray discs.... ( or standard dvd's for that matter ..) .. almost all of todays TV programs are all in 1.78 and fill the screen comfortably ....

Have fun ....

I agree about never going back... I finally got my first HDTV last month... A Samsung PN64D8000 64" Plasma... I also had to upgrade my Receiver from a Yamaha RX-V1400 to an RX-A3000 Aventage... Along with new fronts (Martin Logan Motion 12s) and WOW... My old TV was a JVC 32" CRT.  The only thing I hate is when the news broadcasts SD material (seems like most local news stories have SD video coverage, even in LA) and the SD material looks like CRAP.

At least, over here in Europe Panasonic had some:
Panasonic DMR-BS850
Panasonic DMR-BS750.

But I'm not sure they're still around...

Blank Blu-ray discs do exist, but they're not cheap.

P.S.
The quality of DVD playback on an HDTV strongly depends on the quality of the upscaling process in either your player or your AV receiver or your screen. It is always advisable to let the most competent component do the upscaling. E.g. Oppo blu-ray players are renowned for the quality of their upscaling.

Quoting JAFO:

Quote:
I agree about never going back... I finally got my first HDTV last month... A Samsung PN64D8000 64" Plasma... I also had to upgrade my Receiver from a Yamaha RX-V1400 to an RX-A3000 Aventage... Along with new fronts (Martin Logan Motion 12s) and WOW... My old TV was a JVC 32" CRT.  The only thing I hate is when the news broadcasts SD material (seems like most local news stories have SD video coverage, even in LA) and the SD material looks like CRAP.

"SD material looks like CRAP" - Yep, that's life in the HD digital age 

Quoting JAFO:

Quote:
I agree about never going back... I finally got my first HDTV last month... A Samsung PN64D8000 64" Plasma... I also had to upgrade my Receiver from a Yamaha RX-V1400 to an RX-A3000 Aventage... Along with new fronts (Martin Logan Motion 12s) and WOW... My old TV was a JVC 32" CRT.  The only thing I hate is when the news broadcasts SD material (seems like most local news stories have SD video coverage, even in LA) and the SD material looks like CRAP.

....and the SD material looks like CRAP.

so true and like everyone says that's the deal in the HD world 

Quoting CubbyUps:

Quote:
Right now I will describe my hookup.

Comcast Cable hooked up via coaxial cable to the Digital TV Converter Box.
That is connected to my DVD recorder and the antenna out is hooked up to my analog TV.
I also have that DVD recorder, a VCR, Blu-Ray player and PS2 hooked up via RCA cables (What I think is now called Composite Cables) all to an old Sony Dolby Pro-Logic A/V received with the video going to the TV and the audio going through my Surround Sound speakers.

Other than the Blu-Ray player I have no other HD equipment.

So the questions.

1. Can I use the Comcast Converter Box, that I am currently using, to still connect to cable TV or do I really need some sort of new box from the cable company?
2. Can I still use my current setup and just connect everything up to the HDTV via the Video (Composite) cable?

I really don't care that much about HDTV but I do want to see Blu-Rays in HD quality.

Any help or suggestions?

I just went through all this upgrading my TV to a larger 3D model.  Found that I also needed a 3D capable BD player, and in order to get surround sound to work right I ended up getting a new A/V receiver with ARC.  The receiver also has direct 3D passthrough, so I can run all my players into the back of the rcvr, and just one HDMI Hi-speed cable to the TV.

I am also on Comcast, so the HDMI output from their box goes to the rcvr, as does the BD player, and the all-region DVD player.  I'm also running a Cat-5 network cable to the TV and the BD player for online updates.

Here's what I'm using:

LG 47LM6200 47" 3D
Sony STR-DH720 A/V Receiver with 3D Pass-through and ARC
Sony BDP-S590 3D Blu-ray player
Toshiba all-region DVD player
Comcast Digital DVR Master Cable Box

Make sure your HDMI cables are the hi-speed rated versions.  The nice thing about the Sony gear is that I can change the input source on the rcvr and it changes things on the TV as needed as well.  And, if I turn the BD player on first, it will also fire up the rcvr and TV at the same time.  I could've spent a lot more money, but wouldn't have gotten much more in terms of functionality or picture quality.