Generally there is a third option which is to zoom 4:3 to fill the 16:9 screen. Obviously this chops top and bottom from the image, but much preferable to stretching to fill the screen and those people probably don't notice the loss of image.

I just say "What the hell's a matter with your picture?" and embarrass the hell out of them. The industry spends billions to improve linearity distortion in lenses and HDTV's and people watch them with 3000% distortion. And then who cares about 4:4:4 when people are viewing 1:1:0? $35,000.00 color monitor to get the colors right when they are 40% off on the customers tv ? Uncorrected glasses for color shifts causing the TV to be adjusted to orange faces? A lot of viewers don't know pixelation from a screwdriver.
JJK

A DVD player / widescreen TV combo that is set up properly with component, DVI or HDMI will switch between 4:3 and 16:9 formats automatically. Unfortunately most people who buy expensive equipment don't know how to set it up. I often find myself fixing DVD/TV setups when I visit. In case anyone doesn't know, do the following.

1/ Use HDMI connections between the DVD player and TV if they both have them. If not, use component or DVI connections. If the TV only has DVI, get an HDMI to DVI adapter and connect the audio separately. Never use the regular yellow composite connector. If it is the only connection, upgrade your TV, DVD player or both!

2/ If you have a widescreen TV, go to the settings on your DVD player and change it from 4:3 to widescreen. Virtually all DVD players come from the factory set to one of the two 4:3 settings. If you haven't changed this, you need to.

3/ In the DVD settings menu, assign the output to the better quality output jacks: Sometimes it won't say exactly what you want. You might end up setting it for Component when you use the HDMI for instance.

4/ In the DVD settings menu, set the output to progressive scan. When you change this setting, it will switch briefly to progressive scan and if you can see the screen you will be asked to confirm that it's working. It is done this way because an interlaced only TV will not display the output of a DVD player set to progressive scan. That is also why virtually all DVD players come from the factory set to interlaced output.

Some high end 4:3 TVs have a compression mode which squeezes the image vertically for widescreen playback. If you have one of these TVs, set up your DVD player for widescreen and switch manually between 16:9 squeeze and regular 4:3 modes depending on what DVD you are watching. Yeah it's a pain but it improves your resolution about 25%.

A properly set up modern DVD player and widescreen TV will switch between 4:3 and 16:9 modes automatically. If your setup isn't doing this, it is not set up correctly.

A lot of people think that since they have a 16 x 9 TV, they want to use all of it even if it means the image is stretched. Nobody wants black bars down the side.

I always thought it would be a good idea for manufacturers to create a graphic that fills the black borders with the same texture as the TV encasement. Then it would just look like an extension of the TV when you are watching 4 x 3.

Dave T2

Can anyone offer advice on how to create a DVD that will automatically play in 4:3 on a widescreen TV.

In direct answer to your original question, there is no way to create a DVD in a manner that will ensure that it plays back in 4:3 on a 16:9 monitor. As others have noted, playback is a function of the settings in the playback DVD player and the monitor, and NOT of the way in which the DVD was authored.