is there a player that can recognize a 4:3 disc and not stretch the content across the screen w/o changing a setting on the tv? we tend to play a baby einstein disc at least once a day and would like to fiddle as little as possible with the setup.

also, if there's a program that i can use to back the movies up and force them to play as such, please tell. i only play my backups of the dvds anyway, to get rid of the lag time between popping it in and playing

Need more information here.

Let's assume that you have a 16:9 monitor. Is your player sending a stretched 4:3 image to the monitor? Are you SURE? That's a simple setting in most player's setup menus. There should be a setting for "16:9 auto" vs "16:9 normal" or something to that effect. One is for TV's that automatically adjust the aspect and one is for TVs that do not automatically adjust.

Many monitors have similar aspect settings, one being "full screen" and one being "normal". In this case, the "normal" setting would show 4:3 as 4:3 and 16:9 as 16:9, where "full screen" would show everything at 16:9.

i'm quite sure the image is stretched as it fills the whole (wide) screen. it's one of the older hd-tv's that only has component, so i'm pretty sure it doesn't have the capability to do the adjustment.

my old player which went on the fritz was able to discern the content, but i've tried two players which don't have the auto/normal selection. could you recommend a player that would do such? (my budget isn't ready for hd or blu-ray, yet)

You still haven't said if your monitor is 16:9 or what. If it's 16:9, then surely it has aspect adjustment. You player does have a setting for 4:3 monitor vs 16:9 monitor. Please don't be so stingy with information.

the tv is 16x9 and the player does have 4:3 and 16:9, but not the auto/normal setting that you suggested. in order to change the aspect of the tv, i have to disable progressive scan in the dvd. what i'm really wanting is a player that can do it without all the extra manipulations...any recommendations?