I am not an expert on aspect ratio, so please forgive me (or even correct me!) if I misuse a term or two. As I FINALLY get around to transferring my VHS and Beta tapes to DVD-R, I thought this would be a good forum to pose a question to my fellow traders and collectors since I am not just archiving my material for my own future enjoyment, but to trade copies of with others. I was wondering if anyone recorded their DVD-Rs so when they are played back, there are black bars on the left and right side of the screen. If it was up to me, I would transfer and view all pre-1989 broadcasts (which is the time frame I usually collect) in this manor, for the purpose of viewing on a large flat screen. But I want to be fair to collectors who might not like that, so I wanted to get some of your input before I transfer too many things like that.
Thanks, Jamie

Personally, I would keep the aspect ratio of the original material if at all possible. I have seen YT videos of old shows (presented in fullframe 1:33:1 originally) where someone tried to make the video "widescreen" by forcibly stretching the image and adding the black bars (through software I would imagine). The image looked distorted and artificially stretched. It also looked more grainy because, if you think about it, you're not only stretching the image, but also the video noise and whatever other blemishes the signal may have contained. It just looked bad, and I'd be pissed if someone sent me a DVD like that.

So, keep aspect ratios the same. Just my $0.02.

I agree. Whatever the show's original broadcast aspect ratio was is how it should be presented. On a related note, I hate how TBS and Cartoon Network (and whomever else does it) stretch 4:3 video to fit a wide screen.

I started a thread on another forum about a similar subject not too long ago. Widescreen makes me ill. I agree with the majority here.