First of all, it's not that bad - but technically it's true. (Like I said, I knew what to look for, and even then, it wasn't visible across the entire screen - just very fine details.) The DVD player must remove resolution to get the picture to fit on a 4x3 TV. Toshiba players did this by removing every fourth line. I don't recall how Sony did it.

Secondly, widescreen should be ubiquitous by the end of this decade, so while the OT DVDs will probably look fine on your current TV, they'll look very dated on your new TV.

You will wonder why the picture looks soft, and might even blame it on your new TV.