I've never known anyone to watch a 4:3 letterboxed movie in its "native" resolution unless their particular combination of DVD player, television, and/or standalone upscaler doesn't allow proper scaling. Every DVD player and widescreen TV I've used in person makes it very easy, and at least one combination did it automatically (i.e. with no user intervention, it adjusted the screen to maximize the area used by the film frame). Everything I've read on home theater forums for a number of years suggests that Joe Sixpack considers "black bars" to be anathema and buffs want the biggest OAR picture they can get, even if it means they must futz with the resolution. In fact, upscaling DVD players and external scalers/deinterlaces are a pretty big market for HT enthusiasts and other discerning consumers.

[quote]And yes you are correct that the images have been resized somewhat, however mark my words the zoomed imaged on your TV screen,(and on my 56" HD 16:9 WS) will look worse. Just wait and see.
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Well, yes, the fact that you're scaling it to a much huger area ensures that. I think I mentioned that already.