Screen size / shape

floating dutchman

I have an old computer that I'm using as a media center at home, Computer had no OS so I used the Ubunti Boot disk I made to get my lappy up and going and hey presto, a working machine.

Problem is that the computer thinks the screen is 4:3 and the TV is a 16:9 the system settings / displays doesn't give me the option to change it to 16:9 and when I watch a movie there are a lot of short fat people staring.

I'm connected with a 15 pin lead.

what Have I missed, this should be easy, No?

floating dutchman

Computer specks: Pentium 4 @ 3GHz and 40G HD, the computer was an office (I think) computer so I don't think it has any fancy graphics card. Ubunit 12.04 LTS.
Yes, VGA cable.
Computer cost me $0 because it was going to cost $$$ for windoze XP, Honestly, why would you?

I can get movies to play properly but every time I play a movie I have to click Aspect: 16:9.
Why can't I just tell the computer that that is the screen it has?

mfillpot

The issue is your video card, generally when connecting a computer to a hd tv through a VGA cable it is not capable of receiving the full resolution available. You may be able to change the config file to change possible resolution (checkout https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution) for guidance. However since the video card is weak and the output is limited you will most likely face some real modification issues. I recommend shopping for a cheap video card for your hardware with hdmi output, the hdmi output will allow the system to output full 1080 (1920x1080) resolution.