How do you describe true widescreen? Do you mean letterboxed, i.e. black bars on top and bottom?
Here's how to tell if you are getting real widescreen. Put your widescreen TV in 4:3 mode. If the picture looks distorted (skinny) you're watching an anamorphic widescreen source. If it looks correct, it's a 4:3 source (which may or may not be letterboxed, i.e. black bars above and below the picture that give the impression that the picture is "wider.")
You're probably thinking that a letterboxed movie is true widescreen. It just means that the wide source has been reformatted to fit a narrower format. Note that you still get letterboxing on most movies however as the standard movie format is 2.35:1 which is wider than the TV widescreen format (16:9) -- just to add to the confusion.
Compare what you're seeing on your TV with a DVD when you force 4:3 on your TV.
Here's how to tell if you are getting real widescreen. Put your widescreen TV in 4:3 mode. If the picture looks distorted (skinny) you're watching an anamorphic widescreen source. If it looks correct, it's a 4:3 source (which may or may not be letterboxed, i.e. black bars above and below the picture that give the impression that the picture is "wider.")
You're probably thinking that a letterboxed movie is true widescreen. It just means that the wide source has been reformatted to fit a narrower format. Note that you still get letterboxing on most movies however as the standard movie format is 2.35:1 which is wider than the TV widescreen format (16:9) -- just to add to the confusion.
Compare what you're seeing on your TV with a DVD when you force 4:3 on your TV.