Here's the setup: A DirecTV R15 DVR feeds its 480i (only) signals via plain old yellow, red white audio/video cables to a Sony RDR-GX355. The R15 is set to output to a 4:3 monitor and works perfectly with the TV. The TV is a POS 4:3 model from two years ago, a Sharp 32F543, using the TV's 480i component input. It doesn't do 480p.

The show looks like 16:9 dropped into a 4:3. Whatever it exactly is, there are black bars at the top and the bottom of the image when viewed off the R15. Playing back the first recording, the DVD recorder aspect ratio settings don't work the way I expect them to.

When I set the DVD recorder to output a 4:3 letter box signal, the image jumps back and forth between settings, changing in height. I think it's jumping between 4:3 and letterbox, but I'm not sure.

When I set the DVD recorder to output a 4:3 pan & scan signal, the image jumps back and forth between settings, changing in width. One setting is correct and the other looks like plain old zoom. The R15 and the TV and the DVD Recorder don't do zoom.

When I set the DVD recorder to output a 16:9 signal, my 4:3 TV is very happy. It shows the signal exactly as it first was.

When the picture jumps back and forth, it does not do so always at the same point in the recording, so I guess it's random. It doesn't do it when the DVD recorder is in playback but paused, and it doesn't do it when recording. It only does it when playing back the recorded disc. Which hasn't yet been finalized, in case that matters.

Andybody have some insight as to why this is so? Should I just set the recorder where I get success? Is the recorder faulty or is my thinking about how it should behave faulty? Will this disc play normally on a standard DVD player, as it's supposed to? Will I have to change output aspect ratio on a regular DVD player to get this to work correctly?

Thanks in advance.