how do you convert full screen to wide screen?

i just bought a pvc everio and for some stupid reason, whenever i open videos that were shot 16:9 mode, it views it as a full screen movie, with the objects distorted and scrunched up. i just need want to know of a simple way of stretching that out to widescreen.

What are you using to play the file? If you’re using full screen, make sure to set “preserve aspect ratio” otherwise it may try to fill to the edges (and distort the image as you described). You’ll probably find it in the settings somewhere.