When I burn a dvd with either pinnacle or nero, the ratio is set to 4:3 but when the dvd is played in a player, the left and right sides of the screen have 1-2in. of black. The whole movie is squished.
I've been told it was the firmware of my burner but that has the latest version.
I need to get some dvds burned asap also.
thanks!
-aaron

Are you sure you didn't encode the files wrong?
What exactly are your burning, so we can give you some steps/suggestions.

I captured footage from a video camera, put it in pinnacle, edited it, then burned it.
I've also made an avi of some footage and burnt it with nero but that also didn't work.

Do the files look like that when viewed on your computer?
I use ashampoo to burn dvds all the time and I've never had any problems. If the files don't like that on your computer, then there is a setting in nero causing it, which means hopefully you can change it or just use something else.

If it isn't the aspect ratio you're using that's messing things up, then maybe try IMGBurn to burn the discs, it's freeware.