Image is distorted. Display is too wide - Acer Computers & Internet

CHANGING THE SCREEN ASPECT RATIO: ( From Manual )
The TV can display images in four different modes: Wide, Zoom, Panoramic, and Normal. Each mode displays the picture differently. To change the screen aspect ratio:
1. Press the MENU button on the remote.
2. Use the Arrow buttons to highlight the Wide icon. Press OK.
3. Use the Arrow buttons to highlight your desired screen mode and press OK:
• Normal preserves the content's original aspect ratio. Since the 4:3 aspect ratio is not large enough to fill the TV's screen, black bars are added to the left and right of the display image.
• Wide stretches a 4:3 aspect ratio picture to the edges of the screen. Since the picture is being stretched, the display image may appear distorted. If the program is already formatted for widescreen viewing (1.85:1 or 2.35:1), then black bars will appear on the top and bottom of the display image.
• Zoom expands images with black bars to fit the screen.
• Panoramic expands the display image to fill the screen.
images may appear wider than intended.
If you are watching widescreen (1.85:1 or 2.35:1) content, black bars will still appear on the top and bottom of the display image. This option is only available when the TV is displaying a 480i/480p source.

Wide screen monitor distortionDepending upon the screen resolution that has been set inDisplay, the image will be distorted on these large wide screen monitors.
Create a large circle image using a draw program such as Paint (hold down theShift key as you create the circle as it will draw a perfect circle).
Open Control Panel - Display - Settings tab and adjust the Screen resolutionslider, increase or decrease the screen resolution then bring the circle imageto the front and check the image, if the circle is still distorted then changethe screen resolution and check the circle again until you are satisfied withthe image of the circle. When you are satisfied then click apply.If you cannot change the screen resolution then most likely the incorrect video driver has been installed.

Depending upon the screen resolution that has been set inDisplay, the image will be distorted on these large wide screen monitors.
Create a large circle image using a draw program such as Paint (hold down theShift key as you create the circle as it will draw a perfect circle).
Open Control Panel - Display - Settings tab and adjust the Screen resolutionslider, increase or decrease the screen resolution then bring the circle imageto the front and check the image, if the circle is still distorted then changethe screen resolution and check the circle again until you are satisfied withthe image of the circle. When you are satisfied then click apply.

Wide screen monitor distortionDepending upon the screen resolution that has been set inDisplay, the image will be distorted on these large wide screen monitors.
Create a large circle image using a draw program such as Paint (hold down theShift key as you create the circle as it will draw a perfect circle).
Open Control Panel - Display - Settings tab and adjust the Screen resolutionslider, increase or decrease the screen resolution then bring the circle imageto the front and check the image, if the circle is still distorted then changethe screen resolution and check the circle again until you are satisfied withthe image of the circle. When you are satisfied then click apply.

Wide screen monitor distortionDepending upon the screen resolution that has been set inDisplay, the image will be distorted on these large wide screen monitors.
Create a large circle image using a draw program such as Paint (hold down theShift key as you create the circle as it will draw a perfect circle).
Open Control Panel - Display - Settings tab and adjust the Screen resolutionslider, increase or decrease the screen resolution then bring the circle imageto the front and check the image, if the circle is still distorted then changethe screen resolution and check the circle again until you are satisfied withthe image of the circle. When you are satisfied then click apply.

Depending upon the screen resolution that has been set in Display, the image will be distorted on these wide screen monitors.
Create a large circle image using a draw program such as Paint (hold down the Shift key as you create the circle as it will draw a perfect circle).
Open Control Panel - Display - Settings tab and adjust the Screen resolution slider, increase or decrease the screen resolution then bring the circle image to the front and check the image, if the circle is still distorted then change the screen resolution and check the circle again until you are satisfied with the image of the circle. When you are satisfied then click apply.

The best way to adjust the screen is to adjust the screen resolution until you get a correctly proportioned image.
First display an image such as a square or a circle on the screen.
Go to Control panel - Display - Settings tab and start with 1024 X 768 screen resolution adjustment
click Apply and the check your image.
Repeat the adjust screen resolution select the next highest screen resolution setting, repeat thia process until you get the best image.

This is one of the problems with the wide aspect screen. Most images seem to fit best on the older monitors.
You can go into the video properties and choose one the the display types that best display your image. Unfortunately, by taking a normal (to us) image that looked just fine on an older monitor and displaying it on a newer, wide-aspect monitor, you're gonna distort the image or crop it in a way you didn't expect.
My advice is to experiment with the display until you find something you can live with.

I had a similar issue. Realized that the TV's "WIDE" setting was changed from "Wide" to "Panaramic". It was this panaramic setting that was causing the distortion on both sides of the screen. I had to switch it back to "Wide" using the "Wide" button on the remote to toggle back to "Wide" setting. Once I put it back to "Wide", problem went away. Hope this helps.