Hey guys; I've got a question regarding aspect ratios: When I connect my laptop to my tv (samsung 42" 1024x768) the image gets stretched out to the sides, kind of like when i watch 4:3 content with no side bars. why is this? both my tv and laptop have the same resolution and I'm using a vga cable to connect to it.
any help would be greatly appreciated!
thanks!!

This is because 42" plasmas have rectangular pixels. 1024x768 is a 4:3 ratio. It is stretched horizontally to fill the 16:9 ratio.

thanks for the info!