In my case, I own a Sony 8mm camcorder that supports both matted and anamorphic widescreen recording. For anamorphic widescreen, the camcorder compresses the image horizontally. I bought a DVD player, but now I find out that most movies are only in widescreen. Your widescreen problems are solved. I also recommend that next time you research what you're buying before you buy it.
Filmmakers do have some say over their material.
Their movies are not completely owned by the studios. As such, the filmmakers realize that the vast majority of DVD owners are movie afficionados who want to see movies in as close to a theatrical setting as possible. Widescreen provides that because the entire image is preserved, just like the filmmakers wanted the movie to be seen. I understand the controversy towards my widescreen comparisons and not showing them in the same scale. The purpose is not to compare resolution or the resulting screen size because they are irrelevant.