Watching 4:3 movie files on a widescreen TV

[coolplay]

Hi,

just got my SMS player installed and it's looking good. One problem I have with it however is that 4:3 movies are being stretched to the dimensions of my widescreen tv. I want to see the movies in their native resolution which would mean there are black borders down each side and the movie itself almost square looking. Now i'm assuming that this is a problem with SMS player thinking that its displaying on a normal non-widescreen tv and therefore doesn't do any adjustments. Anyone have any ideas how to stop this?

Thanks in advance.

[kevstah2004]

4:3 should display as 12:9

[suloku]

Have you tried changing the video mode with square/start menu?

[coolplay]

Originally Posted by kevstah2004

4:3 should display as 12:9

4:3 is 12:9 kev

[coolplay]

Originally Posted by suloku

Have you tried changing the video mode with square/start menu?

Ya, tried this but it doesn't work. I had the same issue on my xbox xbmc player before i instructed the xbox that it was a widescreen tv as opposed to a 4:3 one. I've even set the ps2 to 16:9 and it's still giving the same issue.

[peterdcrees]

I'd say that you need to press some "aspect ratio" button on your TV remote to tell the TV that it's a 4:3 input source.

What kind of TV do you have and how is your PS2 connected to the TV?

[kevstah2004]

Originally Posted by coolplay

4:3 is 12:9 kev

Not really it's just 4:3 stretched 3 times to keep the aspect ratio correct with black side borders on a 16:9 display.
On my TV I can stretch 4:3 to 16:9 but everyone looks fat an it chops off 2: from each side of the picture so in actuality it's stretching to 12:9 over 16:9 and cutting off 2: from each side of the picture instead of stretching the 4: horizontal resolution 4 times and the 3: vertical resolution 3 times to equal 16:9 everyone would still look fat but it's be less noticeable then stretching to 12: with the missing 2: from each side of the picture.

[coolplay]

Originally Posted by kevstah2004

Not really it's just 4:3 stretched 3 times to keep the aspect ratio correct with black side borders on a 16:9 display.
On my TV I can stretch 4:3 to 16:9 but everyone looks fat an it chops off 2: from each side of the picture so in actuality it's stretching to 12:9 over 16:9 and cutting off 2: from each side of the picture instead of stretching the 4: horizontal resolution 4 times and the 3: vertical resolution 3 times to equal 16:9 everyone would still look fat but it's be less noticeable then stretching to 12: with the missing 2: from each side of the picture.

I know what your trying to say alright but you have to remember that 4:3 and 12:9 are ratios. 4:3, 12:9, 16:12 are all mathematically the same. They don't describe resolution but more the way the video is presented proportionally on screen. But what you describe with the black borders at each side is what i'm looking for.

[coolplay]

Originally Posted by peterdcrees

I'd say that you need to press some "aspect ratio" button on your TV remote to tell the TV that it's a 4:3 input source.

What kind of TV do you have and how is your PS2 connected to the TV?

I haven't tried this yet, i will later but I don't believe it will solve the problem. The problem is that the ps2 should be giving out a 16:9 signal but with black bars imposed at either side of the 4:3 video file.

[peterdcrees]

Originally Posted by coolplay

The problem is that the ps2 should be giving out a 16:9 signal but with black bars imposed at either side of the 4:3 video file.

That would make it easier, yes.
However I'm sure wide-screen TV's are capable of 'squashing' the image to give those black bars on either side, after all there are still a lot of other video devices (VCR, VCD, cameras, receivers, laptops) around that only output 4:3 signals, and the TV manufacturers keep compatibility with these by having selectable aspect ratios.

[coolplay]

Originally Posted by peterdcrees

That would make it easier, yes.
However I'm sure wide-screen TV's are capable of 'squashing' the image to give those black bars on either side, after all there are still a lot of other video devices (VCR, VCD, cameras, receivers, laptops) around that only output 4:3 signals, and the TV manufacturers keep compatibility with these by having selectable aspect ratios.

OK, that might work al right as a temporary solution, but if I then throw in a wide-screen movie I'm going to have to get the TV to switch to 16:9 even though the signal I'm getting is still 4:3. As I said before, I have an Xbox with XBMC also and it handles all this for me. Surely there must be some option for this, to me something like this is basic functionality. Do I need a component cable to enable it or something? BTW, the TV I'm using is a Samsung LCD TV.

[coolplay]

Hi again, I was talking to the author of SMS through email and this is what he said. I've gotten permission to post his reply here for anyone else who is experiencing this problem



"Hello,

When SMS was made I just didn't have a widescreen TV so I was not aware about problems you just described. Recently I've bought such a TV but I don't have much time for SMS these days. The TV I've got has some settings on its own like 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio. Choosing 4:3 will solve SMS problem with 4:3 movies but I must admit it's pretty inconvenient to switch TV modes each time. I can't promise you that I'll implement something very soon but at least I'll try to. As alternative you can use HD modes in SMS (720p/1080i) for the time being (if your TV supports these) but you'll need to use a component cable to connect your PS2 to the TV."