An extraordinarily interesting question about DVD playback on a PS2

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When I play DVDs on my (standard, old skool shape) TV I obviously want them to be shown in the correct aspect ratio. But my PS2 seems to insist on stretching the picture vertically to fit the screen.

There seem to be two places where you can fiddle with settings. First, before you put a disc in, you can go to the PS2's configuration screen. I have tried all three options of screen size here and it makes no difference at all. Second, when the DVD is playing, you can stop it, go to settings and supposedly change the screen size there but mine seems to be locked on 4:3 - it doesn't let me change it.

I tried changing the output to RGB too, but this didn't do anything to fix it.

Surely there is a way of sorting this out. Everyone looks tall!

(I have looked in vain for something on the TV itself but no luck. It only seems to let you mess about with things like that for normal TV and cable (I used to watch digital TV in letterbox format fine) but not for AV inputs.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 6 January 2003 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick, face the facts: everyone is taller and slimmer than you are prepared to accept.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 6 January 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

How queer. Anamorphic 16:9 images are stored in that strange land-of-the-skinny-giants format on disc, but stretched out upon playback, according to user selection. I presume one of the options you've tried is "4:3 Letterbox", which would sort it for a regular telly, so I dunno.

One thing that prevents letterboxing of 16:9 images is NTSC to PAL conversion - often DVD players, if they're being asked to do one task (i.e. you're playing back a region 1 NTSC DVD through a PAL-60 telly), can't manage the other. Is that it, maybe?

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 6 January 2003 22:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I know nothing about the technicalities of this, but I've heard that for the DVD to work properly on a PS2 you need to connect it to the TV with the three small leads (red, yellow and white) rather than a big scart one.

Also, I mucked about with my own settings and, as you say, nothing makes the PS2 output the picture already letterboxed. I have to press the button on my TV remote that changes the ratio (a button that until now I thought was useless except as a fattifier).

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 6 January 2003 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

!!! I wish my TV remote had a fattifier!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 6 January 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Does this help?

― Graham (graham), Monday, 6 January 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I love ILE, again. (I will try the above advice when I get home).

Last night I had no choice but to watch Back To The Future Part II on my Mac instead. That's not right.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 08:30 (twenty-two years ago)

N. - I am having similar problems, my Monty Python wide screen won't play without everyone looking tall. and I too have mucked about for ages with the settings.

But, I seem to have a problem with my telly too. I was given the standard R/W/Y small plug lead with the Euro-scart adapter but this doesn't seem to like my TV, it doesn't show any picture. I have no sockets on the telly for the R/W/Y plugs and so I had to resort to using my old PS1 scart lead. This is fine for games but when playing DVD's the screen, still stretched, is now a green tint !!!

So it looks like I'm gonna have to buy a widescreen telly with proper connections. its a bloody swiz mate.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 09:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Last night I had no choice but to watch Back To The Future Part II on my Mac instead. That's not right.

*frown*
any BTTF film is godlike on any medium, even on one of those windy-windy "what the butler saw" victorian type jobs. er, i reckon.

"hey, frisbee, far out"

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, I'm not knocking the film (though it's significantly less slick than the original. Doc keeps spelling things out like the movie's for kids or something). I just meant watching films on a computer is all wrong.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, I'm not knocking the film

oh right. i'll let you live, then.

Doc keeps spelling things out like the movie's for kids or something).

great scott. who would've thought?

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I just meant watching films on a computer is all wrong.

True. Look better though. Progressive scan, resolution, all that business. My DVD-ROM drive manages to play about one disc in five, and jumps from chapter stop to chapter stop with DVD-Rs. Any ideas? It's a Pioneer DVD-116 which I upgraded to v1.22 firmware to sidestep the regional coding. Was crap before I did that, though. Lovely for DAE, useless for anything else.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but the good thing about TVs is that one can sit miles away from them so that one can't see that the picture is crummy.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

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