PS3 Question (4:3 DVD issue)

[St.ylo]

I wasn't sure where to post this, but one of my questions involves Blu-ray players so I chose this subforum.

I love the PS3 as a Blu-ray and DVD player generally. But I've recently discovered an issue and it's really bugging me. When I play a 4:3 DVD (lately, such things as The Simpsons and various old movies) it appears that the PS3 actually crops the sides.

I discovered this by playing with the Upscaling setting: switching to "Full" (which I would never use) not only stretched the image, it revealed more of it. This was testable by pausing on a frame with an object just outside of it.

My TV (a 51" Samsung PNF5300) doesn't have any overscan, according to the test on Disney's WOW Blu-ray. I use the "Screen Fit" mode to display the exact aspect ratio. It can't be the TV, because my Xbox 360 displays the full picture in the proper aspect ratio. I've tested by pausing on the exact same frames of a DVD and switching between systems.

No matter what I do, using the PS3's "Full" mode is the only way I can get that small chunk of picture on the sides. I've tried turning the upscaler "Off" and making my TV do it, I've tried switching to Full and then squishing it back by putting my TV on "4:3", I've tried making the PS3 output 480p, 720, 1080i, etc. I have tried EVERY video setting available on the PS3 and my TV.

From Googling, I've found some others complaining of the same issue, but not as many as I would expect.

Since I've seemingly tried absolutely everything after tearing my hair out for a day or two, I don't think there's a solution. Is it all PS3s, or maybe this model? (The newest, top-loading slim.) It really sucks, because I liked my PS3 being able to do everything without having to switch cables to something else.

So that leads me into my question: What should I do? Get a standalone DVD player? (I'd use my Xbox 360, but the drive is failing.) Would anyone have any recommendations? Sure it's a small crop, apparently something like 16 pixels, but it bugs me. From the little information I could find online, there are even some Blu-ray players that do this... would I better off getting a standalone Blu-ray player or DVD player?


Sorry for the long post, and thanks if anyone can help. I just don't understand why the PS3 would be doing this.