PS3 and 4:3 coded DVDs

[Alekjan]

Hi guys,

I hope this hasn't been posted before - I've looked but so far have not found a similar thread. Here's the story:

I'm basically on the verge of purchasing a PS3 for the sole purpose of Blu-Ray player (I've got the "other" console to play video games).
Currently I have an upscaling Toshiba DVD player that's connected via HDMI AND composite cables to my Sharp Aquos. When I'm watching widescreen movies, it's great, black bars on the top and bottom or not - that's not my issue. What is:

When comes time to watch my fullscreen DVDs (alas, some TV shows are still broadcast in 4:3 and therefore transferred onto DVD that way too), my DVD player will ignore the "original size" setting and will still play the disc in widescreen, effectively making everything look fat and terrible. I have to switch my input settings to watch the fullscreen DVD on my composite cables to get the bars on the left and right. My question (finally) is:

Does the PS3 have a similar problem? Connected via HDMI, can it still display fullscreen DVDs "normally"?

Thanks,

Alekjan

[BirdManJr]

if you change the settings it will im pretty sure...I never watch dvds anymore tho...well i do in the sony upconvert on a different tv....but not on my ps3 in the living room

[BStecke]

That's usually going to be set on the TV, not the player.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by Alekjan

Does the PS3 <...> Connected via HDMI, can it still display fullscreen DVDs "normally"?

Yes. You leave the upscale setting to normal and 4:3 coded DVDs appear in the proper proportion with black bars at the sides on a 16:9 display.

And 16:9 coded DVDs show up proper too filling the 16:9 display's width.



The only problem is if you'd play the 4:3 coded DVDs that have widescreen movies Letterboxed. Then you get a widescreen movie inside the 4:3 coded area (which is of course because that's the way they were recorded on the DVD) and to see those widescreen letterboxed inside 4:3 movies filling the width of your display w/o distortion you have to use your 16:9 display's 1.33x zoom function to enlarge that image.

[plowmanjoe]

there's a setting on the ps3 for that. upscale to "full" or "normal." full will stretch the image to fit the screen which makes everyone look fat. and normal will give you black bars on the left and right. my tv is set to display 16:9 if that makes a difference.

[Alekjan]

Perfect, just the responses I was looking for.

Thanks for the help, guys, much appreciated.

[Lyle_JP]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Yes. You leave the upscale setting to normal and 4:3 coded DVDs appear in the proper proportion with black bars at the sides on a 16:9 display.

And 16:9 coded DVDs show up proper too filling the 16:9 display's width.

Unless all you have is component (no HDMI). Then, all 4:3 material is stretched by the PS3. Evidently, the "sideboxing" is only active when going through the PS3's upscaler, which is locked out when using component.

[jeabombers]

Originally Posted by BStecke

That's usually going to be set on the TV, not the player.

As he said, but didn't bother with elaborating, you generally have a simple little button you can press on your TV remote that will switch things to 4:3, rather than switching your PS3 back and forth, etc, etc.

[ToEhrIsHuman]

ugh! but when is Sony going to fix standard def content on BD? it frankly looks like $&^(@* when not upscaled, and even worse if it isn't anamorphic content....then it gets stretched horizontally to fill the screen. i think they could/should have fixed this by now...it's working fine for DVDs so i can't see that the media format should make much difference.

[Alekjan]

jeabombers - for some reason I don't have the option for sidebars when I'm using something HDMI-related, like my current DVD player or my PVR. When I'm watching DVDs via composite cables I have that option.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by ToEhrIsHuman

ugh! but when is Sony going to fix standard def content on BD? it frankly looks like $&^(@* when not upscaled, and even worse if it isn't anamorphic content....then it gets stretched horizontally to fill the screen. i think they could/should have fixed this by now...it's working fine for DVDs so i can't see that the media format should make much difference.

It is definitely one of the PS3's only flaws as a BD player. I thought it would have been fixed by now in an update.

[SGRSBSKIER]

I haven't had any problems with 4:3 DVD's. I use normal upscaling and they look ok, just as good as any other DVD player I have.

I did have one problem, Birds of Prey its non-anamorphic widescreen so I have to turn off upscaling, and I try to use the Expand feature on my TV so it will fill the whole screen (I do this for 16:9 TV shows on non HD channels), the problem I have is it starts out in Standard on my TV (16:9) but is only 4:3 it should be in Narrow (4:3) so when I press expand it just stretches the picture up and down removing the black bars making everyone tall and skinny. So I have to use the Zoom feature but it still leaves very tiny black bas on the sides and slightly cutting the top and bottom, my DVD player does not have this problem.

There are two things that could be at fault my Onkyo 605, or the PS3 (I have the PS3 connected HDMI to receiver and HDMI out from Receiver to TV).

[Kinslayer]

The only problem I ran into sofar was with College Road Trip DVD. Everything up to the start of the movie was full screen, but the movie had the bars on each side like if you were watching normal digital channels on your HDTV. I tried all the different aspect ratios and decided to watch the movie strechted since I can't stand the bars on the side, the movie was crap anyways hehe.

[varmintx]

Originally Posted by SGRSBSKIER

I did have one problem, Birds of Prey its non-anamorphic widescreen so I have to turn off upscaling, and I try to use the Expand feature on my TV so it will fill the whole screen (I do this for 16:9 TV shows on non HD channels), the problem I have is it starts out in Standard on my TV (16:9) but is only 4:3 it should be in Narrow (4:3) so when I press expand it just stretches the picture up and down removing the black bars making everyone tall and skinny. So I have to use the Zoom feature but it still leaves very tiny black bas on the sides and slightly cutting the top and bottom, my DVD player does not have this problem.

Manually adjust the PS3's display output to 4:3. Watch your movie, then switch it back. Hopefully, the next time you watch a non-anamorphic disc, you will not need to manually switch it, just turn the upscale off. This worked for me, but then the system (60 GB) had to do a reset forcing me to manually switch it again.