Page 1 of Problems with Playstation2 DVD playback on 4:3 TV

Hi. I`ve got a problem with my ps2 playing widescreen DVDs on my Goodmans 4:3 TV - can anyone help?

Basically, whenever I play a widescreen DVD (tried about 8 so far), the picture gets stretched vertically to fill the screen, making circles look like ovals etc. There is an option in the ps2 DVD setup for specifying the display ratio from a choice of 16:9, 4:3 and 4:3 Pan And Scan, although its locked to 16:9 and won`t let me change it to anything else.

I`d be happy to watch the DVDs as widescreen with black borders, but cant find any way to unsquash the picture like this - do you think its a problem with my TV? It is admittedly a budget-range TV - it`s a Goodmans 28" NICAM model (285NS, I think), and is connected to my ps2 via the supplied composite leads. If someone can confirm that the problem is that this TV won`t handle widescreen DVDs, then I`ll go out and buy a widescreen TV, but if I can fix the problem with the TV I`ve got, that`d be better..

Thanks.

There in lies your problem, the ratio shouldn`t be locked to 16:9, maybe your not selecting it to change it properly?

Our review unit was changeable.

However, doesn`t the TV have a "16:9" option?

That would compress it to the correct size....if not..I got a lovely Toshiba 29" 4:3 dolby surround model for sale! lol


AIWA 370 (officially) ROCKS!!!!!!
http://aiwaownersnetwork.tripod.com

Have you tried changing the aspect ratio size without a disc in? It might be that it locks the setting when you are playing a disc.

Probably not, but that`s what happens on my Pioneer if a disc is in.

Also, try it with a different DVD. The player might be sensitive to certain discs.

Thanks for the advice, but I`ve already tried most of those things. Using the configuration settings with no disc in, I`ve set the display mode to 4:3, which it seems happy with. However, once I put a DVD disc in and run it via the Browser, it changes to 16:9 automatically. I`ve only got about 8 DVDs and it does this with all of them (until I fix the problem, I`m reluctant to go out and buy loads more discs). The ones I`ve tried include Jurassic Park, Blade, Jaws, The Good The Bad And The Ugly, amongst others, so unless anyone else has had success with these discs on a PS2 through a Goodmans TV, then I still think it might be the TV. There is no option on the TV to switch to a widescreen mode. Funnily enough, I got NTL Cable Digital installed yesterday, and that happily lets me toggle the widescreen viewing mode between letterbox format and zoomed in (sides chopped off), so I dunno why the ps2 doesnt do the same :(

Sorry I can`t help with your ps2/tv problem, but out of interest what is ntl digital cable like?
I was thinking of going for ntl or sky, but I can`t make up my mind!

Its very good, but I don`t know what the differences between ntl`s and Sky`s digital services are, so I can`t really help you pick one over the other. The picture is excellent, and the built-in TV guide is really useful, but the choice of internet sites accessible through the telly is quite small. I could go into more detail on a different thread, but not on this one, as I`d like to keep this thread on the subject of the ps2 problem.

I had exactly the same problem as you, but have found a way to cure it.

Firstly put in a disc and let the film play.

Then press the circle button to temporarily stop the disc.

Press select to bring up the options window DVD controller

Enter the setup option, and the Screen Setup/TV type selector will be accessible.

Then go back to the DVD menu and press play, the PS2 will then squash the image into the correct ratio for your TV.

This drove me mad for ages and I only found it by accident when I was mucking around with a disc that didn`t work.

All the best

Andrew.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 3rd January 2001, 23:26