PS2 Screen aspect ratio

[Chris]

Hello all :)

I've had a PS2 for eons, and it has been disused for quite a while. Now it's got a new lease of life as our son is old enough to be taking an interest in it. But I've forgotten how to set it up for a widescreen TV.

Does anyone know whether I should have the confisguration set to 'full' or '16:9' for use on a standard-def, widescreen TV? And are all PS2 games designed for full anamorphic widescreen? Whichever settings and games I try I don't seem to be making a scrap of difference.

TIA.

[zing_deleted]

if you set it to full you would be getting 4:3 wouldnt you? big black bars either side? does your TV auto size to 16:9 meaning its gonna stretch any broadcast to fit? I always set that option off as a 4:3 stretched looks awful

[Paranoimia]

Widescreen on PS2 depends entirely on the game - some use it, some don't. If your TV auto-detects, it should switch itself between 4:3 and 16:9 as appropriate. For 4:3 games, I always used to set my TV to 14:9 or Zoom, depending on how much of the screen I was happy to lose.

[Chris]

if you set it to full you would be getting 4:3 wouldnt you? big black bars either side? does your TV auto size to 16:9 meaning its gonna stretch any broadcast to fit? I always set that option off as a 4:3 stretched looks awful

Yes ... my original assumption was that I should choose 16:9 rather than full. It was only when it didn't appear to make any difference that I began wondering if I'd made the wrong choice.

The TV switches to 16:9 correctly for TV broadcasts but I've yet to see it happen on a PS2 game.

Sounds like Paranomia has hit it on the head though, if it depends on the game maybe I just don't have any widescreen games. I don't have many, and they're pretty old. I am rediscovering Crazy Taxi this evening. :D

[Paranoimia]

If you had, for example, Gran Turismo 4, you should find that it outputs in 16:9.