Watching 4:3 movie files on a widescreen TV

[coolplay]

That would make it easier, yes.
However I'm sure wide-screen TV's are capable of 'squashing' the image to give those black bars on either side, after all there are still a lot of other video devices (VCR, VCD, cameras, receivers, laptops) around that only output 4:3 signals, and the TV manufacturers keep compatibility with these by having selectable aspect ratios.

OK, that might work al right as a temporary solution, but if I then throw in a wide-screen movie I'm going to have to get the TV to switch to 16:9 even though the signal I'm getting is still 4:3. As I said before, I have an Xbox with XBMC also and it handles all this for me. Surely there must be some option for this, to me something like this is basic functionality. Do I need a component cable to enable it or something? BTW, the TV I'm using is a Samsung LCD TV.

[coolplay]

Hi again, I was talking to the author of SMS through email and this is what he said. I've gotten permission to post his reply here for anyone else who is experiencing this problem



"Hello,

When SMS was made I just didn't have a widescreen TV so I was not aware about problems you just described. Recently I've bought such a TV but I don't have much time for SMS these days. The TV I've got has some settings on its own like 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio. Choosing 4:3 will solve SMS problem with 4:3 movies but I must admit it's pretty inconvenient to switch TV modes each time. I can't promise you that I'll implement something very soon but at least I'll try to. As alternative you can use HD modes in SMS (720p/1080i) for the time being (if your TV supports these) but you'll need to use a component cable to connect your PS2 to the TV."