So I ran into some dilemma. I was going through my various media types (VHS/LD/BD) to see what audio formats they used. Just a sampling to get a feel, when I ran across this situation: a 4:3 BluRay. Specifically, it is Star Trek: The Next Generation: Best of Both Worlds.
So now I have the thought, do I need another BD player for my 4:3 setup. It would be fine to get one cheap, that has component output as it could replace my DVD player also. And then I can get the VCD card for Saturn to replace the VCD playback... as well as being able to play Saturn on that screen. But before making such an investment, I figured I should test. Now I couldn't easily test BD playback on my Trinitron because I didn't want to disassemble and move things around. Also, it is possible that a BD player on component will display differently than my test, which is a PS3 on composite. Alas, I do not have the cable to connect PS3 to component. But I happen to have a 9" PVM with composite input, it will do well enough. I am primarily going to be looking at aspect ratio, and I would suspect that any BD Player with a component and/or composite output will work on a 4:3 display.
So here is the PS3 video output settings, set on 480P (the PVM itself says 480i) and it takes up the full screen:
My concern was that perhaps a 4:3 BD was going to force letterbox, and its hard to tell here but the main menu (as well as the previews) were actually in 16:9 Letterbox. BTW it is impossible to read most of the text on a 9" screen.
We know STTNG has no widescreen version as it was filmed in 4:3. And fortunate for us, Paramount didn't try to do that fake widescreen treatment like what was done with TFTM. Here is the content itself. It is letterbox and with spots on the side. So the content is not actually in full frame? Am I to suspect that the issue here is the with PS3 itself causing this, is it something with its BD playback ability? I did not try to do a 4:3 DVD, I should have now that I think of it.
And it may be hard to tell in this pic. This is the same BD but being output to 1080P on HD TV. It is not letterboxed and is full frame as far as the top and bottom of the screen. Of course there is black on either side.