PSX core HDMI video: Somewhat confused about the aspect ratio of games

[vanfanel]

Hi there!

I have noticed that, only when using the 3:2 widescreen hack, circles are circles and squares are squares.

If I set widescreen hack = off, for example
-In Tomb Raider's tittle screen, the Scion appears as a vertical ellipsoid .
-In Parappa The Rapper, the indications for pressing SQUARE are vertical rectangles.
..etc

So, why don't I use the 3:2 widescreen hack then? Well, because for example Crash Bandicoot shows those well-known out-of-screen flashing polygons on the sides of the screen that the game wasn't prepared to be showing on screen.

So, what's the mistery? How did those games look on real CRT TVs? I don't have any around me.
Maybe the artists made the Tomb Raider graphics on a computer monitor, and then the graphics got stretched verticaly by the PSX hardware? This is all very confusing, but I am sure there's an easy explanation

[FPGAzumSpass]

When using fixed Hblank, the aspect ratio should be right. It was verified with HDMI to modern display and VGA out in parallel on a SONY PVM.

It doesn't mean that all circles are true circles, it only means that it looks like it looked on a CRT from the 90th.

[vanfanel]

When using fixed Hblank, the aspect ratio should be right. It was verified with HDMI to modern display and VGA out in parallel on a SONY PVM.

It doesn't mean that all circles are true circles, it only means that it looks like it looked on a CRT from the 90th.

Of course! This implementation is just perfect, I am sure.
My question is more artistically related about the games: I mean, how comes Tomb Raider has proper circles in 3:2 only?
Were the graphics designed for PAL resolution (Core Design at the time were UK based), then Tomb Raider USA gets displayed in a vertically stretched mode?

...But that would only explain the TR case. Other games, like Parappa, also show proper circles or squares only when usig 3:2. That really puzzles me.