Any insight into Wii High Definition capabilities?

Mendel

Mr. Upgrade
Veteran
So anyone have any idea what I might expect to do with Wii in high definition?

Will I be able to play my gamecube games like F-zero GX and Resident Evil 4 in HD?
 
From what Nintendo's been saying, wii has no HD capabilities at all. Considering that the opera browser actually runs in normal 4:3 screen aspect ratio, it might be that the only way to achieve widescreen on wii is to stretch the screen (which would deform web graphics), rather than to actually draw wider raster lines to the screen... The real capabilities of the ramdac of the flipper GPU hasn't ever been disclosed to my knowledge, but since on-die framebuffer space is very limited, it's likely the hardware can't exceed 640 pixels/line, or at least not by a whole lot.
 
If you take a peek in my 'secksi wii cables' thread, you'll find a linkee to a nice 5-prong component lead, but that doesn't actually make the video HD per se. :p

From what I understand, it's not a requirement from Nintendo that all games HAVE to support even 480P, much less 480P at 16:9 aspect, heh. Some games might therefore only do 480i, at 16:9 aspect or even bog-standard 4:3, regardless of wether it's a composite or component cable hooking you up to your TV set...
 
From what Nintendo's been saying, wii has no HD capabilities at all. Considering that the opera browser actually runs in normal 4:3 screen aspect ratio, it might be that the only way to achieve widescreen on wii is to stretch the screen (which would deform web graphics), rather than to actually draw wider raster lines to the screen... The real capabilities of the ramdac of the flipper GPU hasn't ever been disclosed to my knowledge, but since on-die framebuffer space is very limited, it's likely the hardware can't exceed 640 pixels/line, or at least not by a whole lot.

What is the size of Xbox framebuffer?
 
If you take a peek in my 'secksi wii cables' thread, you'll find a linkee to a nice 5-prong component lead, but that doesn't actually make the video HD per se. :p

From what I understand, it's not a requirement from Nintendo that all games HAVE to support even 480P, much less 480P at 16:9 aspect, heh. Some games might therefore only do 480i, at 16:9 aspect or even bog-standard 4:3, regardless of wether it's a composite or component cable hooking you up to your TV set...
Doh! That's where I saw it and thought they'd have one for it. Thanks Guden.

Oh, and COMPONENT.....that's the good one. :oops:

Will the Wii cable be compatible with the Gamecube cable? I even noticed a difference going from the standard cable to an s-video one.
 
I've read that the Wii's Composite A/V and Component cables are new and just for the Wii.

Also, the best that the Wii can do is the EDTV resolution of 480p. Which is just normal TV res, but in progressive-scan.

Some games (such as Zelda!) will support 16:9 widescreen. Hopefully all 1st-party games.
 
If widescreen isn't standard in Wii games, I'm going to be more than a bit annoyed.

Choosing 480 as the standard res I could accept -- sure, they wanted something cheap -- but no widescreen standard/required in this day? Come on, Nintendo... throw us something. There is no reason for lack of widescreen standard (if only first party games on Wii are widescreen, that'll be a bit disheartening... but a majority of the good games on Wii will likely be first party anyways).

The best thing about "HD" is the widescreen part, if you ask me! Resolution increase is quite nice, but native widescreen is what rocks.
 
853*480 when widescreen, AFAIR, it's the highest res you'll be able to get from the Wii in progressive mode though...
 
So far, nearly every announced Wii title except Pangya will be running in 480p and widescreen. I expect it to be pretty much standard, even if not required.
 
853*480 when widescreen, AFAIR, it's the highest res you'll be able to get from the Wii in progressive mode though...

i thought widescreen EDTV was 720x480, no? which should fit just right into the 2+ MB of the eFB @ 6bytes/pixel (24bits color + 24bits z) .
 
i thought widescreen EDTV was 720x480, no? which should fit just right into the 2+ MB of the eFB @ 6bytes/pixel (24bits color + 24bits z) .

720x480 isn't 16:9... it's closer to 16:11.

The 853x480 is proper 16:9... sort of... it should be 853 1/3 it seems.
 
720x480 isn't 16:9... it's closer to 16:11.

The 853x480 is proper 16:9... sort of... it should be 853 1/3 it seems.

of course 720x480 isn't 16:9 but that's what you get on the widescreen/EDTV DVDs. usually further letterboxed to correct wide-screen aspect.
 
of course 720x480 isn't 16:9 but that's what you get on the widescreen/EDTV DVDs. usually further letterboxed to correct wide-screen aspect.

Yeah, PS2 widescreen games seem to like that res as well (not sure about other consoles).
 
853*480 when widescreen, AFAIR, it's the highest res you'll be able to get from the Wii in progressive mode though...
Oh, so flipper CAN do more than 640 pixels per line. :) Well, I'd easily settle for 853, that's for sure.

Btw, does that require dropping alpha support or cutting down to 6 bits/channel or any of those other quirky GC video modes?
 
I think the proper 480p widescreen res is 848x480. The only reason I have for that is that I've seen it in ATI drivers though :oops:
Btw, does that require dropping alpha support or cutting down to 6 bits/channel or any of those other quirky GC video modes?
On Flipper, if you want destination alpha, you use a RGBA6666 format, which is still 24 bits. The size doesn't change, but you lose precision (that's why there are so many games with noticeable banding on the Gamecube).

Should be the same on the Wii. Or maybe not. Well probably ... you know.
 
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