What resolution do "real widescreen" games on GCN
- Thread starter PC-Engine
- Start date
The resolution is the same for 16x9 as it is for 4x3, it's just the shape of the pixels that change. Let's take American 525 SD TV as an example.
There are 486 active lines going down the screen each with usually 711 horizontal pixels (depends on blanking).
So for a 4x3 TV this would give us a ratio of
486/711 x 4/3 = 0.911 ie the pixels are taller than they are wide.
For 16x9 TVs we get
486/711 x 16/9 = 1.215 ie the pixels are wider than they are tall.
This is why, when playing games or watching movies, video appears vertically stretched on a 4x3 TV when the widescreen setting has been enabled. The software is simply expecting the pixels to be fatter.
I'm pretty sure that 480p sets are alwyas being fed image data in a NTSC standard 4:3 aspect ratio, and the pixels never shapeshift (the monitor or TV will stretch them.) If the publishers want the image to look correct on a 1.77:1 (16x9) monitor, they pre-squeeze the image data horizontally within the same 4:3 aspect pixel grid. A widescreen TV will then take that 1.33:1 data and stretch it horizontally so that it looks correct on the 16x9 screen.
The advantage is that games or movies published in this method can use the entire NTSC pixel grid to fill a 16x9 screen instead of a reduced amount.
I think that's essentially what Mr. Spiggott was saying, and I may have misread it.
I hope I understood the question?
The advantage is that games or movies published in this method can use the entire NTSC pixel grid to fill a 16x9 screen instead of a reduced amount.
I think that's essentially what Mr. Spiggott was saying, and I may have misread it.
I hope I understood the question?
Ok so basically the WS mode on games operate the same way as anamorphic widescreen DVDs on a 4:3 display. My question is the game still 640x480 because WS DVDs are not 640x480. :?
Ok I think I understand what you're saying now. Basically for WS the game is still 640x480, but the developer has stretched the shape of the horizontal pixels?
Is that why on my computer monitor it looks better because I can change the vertical and horizontl size to pack the pixels closer giving a better image?
Ok I think I understand what you're saying now. Basically for WS the game is still 640x480, but the developer has stretched the shape of the horizontal pixels?
Is that why on my computer monitor it looks better because I can change the vertical and horizontl size to pack the pixels closer giving a better image?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC#Technical_details
Here is a resolution chart from the same page,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Videores.png
WS DVD's should indeed be 640x480, as they follow the NTSC spec. They are still placing the image horizontally compressed (on an Anamorphic DVD) inside the 640x480 NTSC standard viewing area where it is then un-horizontally compressed by your TV/Monitor through the use of optical, or digital stretching to fill the 16x9 screen.
It has the added bonus of allowing for films or games with a wide aspect ratio (usually greater than 1.77:1) to be displayed using more of the available screen resolution than is possible under NTSC on a 1.33:1 screen.
Here is a resolution chart from the same page,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Videores.png
WS DVD's should indeed be 640x480, as they follow the NTSC spec. They are still placing the image horizontally compressed (on an Anamorphic DVD) inside the 640x480 NTSC standard viewing area where it is then un-horizontally compressed by your TV/Monitor through the use of optical, or digital stretching to fill the 16x9 screen.
It has the added bonus of allowing for films or games with a wide aspect ratio (usually greater than 1.77:1) to be displayed using more of the available screen resolution than is possible under NTSC on a 1.33:1 screen.
Unfortunately there's no extra resolution for widescreen.
It's very important, for compatability with video recorders, DVD recorders, hard disk recorders etc, that a 16x9 frame has the same number of pixels as 4x3 frame. You can still record the anamorphic widescreen output from a gamecube on your 20 year old Ferguson videostar.
You can indeed see more, but the resolution has not changed. The view of the world has simply got wider.
Ahhh, I think I get you now. I notice the same thing with DOA 3 on Xbox (at least thats what I thought I saw at the time.)
I believe that on top of the anamorphic squeeze, they need to take into account that the aspect ratio being displayed will be different, or the shot composition will be different on a 16x9 frame than the one shown on a 4x3 frame.
I think the developers of the game must simply program the camera to zoom out on the field and re-crop to create that wider view before they send the video to the output, or the horizontal compression stage.
Your PC is correct. An SD frame (in America) is 720 pixels by 486 pixels. Obviously not all of that is seen as some is lost in blanking. People have just got into the habit of calling SD 640x480.
Sort of. Depends on your TV, but you might see as much as 711 by 486.
PC-Engine said:
That could be a bit ricky, because different HDTVs handle lower resolutions differently. Some are very very good and clean, some are just a mess.
Just like some HDTVs look better than others even at HD resolutions.