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[DDayton]

Ok, I've got an potentially incredibly stupid wide screen gaming question...

I have a plain, boring, old-fashioned television I use for gaming. I've noticed that some games offer a wide screen option from the options menu -- when activated, the image is distorted vertically, thus offering more horizontal image...

Now, here's my question. On a standard television, the entire screen is filled with the "wide screen" image -- it seems as though the entire image generated is formatted for a widescreen image, but within a standard television resolution. Nothing appears to be "missing" off the edges of the screen. If I were to display that image on a wide screen television (without enabling progressive scan or anything like that, just using the same "wide screen" menu option, I'd get an image stretched properly across the screen and thus appearing in the correct dimensions... but isn't the image still restricted to "normal television resolution"? In other words, the picture is formatted to fit a wide screen, but you don't gain any "clarity" because the resolution is identical to a standard television image... just horizontally stretched?

I've been curious about that little point, as it seems to me that a proper wide screen image would have to be to large to fit on a standard television... and as the "wide screen" option in the game merely changes the on screen image and not the signal, it seems like it's more of a hack than anything else.

 

[Nick Laslett]

You are right, for DVDs and Consoles a 16:9 widescreen image contains the same horizontal resolution as a standard 4:3 image e.g. 640 lines.

 

[TomO]

There's plenty of information Anamorphic Widescreen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic

 

[Yusaku]

It's called anamorphic widescreen. Fitting a widescreen image into a 4:3 space. Most of your DVDs work like this, except your DVD player letter boxes it on your TV, to keep the proper aspect ratio.

 

[DDayton]

Now, permit me another silly question...

Wouldn't anamorphic wide screen displays in a video game almost always look WORSE than standard displays, as fewer pixels are available for each rendered image on the screen? A greater "view" is displayed in an anamorphic display, but at a loss for clarity across the image as a whole, correct?

 

[GitarooMan]

Now, permit me another silly question...

Wouldn't anamorphic wide screen displays in a video game almost always look WORSE than standard displays, as fewer pixels are available for each rendered image on the screen? A greater "view" is displayed in an anamorphic display, but at a loss for clarity across the image as a whole, correct?

I don't think that's right, because I think true anamorphic widescreen takes all the available pixels and squeezes then into the 16/9 space. In other words, the black bars are truly empty, not wasting pixels. Non-anamorphic widescreen does result in what you explain, though. I'm not sure on this, though, someone correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Yusaku]

Now, permit me another silly question...

Wouldn't anamorphic wide screen displays in a video game almost always look WORSE than standard displays, as fewer pixels are available for each rendered image on the screen? A greater "view" is displayed in an anamorphic display, but at a loss for clarity across the image as a whole, correct?

No, a 4:3 game and a game that's 16:9 anamorphic have the exact same resolution (720x480), but have different aspect ratios.

 

[DDayton]

No, a 4:3 game and a game that's 16:9 anamorphic have the exact same resolution (720x480), but have different aspect ratios.

... but isn't that basically what I said? If both have the same resolution, but the wide screen image displays a larger field of vision, the image quality is necessarily lower in the wide screen than in the full screen image. An object which originally consumed something like 100x100 pixels in the full screen version is represented by a reduced number of pixels in the wide screen version, as the widescreen version displays a larger field of view without increasing the number of pixels used. Right?

 

[mrklaw]

You are right. If there was a game designed to fill both a 4:3 and 16:9 screen, both would have the same number of pixels. The 16:9 screen would simply stretch them, so you get 'brick' shaped pixels.

But its a good option for 16:9 screen owners, as you fill the screen and usually the dev adjusts the Field of Vision so that you see more on the left and right.


Widescreen on SD TVs is stuck in a 4:3 world, so its a workaround. It gives you *more* resolution in widescreen movies, as the full height of the 4:3 box can be used, otherwise it would have bars (for a 16:9 formatted movie)



For HD resolutions (720p, 1080i), they are proper widescreen resolutions with associated increases in pixel counts (1280x720, 1920x1080 Vs 720x480)

 

[Yusaku]

... but isn't that basically what I said? If both have the same resolution, but the wide screen image displays a larger field of vision, the image quality is necessarily lower in the wide screen than in the full screen image. An object which originally consumed something like 100x100 pixels in the full screen version is represented by a reduced number of pixels in the wide screen version, as the widescreen version displays a larger field of view without increasing the number of pixels used. Right?

I think you're trying to complicate something that isn't complicated. A 480p game in widescreen does not look worse than a 480p game that's 4:3.

 

[DDayton]

I think you're trying to complicate something that isn't complicated. A 480p game in widescreen does not look worse than a 480p game that's 4:3.

Why, exactly? Again, I'm trying to explain this little confusion the best I can... some games seem to play in "standard" full screen, but have a wide screen option in the menu. Activating it changes the picture to a "squished" image that can be viewed across the entire screen on a wide screen set. However, the system is seemingly still generating the image at the same screen resolution it did in full screen mode, right? The resolution doesn't change at all, just the visual perspective ("It's all squished!").

If that is true, then it would seem that the image would necessarily be lower quality, as the same number of pixels are being used to display a more complex image. Each item in the display will be composed of fewer pixels, and thus it's a lower quality visual across the board.

Do any current consoles support true wide screen at this point, or do they merely use anamorphic techniques?

Again, forgive me for any mistakes I might make in all this. It's just something that's been bugging me -- unless I'm nuts, it seems like current wide screen gaming is necessarily going to present a lower quality image than full screen gaming.

 

[GitarooMan]

Do any current consoles support true wide screen at this point, or do they merely use anamorphic techniques?

There are several Xbox games that support 720p widescreen, which is clearly superior to 4:3 standard definition

 

[Uncle Dukey]

Do any current consoles support true wide screen at this point, or do they merely use anamorphic techniques?

There are a few Xbox games that support 720p and 1080i. GT4 for PS2 supports 1080i. HDTV resolutions are widescreen with no full screen equivalents.

 

[DDayton]

There are several Xbox games that support 720p widescreen, which is clearly superior to 4:3 standard definition

Well, 720p is a true widescreen pixel configuration, so that makes sense. 720p games generate images in true wide screen, so they'd always look good, as they aren't using anamorphic techniques create a wide screen image.

Sorry for any annoyances, folks. What I was trying to figure out was what the real benefit of "wide screen mode" was in games displayed in 480... just the "feel", right?

 

[Uncle Dukey]

Sorry for any annoyances, folks. What I was trying to figure out was what the real benefit of "wide screen mode" was in games displayed in 480... just the "feel", right?

The benefits are that it fits a widescreen television if you happen to have one, and that you can see more on the left and right sides (Unless the picture is cropped rather than drawing more).