Nailing the coffin shut on 480p component cables / wii output

[skasai]

Hello; so I made a recent post about my 37" westinghouse TV and how I solved widescreen issues with the v-digi cable. I just wanted to assure myself that I haven't missed anything... Westinghouse has returned my e-mail indicating that their TV only outputs whatever the device outputs.

So here is my question: with my wii connected via component cables, outputting 16x9, and 480p, I will still get 640x480 resolution -- is this a correct assumption?

Of so then darn. The TV likes to output the black bars on the side and I would have loved to figure out a way to make the component cables work.

Shayne

 

[Spyro]

You have to change the settings on the Wii. That includes changing it to EDTV (480p) AND widescreen.

 

[skasai]

yup done that and i've also set the tv to "stretch-to-fit" mode -- but I think the wii is still outputting 640x480... perhaps i have defect component cables?

 

[Spyro]

It should upscale the width only. The 480 will still be 480. I have no problem with my HDTV. I use some real cheap component cables.

 

[[DT]]

It was my understanding that the Wii supported anamorphic/720x480 resolution as well as 640x480 (4:3).

Games with native 16:9 and the Wii set to wide drive the 720v (FWIW, isn't full 16:9 which is 852x480) and and the TV scales the screen ratio additionally to handle the full width. So you're getting some scaling on a widescreen set, even if the game supports 16:9 and the Wii is set for the same.

Playing a non 16:9 optioned Wii game on a widescreen TV (with the Wii set to wide) sends a 640x480 signal that has to be greatly stretched out.

So wide spec games have less distortion wide/wide vs. non-widescreen games that are first forced into 16:9 and then stretched as needed by your set.

 

[skasai]

Thanks, this is a great reply. My TV indicates that the wii is outputting 640x480, even though I have set it to 480p/16x9 with comp cables (as a result i'm getting black bars on both sides of the display). My DVD player plays fine through my TV via widescreen so I'm guessing it's the cable.

I'm going to test it out on cheaper component cables and if I get the same result I will return the cables and stick with the v-digi VGA cable... sigh

Shayne

 

[[DT]]

ska ~

I'll check out what res is being reported on our Sony where the Wii is hooked up - maybe it will be of some help (plus, now you've really got me curious )

50" Wide HD, Components (cheapies), and I'll try a 16:9 spec game (Zelda) one that's not (Paper Mario) and fool around with the Wii settings.

 

[dchao]

yup done that and i've also set the tv to "stretch-to-fit" mode -- but I think the wii is still outputting 640x480... perhaps i have defect component cables?

Since component is still analogue, it doesn't know the 640 part of the "640x480" resolution. It does not sent out 640 pixels per scan line, it's just "analog". The component signal doesn't contain any info about the aspect ratio either.

So - It's up to your TV to stretch it to fit the whole wide screen. I would sugguest - Start with your TV manual. Check the manual to see how to turn on the FULL SCREEN mode. Maybe the "stretch-to-fit" mode is not working correctly.

You cable should be OK, if it's defective, you will see some horrible pictures instead.

 

[skasai]

One thing I notice is that my DVD player scales the output to a 16x9 aspect ratio. As in the viewing area is wide and there is black bars all around; this allows me to properly use the stretch-to-fill or full screen mode on the tv.

Are you saying that the Wii doesn't do this sort of pre-scaling?

Thanks
Shayne

 

[dchao]

On a wide screen TV, there are normally more than one zoom mode you can choose from. If you have black bars all round, like with a DVD, you want to use the normal zoom mode and maintain aspect ratio. If the TV is connected to Wii at 480P, you want the TV to stretch horizontally to fill the left and right borders. Just remember, 480P component signal does not carry aspect ratio info, so the user must manually matches the TV mode to Wii's screen setting.

(Looking at the manual for you TV, i think you need to goto the picture parameters and change the aspect ratio to FILL. Make sure the Wii is set to widescreen as well)

The only scaling Wii does is that, in widescreen mode, the piture is actually "compressed" horizontally in relation to the standard screen. No up-scaling is involed.

 

[skasai]

Well thanks dchao, you have been a lot of help -- unfortunately the Westinghouse TV has issues with over-scaling with fill mode. I've come to the conclusion that the only way is to use a scaler (which i'm using via v-digi vga cable) which works as the output is digital.

It would be nice one day if Nintendo would release better GPU software

Thanks again

 

[MeStinkbad]

Skasai... when running widescreen mode and your TV still is drawing 640x480, do the images look squished?

If they do, then your Wii is working fine. Cuz a squished image means that the time the TV take to draw a horizontal line hasn't changed. Which means it's you can't see the entire line, rather a condensed one.

SDTV specifics 480i horizontal lines, EDTV specifies 480p horizontal lines. Neither specify how long each horizontal line should be. It's why widescreen mode has nothing to do with progressive scan. HDTV is different. It's always widescreen.

Bleh I'm not going to get into this... think what you want... as in you specifically said you *think* it's outputing at 640x480 still. Your letting your mind play tricks on you....

 

[skasai]

think the issue is more that my tv can't scale what the wii is outputting... stretch mode still outputs black bars on the sides, and full screen mode resizes everything about 5-10% off screen and unfortunately I can't adjust the scale percentage with the TV...

lessons learned? don't get a crap tv with poor scaling

thanks for all the help!