dogbert Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 I'm having an issue with my Xbox - I can't get widescreen supported games to display in widescreen. I have the HD adaptor, I have component cables hooked upto my TV, I have all of the display modes enabled in the dashboard, I have widescreen set as my display type. When I go to play a widescreen supported game (say Bloodrayne 2 or GTA:SA), I get 480p & 4:3 piped to my TV. The Sony TV I have tells me exactly what feed it's getting. I'll get 1080i out okay for MX Unleashed 2. I'll get 720p okay in the Tony Hawk games. I just don't seem to be getting widescreen when the game is 480p + 16:9. Any ideas? This /was/ working, I"m pretty sure. I'll test out another xbox & the same games tonight, see if it's something in the setup of this machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Are you able to change the aspect ratio on your set while you have a progressive signal or does it lock the aspect ratio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 It locks it. As an added wrinkle, this is a modded Xbox. UnleashX & XBMC display in 16:9 perfectly fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covak Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 In my experience displays always assume 480p is 4:3, so you need the option to force 16:9 mode. Don't think there's really any such thing as 480p 16:9 in the HDTV world (only in the video game world). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 ya I have to use wide zoom or full to fill the 4:3 image on 480p games on my 34" 16:9 Sony Wega. I have a few 720p games that display in 16:9 perfectly though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Don't think there's really any such thing as 480p 16:9 in the HDTV world. There was until Fox finally pulled their heads out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Don't think there's really any such thing as 480p 16:9 in the HDTV world (only in the video game world) Then how do I get 480p 16:9 from my progressive scan DVD player? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covak Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Then how do I get 480p 16:9 from my progressive scan DVD player? It could be magic. Or I might just not know what I'm talking about Does your TV say it's getting "480p 16:9" from your DVD player? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Then how do I get 480p 16:9 from my progressive scan DVD player? According to Sony, you actually don't. Most tv's compensate with a stretch or zoom when displaying from a 480p source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 As an added wrinkle, this is a modded Xbox. UnleashX & XBMC display in 16:9 perfectly fine. Try it on your non-modded Xbox and see if the same thing happens. If you get 16:9 you might try renaming your UnleashX config file and letting it remake it as well as replacing the MS Dashboard file. If you need a MS Dash file let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Did some digging, and indeed, 480p 16:9 technically doesn't exist - I need to manually force my TV to support widescreen in that mode somehow. Dunno why it works for DVDs... Might have to make it think it's a DVD input not "game" Time to check the manual tonight. Thanks for the help, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Strange deal as it seems to be working for me. No stretch mode needed although I can use them if I want. FWIW I have a non-modded Xbox and a Mitsubishi 16x9 55" RPTV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 It's down to your TV, exile, and how it handles the input. Like I said, my TV handles the output from DVD player perfectly - it reports 16:9 480p - I just need to get it to do the same for my Xbox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 It has to be then. Have you tried the other inputs on your set to see if it's just an input issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Nope! I thought it was my Xbox rather than my TV, I'll be digging into it tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Regardless of what your TV is reporting to be receiving, or what display mode it's giving you, what is the picture that you're seeing? Is it a 16:9 picture that your TV is just showing as 4:3 (So things look stretched up or down) or is it a 4:3 formatted image? If it's a 16:9 image being detected at 4:3 by your TV, then I would guess that the mod software you're using might be improperly flagging the image as 4:3 to the television. the type of connection that you use makes no difference in what format of image the XBox will output. You could be using RF and have it set to WS and the XBox will output a 16:9 image for supported games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Nope, the image is 4:3. And it's nothing to do with the mod, as the same game displays exactly the same on a modded or unmodded Xbox - there's no stretching going on, the image being output is 4:3. Bah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Is it pluged in sir? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 the only time ive seen this happen was when my brother changed the picture mode to 4:3 by accident. Scared the hell out of me. Brian have you tried playing a DVD on the xbox to see how the picture comes out? capt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Just tried playing a DVD there (Spiderman 2) - 480i 16:9. I read the AVSForum thread dedicated to this line of TVs, noone reported this problem - guess I'll crosspost there & see what they say. Could it be a problem with the HD Advanced pack I'm using? It's the official Microsoft one, the 'second' release I believe. the type of connection that you use makes no difference in what format of image the XBox will output. You could be using RF and have it set to WS and the XBox will output a 16:9 image for supported games. So if I hooked up my composite cables, I should get a 480i 16:9 image out of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 the type of connection that you use makes no difference in what format of image the XBox will output. You could be using RF and have it set to WS and the XBox will output a 16:9 image for supported games. Actually, thinking about this some more, that makes no sense. I have two TVs I use - a 16:9 HDTV & a regular 4:3 CRT. The Xbox is set to widescreen, with 480p, 720p, 1080i enabled. When I take the Xbox to the second TV & plug it in using composite cables, by that reckoning I should get a squished widescreen picture, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covak Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Does anyone know: does the Xbox (or any other device, for that matter) actually tell TVs what aspect ratio to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan FB Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Does anyone know: does the Xbox (or any other device, for that matter) actually tell TVs what aspect ratio to use?I don't know if the Xbox puts it out (I would hope it would), but the EIA-608 standard, which is also used for closed captioning, provides for it. There's a "program aspect ratio" packet encoded similar to the way program rating information (like R, TV-MA, etc.) is encoded, and the display device can ignore it or use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Does anyone know: does the Xbox (or any other device, for that matter) actually tell TVs what aspect ratio to use? Yes, at least on my mits it does. For example I had the dash bord on 480 i and when I poped in San Anderes it indacted it had switched to 480 p when the game started to load Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 When I take the Xbox to the second TV & plug it in using composite cables, by that reckoning I should get a squished widescreen picture, correct? Yes, you would, just like if you plug your DVD player into a 4:3 TV and set the player to WS, you get a squished looking image. When I moved my XBox back and forth from my 16:9 TV and my 4:3 TV I'd have to change the settings or I'd get a squished 16:9 image. There is no way for the XBox to know what type of TV your XBox is connected to, except by the options in the menu, which is why they're there. Technically there is no difference between a 4:3 image, and a 16:9 image outputted from any video playing device except for how it's supposed to be porperly displayed. The cables, TV, or HD box have absolutely nothing to do with how the XBox formats the image. If you say that both XBoxes are outputting a proper 4:3 image onto your TV when you have it set for widescreen, then my only conclusion can be that you're mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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