Bought my first Virtual Console game. Disappointed.

[somunny]

So, I purchased Link To The Past last night.  I have really been wanting to check out the VC but there hadn't been anything that interested me up to this point.

What I didn't expect was that the VC doesn't present the games in their original aspect ratio.  It stretches the games to fit the screen.  The Wii menu has an option for a 16:9 screen so it would seem that Nintendo expects people to have them.  Why not display the VC games with bars on the side or some kind of border a la XBLA?  Very disappointing. 

Somewhat related:  Ever visit someone with a widescreen set and they have all the regular 4:3 programming stretched?  Doesn't really bother me, it's their stuff.  But I wonder how you can get used to looking at everyone all fat and squished...

[grueinthebox]

It's unfortunate, but it seems that the "ignorant masses" if you will just can't stand black bars, no matter how much you try to explain why it's good that they're there.  It's stretched for the same reason they still sell pan & scan DVDs...    There are going to be three types of people: those who hate black bars and complain if they're there, those who don't care either way, and those who hate the stretched picture and want the black bars.  I'm sure they chose to go this route because 1) the third category (which you and I belong to) is the smallest, and 2) that category is the most likely to be able to figure out how to operate their electronics well enough to un-stretch it manually.

But it would have been nice if they added a second option under the TV format in the menu for "virtual console 16:9 stretch, on/off".

That said, I'm not planning on buying VC games anyway, since I've already got most of the NES/SNES/Genesis/TG16 games I want to play.

[crashwg]

I too am in camp 3 (can't stand stretched or squashed picture) nor can I stand pan&scan.

I had a buddy that would always stretch 16x9 movies on his 4x3 PC screen and also, my GF's sister's BF's TV is widescreen on which they stretch their broadcast signals on.  Not only does it look bad because it's stretched, the reception sucks which is just terrible on a 50+" TV...

I agree that it's pretty dumb that the Wii stretches games to widescreen format instead of putting bars on the sides.  I don't have a Wii and if I were to get one I doubt I'd be downloading NES games that I can play on my XBOX, DC, PS2 and PC for free...

My solution is going to be getting a projector.  I plan on having a screen that I can adjust the borders on for the different aspect ratios.

[shmokes]

I generally don't mind stretched videogames, but can't stand stretched TV or pan-and-scan movies.

[ChadTower]

Of what little 4:3 content I watch, when it's on the widescreen, it usually gets stretched.  The screen (32") isn't big enough for it to make a huge difference.  It just makes the guys look a little bigger and the women a little heavier.

Damn shame what it does to Kelly Bundy, though. 

[J_K_M_A_N]

I have a 50" widescreen. I have the cable box (Motorola 3416 DVR) stretch out the 4:3 shows to fill the screen. It is a little weird at first but after about a week, you don't even notice. I guess I hate the black bars on the sides MORE than I hate stretched screen. But usually I try and watch everything in HD so then it doesn't matter.

J_K_M_A_N

[rampy]

I usually go with a "zoom/crop" setting when watching 4:3 stuff on my 16:9 widescreen.

It keeps things the right ratio/porportion, but the downside is you're losing a little bit of the content and it's zoomed in so any PQ (picture quality) issues are exagerated

*shrug* but that's my preference.

I concur that the OPTION to play VC games in letterbox should be offered.

rampy

[sphetr2]

Can't you just change your settings to 4:3? 

[TOK]

Some TV's have much better stretch modes than others.

Toshiba ended up being my favorite, so thats the TV I went with. It keeps the image intact at the center of the screen and stretches the edges. Since most action is centered in a 4:3 broadcast, the stretch isn't even noticeable. The only thing that really makes it evident is scrolling text at the bottom of a news broadcast, etc. You can see text come onscreen stretched, compress toward the center of the screen, then stretch again as it scrolls off.

Sony and Samsung had the worst stretch modes of all the TV's I looked at. Basically just gave everyone football heads. Mitsubishi has a stretch mode similar to Toshiba's.

[somunny]

Can't you just change your settings to 4:3? 

Yes, but it's a pain in the ass to have to change it back and forth everytime you go from the VC to the Wii menu or another input that supports 16:9 like my dvd player or XBOX 360.

Maybe a future update will address this problem for anal-retentive-lazy-asses like me.

[MajorLag]

I don't think you're being a lazy , anal-retentive, ass. Proper aspect ratio is important to a lot of people and it would be such an easy fix. Somebody at Nintendo really should have caught and corrected the issue already, but if not then I would hope there'd be an update to address it sooner or later.

[Howard_Casto]

I read somewhere (don't ask me where, this was a long ways back) that nintendo's officialresponse was something along the lines of "we stretch it to fill your screen, if you wish to play the game in it's original aspect then use your television settings".  Sounds like a cop-out, but this is actually good advice. 

I just grab the old remote, set it to "force" 4:3 ratio and it squashes that 16:9 back to original aspect.  Most any hd tv is going to have a similar mode. 

[somunny]

Sounds like a cop-out, but this is actually good advice. 

This isn't good advice.  This is the only solution. 

Add my complaint to your open letter.  It's easily as valid an issue as #2, which like my gripe is pretty much all about convenience. 

[Howard_Casto]

Sounds like a cop-out, but this is actually good advice. 

This isn't good advice.  This is the only solution. 

Add my complaint to your open letter.  It's easily as valid an issue as #2, which like my gripe is pretty much all about convenience. 

Well I like it the way it is personally, because I don't have to monkey about with settings in the wii.  On my tv  remote it's a single button push to toggle between the two.  I can see your point though so tack it to the bottom of my thread, that's what it's for, to list complaints.  (Of course some jerk-off had to put in his useless comment just to try to get a rise out of me. )

[ChadTower]

I would imagine that the size of the TV would be a real factor here.  My 32" Olevia actually does a pretty good job in the stretch (which is done in software on the TV), but I could easily see how a 55" would be more prone to looking effed up, especially if the software doing the stretch leaves something to be desired. 

Plus, if it's in 4:3 (TV programming), it's probably in SD, right?  So it's going to have artifacting no matter what.

[Howard_Casto]

I figure the game you are playing is an issue as well.  Star Fox would look ok at 16:9 because it's all abstract polys.  Contra, not so much. 

[ChadTower]

It would make horizontal shooters a little better, vertical shooters a little weirder.

[RTSDaddy2]

Damn shame what it does to Kelly Bundy, though. 

                         

I haven't rolled with laughter that much in days Chad - god, did I need that!

[rampy]

Sounds like a cop-out, but this is actually good advice. 

This isn't good advice.  This is the only solution. 

Add my complaint to your open letter.  It's easily as valid an issue as #2, which like my gripe is pretty much all about convenience. 

Well I like it the way it is personally, because I don't have to monkey about with settings in the wii.  On my tv  remote it's a single button push to toggle between the two.  I can see your point though so tack it to the bottom of my thread, that's what it's for, to list complaints.  (Of course some jerk-off had to put in his useless comment just to try to get a rise out of me. )

I'm saying the VC should have it's own (per emulator? per game?) settings that it remembers, so I can "set it and forget it" instead of monkeying around with the TV remote or toggling wii master setting.

rampy

[ChadTower]

I haven't rolled with laughter that much in days Chad - god, did I need that!

Heh.  I've always had a thing for Christina Applegate.  Always will.  Funny thing is, I think my wife likes watching some shows that way, because it makes all the stick figure chicks on TV less glamorous.  For years I've been saying "give that chick a steak sammich" about half the women on TV.  Well, if you stretch your 4:3 content to 16:9, it's almost like someone did.

[Howard_Casto]

Sounds like a cop-out, but this is actually good advice. 

This isn't good advice.  This is the only solution. 

Add my complaint to your open letter.  It's easily as valid an issue as #2, which like my gripe is pretty much all about convenience. 

Well I like it the way it is personally, because I don't have to monkey about with settings in the wii.  On my tv  remote it's a single button push to toggle between the two.  I can see your point though so tack it to the bottom of my thread, that's what it's for, to list complaints.  (Of course some jerk-off had to put in his useless comment just to try to get a rise out of me. )

I'm saying the VC should have it's own (per emulator? per game?) settings that it remembers, so I can "set it and forget it" instead of monkeying around with the TV remote or toggling wii master setting.

rampy

I agree completely, but I can tell you ahead of time that's never gonna happen.  It would make for a lot of settings, and nintendo seems to be willing to leave out "power tweaks" in hopes of making the interface approachable to non-gamers.  The best we could hope for is a global setting for the channel that we could change on the fly (perhaps in the home menu?).  That's why I say I'd rather just do it via my tv settings, because any nintendo solution is probably going to work the same, only I'll have to fish out my wiimote as I use my wavebird controller for the classics. 

[ChadTower]

The best you can hope for, probably, is a homebrew solution that gives you UI tweaks like that.  Not being in the GUI doesn't mean it can't be done, it just means Nintendo chose not to do it.  Someone else probably will.  The real question is will such solutions require a mod to the console or a simple install of the software.

[Howard_Casto]

By the looks of things It'll be the former.  For far the only progress in hacking the wii has been to physically remove the disc drive, hook it up to a serial port and re-flash it's firmware.  This will probably lead to a wii that'll run homebrew as all the nintendo security techniques in the past have involved physical locks on the drive and not the os. 

[ChadTower]

Sounds like the flash is to remove a signature confirmation... so the likely solution, if they ever manage it, is to get hold of Nintendo's signature keys and start signing homebrew discs with that.  Then they'll be able to run homebrew off DVD, anyway.

[Howard_Casto]

The keys are encrypted and based on the data on the disc.  They are so encrypted that it'd take a few hundred years to brute force them.  So like I said, a hardware hack is the most likely solution.  Btw... wii modchip announced today, using that technique apparently. 

[shmokes]

Link?  I can't find anything about a Wii modchip.

[boykster]

Link?  I can't find anything about a Wii modchip.

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=43162

[ChadTower]

The keys are encrypted and based on the data on the disc.  They are so encrypted that it'd take a few hundred years to brute force them.  So like I said, a hardware hack is the most likely solution.  Btw... wii modchip announced today, using that technique apparently. 

A few hundred years with a single PC, maybe.  Theoretically they could get a farm project going and it wouldn't be that hard to do given the benefits of having those keys.  Or they just sneak one out of Nintendo.  The XDK had to come from somewhere, right?