older systems and wide-screen TV's

[Steven]

Well I now own a new Wide-screen HDTV and it is great for the most part, but srtting up older systems like my dreamcast can be aq bit of a pain. I don't knowif I should leave it as is and see everything in 4:3 with black borders on the sides, or if I should mess with the settings and try to fill/extend/zoom in the pic to get the whole screen filled in.

So I was wanted to ask how everybody else deals with older systems without much if any 16:9 support.

[Supreme Warrior]

well I like some games in widescreen even though they look squished, some look horrible like that so i put them in standard resolution.

Just try for yourself and see if you like it.

[JagerSlushy]

I play most games in 16:10 in a 4:3 aspect ratio, just stretched. Of course I'll take the 16:10 resolution over the 4:3, but it doesn't really bother me to just stretch it.

[Ragnar]

I absolutely cannot stand something running in a incorrect aspect ratio, black sidebars would be my obvious choice. But it's really a matter of personal taste. Just know that if you stretch your pixels I'll mock you for your lack of taste

[deadlegion]

I use an old 80cm Sony Trinitron crt tv (PAL/NTSC and 50/60hz) for most of my consoles.......psx,ps2,gamecube,xbox......and even the Wii.
I have that tv and all those consoles set up in my games room.

I only use my Xbox360 on my 32" Sony Bravia lcd (1080p) in my home theatre room along with my Blu-Ray player, and an older DVD recorder.
I don't have a PS3 yet.

I'm very particular about aspect ratios, and I've been known to correct the "stretching" rubbish on other people's widescreen tv's without even asking them
I don't mind black bars at all, it's a messed up image that concerns me.

[unnoticedninja]

I agree with google and deadlegion 100%. The incorrect aspect ratio and stretching really annoys me, but some games like Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII, I believe they and other games have the option to go widescreen, so no stretching there. For some reason the rest of my family hates anything that isn't fullscreen, and even though we have no HDTV's, I still have to change the option on the converter box to 16:9 and be able to see all the picture that gets cut off when I'm watching House or Fringe.

[The Almighty MegaMan]

Myself I feel the need to fill up the biggest possible area of the screen, unless the stretching too exaggerated. In that case I'll just keep the ratio and use the magical words "Zoom in!"

Oh and I was about to make a thread with a question quite related to the one we're discussing ITT.
I have a PSP and a component cable set (red, blue, green and audio L&R) and a 40" HDTV that allows many video input configurations.
I can't find a good one. The image is mediocre at best, which is a shame given that the PSP's visuals are pretty awesome and even on PC via Remotejoy they look good.

If the question bothers just tell me and I'll remove it.

[deadlegion]

Myself I feel the need to fill up the biggest possible area of the screen, unless the stretching too exaggerated. In that case I'll just keep the ratio and use the magical words "Zoom in!"

Oh and I was about to make a thread with a question quite related to the one we're discussing ITT.
I have a PSP and a component cable set (red, blue, green and audio L&R) and a 40" HDTV that allows many video input configurations.
I can't find a good one. The image is mediocre at best, which is a shame given that the PSP's visuals are pretty awesome and even on PC via Remotejoy they look good.

If the question bothers just tell me and I'll remove it.

The PSP console wasn't designed to make an image on a 40" screen look good (unless you use zoom out until the picture is a hell of a lot smaller).

[The Almighty MegaMan]

I guess I should've stated it in some other way.
I meant that the output image covers about 30% of the screen and still looks like crap.
However, when I play PS1 games on it, the video output in the TV looks quite nice. Not perfect, but nice indeed.

[Clayton Fischer]

I play most games in emulators, and I use a 26" HDTV (not full HD) as my monitor. If the emulator got the options for old games (like Pj64, it has ways of getting any game in widescreen without stretching, but with HUDs as in a 4:3 aspect ratio, in the middle of the screen) I use then. But ePSXe stretches everything, so I use the option of a windowed resolution in a full screen resolution (i.e. 1024x768 res>4:3 in a 1360x768 res>16:9), so I get black bars in the sides. When I play my original PS, I always put on 4:3 aspect ratio, unless in some games that have widescreen options (rare, like Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed). When play old games for PC, I hack them, like Black & White, Silent Hill series, and even GTA games, because their widescreen options are only pan&scan. I get a perfect resolution and FOV. So I prefer letterbox rather than strech.

I never had a PSP, so I don't know how it looks on big screens.

[Alan Heer]

I hate excessive stretching and image loss. Sometimes important information is on the edges so if that is cropped, I rather deal with black bars on the sides or top and bottom.

[retrofiber]

Borders O.K...Stretching sucks. Try to find a happy medium. As big as possible without looking like crap. This means never screw w/ the ratio but try to get as big as possible without too much pixelation. Ohh... and if its an emulator, look for a Hi Res option in the video settings as this tends to make older games look one generation better.

[luffy4]

dreamcast has a widescreen mode, mine automatically goes to it, no stretching, besides i get more annoyed when playing a wide screen ps3 game on an old SD tv, can barely read disgaea 3 or Buzz quiz world

[guatemala]

i hate how some of my videos look widescreen on my psp. is there a way to fix that?