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Does the Wii not output true widescreen?

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BassTek

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As the title asks, can the Wii output a true 16:9, 480p image?

I set mine up today with the official component cables, set everything correctly in the options menu, and the result was a squished 4:3 image. My projector is set to auto and handles every other device fine, so this leads me to believe that the Wii doesn't send a true widescreen 480p image and that surprises me.

I know I can stretch it using different aspect controls on my projector, but it seems odd that they wouldn't just output the proper resolution like my 360, any cheap DVD player and my cable box can. What's the deal?
 
Although I'm not sure about your specific issue with your projector, the Wii certainly does output a 16:9 480P image.
 
No issue with the projector, as stated all other sources are detected fine. If I set it to either 'native' or 'auto' it only picks up the Wii as a 4:3 image. The only difference the 16:9 setting does is squish the picture a certain amount, like it's expecting the the display to correct things when I set it to a forced widescreen mode. The end difference is the same I suppose, but I like to avoid all stretching whenever possible. You would think that Nintendo would add a true 854x480 output resolution when you select 16:9 480p.

If you have a display that allows you to pass the native signal without any stretching or scaling you would notice that the picture output is 4:3 as well. Half-assed widescreen if you ask me, but I suppose most people buy the Wii for the fun factor and wouldn't know the difference anyway. Bowling Grandma doesn't know the difference between 16:9 and 4:3.
 
IcedEmotion said:
You would think that Nintendo would add a true 854x480 output resolution when you select 16:9 480p.
Click to expand...

My point is that it should be displaying the proper resolution; this isn't some half-assed 480p, 16:9 implementation.

There are many people (on this board in fact) which have things running 16:9, 480P, with no issue.
 
quadnad said:
My point is that it should be displaying the proper resolution; this isn't some half-assed 480p, 16:9 implementation.

There are many people (on this board in fact) which have things running 16:9, 480P, with no issue.
Click to expand...

I'll believe it when I see it!
 
We run my wii on a friends projector all the time at 16x9. Works great. Hell picked up the wireless ir bar for it.
 
Might we be talking about different things, though?
For example, God of War 2 has a 16x9 mode in the options menu (as does the Wii) but it's still just a stretched 4:3 mode.
Whenever I have 16:9 selected for either, my TV tells me via the options mode that it's still a 4:3 signal.
 
Domingo said:
Might we be talking about different things, though?
For example, God of War 2 has a 16x9 mode in the options menu (as does the Wii) but it's still just a stretched 4:3 mode.
Whenever I have 16:9 selected for either, my TV tells me via the options mode that it's still a 4:3 signal.
Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming what I was saying.
 
Domingo said:
Might we be talking about different things, though?
For example, God of War 2 has a 16x9 mode in the options menu (as does the Wii) but it's still just a stretched 4:3 mode.
Whenever I have 16:9 selected for either, my TV tells me via the options mode that it's still a 4:3 signal.
Click to expand...

So it's still displaying the right resolution, but the TV is recognizing it as 4:3?
 
quadnad said:
So it's still displaying the right resolution, but the TV is recognizing it as 4:3?
Click to expand...

It's displaying a progressive 640x480 (still considered 480p as it has 480 vertical lines) image with distorted content in 16:9 mode. When you stretch it with a TV's widescreen setting it stretches it out and everything looks normal. This is different than just having the Wii output 854x480 then having the display scale without stretching. That's why I call it half-assed widescreen.

I know the Wii isn't about the graphics but it surprise me a bit, that's why I asked.
 
IcedEmotion said:
It's displaying a progressive 640x480 (still considered 480p as it has 480 vertical lines) image with distorted content in 16:9 mode. When you stretch it with a TV's widescreen setting it stretches it out and everything looks normal. This is different than just having the Wii output 854x480 then having the display scale without stretching. That's why I call it half-assed widescreen.

I know the Wii isn't about the graphics but it surprise me a bit, that's why I asked.
Click to expand...

What I'm saying is are you sure that it isn't displaying the correct resolution, but the TV or Wii is misrepresenting the signal as 4:3? I guarantee it's displaying the right resolution (in pixels), because otherwise this would've been a huge deal.

In my opinion either the TV or Wii is just misrepresenting the signal as 4:3, so the TV displays it as a 4:3 image because it thinks it is a 4:3 image, while the actual resolution is correct. That would account for the fact that it looks "distorted" when your TV initially views it, but when you stretch it out it looks fine. If it were displaying in 640x480, then stretching it would result in a stretched picture.

Again, there are many people running it 16:9 with 480p, lets wait and see what they have to say.
 
quadnad said:
What I'm saying is are you sure that it isn't displaying the correct resolution, but the TV or Wii is misrepresenting the signal as 4:3? I guarantee it's displaying the right resolution (in pixels), because otherwise this would've been a huge deal.

In my opinion either the TV or Wii is just misrepresenting the signal as 4:3, so the TV displays it as a 4:3 image because it thinks it is a 4:3 image, while the actual resolution is correct. That would account for the fact that it looks "distorted" when your TV initially views it, but when you stretch it out it looks fine. If it were displaying in 640x480, then stretching it would result in a stretched picture.
Click to expand...

My projector doesn't display the horizontal resolution so I have no way to check the full signal being fed to it. Perhaps someone with a PC monitor might be able to confirm what signal their Wii sends out.

You can still have a 640x480 picture that displays properly in 16:9. The Wii (or PS2 as mentioned above) could distort the picture first, accounting for the extra width so everything looks skinny at 4:3 and then when the display stretches it everything looks normal at 16:9.

Unfortunately I can't tell which is happening at the moment.
 
All I know is that NTSC is 720x480, EDTV is 854x480, and EDTV is an option in the Wii video settings. That would suggest to me that the answer is yes, although I'm just going on the accuracy of those video settings.
 
IcedEmotion said:
set everything correctly in the options menu, and the result was a squished 4:3 image.
Click to expand...

sounds like you need to check the aspect ratio for that input. If its squished while being displayed at 4:3 sounds like the wii is outputting a wide format ok and your display/projector is just trying to fit it into a 4:3 box.

hmmm....
 
My Wii outputs widescreen 480p just fine... sounds like an issue with the signal detection on your projector if you ask me.
 
Zinn said:
My Wii outputs widescreen 480p just fine... sounds like an issue with the signal detection on your projector if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but it detects 480p dvd from my 360 fine. Both are over component. I think most people are just oblivious to what their displays are being fed and that's why it hasn't been mentioned before.

No one has yet shown or proven that their TV is being sent a full 16:9 480p signal, yet two have mentioned that their display is being fed 4:3 and then being stretched. 480p could mean any number of horizontal lines of resolution as it's just a standard for the number of vertical lines.
 
Actually its pretty weird for me too. At my parent's house, their samsung dlp won't detect in 16:9 format standard or 480p while my westinghouse lcd detects 16:9 no problem. I usually have to adjust the aspect ratio on my parents TV to get wide screen. When I'm at home, it auto detects the outputs.

Maybe it's a TV/projector model thing?
 
I might be crazy, but I don't think the Wii or PS2 can display "true" 16X9. I think they always take a 4:3 image and distort it to make it seem 16:9.
I have a Wii in 480p and yes, it LOOKS 16:9, but it only displays that mode when I tell it to be in "full" mode on the TV. If I put it in "normal," it just looks like a 4:3 picture that's too tall.
The Ps3 and 360 however are both being displayed in 16:9 and the TV confirms it. In fact, there isn't even a "normal" option on the TV. It just has full and the various zoom modes you can use to get rid of black bars.
To test this, anyone with a TV that can tell you the mode it's displaying (not your eyes, the actual TV's confirmation) hit your display button when running your PS2 or Wii in 16:9 mode.
 
After a little research it looks like all 480 i/p consoles work this way. I didn't have my Xbox hooked up to my projector for more than a few days so I couldn't remember if it behaved the same way, but I believe it did. The max resolution for a 480i/p signal is 720x480 which can then be 'deformed' and stretched to fit 16:9 screens as required. This is how the Xbox, Wii and PS2 work in their widescreen mode. The horizontal resolution doesn't change but the image is distorted to then be restored when the TV stretches it to fit.

Anamorphic DVDs work in the same way, but they have a special flag that tells the display to stretch automatically so you in turn don't have to enable a full or stretched mode.

As to why some of you don't have to enable a stretched mode I have no idea, perhaps it's on by default.

Links discussing the issue:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=849231
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=763639
 
^

That's what I figured. By default my TV always puts everything in "Full" (aka. 4:3 stretch) so unless you hit the display button for the TV, you're unlikely to ever know. I was playing around with my settings for Tekken 5 and noticed it kept saying 4:3 mode in spite of me clearly having widescreen on and functional. When I got the Wii, it did the same thing, so I figured that's just how consoles handle 480p.
 
My Wii displays correctly on my 32" Widescreen LCD. It's in 480P and, according to my TV, 16X9.

If that helps any....
 
The Wii outputs a true 480p image that is correctly proportioned for widescreen.

I don't understand what the issue here is.
 
kumquat said:
The Wii outputs a true 480p image that is correctly proportioned for widescreen.

I don't understand what the issue here is.
Click to expand...

Not quite, read post 20 and the links provided. The Wii outputs a 4:3 image that is meant to be corrected by a TV's stretch mode, it looks correct on a 16:9 TV but it's not using a full EDTV resolution.

I was expecting it to output full 16:9 480p, but I guess this isn't common as the PS2 and Xbox behave the same way as the Wii. It's not really an 'issue', but I was under the impression that you wanted to avoid stretching whenever possible. It isn't possible with the Wii. Most people run their displays in stretch mode full time so it probably hasn't been noticed much on these boards, better information is found over at AVSForum.
 
IcedEmotion said:
Not quite, read post 20 and the links provided. The Wii outputs a 4:3 image that is meant to be corrected by a TV's stretch mode, it looks correct on a 16:9 TV but it's not using a full EDTV resolution.

I was expecting it to output full 16:9 480p, but I guess this isn't common as the PS2 and Xbox behave the same way as the Wii. It's not really an 'issue', but I was under the impression that you wanted to avoid stretching whenever possible. It isn't possible with the Wii. Most people run their displays in stretch mode full time so it probably hasn't been noticed much on these boards, better information is found over at AVSForum.
Click to expand...
Setting a TV to 16:9 display is *not* "stretch mode."

I read the links. I read them when they were posted, as I've been a member of AVS for about three years.

It's not stretching, and for you to call it stretching indicates that you don't "get" what's going on. You should go read the threads fully.
 
kumquat said:
Setting a TV to 16:9 display is *not* "stretch mode."

I read the links. I read them when they were posted, as I've been a member of AVS for about three years.

It's not stretching, and for you to call it stretching indicates that you don't "get" what's going on. You should go read the threads fully.
Click to expand...

It is stretching, I get what's going on completely. I would hope that you might know a thing or two after being a member there three years, but I guess not.

The output is 4:3 and is distorted, all 480i/p 16:9 sources are. They're stretched out to fill the screen which makes it look correct. It's very simple. You start with a circle, output it as an oval, and the tv makes it as a circle even though it is filling the screen. Understand?
It's not scaling based on a 1:1 16:9 source, so how exactly do you explain it? Can you show me a screenshot of a Wii outputting 854x480p which would be a perfect 16:9 source?
 
IcedEmotion said:
Can you show me a screenshot of a Wii outputting 854x480p which would be a perfect 16:9 source?
Click to expand...

See now this is something I don't understand; you're saying that it's actually displaying a 4:3 image of 640x480? So you're trying to say that 16:9 is using the same resolution as 4:3? In my opinion it's displaying the right image but in a distorted manner, having nothing to do with the resolution.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you...I'm a hardcore PC gamer, so I'm new to all this miserable home theater bullshit.
 
quadnad said:
See now this is something I don't understand; you're saying that it's actually displaying a 4:3 image of 640x480? So you're trying to say that 16:9 is using the same resolution as 4:3? In my opinion it's displaying the right image but in a distorted manner, having nothing to do with the resolution.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you...I'm a hardcore PC gamer, so I'm new to all this miserable home theater bullshit.
Click to expand...

Basically. I think it outputs 720x480 which gives a bit more resolution but is not full 16:9 that one would expect by selecting that mode. It squishes a 16:9 image into that area so it looks normal when shown on a widescreen display. It's not a huge deal though, as long as everything displays correctly I'm happy.
 
IcedEmotion said:
It is stretching, I get what's going on completely. I would hope that you might know a thing or two after being a member there three years, but I guess not.

The output is 4:3 and is distorted, all 480i/p 16:9 sources are. They're stretched out to fill the screen which makes it look correct. It's very simple. You start with a circle, output it as an oval, and the tv makes it as a circle even though it is filling the screen. Understand?
It's not scaling based on a 1:1 16:9 source, so how exactly do you explain it? Can you show me a screenshot of a Wii outputting 854x480p which would be a perfect 16:9 source?
Click to expand...
The analog 480p signal does not have a discrete resolution. The signal has no inherent aspect ratio. This is the key fact that you're missing.
 
kumquat said:
The analog 480p signal does not have a discrete resolution. The signal has no inherent aspect ratio. This is the key fact that you're missing.
Click to expand...

That doesn't really answer my question, what is the total resolution the Wii outputs and how does it display natively with no stretching or scaling by the display device? We're dealing with fixed pixel displays there, so no matter how you want to defend the Wii it still has to output a certain number of pixels in a certain aspect ration. I can provide a number and explain how it works, while you paraphrase tidbits with no explanation.

All 480p is output at 720x480, which is not 16:9. It is up to the source and the device to work out a process that outputs things correctly on a 16:9 display. I have explained the process regarding how the Wii handles everything, you can choose to accept it or not, but you can't say that it outputs full EDTV resolution - which is the topic I originally posted.
 
IcedEmotion said:
That doesn't really answer my question, what is the total resolution the Wii outputs and how does it display natively with no stretching or scaling by the display device? We're dealing with fixed pixel displays there, so no matter how you want to defend the Wii it still has to output a certain number of pixels in a certain aspect ration. I can provide a number and explain how it works, while you paraphrase tidbits with no explanation.

All 480p is output at 720x480, which is not 16:9. It is up to the source and the device to work out a process that outputs things correctly on a 16:9 display. I have explained the process regarding how the Wii handles everything, you can choose to accept it or not, but you can't say that it outputs full EDTV resolution - which is the topic I originally posted.
Click to expand...
The analog signal does *not* have fixed pixels. That's a fact.

The Wii might render in fixed pixels and an discrete-pixel display like a plasma or DLP screen will show fixed pixels, but the transmission method does *not* involve a fixed number of pixels.
 
kumquat said:
The analog signal does *not* have fixed pixels. That's a fact.

The Wii might render in fixed pixels and an discrete-pixel display like a plasma or DLP screen will show fixed pixels, but the transmission method does *not* involve a fixed number of pixels.
Click to expand...

Ok, I see what you're saying. That still doesn't convince me that if I had an EDTV I would be getting 1:1 pixel mapping via the method that the Wii uses. I still believe the signal is sent distorted and has to be 'stretched'. Otherwise there wouldn't be such a fuss over DVD players that can do 1:1 pixel mapping on 480p displays.
 
cannt you just hook it up to an old 4:3 tv that doesnt have all the fancy options like wide screen and see what the "widescreen" display looks like untouched by the TV conversion process?
 
Runs just fine in widescreen on 1:1 setting on my computer monitor as well as every other widescreen tv or monitor I have ever seen it on.
 
I dont have a Wii, but am going to get one tonight pending I can find one.

Does this 480p 16:9 actually look good?
 
One thing that I have not seen mentioned here is the games ability to support 16:9. The Wii will natively support 480p 16:9 resolution with the component cables but unless the game supports it as well it seems your projector will either auto adjust it back to the 4:3 mode or will stretch it out. Unfortunately, I cannot talk from true experience other than my in-laws 16:9 wide screen plasma (I do not know what resolutions it supports it at).

Maybe that will clear up the problem?
 
Sounds to me like a Wii is not a projector system. Run the chance of standing up and getting in way of the projector as well.
 
Movieesa said:
Sounds to me like a Wii is not a projector system. Run the chance of standing up and getting in way of the projector as well.
Click to expand...

I use my at a friends all the time on his projector. Runs a 110 inch screen if I remember right. We use the wireless sensor bar(good 20 buck investment) so we don't need to run the wires to the screen. Works great. No issues so far.
 
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