4x3 or not 4x3 that is the Question

KnightWarrior · 09/09/2015, 09:38 PM

I hate when people put there Classic Consoles 16x9 in there HDTV's, It just bugs me..

esteban · 09/09/2015, 09:42 PM

It is simply wrong.

o.pwuaioc · 09/09/2015, 09:44 PM

CRTs or bust!

KnightWarrior · 09/09/2015, 09:46 PM

On YouTube is worst

When I watch Street Fighter 2 Videos, It Stretched..It turns me off watching the Vid

SephirothTNH · 09/09/2015, 09:55 PM

Honestly I really don't care what other people do. I certainly wouldn't play it that way but your average joe just want's to not see black bars; aspect ratio be damned. And that goes beyond classic video games.

But otherwise this:

Quote from: guest on 09/09/2015, 09:44 PMCRTs or bust!

KnightWarrior · 09/09/2015, 09:58 PM

I would go CRT, But where I live my brother gave me a Proscan LCD TV..I have no choice, I just stick everything in 4x3 til i got a small CRT

Dicer · 09/09/2015, 10:05 PM

"raises shit shield"

I like horizontal shmups in 16x9

ClodBusted · 09/10/2015, 01:10 AM

Can you believe there are even some DVDs released in the wrong aspect ratio. Thank god if your TV is able to not only stretch 4:3 content into 16:9, but also the other way around, which doesn't seem to be a common feature.

thesteve · 09/10/2015, 01:19 AM

id have to say it depends on what im playing
in general i hate the bars, but in some games it bugs me running the wrong aspect.
i also dont often play on HDTVs anyway so i dont give it much thought

LostFlunky · 09/10/2015, 08:03 AM

I bought an old style TV stand for a 27" CRT I had sitting around unused so I could set up old school.... Now I have the TGCD, Saturn, NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, PSone all hooked up... seems only the first 2 get played though.

I did have everything running through a 42" plasma, but didn't like having the bars...

majors · 09/10/2015, 08:15 AM

This has been happening in the "Pan and Scan" vs Widescreen days of movies. The common complaint from ppl renting movies as "I want to see all my screen I paid for" instead of what the director created. I remember running the director cut of Blade Runner on my 13" commodore CRT with super wide screen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Had more black bars that video...it was glorious!

If you run your games stretched, you loose your retro gaming card.

EvilEvoIX · 09/10/2015, 08:55 AM

CRT 4:3. No other way around it.

grolt · 09/10/2015, 09:49 AM

I've got a 36" Trinitron that I keep around exclusively for gaming. There really is none better. Even looking past the aspect ratio debate, CRTs are the only way to play light gun games and thus need to be preserved. As someone who works in film and respects the artistic implications behind each film's aspect ratio I have an even greater appreciation and respect for game developer's intent and always try to honor the way they intended me to play their games.

NecroPhile · 09/10/2015, 09:58 AM

4:3 is the only way to go. Circles yes, ovals no.

CrackTiger · 09/10/2015, 11:32 AM

Quote from: majors on 09/10/2015, 08:15 AMThis has been happening in the "Pan and Scan" vs Widescreen days of movies. The common complaint from ppl renting movies as "I want to see all my screen I paid for" instead of what the director created. I remember running the director cut of Blade Runner on my 13" commodore CRT with super wide screen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Had more black bars that video...it was glorious!

If you run your games stretched, you loose your retro gaming card.

Working at a couple different stores which sold videos during the late 90's, whenever idiots/customers would say they wanted full frame because "I don't want part of the picture cut off", I'd explain that only full frame versions cut anything off and how proper widescreen versions were the only way to see the "full" picture.

When they'd say something about how they didn't want bars "cutting off" the top and bottom of the screen, I'd point out that in "full frame", the sides of your TV screen are vertical bars which actually are cutting off the picture.

I don't think I ever convinced anyone with that mentality not to buy the cropped version. They'd often say that I don't get it, even if I'd already said that I understood that all that they may be concerned about is having the picture zoomed in so that it appears as big as possible.

KnightWarrior · 09/10/2015, 03:49 PM

I hate Full Screen Movies, When I look for DVD's online or in the wild, I look for the Widescreen

crazydean · 09/10/2015, 04:03 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/10/2015, 11:32 AMidiots/customers

Love it.

I don't know if stretching to fit is really any worse than playing 8/16 bit games on 70" 4K. They both look like shit.

Gredler · 09/10/2015, 04:43 PM

Quote from: crazydean on 09/10/2015, 04:03 PM
Quote from: guest on 09/10/2015, 11:32 AMidiots/customers
Love it.

I don't know if stretching to fit is really any worse than playing 8/16 bit games on 70" 4K. They both look like shit.

Agreed, pixel aspect ratio is blown to shit by the tv upscalers anyways

SignOfZeta · 09/10/2015, 04:49 PM

Original aspect ratio only. The idea that anyone would somehow be unable to ignore matting but at the same time not care that the entirety of their image is warped like a funhouse mirror is nuts. Those same people usually have motion smoothing and edge enhancement cranked to the max with nova bright colors. Nauseating.

If you actively prefer anything else, that's fine, run your own gear however you want, but do know that you are an idiot.

jtucci31 · 09/10/2015, 06:58 PM

Oh man, the number of pictures I've seen of people playing in some terribly stretched format on a giant HDTV on facebook is crazy. I try to comment as often as possible and make known how it hurts the eyes when they post stuff like that.

o.pwuaioc · 09/10/2015, 07:04 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/10/2015, 06:58 PMOh man, the number of pictures I've seen of people playing in some terribly stretched format on a giant HDTV on facebook is crazy. I try to comment as often as possible and make known how it hurts the eyes when they post stuff like that.

Just tell them they look like nincompoops when they play like that. That'll teach em!

(Half serious.)

SephirothTNH · 09/10/2015, 08:55 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/10/2015, 11:32 AMWorking at a couple different stores which sold videos during the late 90's, whenever idiots/customers would say they wanted full frame because "I don't want part of the picture cut off", I'd explain that only full frame versions cut anything off and how proper widescreen versions were the only way to see the "full" picture.

When they'd say something about how they didn't want bars "cutting off" the top and bottom of the screen, I'd point out that in "full frame", the sides of your TV screen are vertical bars which actually are cutting off the picture.

I don't think I ever convinced anyone with that mentality not to buy the cropped version. They'd often say that I don't get it, even if I'd already said that I understood that all that they may be concerned about is having the picture zoomed in so that it appears as big as possible.

Having also worked in a similar store I can attest that idiots/customers kept the same mentality in the early to mid 00s.

What's even worse is that some of these customers still begged for Pan and Scan copies to play on their widescreen TVs since they could stretch them to fill the whole screen instead of seeing a little bit of black bars on the top and bottom for films over 1.78:1.

wilykat · 09/11/2015, 09:07 AM

I wish I had to room to keep my LCD TV and decent sized CRT TV. All I got for CRT is a 13" Commodore monitor with RGB/SVideo/Composite input and shitty sounding mono sound.

For older games, I do have my TV switch to 4:3. It's the nicier model that remembers the mode setting so it goes back to 16:9 with DVD and BD player and OTA signals.

KnightWarrior · 10/11/2015, 10:22 PM

I think people still formatting 4x3 stretching it to 16x9 on YouTube

I can't stop people from doing it, I sure can vent at them, But they get mad -- I don't really care

Elder · 10/11/2015, 10:38 PM

At home I use a combination of pure CRT goodness, and XRGB-mini if I have friends over that want to use the large screen TV. It's just more practical that way, however no stretching involved in either case. Even when I make vids for YouTube, I run the XRGB signal directly to my capture card and voila, HD 4:3 goodness.

Joe Redifer · 10/12/2015, 12:07 AM

4:3 for 4:3 games. 16:9 for 16:9 games. 16:9 monitor, stretched image laying flat down on a table for TATE games with the spoken word "TATE" being said through loudspeakers in the room (rhyming with "Kate") every 6 seconds is the only way to play those games.

EDIT: Off topic, but the Framemeister pisses me off with the amount of visual noise the scaler causes in some (actually, many) solid colors.

o.pwuaioc · 10/12/2015, 12:09 AM

If you're game is 16:9, you're not OBEYing enough!

Dicer · 10/12/2015, 12:23 AM

Quote from: Joe Redifer on 10/12/2015, 12:07 AM4:3 for 4:3 games. 16:9 for 16:9 games. 16:9 monitor, stretched image laying flat down on a table for TATE games with the spoken word "TATE" being said through loudspeakers in the room (rhyming with "Kate") every 6 seconds is the only way to play those games.

EDIT: Off topic, but the Framemeister pisses me off with the amount of visual noise the scaler causes in some (actually, many) solid colors.

Tah-Tae, that's how I roll...

esteban · 10/12/2015, 06:00 AM

TAE. TEE.

GohanX · 10/12/2015, 08:42 AM

Tittee?

xcrement5x · 10/12/2015, 01:08 PM

The only time 4x3 is not acceptable is when you are doing 3X4 as above.

Also, I say I TAHYT (like Kate) even though I've heard that tate just is the japanese word for vertical. I normally just see hori or vert used.

esteban · 10/12/2015, 05:37 PM

Tahhhh. Teeeee.

SignOfZeta · 10/12/2015, 08:42 PM

I assumed it was a truncated loan word version of RO-TATE, since that's what you're doing.

CGQuarterly · 10/12/2015, 09:33 PM

The number 1 thing that gets me to turn off a YouTube video is 4:3 game footage being stretched to 16:9.

seieienbu · 10/13/2015, 01:13 AM

Quote from: Joe Redifer on 10/12/2015, 12:07 AMEDIT: Off topic, but the Framemeister pisses me off with the amount of visual noise the scaler causes in some (actually, many) solid colors.

Would you mind expanding on this a bit? I haven't had mine for very long and I've noticed odd artifacts/something in some cases. Off the top of my head, the solid green background in Dracula X has weird vertical bars going through it. Is that the type of thing you've noticed? I was wondering if there was any way to get rid of such annoyances...

esteban · 10/13/2015, 07:17 AM

Tahh. Tay.

wildfruit · 10/13/2015, 07:21 AM

Jacket Tayte o

esteban · 10/13/2015, 07:30 AM

Tai. To.

o.pwuaioc · 10/13/2015, 08:20 AM

Quote from: esteban on 10/13/2015, 07:30 AMTai. To.

Tae Bo.

GohanX · 10/13/2015, 10:01 AM

Quote from: seieienbu on 10/13/2015, 01:13 AM
Quote from: Joe Redifer on 10/12/2015, 12:07 AMEDIT: Off topic, but the Framemeister pisses me off with the amount of visual noise the scaler causes in some (actually, many) solid colors.
Would you mind expanding on this a bit? I haven't had mine for very long and I've noticed odd artifacts/something in some cases. Off the top of my head, the solid green background in Dracula X has weird vertical bars going through it. Is that the type of thing you've noticed? I was wondering if there was any way to get rid of such annoyances...

It sounds like you are experiencing jailbars, which is common on rgb modded pce systems. Do a search for pce jailbar fix, it may not eliminate it but it certainly helps.

What he was talking about is certain solid colors will have noise in it. You can adjust the settings, but it may just shift which color displays the noise. On my setup you see it really badly on NES Punch Out.

KnightWarrior · 10/13/2015, 02:25 PM

Quote from: CGQuarterly on 10/12/2015, 09:33 PMThe number 1 thing that gets me to turn off a YouTube video is 4:3 game footage being stretched to 16:9.

That's how I feel

There's people out there that needs to do that cuz YouTube is 16x9..I think they click on that button for streach it, and they don't care