Print

[thax]

Just for completeness the rumour of the on-the-fly conversion inside the xbox is all but confirmed with the recent interview on Paul Thurrott's Supersite.

Jeff: The first real wave of revolution that we think Xbox 360 is going to bring to gaming worldwide is high definition gaming. You heard this a lot at E3. If you walked out of E3 without hearing high-def, it would be a miracle.

Hi-def to us is, partly, about pixels on the screen. Every Xbox 360 game is going to be 720p minimum, high-def resolution, 16 x 9 aspect ratio. It will look great on both high-def and standard-def televisions because we built in enough graphics horsepower that Xbox 360 in real time can scale down high-def images to standard def.

Paul: Is it scaling down to the same aspect ratio? Or is it scaling it down to 4:3?

Jeff: We will actually give the game developers a choice. They can either have the Xbox 360 automatically crop or scale. Or, they can render a different aspect ratio scene of their game if they want to. Or, a game developer can say, "let the user choose." And there will actually be a setting in Xbox 360 to tell the box what it should do. And game developers can just hand it over to the box to decide what's best from a user's perspective.

What this means for most games if you have a 4:3 television you will either see letterbox or be missing the left and/or right edges of the screen. My guess is the cropping will be the mode of choice as people will complain about letterbox.

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(thax @ Jul 8 2005, 01:04 PM)

...What this means for most games if you have a 4:3 television you will either see letterbox or be missing the left and/or right edges of the screen. My guess is the cropping will be the mode of choice as people will complain about letterbox.

[Hexx]

QUOTE

Every Xbox 360 game is going to be 720p minimum

How can every game be 720p if not all people have TV's that support it, such as standard def ones?

[LowProfileWurm]

QUOTE(Hexx @ Jul 8 2005, 02:45 PM)

How can every game be 720p if not all people have TV's that support it, such as standard def ones?

[Hexx]

When you say scale, you mean upscale correct?
If so, that seems pretty damn good to me. I think of it as getting HD quality without having to pay the price for an HDTV.  

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(Hexx @ Jul 8 2005, 02:03 PM)

When you say scale, you mean upscale correct?

[Hexx]

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(Hexx @ Jul 8 2005, 02:46 PM)

Damn you and your mod powers twisted. 

[NeuroChemist]

if i see letter boxes.....someone will die
theres no excuse for that

[m_hael]

Digital does not imply HD

[Moleman]

Meh, I'd rather have letterboxing than a cropped screen.

[MadPerry]

this is good news because i bought my hdtv not knowing that there was a difference in resolutions.  i just assumed there was only standard and "hi-def".  my 47" widescreen does not do 720p.  only 1080i/480i/480p.  and i agree about the difference between dvi connections and component cables.  a considerable difference.

[c00ly]

that doesnt make sence that it would crop the picture from 16:9 to 4:3 because something like a HUD wouldn't work at all, because the most important info on a HUD is always in the corners.

[MadPerry]

there are already clear examples on current xbox titles with both widescreen and 4:3.  halo 2 and pgr2 come to mind as to what you can expect.

[c00ly]

QUOTE(MadPerry)

there are already clear examples on current xbox titles with both widescreen and 4:3. halo 2 and pgr2 come to mind as to what you can expect.

yes but those games are coded for widescreen by the devs, if the console will simply chops it into 4:3 it wont work because valuable info (HUD's, health, etc.)will be lost.