Anyone ever found a use for 16:9 mode on 4:3 monitors?

[Xan]

I'm currently dealing with Zelda: Skyward Sword and as some may know, the game only offers 16:9, which isn't so great considering I don't have any 16:9 TVs around.

I figured that instead of setting the Wii to 4:3 like usual on my BVM, I could try using the 16:9 mode instead. This is the result:

http://i.imgur.com/M5xHsX7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/UymBdVu.jpg

16:9 has these annoying lines at the top (can anyone explain what they are? They do appear on consumer sets just as well), but indeed it does use more screen space compared to simply letting the game letterbox. There seems to be a small difference in overscan between the two modes. The image is also brighter in 16:9 mode... on the Wii main menu in regular 4:3 output the background color appears as a muddy grey, while with underscan+16:9 it's an LCD-like bright white. Such are the effects of an HR tube, I suppose

Nevertheless, I still wish they would have gone that little extra step and simply added a 4:3 mode to the game...

[BazookaBen]

I played Skyward Sword on a 4:3 computer monitor in 480p with widescreen on, just like you. Of course, I had to manually shrink the picture vertically, but it achieves the same result as your BVM's 16:9 mode. I had the line at the top as well, but I wouldn't notice after about 30 seconds. I think it's just a Wii thing, something it normally expects to be in the overscanned area.

It came out in 2011, so I don't know if anybody should have been expecting 4:3 support. It had already been 3 or 4 years since you could find any 4:3 TV's in stores.

[Ed Oscuro]

I see lines like that at the top of my PVM-20L5 running in underscan mode.

Also, given that you're aging the phosphors across the screen unequally, I think this mode is mostly useful for just prematurely aging CRTs.

[SuperDeadite]

Nights on Saturn is designed to be displayed in this way, try it, you'll like it.

[Xan]

I played Skyward Sword on a 4:3 computer monitor in 480p with widescreen on, just like you. Of course, I had to manually shrink the picture vertically, but it achieves the same result as your BVM's 16:9 mode. I had the line at the top as well, but I wouldn't notice after about 30 seconds. I think it's just a Wii thing, something it normally expects to be in the overscanned area.

They are visible without a signal, so it's not the Wii. It's news to me that they can be even made visible on VGA monitors, though.

It came out in 2011, so I don't know if anybody should have been expecting 4:3 support. It had already been 3 or 4 years since you could find any 4:3 TV's in stores.

True, but the Wii is a bit of a special case with its anamorphic widescreen. Lots of people playing the console on HD LCDs complain about it looking too pixelated. A widescreen CRT is perhaps the best display for the console, but even 4:3 480i RGB looks pretty good. I prefer the deflicker filter being on though, and unfortunately it's off in Skyward Sword.

Metroid Prime 3 did the aspect ratio thing nearly perfectly, btw. Proper 4:3 mode comparable to the GC installments, and 16:9 with Hor+ FOV. I actually did some comparison shots for that back when I was playing the game. Since I could never find this anywhere on the net might as well post them here, I suppose...

http://i.imgur.com/Q64yPQm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Kz4gHl2.jpg

Also, given that you're aging the phosphors across the screen unequally, I think this mode is mostly useful for just prematurely aging CRTs.

Yes, but the question is whether this isn't similar to running games with PAL borders. But assuming the black part on that 16:9 mode isn't scanned and the image itself is brighter compared to 4:3, maybe that 16:9 mode does wear the center part more indeed.

Nights on Saturn is designed to be displayed in this way, try it, you'll like it.

Good to know, I'll keep that in mind for when I finally get a Saturn

[BazookaBen]

I definitely appreciate when Wii games had a 4:3 mode, I just stopped expecting it after 2010.

The one really awesome thing about PC gaming is that you can still play most games in 4:3. There are so many different aspect ratios in PC monitors (21:9, 16:10, 48:9 with eyefinity, etc), that developers have to design their games to adapt to whatever ratio you're running.

So I still get to play Street Fighter 4 in the classic 4:3, except at a super high 2400x1800 resolution.

[niall]

I figured that instead of setting the Wii to 4:3 like usual on my BVM, I could try using the 16:9 mode instead.

16:9 has these annoying lines at the top

Pick up a 16:9 bezel for your BVM - there's one on eBay at the moment. Easy to swap them over in a few seconds between 4:3 and 16:9 bezels.

[Xan]

It's a BVM-1454D, which is equal to a PVM-1454QM. Doubt the bezel can be swapped on these.