Zelda on 40" HDTV with Official Component Cables

[Kazzahdrane]

Hi all, I know there are already video display threads where this sort of thing is mentioned but most people don't seem to have Nintendo's component cables yet.

 

So, today I got my 40" Samsung HDTV delivered - very nice. Sadly, even when using the right cables and setting the Wii options to the EDTV/HDTV setting, Zelda looks pretty bad. Like worse than when it was running on a 20" SDTV with composite cables.

 

Have I missed something? I know I should be getting the benefits of progressive scan but I'm not sure I am. Is that something I would need to enable on my TV settings or is it used automatically if you have the component cables with a progressive scan-supported game such as Zelda?

 

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers.

[Coolit]

Hi,

 

I'm have the same problem on a 42" 1080p TV with the official component cable, it doesnt look good at all:(

 

Sadly I think its because the image is stretched and I cant see a way to fix this without more options in the firmware. It looks great on an SD 33" 4:3 TV that I have.

[wooks63]

To be quite honest, I would expect a 20" TV to display a better picture than a 40" screen (ignoring, at the moment, the difference between standard and high def)

 

The resolution won't have changed, so all you are doing is increasing the size of each pixel on the 40" screen. Therefore things will look blockier than before.

 

All that the component cables will (should?) give you are sharper graphics with better colours. But obviously if each pixel is made sharper, this will be more obvious on a larger screen and will also lead to diagonal lines appearing jagged instead of smooth.

 

It's like moving from a 15" monitor on your PC to a 21" widescreen monitor, but keeping the resolution at 800 x 600 - it looks horrid, but increasing the resolution gives you a superb image. Unfortunately, you can't do this on the Wii.

[Guest Jordan]

I have a 32" HD and i get my component cables, games look okay at the mo... but i want 480p.

[Cube]

37" Panasonic Plasma HDTV. Composite cables, looks wonderful. But then, it seems different TVs handle different inputs differently (I'd go as far as saying that Nintendo optimised the signal for Panasonic TVs)

[Chuck]

I have a 27'' LG, it looks better. Try changing the settings, if your tv has a game function use that, if not turn the sharpness down to below half way. have a fiddle

[Serebii]

My 40" Samsung LCD TV does it on Composite beautifly

 

What model is yours R7? N7?

[KingOfHyrule]

42" Samsung RP HDTV -- the difference between running Wii in 576i or 480i then running in 480p is actually quite remarkable. Colours are richer and everything is smoother and text is sharper.

 

I think maybe people are expecting component to make Wii look similar to Xbox360, when really all component 480p is and always was, is the best output you can get for the console. Compared to the 360's 720p mode, of course Wii will look wank - but it's not a magic cable or anything I'm afraid!

 

To be quite honest, I would expect a 20" TV to display a better picture than a 40" screen (ignoring, at the moment, the difference between standard and high def)

 

The resolution won't have changed, so all you are doing is increasing the size of each pixel on the 40" screen. Therefore things will look blockier than before.

 

All that the component cables will (should?) give you are sharper graphics with better colours. But obviously if each pixel is made sharper, this will be more obvious on a larger screen and will also lead to diagonal lines appearing jagged instead of smooth.

 

It's like moving from a 15" monitor on your PC to a 21" widescreen monitor, but keeping the resolution at 800 x 600 - it looks horrid, but increasing the resolution gives you a superb image. Unfortunately, you can't do this on the Wii.

 

Spot on, well put. Resolution is paramount to how good visuals look.

[Serebii]

Don't forget that distance from the screen is a factor. If I'm playing at my computer, the graphics do look worse than if I'm playing on my sofa which is just a further metre away

[DiemetriX]

My 50" HDTV has Zelda TP looking beautifull with component. If Your image is to jaggy just turn down the sharpness.

[Patch]

To be quite honest, I would expect a 20" TV to display a better picture than a 40" screen (ignoring, at the moment, the difference between standard and high def)

 

The resolution won't have changed, so all you are doing is increasing the size of each pixel on the 40" screen. Therefore things will look blockier than before.

 

All that the component cables will (should?) give you are sharper graphics with better colours. But obviously if each pixel is made sharper, this will be more obvious on a larger screen and will also lead to diagonal lines appearing jagged instead of smooth.

 

It's like moving from a 15" monitor on your PC to a 21" widescreen monitor, but keeping the resolution at 800 x 600 - it looks horrid, but increasing the resolution gives you a superb image. Unfortunately, you can't do this on the Wii.

 

Superb post, very informative. Thanks very much. : peace:

[Kazzahdrane]

My 40" Samsung LCD TV does it on Composite beautifly

 

What model is yours R7? N7?

 

Yeah, R7

 

LE40R73BD to be exact. I've tried using the "game mode" (brightness and contrast differences seem to be all it does) and lowering the sharpness does help a bit but it's still quite noticable. I guess it's just a combination of scaling it up to a big size and sitting quite close to the TV

 

Hopefully proper Wii games (not GC ports) will look better.

[James McGeachie]

Honestly I don't think this problem is due to TV's or settings or any of that, it's simply that everyone here has a different perception of "beautiful" and a different amount of tolerance for aliasing and pixelation. The fact of the matter is, whether you're happy with the visuals or not, the only thing component cables do is improve image clarity, not bump up the resolution, so if the "jaggies" are your problem, component will only make them worse. The Wii is never going to run any form of HD resolution, so if you have a problem with how it looks on a huge screen and you're sitting pretty close, you're always going to have this problem throughout the system's entire lifespan.

 

Nintendo were aiming to please the standard def, composite using market. That's why component cables were so difficult to find and that's why Nintendo went on and on about how they didn't feel enough people owned HDTV's to justify making it a primary feature of the system. Personally I still can only afford to play systems on a 4:3 19" screen I've had for years but from what I've seen of Zelda on it, I wouldn't want to stretch the image any bigger.

[Speedfreak]

Try playing at 576i, your TV should still bring the graphics close to progressive scan and the extra resolution should alleviate the jaggies problem a little.