I have a question about hooking up my older consoles to my HDTV. I am trying to get them to display in fullscreen, but for some reason I just can't seem to do it. My tv has a few different screen options, but even when setting it to full it doesn't fill the entire screen.
here is a picture of what it looks like
It almost fills the screen, but on the right side there is a bigger black bar and it seems that the image goes all the way to the top of the screen, and almost all the way to the left and bottom.
Older Consoles on HDTV
-
RyaNtheSlayA
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 9201
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:56 pm
- Location: Denver CO, USA
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
It's overscan compensation.
On a lot of old consoles, developers would chose to not render the full NTSC standard since on many CRTs the edges would be cut off. On older consoles where power was limited, it also meant just squeezing a tad more out of the system.
Frankly, count yourself lucky. My brand new LCD still has built in 3% overscan for no good reason. So while PS2 games will fill the picture, things like my WiiU will have a small amount of the screen cut off in all directions. Now THAT is annoying.
On a lot of old consoles, developers would chose to not render the full NTSC standard since on many CRTs the edges would be cut off. On older consoles where power was limited, it also meant just squeezing a tad more out of the system.
Frankly, count yourself lucky. My brand new LCD still has built in 3% overscan for no good reason. So while PS2 games will fill the picture, things like my WiiU will have a small amount of the screen cut off in all directions. Now THAT is annoying.
Older. Not wiser.
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
Able to disable it by renaming the input to PC or something?RyaNtheSlayA wrote: Frankly, count yourself lucky. My brand new LCD still has built in 3% overscan for no good reason. So while PS2 games will fill the picture, things like my WiiU will have a small amount of the screen cut off in all directions. Now THAT is annoying.
-
RyaNtheSlayA
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 9201
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:56 pm
- Location: Denver CO, USA
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
Nope. Might be able to in the service menu though. My TV doesn't have a PC input. 3 HDMI and a single Component/Composite combo.
It really doesn't bother me that much. Only really in some minor cases using the OS. So far every game I've played either lets you set the UI border or has the UI in a position where it wont be cut off.
It really doesn't bother me that much. Only really in some minor cases using the OS. So far every game I've played either lets you set the UI border or has the UI in a position where it wont be cut off.
Older. Not wiser.
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
Return it as defective.RyaNtheSlayA wrote: My brand new LCD still has built in 3% overscan for no good reason.
We are prepared to live in the plain and die in the plain!
-
RyaNtheSlayA
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 9201
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:56 pm
- Location: Denver CO, USA
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
Why? It's a fantastic TV.Hatta wrote:Return it as defective.RyaNtheSlayA wrote: My brand new LCD still has built in 3% overscan for no good reason.
Older. Not wiser.
- Cronozilla
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 2609
- Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:15 pm
- Location: Oregon, USA.
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
Newer TVs attempting to tell you what you want based on what you name an input (or what type of input it is) is absolutely infuriating.
-
ninjainspandex
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 4574
- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:32 pm
- Location: Hartland Wisconsin
Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
I hope my 50 inch insignia 1080p hdtv never dies, sega saturn games look stunning on it via s-video and it renders it in its native resolution of 4:3.

Re: Older Consoles on HDTV
My current Sanyo HDTV from what I can tell, does not notify me the resolution of input or if NTSC/PAL.
Out of its 7 preset image shapes 4 are most important.
4:3 fixed overscan vs little/none.
16:9 fixed overscan vs little/none.
No s-video jack.
240p over component fails.
XRGB Mini is on my way. I caved in to explore the effects.
Out of its 7 preset image shapes 4 are most important.
4:3 fixed overscan vs little/none.
16:9 fixed overscan vs little/none.
No s-video jack.
240p over component fails.
XRGB Mini is on my way. I caved in to explore the effects.
Lum fan.