[stella] VCS able of 16:9 display on widescreen TVs ?

[seagtgruff at aol.com]

In that case, I think it's going to turn out to be the same issue as trying to send a closed-captioning signal with the 2600-- how are you going to encode the necessary data into the signal that's output by the 2600?

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: Rastignac <savino.lovergine at fnac.net>
To: stella at atari2600.org
Sent: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:29 pm
Subject: Re: [stella] VCS able of 16:9 display on widescreen TVs ?



At 06:31 30/03/2008, you wrote:
You could change the TV's aspect rate so the 4:3 
image is stretched wider than normal to fill out 
a 16:9 screen, and you could even design your 
graphics with that in mind so they look good 
stretched wider that way, but I don't think 
that's what Rastignac was hoping for.
         Ooops, that's just what I was hoping for  ;)
         WSS is just a added flag to tell the 
atio to use for the final displayed image. The 
nput image is always the same (standard image; 
othing to change here; no problemo for our VCSs).
         WSS works with everything (an air TV 
hannel program, a VHS/VCR, a DVD signal, etc). 
t's just an added flag to the existing picture 
ignal. So, there's nothing to change; no 
eadache; just add the right flag at the right 
ime, and voilà ! It seems easy, isn't it ?
         WSS allows various ratio, such as:
 Standard. The 4:3 picture is displayed as 4:3. Just like now.
 Anamorphic. The 4:3 picture is stretched to 
ill the 16:9 display. Like an anamorphic DVD.
 Letterbox. The center of the 4:3 picture fills 
he 16:9 display (ie: the top and bottom lines 
re cut, only the central lines are displayed).

        Anamorphic is interesting, because the 
hole resolution of the VCS will fill the whole 
creen. Best available quality on 16:9 screens. 
raphics must be designed as 16:9 graphics (with very wide pixels).
         Letterbox is more interesting, because 
our picture is still 4:3 designed (as before), 
o it's easier. And it appears with the same 
atio on a 4:3 TV (whole picture) than on a 16:9 
V (only the central lines).
        Let's say my kernel is drawing 180 main 
ines (a little less than the 192 "standard" 
ines). I just draw some black lines, my 180 good 
ines in the center of the screen, and some black 
ines again. And then I just have to add the WSS 
etterbox flag. On a 4:3 TV, it will look 
normal". On a 16:9 TV, the 160x180 pixels of my 
ernel will fill the 1920x1080 pixels of a FullHD 
V. (One VCS pixel will become 72 TV pixels; yeah 
). Everybody is happy (4:3 guys and 16:9 guys), 
nd it's easy to program (just a flag to add), 
nd it can give a nice "modern" touch.
         So, can we generate this right signal at 
he right moment with our VCSs ? It needs a few testing with real hardware.
         Thanks. 

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