So... Xbox 360's BC Black Level

kj01

I got my 360 a couple weeks ago, and so far I'm loving every minute. Recently I started trying out original Xbox games and seeing how they fare on the system. To my puzzlement, the black level seems to get kicked up so that black isn't really black. There's a setting in the "Display" section about Black Level, but the three options don't noticably change anything. My question is -- if I decrease the brightness in the TV's settings so that the original Xbox game's black = the black of the bars on the sides of the screen (see below), will it negatively affect the brightness of other aspects? Or is this how the brightness should've been in the first place?

Also, Halo (and possibly others?) seem to run in 4:3 while 1080i is selected. Is this normal? I had thought that the game was optimized for 16:9... but I may be wrong.

Renzo

kj01 wrote: »

I got my 360 a couple weeks ago, and so far I'm loving every minute. Recently I started trying out original Xbox games and seeing how they fare on the system. To my puzzlement, the black level seems to get kicked up so that black isn't really black. There's a setting in the "Display" section about Black Level, but the three options don't noticably change anything. My question is -- if I decrease the brightness in the TV's settings so that the original Xbox game's black = the black of the bars on the sides of the screen (see below), will it negatively affect the brightness of other aspects? Or is this how the brightness should've been in the first place?

Also, Halo (and possibly others?) seem to run in 4:3 while 1080i is selected. Is this normal? I had thought that the game was optimized for 16:9... but I may be wrong.

I've noticed the issue with the black levels on some games (Halo, Psychonauts, Jade Empire), but I haven't tried to fix it. I'll try messing with the setting you mentioned. Halo plays in 4:3. It was not meant to be played in 16:9. Halo 2 runs in 16:9, though.

RepoMan1023

Halo 2 will run in 16:9, but not at 1080i or p. I think the max it can do is 720p. Whenever I play at 1080p everything is slightly stretched.

MHYoshimitzu

Some of Halo 1's music seems to be missing when I play it on my 360.

Most notably on Two Betrayals (aka reverse Assault on the Control Room). There was not a single ounce of music the entire level. I guess it's just an error in the emulation which I doubt they'll fix since the game runs near flawlessly.

jimenex

RepoMan1023 wrote: »

Halo 2 will run in 16:9, but not at 1080i

For me it does. I have my 360 set to 1080i and I play Halo 2 on widescreen. I have noticed the black levels thing but have not really tried to fix it since it doesn't bother me that much.

Renzo

MHYoshimitzu wrote: »

Some of Halo 1's music seems to be missing when I play it on my 360.

Most notably on Two Betrayals (aka reverse Assault on the Control Room). There was not a single ounce of music the entire level. I guess it's just an error in the emulation which I doubt they'll fix since the game runs near flawlessly.

That sucks. One of my favorite songs in the game is featured during Two Betrayals.

fragglefart

Halo won't run BC over VGA at all, at least, not for me on a 32" LCD HD Sammy. Due to some 50hz Euro gayness or something.

It's pretty gay.

NailbunnyPD

It seems games upscale to the resolution your 360 is set at. Like in my case, GTA and Mercenaries will run at 480p upscaled to 720p.

FreddyD

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

It seems games upscale to the resolution your 360 is set at. Like in my case, GTA and Mercenaries will run at 480p upscaled to 720p.

Is there any interpolation being done on the image? TVs will upscale to their native resolution as well but the results are only as good as the algorithm.

NailbunnyPD

FreddyD wrote: »

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

It seems games upscale to the resolution your 360 is set at. Like in my case, GTA and Mercenaries will run at 480p upscaled to 720p.

Is there any interpolation being done on the image? TVs will upscale to their native resolution as well but the results are only as good as the algorithm.

My TV is a CRT, and I can tell when it switches between resolutions. The TV is not upscaling the image.

Voth

For whatever reason, the black levels on 480p content are really messed up on the 360. I don't noticed the difference on the black level settings, either. I usually just turn down the levels on my TV and don't save the changes so it doesn't screw up all my other viewing.