I am HD retarded, so my 360 is taking advantage of me

Ghandi 2

I got a cheap Magnavox 15' LCD HDTV that is supposedly native 720p, and I have the cables plugged in right and the switch set to HD. However, whenever I set the 360 to 720p, the screen becomes too large so the edges are cut off. Why is this? Is my TV terrible? Would this be fixed with the VGA cable?

Many thanks.

TSR

My guess is that your HDTV is 4:3 ratio, the same ratio as an old-school TV. When the 360 outputs an HD signal, it probably defaults to widescreen, since most (?) HDTVs are 16:9. Your HDTV doesn't know this is happening and allows the edges to be "clipped off", or not displayed where you can see them.

Your HDTV may have an option to letterbox the signal from the 360, putting black bars around a 16:9 image. Other than that, I don't know how to solve this, unless of course the 360 has a "use 4:3 or 16:9" option in the menu somewhere. In that case, try simply toggling that until the image fits your screen.

Ghandi 2

Oh yeah, I just checked again, and I totally forgot the crux of the problem. You're right, it is 4:3, but the only adjustments to the TV I can make are between 4:3 and HD 4:3, which only makes it worse. There is a screen format option below the HD resolution bar, which could be the solution, but it's greyed out and says "You must connect a 360 HD cable to format your screen," but I definately do, with the switch set to HD, and have the cables right. I don't understand!

ASimPerson

There is no such thing as a HDTV that does not have 16:9. By definition, 720p implies a 16:9 ratio, so if it's not16:9 then it's not 720p. You probably have an EDTV, which allows 480p at 4:3.

You can tell the ratio for the TV by just looking at it. The screen almost square or is it more rectangular?

EclecticGroove

ASimPerson wrote: »

There is no such thing as a HDTV that does not have 16:9. By definition, 720p implies a 16:9 ratio, so if it's not16:9 then it's not 720p. You probably have an EDTV, which allows 480p at 4:3.

You can tell the ratio for the TV by just looking at it. The screen almost square or is it more rectangular?

While you're right about the resolution, there were (are?) some 4:3 TV's that were made that would do HD content. I don't see them much anymore (as most are just EDTV's now), but there were certainly a few that were produced at least 2-3 years ago. All they did was letterbox HD content... really shitty and a waste of time. The only thing that would look "HD" would be HD movies cropped to 4:3, otherwise SD or EDTV are the only things that would look passable on them. I don't think any went up to 1080i when I saw them, but osme would certainly accept 780p and would simply display it letterboxed, I never saw anything other than CRT TV's with this however, and usually in the sub 30 inch sizes.

Sharp101

Can't you change between widescreen and not-widescreen in the 360's settings? (sorry if I misunderstood the problem)

ASimPerson

Sharp101 wrote: »

Can't you change between widescreen and not-widescreen in the 360's settings? (sorry if I misunderstood the problem)

Only for 480p. 720p and above are 16:9 only.

Ghandi 2

Ah, I get it. It is more square than rectangular, so I guess the lesson is that next time I shouldn't be such a cheapskate on my TV? Would the VGA cable help at all?

Gihgehls

the VGA cable just might help if your TV has a VGA input. You could also play it in 480p which wouldn't be so bad.