New NES console announced by Analogue Interactive

[Atariboy]

I bet the same and it could be as simple as setting the aspect ratio to "native" or whatever named equivalent, an option I assume TVs will have to have....forever.

I doubt tv's will support standard definition forever. Like I've mentioned, it's not hard to imagine HDTV's dropping SD support entirely and we're solidly in the HD age at this point. I might be underestimating how long until that happens, but a significant percentage of tv buyers in 2014 could definitely get by just fine with zero support in their tv for sub HD resolutions. Most people aren't doing things like keeping VHS players or old consoles hooked up to their fancy new tv sets.

 

Most any device that the average person would use, if it can't output a native HD resolution such as if it's a DVD, can at least upscale on its own and still send a HD signal via HDMI to the tv. Same with video streaming services where sub HD isn't uncommon. Most devices will at least be able to upscale that on their own before sending it to the tv (With the sole exception that I can think of being the Nintendo Wii and its Netflix and similar capabilities).

 

They won't be keeping something like a composite connection around forever. When the vast majority of their customers have no need for it, it will slip away.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Atariboy

[The Usotsuki]

Heh, around here CRTs are still the norm and I know people who never moved on from VHS. =P

[+GoldenWheels]

I doubt tv's will support standard definition forever. Like I've mentioned, it's not hard to imagine HDTV's dropping SD support entirely and we're solidly in the HD age at this point. I might be underestimating how long until that happens, but a significant percentage of tv buyers in 2014 could definitely get by just fine with zero support in their tv for sub HD resolutions. Most people aren't doing things like keeping VHS players or old consoles hooked up to their fancy new tv sets.

 

Most any device that the average person would use, if it can't output a native HD resolution such as if it's a DVD, can at least upscale on its own and still send a HD signal via HDMI to the tv. Same with video streaming services where sub HD isn't uncommon. Most devices will at least be able to upscale that on their own before sending it to the tv (With the sole exception that I can think of being the Nintendo Wii and its Netflix and similar capabilities).

 

They won't be keeping something like a composite connection around forever. When the vast majority of their customers have no need for it, it will slip away.

I'm talking about the aspect ratio alone though, not the definition or the input of how it gets to the TV. There's tons of 4:3 content (decades of TV, shot on SD only video, and old movies, shot on film with high resolution, pre 53) that will always be 4:3, no matter how it's upscaled or delivered. But some people (god knows why) feel they must stretch that 4:3 content to fill the 16:9 screen. I believe there will always be settings for the stretch guy, and therefore also a setting for the guy who wants to see the signal OAR as the machine is receiving it. Aspect ratio--not pixel count.

 

And some guy is using that awful zoom feature somewhere, I know it!

 

I seriously doubt that guy's brother's tv can't display a 4:3 signal at the correct aspect ratio and automatically stretches all 4:3 to 16:9. Any TV that can't display 4:3 normally in it's OAR just relegated the owner to decades of stretched re-runs. Makes no sense to me why any company would do that.

[godslabrat]

SD (in terms of TV support) will be around forever, though it will become increasingly niche. Satellite radio never replaced FM radio, and FM radio never replaced AM... yet it's pretty clear both legacy formats are a shell of their former selves. We have 80 years of programming in standard def, a lot of it continues to be popular today. DVDs will continue to be made, since they're literally the most popular format in the history of consumer electronics, and the DVD standard is specifically, Standard Definition.

 

If DVDs are made (and they will be) they will be SD. And TVs will still support them, even if only by the cheapest and least elegant way possible.

 

It's my personal theory that some formats and technologies eventually attain an "entrenched" status, when they've been in use for so long that everything that comes later has to be designed around their legacy. You wouldn't build a TV that couldn't support SD, just like you wouldn't build a radio that couldn't play AM. Even knowing that less than 3% of your target market would even care about that feature, it's just something you'll need to do.

[Bill Loguidice]

Displaying SD is not the issue, it's the long-term viability of physical SD connections. It's relatively trivial to upscale other resolutions to 1080p, but, if a few cents can be saved by only having two or three HDMI connections (preferably one with ARC) rather than those connections plus composite and whatever else, then we'll see the manufacturers err on the side of savings. For those who absolutely need to use legacy connections, they can buy one of those $40 powered x to HDMI adapters, which is no different than what had to be done in the past when other connectors were deprecated. While I don't think other connections other than HDMI will be going away anytime soon (within 5 years), it's logical to think that once we start properly transitioning to 4K TVs and beyond (within 10 years), the legacy connectors will simply go away.

[CatPix]

In Europe, most TV channels are still in SD.

 

France have 25 free-to-air digital channels (no analog anymore, even for local channels) of which "only" 9 are HD (with a fair share of their programs being upscaled SD anyway); most of those channels said they didn't plan to move to HD, at least for the 10 next years.

Other European countries also have more channels using SD rather than HD.

The SCART plug allowing for RGB from DVD players means that few people felt the need to replace their old DVD player when HDMI became common, so there is still alot of SD-only DVD players.

Also, by law in France, a SCART plug having either SECAM or RVB must be fitted on TV sets. For now, it seems that this law is still respected.

Things may change around 2020 when it's planned to change digital TV standard (ALREADY) but for now, SD should remain available for the 6 next years.

[Atariboy]

I suppose there will always be a place for stretch mode or zoom.

 

But my thinking was that since achieving 4:3 or 16:9 isn't dependent on the HDTV like it is with SD/ED (A tv receiving an HD resolution like 1080p from the Twilight Zone Blu-Ray's or from the Wii U's Virtual Console is receiving a normal 16:9 HD signal with the necessary pillarboxing already incorporated for 4:3), there's no real need for aspect ratio controls.

 

But as long as people desire everyone to look short, fat, and distorted or to lop portions of the picture off for the sake of filling their screen, they probably will even when composite and component connections disappear.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Atariboy

[+GoldenWheels]

I suppose there will always be a place for stretch mode or zoom.

 

But my thinking was that since achieving 4:3 or 16:9 isn't dependent on the HDTV like it is with SD/ED (A tv receiving an HD resolution like 1080p from the Twilight Zone Blu-Ray's or from the Wii U's Virtual Console is receiving a normal 16:9 HD signal with the necessary pillarboxing already incorporated for 4:3), there's no real need for aspect ratio controls.

 

But as long as people desire everyone to look short, fat, and distorted or to lop portions of the picture off for the sake of filling their screen, they probably will even when composite and component connections disappear.

It's certainly true in a lot of cases that it will be, at least, redundant to have the feature on the TV since the source over HDMI will presumably be delivering the right formatting anyway. 100% right there.

 

It kills me as a movie fan and game fan that people want to stretch 4:3 to 16:9. I try not to be the picture snob, but it drives me absolutely nuts. Even worse is when I see people from my generation who should know what it looks like, not realize it's been stretched at all. There are, however, certain non anamorphic DVDs at weird ARs which really do look better set on a "zoom" IMO....as opposed to pillarboxing both on the sides and top and bottom. So I myself would probably drive some classic film fans nuts I imagine.

[+GoldenWheels]

Displaying SD is not the issue, it's the long-term viability of physical SD connections. It's relatively trivial to upscale other resolutions to 1080p, but, if a few cents can be saved by only having two or three HDMI connections (preferably one with ARC) rather than those connections plus composite and whatever else, then we'll see the manufacturers err on the side of savings. For those who absolutely need to use legacy connections, they can buy one of those $40 powered x to HDMI adapters, which is no different than what had to be done in the past when other connectors were deprecated. While I don't think other connections other than HDMI will be going away anytime soon (within 5 years), it's logical to think that once we start properly transitioning to 4K TVs and beyond (within 10 years), the legacy connectors will simply go away.

 

Though they are being minimized on home theater receivers as well, I think legacy connections will last longer there than on the actual TVs themselves--at least I hope they do. And many HTR do good jobs of upconversion and also work more elegantly as switchers. Though maybe they eliminate that feature too, who knows.

 

For now, and as long as I can get away with it, I circumvent all image processing period, when I can. I could run my composite switch into my receiver and have it upconvert the signal over hdmi, but I don't. I run it directly to the projector's (lone) composite video input. Since everything retro I love to play is composite--I certainly hope that's the grand daddy format with the longest legs, no matter what part of the chain I have to get it in there on, TV, receiver, etc.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

I've grown with my CCE Nes/Famicom clone.

Today I have two of this consoles and I think it's good enough (actually I only miss the famicom disk possibility...).