Format and ratio questions

[Jacro017]

Just so I am clear...Atari 2600,NES,Sega Genesis are displayed in 240p 4:3 and Wii,PS1 are 480p and 4:3?

[spacecadet]

Terms like those are kind of meaningless when talking analog output, including component. The 2600, NES and Genesis all adhered to either the NTSC or PAL standard. NTSC has 525 horizontal scan lines, of which 483 are visible. Vertically, resolution would be affected by the quality of your TV, cable, etc. but would usually max out at around 350 lines.

 

That's just as true of the Wii and PS1 if connected via composite. However, the Wii could also be connected via component cables to get progressive output (480p).

 

Internally, of course, these systems all had different pixel resolutions.

 

2600: 160x192

NES: 256x240

Genesis: 320x224

PS1: variable, from 256x224 to 640x480, most games ran at 320x240

Wii: 640x480 (anamorphic for widescreen TV's)

[mr_me]

According to Wikipedia for NTSC models,

the PS1 can do 240p or 480i, with most games programmed for 240p. It uses composite or s-video output.

 

The WII, with component output, can do 480p as well as 480i. My understanding is that for widescreen games, your TV has to be set to stretch a 4:3 picture to widescreen (ie. anamorphic)

[MaximRecoil]

Terms like those are kind of meaningless when talking analog output, including component.

 

No, terms like those are valid for analog video signals. 240p means 240 TVL, progressive (i.e., not interlaced).

 

The 2600, NES and Genesis all adhered to either the NTSC or PAL standard. NTSC has 525 horizontal scan lines, of which 483 are visible. Vertically, resolution would be affected by the quality of your TV, cable, etc. but would usually max out at around 350 lines.

 

None of them adhered to the NTSC standard, nor did they need to, because a CRT TV will sync to any ~15 KHz video signal, and there are many ways to achieve ~15 KHz. The biggest difference between the NTSC broadcasting standard and the output of PS1 and earlier consoles is that the latter output a progressive video signal, whereas the former is interlaced. ~480i and ~240p are both ~15 KHz signals as long as they are both at ~60 Hz, and a CRT doesn't "care" whether it's interlaced or progressive as long as it adds up to the ~15 KHz that it wants. The fact that classic consoles didn't adhere to NTSC or any other broadcasting standard is the reason why modern digital TVs sometimes have compatibility problems with them.

 

Also, there is no separate vertical and horizontal resolution with regard to a CRT, there is only the number of TVL (television lines). A CRT only generates a dot on the screen, nothing more. The dot, which is created by 1 electron gun exciting one color of phosphor in a monochrome CRT, or 1 to 3 electron guns in a color CRT exciting 1 to 3 colors of phosphor (whether it uses 1, 2, or 3 of its 3 available guns depends on the color being displayed), moves from left to right across the screen so fast that it creates the illusion of a line, which we call a scan line or TVL. Those "lines" in turn are generated so fast, from top to bottom on the screen, that it creates the illusion of a solid picture. In order for a CRT to have both "horizontal" and "vertical" resolution, scan lines would have to be generated both up & down and side-to-side, criss-crossing each other like a grid. CRTs don't work that way. They only scan left to right.

Edited February 6, 2018 by MaximRecoil