Halo 2 Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Widescreen?
  • Subject: Widescreen?
Subject: Widescreen?
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Is there any way to get Halo 2 to run widescreen WITHOUT a stretch? if so, how? I remember a while ago an article saying that on the 360 it runs at 720p, (I play it on the 360), and i thought 720 was always widescreen...but i could never get it to do widescreen without the stretch. Any answers? I'm sick of Sgt. Johnson looking like Officer Wiggums...

  • 09.16.2007 6:18 PM PDT
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thanks for all the replys....lol

  • 09.16.2007 7:04 PM PDT

Freedom of Speech does not equal "Freedom from Consequences when one speaks".

It is a right, and all rights have responsibilities associated with them. Ignore the responsibility, and you tend to lose the right.
Recon Number 54

No, H2 was designed with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Lines of resolution have nothing to do with aspect ratio -- you can have a 1080p program designed to display in only 4:3. A TV can have the capability to display plenty of resolution, and give you the choice of standard or widescreen display, but it can't alter the original program and display it differently than it was coded/recorded.

  • 09.16.2007 8:50 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

H2 was designed for 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio. I switch between the two all the time.

  • 09.16.2007 10:38 PM PDT

Freedom of Speech does not equal "Freedom from Consequences when one speaks".

It is a right, and all rights have responsibilities associated with them. Ignore the responsibility, and you tend to lose the right.
Recon Number 54

Posted by: Fatso
H2 was designed for 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio. I switch between the two all the time.


I just double-checked the Settings menu, and there's nothing in there about aspect ratios. I suspect what you're doing is changing your TV between standard and widescreen, but all this does is "stretch" the picture, not display a widescreen image.

If what I'm saying is not true, please post how to achieve the widescreen image. That would have been more helpful in your original message if you'd done that.

EDIT:
I'm reposting a sentence from my message above, with one added word in bold:
"A TV can have the capability to display plenty of resolution, and give you the choice of standard or widescreen display, but it can't correctly alter the original program and display it differently than it was coded/recorded."

[Edited on 09.17.2007 8:44 AM PDT]

  • 09.17.2007 8:11 AM PDT

Well, everytime I set a widescreen resolution on either Xbox it always gives me a horizontally squished image on my 4:3's.

  • 09.17.2007 8:17 AM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

If what I'm saying is not true, please post how to achieve the widescreen image. That would have been more helpful in your original message if you'd done that.
I switch to widescreen on the original Xbox by going into the video settings located on the dashboard. You can reach the dashboard by powering the Xbox without a disc loaded. There's a setting for normal, letterbox and widescreen.

And BattleRifle BR55, if you use the widescreen setting and expect to see a non-stretched image you need a widescreen TV otherwise you would get a horizontal squish.

  • 09.17.2007 10:12 AM PDT

Posted by: Fatso
If what I'm saying is not true, please post how to achieve the widescreen image. That would have been more helpful in your original message if you'd done that.
I switch to widescreen on the original Xbox by going into the video settings located on the dashboard. You can reach the dashboard by powering the Xbox without a disc loaded. There's a setting for normal, letterbox and widescreen.

And BattleRifle BR55, if you use the widescreen setting and expect to see a non-stretched image you need a widescreen TV otherwise you would get a horizontal squish.


No I mean that if I were to have a widescreen tv it wouldn't be squished vertically as the OP

  • 09.17.2007 10:15 AM PDT

Freedom of Speech does not equal "Freedom from Consequences when one speaks".

It is a right, and all rights have responsibilities associated with them. Ignore the responsibility, and you tend to lose the right.
Recon Number 54

I checked my 360 and could find no such settings in the menu system, so I powered up my original XBox. Yes, indeed, there is an option there as you say to change to widescreen. However, I put in Halo 2, and there is still some stretching going on -- obviously not as bad as having a 4:3 aspect ratio changed to 16:9, but it's still obvious. I would have to say it's not "true" widescreen, just some software scaling. Notice that the targeting reticle and proximity radar are not perfectly circular, but oval.

EDIT:

I believe for such a feature to work properly, there would actually have to be two versions of the game on the game disc. The option to select either choice would have to come then from the game menu, not the system menu.

[Edited on 09.17.2007 10:46 AM PDT]

  • 09.17.2007 10:33 AM PDT

RIP Halo 2.

Halo 2 runs in widescreen on the the 360 at 480p Wide, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. On the Xbox 1, it will run in widescreen if you have the dashboard set to widescreen. The game's menus and HUD were not designed for widescreen and appear stretched, but the actual 3D part of the game will be fine since it is rendered using non-square pixels. The game looks fine on all the HDTVs I own and I'm very sensitive to AR issues.

There is a bug with VGA though where it assumes any resolution higher than 640x480 is widescreen. As a result, playing in 1024x768, 800x600, or 1280x1024 on a fullscreen monitor results with a vertically stretched image.

  • 09.17.2007 11:48 AM PDT

Freedom of Speech does not equal "Freedom from Consequences when one speaks".

It is a right, and all rights have responsibilities associated with them. Ignore the responsibility, and you tend to lose the right.
Recon Number 54

Posted by: IIDWells55XII
Halo 2 runs in widescreen on the the 360 at 480p Wide, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p.


How do you set this option on the 360? I can find nothing in the manual or the menus.

  • 09.17.2007 12:06 PM PDT

RIP Halo 2.

Just set the resolution in the settings tab. 720p-1080p automatically cause widescreen-compatible Xbox titles to be displayed in widescreen. For 480p and 480i, just make sure the aspect ratio (which should be on the same screen as the resolution select) is set to widescreen.

  • 09.17.2007 12:11 PM PDT

Freedom of Speech does not equal "Freedom from Consequences when one speaks".

It is a right, and all rights have responsibilities associated with them. Ignore the responsibility, and you tend to lose the right.
Recon Number 54

Thank you for that -- I somehow missed that before. I apologize to others if my previous posts caused confusion.

  • 09.17.2007 12:30 PM PDT

Posted by: IIDWells55XII
Halo 2 runs in widescreen on the the 360 at 480p Wide, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. On the Xbox 1, it will run in widescreen if you have the dashboard set to widescreen. The game's menus and HUD were not designed for widescreen and appear stretched, but the actual 3D part of the game will be fine since it is rendered using non-square pixels. The game looks fine on all the HDTVs I own and I'm very sensitive to AR issues.

There is a bug with VGA though where it assumes any resolution higher than 640x480 is widescreen. As a result, playing in 1024x768, 800x600, or 1280x1024 on a fullscreen monitor results with a vertically stretched image.


Which sucks for me as I run VGA - but why, even at such high resolutions, does the game still look like 480?

  • 09.17.2007 1:11 PM PDT
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so the verdict is
not without a stretch? thanks!

  • 09.17.2007 5:35 PM PDT