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[YourMaster]

Surely you own a PS3 or 360, that is enough reason to own a HDTV otherwise you're just losing a ton of detail in the games, do you not watch Blu Ray or anything like that?

I can't imagine not having a HDTV in 2012.

Nope, I do own a Wii which hardly sees any use, I'm mostly a PC and handheld gamer.
I've never watched a blu-ray, most movies I see are in the cinema the rest I stream from my PC.
On my PC I want a high resolution, on TV I really don't experience much difference.

 

[Delusibeta]

This is the first time that a total deal breaking feature is being met with, "tough luck"

There are a lot of people that don't have HDTV's, don't act like just because you have one, everyone should have one.

Because, bluntly, I expect all consoles from now on to have problems with SDTVs. In fact, I'll go one further: I predict the Xbox 3 and the PS4 will flat out not work with SDTVs.

 

[Bucket-o-roadkill]

It's more like only this particular, new brand of coffee tastes like crap in his coffee maker. He doesn't have to drink it, but he bought a truck load of it and is disappointed that other brands on the market taste fine.

But if he got a new reasonably priced coffee maker, this new brand of coffee (which he's already bought by the truck load) would taste really really good..! lol

 

[H_Prestige]

I wouldn't call SDTV being phased out in the Wii U's target markets "a silly excuse".

According to Nintendo, most of the Wii crowd only have SDTV. I guess they will be forced to upgrade due to Nintendo's negligence.

What makes this even more crazy is that these systems can support both aspect ratios. It's not either/or.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

I just can't believe there are so many people who didn't notice that their TVs were suffering from overscan until they hooked a Wii U up to it. I'd wager that it impaired their experience on older games almost as much.

 

[Hitokage]

I just can't believe there are so many people who didn't notice that their TVs were suffering from overscan until they hooked a Wii U up to it. I'd wager that it impaired their experience on older games almost as much.

Star Fox was ahead of its time.

 

[Onemic]

Because, bluntly, I expect all consoles from now on to have problems with SDTVs. In fact, I'll go one further: I predict the Xbox 3 and the PS4 will flat out not work with SDTVs.

All Im saying that for Nintendo this is a bigger problem considering its target demographic. I'm pretty sure most of their demographic don't own HDTV's, compared to xbox/ps where most of its target demographic do own HDTV's.

 

[frankie_baby]

All Im saying that for Nintendo this is a bigger problem considering its target demographic. I'm pretty sure most of their demographic don't own HDTV's, compared to xbox/ps where most of its target demographic do own HDTV's.

That's ridiculous almost everyone owns HDTVs now

 

[ShockingAlberto]

All Im saying that for Nintendo this is a bigger problem considering its target demographic. I'm pretty sure most of their demographic don't own HDTV's, compared to xbox/ps where most of its target demographic do own HDTV's.

Would you like to back this up with numbers?

 

[gamergirly]

All Im saying that for Nintendo this is a bigger problem considering its target demographic. I'm pretty sure most of their demographic don't own HDTV's, compared to xbox/ps where most of its target demographic do own HDTV's.

Amazon and Best Buy had 32 inch 720p tvs for as low as $148 and $99 on black friday

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Amazon and Best Buy had 32 inch 720p tvs for as low as $148 and $99 on black friday

And if you're picky about input lag, there's plenty of decent 1080p monitors out there in the same price range.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002453K5G/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236059

That's the monitor that fighting game tournaments use. Only half a frame of lag and built-in speakers. There's better stuff out there if you dig around but that's a pretty good value.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Can somebody put images up of how Wii U displays 4:3 VC images?

I've actually not yet decided if I'm transferring my VC catalog to the new unit or just leaving the original Wii hooked up as a VC/GCN player.

 

[Onemic]

Would you like to back this up with numbers?

Im just going from what Nintendo itself had said about its demographic for the Wii. I doubt its changed significantly since then. Point is, many people still own SDTV's so acting like it's a non issue especially for a console whos demographic at the very least has a much higher percentage of SDTV users than xbox or playstation is foolish.

 

[Amir0x]

Dude save up 150 bucks and buy a 42 inch HDTV, even a shitty one

 

[blu]

Im just going from what Nintendo itself had said about its demographic for the Wii. I doubt its changed significantly since then. Point is, many people still own SDTV's so acting like it's a non issue especially for a console whos demographic at the very least has a much higher percentage of SDTV users than xbox or playstation is foolish.

Now that was a hard-numbers back-up, if I've ever seen one.

 

[Alexios]

Now that was a hard-numbers back-up, if I've ever seen one.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo did say something about the low market penetration of HDTVs to defend their decision with Wii not being capable of outputting to HD, which was reinforced by others' statements of how for example out of the Gears of War owners which are only a sub section of the intended market and more likely to own such a TV at the time only less than 50% had HDTVs (or rather had connected their 360 properly for HD output) but that was probably like ~6 years ago.

Has OP told us if he at least half-solved it by using widescreen mode yet or if that still has issues? Some Wii games were letterboxed in 4:3 anyway and I found the picture somewhat sharper when using widescreen instead so after discovering it I used it in widescreen on my small 4:3 TV too.

 

[Galang]

So after 6 years of moaning that the Wii wasn't HD, now it's moaning about the Wii U not supporting SD? Oh you gamers.

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Projectjustice]

Exactly what I was thinking.

Me too, loving this thread. Lol

 

[H_Prestige]

I wouldn't call SDTV being phased out in the Wii U's target markets "a silly excuse".

Who's the Wii U's target demographic and what percentage owns 16:9 displays?

Also, you do realize it's absolutely trivial for a console to support both aspect ratios, right?

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

That's ridiculous almost everyone owns HDTVs now

Young kids don't exactly "own" tvs often.

 

[dead souls]

How could anyone stand not having an HDTV in 2012?

I need my television shows in HD, the fact that games look better is just a nice bonus.

 

[H_Prestige]

How could anyone stand not having an HDTV in 2012?

I need my television shows in HD, the fact that games look better is just a nice bonus.

Fuck HDTV, how can anyone stand playing yoshi cart and octopus dance on anything but a 100" fully calibrated HD projector setup?

 

[Zero148]

Young kids don't exactly "own" tvs often.

yeah, and young kids are Nintendos core demographic? Don't think so

 

[frankie_baby]

Young kids don't exactly "own" tvs often.

The wii was always pushed as a living room console not a bedroom console, I have no figures to suggest whether thats where they ended up but anecdotally almost every house I've ever known with a wii they were in the living room (with xboxes often in a teenage boys room), the wii u is being pushed the same (again what room they'll end up in I don't know) and a noticeable majority (probably the vast majority by now) of living room TVs are HDTVs and at least in my country most living room TVs that aren't HD are at least widescreen anyway

 

[grimshawish]

God damn it Nintendo! We were joking about the HD thing Jesus!

Seriously though the Wii mini claims my fit here...

 

[CoilShot]

And this is a problem because...?

Buy a real TV. Nintendo don't care about poor

Damn

 

[brochiller]

Dude save up 150 bucks and buy a 42 inch HDTV, even a shitty one

Not sure if you're talking to me or not but for the record I do have an HDTV and use all my game systems primarily with it. However when I saw this problem after I hooked it up to a different TV I thought I better let others know about it. There are obviously still people who browse these forums who do not own a HDTV, and for them this is probably a deal breaker. If I were them I'd rather find this out now than after I buy a system and realize it's not going to work right unless I get a new TV.

 

[gatti-man]

Not sure if you're talking to me or not but for the record I do have an HDTV and use all my game systems primarily with it. However when I saw this problem after I hooked it up to a different TV I thought I better let others know about it. There are obviously still people who browse these forums who do not own a HDTV, and for them this is probably a deal breaker. If I were them I'd rather find this out now than after I buy a system and realize it's not going to work right unless I get a new TV.

So if its a deal breaker for wiiu it must be a deal breaker for ps3 and 360 as well. No current console has 100% sdtv support. At least with wiiu you have gauranteed HD support built in with the tablet controller.

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

I'm actually upgrading from my SDtv for this very reason (never had a problem with PS3 or 360 displaying properly). Does this tv look ok for gaming in a small apartment?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077E48IM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Broken Hope]

So, if I don't have overscan issues with any console (360, Wii, GCN, N64, PS2, DC, SNES, NES, Mega Drive) I should be fine here, too?

You very likely do have overscan issues with all of those consoles, it's just those consoles didn't draw stuff right to the edges of the screen, Wii U games do.

 

[CamHostage]

Has nothing to do with 4:3 at all, the Wii U has no problems with 4:3 TV's. It's overscan, which happens a lot more on old non-flat CRT TV's than modern LCD TV's, because you aren't seeing the actual edge of the screen, the screen disappears under the TV's frame, and it's the part that's under the frame where the images you see as cut-off are appearing.

The problem is with the games, not with the Wii-U - the games either need to move important HUD elements to where they should be safe from overscan, or need to have an overscan option that scales the entire image (making it look worse), like you can do in Miiverse and a couple other apps.

Yeah, I'm going to guess they don't even or barely don't test for TV-safe when making games anymore, everything is tested and played on a 16:9 TV with maybe a 4:3 spotcheck before moving on.

Too bad, Wii games looked outstanding on a really good CRT and some gamers who stayed with Nintendo haven't had a reason to go HD (or at least to throw out their SD TVs, I still have a room in my house for my Triniton until it finally burns out.) Wii U asks for something else, but it could still look fine on a large standard-def if the options were set right. Nintendo isn't usually one for offering options, however, so I'll guess that they won't be adding in overscan adjustment settings any time soon.

 

[Yes Boss!]

I'm actually upgrading from my SDtv for this very reason (never had a problem with PS3 or 360 displaying properly). Does this tv look ok for gaming in a small apartment?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077E48IM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

That is because this is not an overscan issue of the TV. This is a deliberate decision from Nintendo to actively crop the displayed image on the left and right bounds on the television if you are using a 4:3 setup. Wii U is a duel screen 16:9 setup, one on television proper and one on the gamepad. The image has to matriculate somehow between the two different size screens with 4:3 users...and it is pretty clear that what is broadcast to the gamepad is a one for one image. If they were to letterbox the image for 4:3 users then the broadcasted image to the gamepad would, in fact, be window-boxed on all four sides.

This is my guess. So, yeah, sucks for 4:3/1.37:1 users. Those are them apples, I'm guessing.

 

[Bgamer90]

Kinda messed up... many kids who have Nintendo consoles (e.g.: Wii) don't play on HDTVs.

 

[DonMigs85]

There was an Amazon deal, 32 inch LCD for $100

 

[MrDaravon]

Out of curiosity I tried to find out what the HDTV penetration was in the US, and I'm finding news articles that hugely contradict each other. I'm seeing several articles from 2008-2009 timeframe stating that HDTV penetration was anywhere from 50-65% at that time, but I'm also seeing some more recent articles from within the last year saying it's either just now at 50%, or not there yet. Hm. Anecdotal, but I haven't seen a SD TV for sale anywhere where we live since about 2004 or 2005, and I remember because we specifically had to get one (long story) and we wound up having to get it from Walmart which only had a very small selection at that point. I actually wound up working at that Walmart for a bit, and when I left in early 2005 all they were still selling that were SD were those ridiculously huge big screen ones.

 

[frankie_baby]

Kinda messed up... many kids who have Nintendo consoles (e.g.: Wii) don't play on HDTVs.

In the last few years I've never seen a wii hooked up to an SDtv, seen a few 360 though

 

[Bgamer90]

In the last few years I've never seen a wii hooked up to an SDtv, seen a few 360 though

Yeah I've seen a good number of 360s hooked up to SDTVs as well.

Parents just give their kids a random old set... kids are pleased with it since it's usually their first TV.

 

[zoukka]

This shouldn't be possible...

 

[Takuya]

Funny reading the comments on this one.

I thought Nintendo was king of SD though?

 

[donny2112]

Im just going from what Nintendo itself had said about its demographic for the Wii.

You mean "everyone." The same "everyone" that had tons of HDTVs, whether they knew how to hook them up to get an HD signal or not.

for a console whos demographic at the very least has a much higher percentage of SDTV users than xbox or playstation

%s of general public with HDTVs vs. PS360 owners only watching them on HDTVs, please.

 

[tenchir]

Im just going from what Nintendo itself had said about its demographic for the Wii. I doubt its changed significantly since then. Point is, many people still own SDTV's so acting like it's a non issue especially for a console whos demographic at the very least has a much higher percentage of SDTV users than xbox or playstation is foolish.

If Nintendo said it, then when did they say it? There's a difference in HDTV ownership 6 years then and now.

 

[FHIZ]

Hopefully Nintendo will release a patch to fix the issue.

Did anyone else have a double take at this?

 

[Fox Mulder]

Not supporting sdtvs in 2006 was a big deal, but not in 2012.

Why would you even spend around $500 on a new console with a game just to play it on a sdtv?

 

[Wickerbasket]

yeah, and young kids are Nintendos core demographic? Don't think so

Who are Nintendo's core demographic now? Would be interesting to see the stats on Wii ownership/use.

 

[Zero148]

Who are Nintendo's core demographic now? Would be interesting to see the stats on Wii ownership/use.

the core demographic is the whole family, from the parents to the kids. The plan is to have the console in the living room, to play together in one room and have fun together. This was made very clear by Nintendo imo at the last E3. And I would say 98% of people who can afford a WiiU without a problem have a HDTV in their living room.

TVii and the focus on local multiplayer should also show, that the focus lies on the living room and not the childs bedroom where an old SDTV could be

 

[Wickerbasket]

the core demographic is the whole family, from the parents to the kids. The plan is to have the console in the living room, to play together in one room and have fun together. This was made very clear by Nintendo imo at the last E3. And I would say 98% of people who can afford a WiiU without a problem have a HDTV in their living room.

TVii and the focus on local multiplayer should also show, that the focus lies on the living room and not the childs bedroom where an old SDTV could be

Oh I know what they'd like their core demographic to be. I was just wondering what the actual numbers were.

 

[frankie_baby]

Oh I know what they'd like their core demographic to be. I was just wondering what the actual numbers were.

I can't remember much of the specifics but the only demographic they weren't doing well with was teenage boys, which is probably the main group that would be likely to play games in a bedroom

 

[Somnid]

Meh, considering the amount of games with off-screen play it seems like a small issue. If the controller is better than your TV I'd just stick with it and just avoid the sorts of games that do not play well. If the software doesn't give a shit about you then you shouldn't give a shit about it (though clearly you should upgrade and it makes a great excuse).

 

[Ranger X]

If they're really making cert cheaper and faster, throwing out title safe requirements would free up time. Might just be letting developers deal with it on their own.

Yes that's what I think. That's what makes the more sense at least. Temporarily being gentle and approve the first wave of title very fast. Aso, their own OS isn't complete yet anyways and many lotcheck rules have been bypassed as a result (like disk removal behavior -- most games crashes right now)

 

[Wickerbasket]

I can't remember much of the specifics but the only demographic they weren't doing well with was teenage boys, which is probably the main group that would be likely to play games in a bedroom

I was just thinking that a lot of the older generation don't really follow technology as closely yet were targeted by the Wii. My parents bought a Wii but are still using a 60 inch plasma SDTV and don't see a reason to upgrade.

I was more just curious about the Wii demographics, I tried googling it but apparently I suck at google.

Also, it seems they're going after a completely different demographic with the Wii U but that might simply be due to being so close to launch.