Console native 480p output

Would like some help on this issue. I do really think that when the PS2/PS3 is outputting 480p that the output is 640x480 and NOT 720x480. This is because if you look at the first image (640x480) and then the next (720x480), the 720x480 one looks "fat". The image below is 480p 16:9 (852x480) and this looks more like the 640x480 then the 720x480. Also, if you crop the 720x480 video to the "visible" area, it works out to 638x448, which is almost 640x480 and 4:3. However, again, the 720x480 image does look too "fat". If I am correct, 480p video needs to be re-sized from 720x480 to 640x480 and then cropped. Can anyone confirm?

Also - is this PAL or NTSC? I ask because if I set the 640 png to PAL, it looks closer to the 720 but isn't exact, like 720 to NTSC is.

The HDMI output of the PS3 in PS2 mode is standard 720x480, or 720x576 in PAL mode. I can't imagine that they'd reformat the video image for the component output. PS2 framebuffer is usually 640x448. So image2 is the correct one, it just needs to be cropped.

Regardless of the capture, you should just crop all black bars (obviously account for cinemas which add them and such) and resize the actual pixels to its closest 4:3 equivalent.

Looking below images, the 4:3 and 16:9 720p upscale images match the 640x480 downsized and 852x480 upsized images. Now I don't know what to think because if you crop the 720x480 video to the "visible" pixels, it works out to 640x448, which is almost 640x480 and 4:3. However, they don't match the other images. Here are some more samples: Playstation 2 480p (640x480 4:3 top - 720x480 4:3 middle - 852x480 16:9 bottom) Playstation 3 720p Upscale (4:3 top - 16:9 bottom)

Like I said, it doesn't really matter with old games like that. I cant recall any pre-ps2 era games supporting widescreen. If you are really unsure, play the game on your SDTV. See if there are any bars at all. If there aren't, then its reasonable to assume that its a 4:3 game. So crop all the bars, and resize it to a 4:3 width. Since the height would be 448, 597 would be your equivalent width. Lots of old games ran at wonky resolutions. Stuff like 512x480, or other weird resolutions. Since its difficult to recognize this, the general rule is to just crop the bars (but take note if the bars appear in the game itself and adjust for that) and then resize it to its 4:3 equivalent.

When you set most older games on PS2 to 16:9, they simply stretch the height to fit the entire screen, expecting the TV to be a 16:9 aspect ratio. This is why you get a very stretched signal when playing on a 4:3 tv. Looks like 597x448 is your res to go with in 4:3 mode ;)

I e-mailed the game developer, not sure if I'll get a reply, but worth a try. Anyway, I think I found the answer to my question. Setting the game to 4:3 and the hardware upscaler to 16:9 gives a circle an not an oval. That tells me that it meant to be an oval and the 720x480 (before crop) is wrong and is stretching the 4:3 image. So the capture done at 4:3 mode 720x480 needs to be downsized to 640x480 and then cropped. An the 16:9 mode 720x480 needs to be upsized to 852x480 and then cropped. Edit: I just watched some of the promotional trailers for the game one is 640x480 with the full visible pixels as 640x480. So does that mean they resized up to 640x480 from 638x448 or 596x448? Or maybe they were resized for in post production? In another trailer that is 400x300, it has borders like my screen caps so who the hell knows! This is total BS, wasting all this time trying to find out the correct resolution for 480p 4:3/16:9. :mad: