4x3 or not 4x3 that is the Question

[KnightWarrior]

I hate when people put there Classic Consoles 16x9 in there HDTV's, It just bugs me..

[esteban]

It is simply wrong.

[MrBroadway]

CRTs or bust!

[KnightWarrior]

On YouTube is worst

When I watch Street Fighter 2 Videos, It Stretched..It turns me off watching the Vid

[SephirothTNH]

Honestly I really don't care what other people do.  I certainly wouldn't play it that way but your average joe just want's to not see black bars; aspect ratio be damned.  And that goes beyond classic video games. 

But otherwise this:

CRTs or bust!

[KnightWarrior]

I would go CRT, But where I live my brother gave me a Proscan LCD TV..I have no choice, I just stick everything in 4x3 til i got a small CRT

[Dicer]

"raises shit shield"

I like horizontal shmups in 16x9

[ClodBuster]

Can you believe there are even some DVDs released in the wrong aspect ratio. Thank god if your TV is able to not only stretch 4:3 content into 16:9, but also the other way around, which doesn't seem to be a common feature.

[thesteve]

id have to say it depends on what im playing
in general i hate the bars, but in some games it bugs me running the wrong aspect.
i also dont often play on HDTVs anyway so i dont give it much thought

[Lost Monkey]

I bought an old style TV stand for a 27" CRT  I had sitting around unused so I could set up old school....  Now I have the TGCD, Saturn, NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, PSone all hooked up... seems only the first 2 get played though.

I did have everything running through a 42" plasma, but didn't like having the bars...

[majors]

This has been happening in the "Pan and Scan" vs Widescreen days of movies. The common complaint from ppl renting movies as "I want to see all my screen I paid for" instead of what the director created. I remember running the director cut of Blade Runner on my 13" commodore CRT with super wide screen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Had more black bars that video...it was glorious!

If you run your games stretched, you loose your retro gaming card.

[EvilEvoIX]

CRT 4:3.  No other way around it.

[grolt]

I've got a 36" Trinitron that I keep around exclusively for gaming. There really is none better. Even looking past the aspect ratio debate, CRTs are the only way to play light gun games and thus need to be preserved. As someone who works in film and respects the artistic implications behind each film's aspect ratio I have an even greater appreciation and respect for game developer's intent and always try to honor the way they intended me to play their games.

[Necromancer]

4:3 is the only way to go.  Circles yes, ovals no.

[Black Tiger]

This has been happening in the "Pan and Scan" vs Widescreen days of movies. The common complaint from ppl renting movies as "I want to see all my screen I paid for" instead of what the director created. I remember running the director cut of Blade Runner on my 13" commodore CRT with super wide screen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Had more black bars that video...it was glorious!

If you run your games stretched, you loose your retro gaming card.

Working at a couple different stores which sold videos during the late 90's, whenever idiots/customers would say they wanted full frame because "I don't want part of the picture cut off", I'd explain that only full frame versions cut anything off and how proper widescreen versions were the only way to see the "full" picture.

When they'd say something about how they didn't want bars "cutting off" the top and bottom of the screen, I'd point out that in "full frame", the sides of your TV screen are vertical bars which actually are cutting off the picture.

I don't think I ever convinced anyone with that mentality not to buy the cropped version. They'd often say that I don't get it, even if I'd already said that I understood that all that they may be concerned about is having the picture zoomed in so that it appears as big as possible.