Odd TV, Xbox, Widescreen 60Hz query...

[Squirtle]

So, I have a JVC 28" widescreen tv set to auto switch between a widescreen signal and a panoramic (normal middle but edges stretched to fill the left and right) signal depending on the incoming signal. I have my xbox set to Widescreen. When I boot up the Xbox in 60hz, the dash is nice and widescreen but when i play a Widescreen game (PGR2, Burnout 2, Colin Macrae 4 etc) the TV auto switches back to Panoramic. However, if I set the Xbox to 50Hz then the TV switches to Widescreen when I play these games.

Does anyone know why that is? What difference does the 60hz signal make to widescreen/panoramic signal? And why does it work in 50Hz? I can still set my TV to Widescreen manually but it's just a pain having to flick through when it should do it automatically. So, does anyone know. Oh, and I also have to do it on my US cube for SC2 and FZeroGX widescreen modes as well (presumably because they are outputting 60hz signals).

[Lyris]

I think the only way to get widescreen from certain GameCube games is to use Progressive Scan.

As for switching between aspect ratios, that is a feature of SCART and is AFAIK independent of refresh rate.

[Squirtle]

Fzero GX and SC2 on the cube (both US through a modded RGB cable) give a 16:9 picture. I just have to set my TV to full to accept it properly. The xbox does set my TV to full for widescreen games on 50hz but not on 60hz. It must have something to do with the refresh rate.

[Lyris]

I don't have an Xbox so sorry I can't give more info than that - if it's something to do with the refresh rate, it sounds like some sort of bug with the Xbox hardware, because it shouldn't.

[Papercut]

I think the only way to get widescreen from certain GameCube games is to use Progressive Scan.

I thought that it was certain prog scan TVs that forced widescreen, not certain prog scan games.

ie. you are forced to view widescreen when switching to a prog scan source. That doesn't mean the video source's aspect ratio will be a correct 16:9 either.

In fact, I'm sure of this. I play lots of GameCube games in prog scan mode, an none of them auto switch to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Squirtle - with my Xbox at 50 or 60Hz, my Sony 32" widescreen correctly switches between 4:3 and 16:9 depending on the game. It doesn't seem to matter which refresh rate I choose. Regarding widescreen GameCube games, unlike the Xbox the GameCube doesn't send the 'widescreen switch' signal to your TV, so you have to switch manually. It is not because the game is running in 60Hz mode.

I think any problems you are having will be down to your TV, quite a few TVs have auto widescreen switching quirks (mostly older ones though).