Two Stop Bits | I'd say that a correct aspect ratio is part of the baseline for authenticity

viler 5 days ago | parent

I'd say that a correct aspect ratio is part of the baseline for authenticity - nothing 'super' about it. But we clearly live in a world where most people don't see a dang thing wrong with 4:3 content smeared all the way across their widescreen TVs, so admittedly I'm the odd man out. :)

A better approach would be to derive the ratio from known signal timings, and from comparisons to actual monitor output (or photos of such) where applicable, rather than subjective judgment calls about how particular games look... but any attention being paid to this stuff at all is a good thing.

What more people need to be aware of is how to properly aspect-correct their retro gaming video footage for uploading and streaming...

qingcharles 18 hours ago
The output isn't the whole story, though. For instance, with Spy vs. Spy the graphics were made on one system and then ported to another system with no regard of the aspect ratio of the port. So it can definitely be that the video output of the system should be 4:3, but the game itself should actually be viewed in a different ratio specific to that title.
Also, this article doesn't go into it, but there is a problem taking screenshots and video recordings of games from emulators because they don't usually embed the aspect ratio into the media file. So when they files are viewed on the Web they look wrong. I did some tests with this recently -- YouTube supports AR metadata. More tests here: https://bsky.app/profile/pekkavaa.bsky.social/post/3lbyzru2e...
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