I was wondering if you guys can help me. The wii will not display in widescreen. do i need the component cables for this or can i just use composite and get widescreen and not 480p. I have ordered the component cables online and waiting. i checked the manual and i've done everything they say. I have tried using two different lcd tv's and nothing. Seems like a waste of screen specially for split screen boxing and zelda.

You need component cables.

Mine displayed in widescreen just fine with the composite cables. I upgraded to component just for 480p.

Isn't there an option under setup to choose 16x9... (you might have already done this since you said you did everything that the manual said)

that's the first thing i did. The manual said some tv's still will not display 16x9. I find it hard to believe cause everything else is fine. And we have two wii's and two different lcd brands sharp and sony. I've tried all possible combinations so i know the wii's aren't bad. Nintendo website doesn't help either.

its your tv then..

the wii will display widescreen format no problems using the standard cables, and you say have already set the wii to do this.

that means you will have to shange the tvs setting whilst on the wii's video source. (i have a samsung and it refers to it as screen size, there is a button on the remote that changes between them with a push of a button... you may have similar on yours, or have to enter the tv's picture/display settings)

I tried calling sharp they say the tv displays only what it's fed and there is no special button to change it from 16:9 to 4:3. Just want to know if anyone else has a sharp or sony lcd that has the same problem

I am seeing the same thing with my sony TV and the composite cables. I can change the TV settings to wide mode (just like w/ any 4:3 input) but it looks like it is just stretching the picture - not sure if the Wii is really putting out a 16:9 signal. How can I tell?

That really sucks. It's gotta be a TV issue, I can't see any other things with the Wii you can do unless your Wii is defective. Maybe see if you can try it on a friends TV if they've got a Widescreen TV. See if it works on theirs or not then you'll be able to rule out the Wii and know its your TVs.

Some LCDs dont do 16:9 instead they do 16:10 which could be the problem. My dad's 19" Widescreen does 16:10 resulting in a funny widescreen effect. Probably a lot more noticable on a bigger screen. Lots of LCD's are like this. If you want links proving this I can dig some up.

Widescreen worked fine for me in 480i with composite. Widescreen also worked fine for me in 480i with component, and currently still works fine for me in 480p!

Only thing that seems a bit odd is I notice vertical scanlines with 480p.. maybe it's my component cables.. or my TV.. or just something to do with 480p, since it didn't happen in 480i, under any conditions.

Nonetheless, 480p w/ component has considerably better color definition and much less blurry (almost to a point of "shit I actually wish I could add some blur here, it was like antialiasing, haha") than 480i w/ composite.

when i set my wii to widescreen and my tv also, it stretches games like wario ware so it using the whole screen. does anyone know where i can find some pics of wii games in both wide and full formats? that way i can see if my tv is displaying properly.

When you set your Wii to widescreen, it should squish the image down, so it can be stretched to 16:9 by your TV without any distortion. If your screen isn't pulling it to 16:9 (say it's pulling it to 2:1 or some crazy number), then it will look distorted no matter what.

I'd take a picture of games in 16:9 and 4:3 to show you, but we just moved, and I have no idea where our digital camera is. I'm too lazy to go look for it

Turns out my wii was displaying correctly. Just needed to set my Sony TV to stretch it to 16:9 (I guess Sony assumes that anything coming into the composite slots is 4:3 by default). If you have Zelda there is a display check screen with some boxes - you are supposed to make sure they are square to ensure you have the aspect ratio right.

not all games display in 16:9 so your tv may be set to 16:9 but if the game doesnt support it then no dice

For me, when im playing Red Steel, the captions are cut off. I havent tested with component yet tho.

There ya go. Figured most likely was a TV setting.

Wii doesreport to TV that signal is 4:3 in 16:9 mode (at least in my case) using both composite and component cables in both 480i and 480p modes. I checked some games (like Madden) actually recognize settings on the Wii and adjusts their settings accordingly but Wii still doesn't tell a TV proper ratio. I know for sure setting proper ratio on TV can be reported properly since my DVD player does it. But for now I'm stuck with this button on remote every time I change video input to Wii. I guess it's a Wii bug and I hope it can be fixed in next firmware. Some games like Trauma: SO and WarioWare seem to run in 4:3 since they look streched on the wide screen. I found it annoyning that there is no indication of screen ratio on the game box or in the manual either (similar to DVD). I haven't found reliable way to tell if game supports widescreen yet.