New dashboard update for 360

Finally we we wont have to wait while downloading stuff on the Box! We can play while the download is in progress!'

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/710/710041p1.aspx

Those are very welcome changes, especially the boot to dashboard option. I usually like to check out the marketplace quickly before diving into the game I left in the drive. Previously I just used to turn my 360 on with the eject button, heh.

Now if only they' d add an option to change the aspect ratio manually, so that some games/demos weren' t distorted on my monitor, I' d be a happy chappy.

Now if only they' d add an option to change the aspect ratio manually, so that some games/demos weren' t distorted on my monitor, I' d be a happy chappy

You have a 17, 18 or 19 inch CRT right?! If so, it distorts because it' s not 4:3, they' re 5:4 and have rectangular pixels rather than square ones. It' s a pain having to adjust the monitor manually but it could be worse. The 360 does re-scale the image, but since TV' s are generally 4:3 or widescreen 16:9, when it re-sizes the picture on a 5:4 monitor it looks distorted and needs to be corrected manually.

It' s just your monitor.

Ofcourse, that applies to TFT' s too if the aspect ratio is still 5:4 -- i said CRT because the majority of 17, 18 and 19 inch CRT' s are 5:4. I' m currently using a 23" widescreen monitor and don' t have to adjust anything anymore, but previously i was using a 19" monitor with a 5:4 aspect ratio and only GRAW and DoA4 didn' t need adjusting. Everthing else did.

Yea I' m using a 17" TFT in 5:4. Unfortunately I don' t have any way to manually adjust the picture via the monitor, so I' m screwed. Still most games work in 1280x1024 but show letterboxed 720p instead, which is ok (but I prefer fullscreen normal to letterboxed widescreen).

Only PGR3 forces me to use 1024x768 as 1280res stretches 720p vertically, even then it' s a distorted 4:3 picture. And it was the Tomb Raider demo where none of the resolutions weren' t distorted somehow! 1280res stretched vertically, whilst 1024 squashed a normal aspect ratio into a letterbox.

None of how the 360 auto-handles aspect ratios really makes sense to me. So I would have just preferred an option to adjust manually via the 360 or at least each game, since my monitor lacks the function. I' ve been on the xbox forums to ask, and a lot of people seem to be affected, but there was no word from MS at the time.

I guess they expect us all to adopt widescreen now anyway, which I' ll have to do eventually. Sucks really. [:' (] But at least this latest patch shows they' re listening.

Here are more details on the update! it looks really sweet!

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/710/710202p1.aspx

I' m glad they actually listened to peoples feedback on this. The whole " having to watch the progress bar and not do anything else" thing was killing me! Also, the boot to dashboard is a GREAT idea! I can' t tell you how many times I went to turn on the damn thing and had the Tomb Raider music suddenly BLARING, waking up my roomates!

ORIGINAL: Majikdra6on

...I' m currently using a 23" widescreen monitor and don' t have to adjust anything anymore, but previously i was using a 19" monitor with a 5:4 aspect ratio and only GRAW and DoA4 didn' t need adjusting. Everthing else did.

Bit the bullet, eh! Congrats!