27th August 2008, 5:36 AM
Resolution doesn't matter and neither does scaling. The image can be heavily distorted and it won't matter either. The colors don't even need to be right.
Timing is everything. What the zapper is looking for is a flash of white at a very precise moment. If that flash is detected, it registers a hit. If it detects black, it registers a miss. To account for multiple targets, the game is simply programmed to send two flashes at two different times (barely detectable to us), and the zapper registers a hit to each target depending on when it sees the white flash, and when it sees it depends on where you are aiming.
Even a TV made as recently as this year need not have issues with timing if it uses the older style of how it manages the image.
Older screens will display the image very directly. The input from any device, such as antenna or NES A/V cable, sends a specific signal of what every pixel color is, a "return" signal for when the screen should display the next line, and a "restart" signal for when it should return to the very first pixel. The TV responds at nearly the speed of light and there's really no processing going on as none is needed with such direct communication. There are adjustments that can be done in the screens, but it's the input device that really determines where everything is at any one time.
However, newer screens go with a different method. They can adjust the timing more freely, and need to due to certain decompression that digital images involve. A lot of it is the same, but the analog signal is generally replaced. Even when there's analog input, it gets "translated" to apply the effects in the settings menues. At the very least, it ends up going through the computer as though it needs to be decoded like a digital signal, and this creates lag. Older sets had really noticable lag for gamers. Newer ones have pretty much resolved this, as gamers honestly can't detect the minute lag that is there. However, light guns can as they expect very specific timing. Even if we're dealing with an LCD screen that has native resolution issues, the zapper can't tell (you could fool one with a bright light bulb for example), but the timing will make it fail every time.
That's the basic reason why the Zapper won't work on certain models of newer "standard" TVs (anything that's got digital signal recieving that treats all input like digital input in the sense that it has to process it), and won't work on any HDTVs (as they all have that issue). LCD screens have another issue going for them.
With LCD screens, only some old ones, and specific ones at that as I've found, will work with the Zapper. In order to work, as I've said, it needs very specific timing. This timing includes the time it takes for each line to be drawn on a standard CRT screen. CRTs need to draw one pixel at a time, up to down, line by line. LCDs CAN display an image this way, but they can also simply display each frame all at once since there's nothing keeping all the pixels from being activated at the same time (and nothing keeping them from being turned on one at a time line by line as well). Some old LCD TVs actually did do it "CRT style", and some did not. However, pretty much all modern ones don't do that, and no HD LCDs do it the old way. That's two strikes against a properly working Zapper on them.
Plasma screen, LED (as in Jumbo-Trons), and other tech all could technically support the zapper with some recoding for timing and proper line by line display, but they are all too new to really expect any of them to be compatible.
Basically, down the line you can expect no TVs to support the Zapper again without some concerted effort to make them compatible, and let's face it, that is not likely.
That said, there are newer light guns with newer methods that do work on newer screens. This is good as it's still the best method of aiming. As nice as the Wii remote might be, it's method of direct target aiming is very much lacking. That's why all games with direct aiming require an in-game cursor. No one's using plastic sight scopes on the Wii remote for a reason, it wouldn't ever be accurate.
Timing is everything. What the zapper is looking for is a flash of white at a very precise moment. If that flash is detected, it registers a hit. If it detects black, it registers a miss. To account for multiple targets, the game is simply programmed to send two flashes at two different times (barely detectable to us), and the zapper registers a hit to each target depending on when it sees the white flash, and when it sees it depends on where you are aiming.
Even a TV made as recently as this year need not have issues with timing if it uses the older style of how it manages the image.
Older screens will display the image very directly. The input from any device, such as antenna or NES A/V cable, sends a specific signal of what every pixel color is, a "return" signal for when the screen should display the next line, and a "restart" signal for when it should return to the very first pixel. The TV responds at nearly the speed of light and there's really no processing going on as none is needed with such direct communication. There are adjustments that can be done in the screens, but it's the input device that really determines where everything is at any one time.
However, newer screens go with a different method. They can adjust the timing more freely, and need to due to certain decompression that digital images involve. A lot of it is the same, but the analog signal is generally replaced. Even when there's analog input, it gets "translated" to apply the effects in the settings menues. At the very least, it ends up going through the computer as though it needs to be decoded like a digital signal, and this creates lag. Older sets had really noticable lag for gamers. Newer ones have pretty much resolved this, as gamers honestly can't detect the minute lag that is there. However, light guns can as they expect very specific timing. Even if we're dealing with an LCD screen that has native resolution issues, the zapper can't tell (you could fool one with a bright light bulb for example), but the timing will make it fail every time.
That's the basic reason why the Zapper won't work on certain models of newer "standard" TVs (anything that's got digital signal recieving that treats all input like digital input in the sense that it has to process it), and won't work on any HDTVs (as they all have that issue). LCD screens have another issue going for them.
With LCD screens, only some old ones, and specific ones at that as I've found, will work with the Zapper. In order to work, as I've said, it needs very specific timing. This timing includes the time it takes for each line to be drawn on a standard CRT screen. CRTs need to draw one pixel at a time, up to down, line by line. LCDs CAN display an image this way, but they can also simply display each frame all at once since there's nothing keeping all the pixels from being activated at the same time (and nothing keeping them from being turned on one at a time line by line as well). Some old LCD TVs actually did do it "CRT style", and some did not. However, pretty much all modern ones don't do that, and no HD LCDs do it the old way. That's two strikes against a properly working Zapper on them.
Plasma screen, LED (as in Jumbo-Trons), and other tech all could technically support the zapper with some recoding for timing and proper line by line display, but they are all too new to really expect any of them to be compatible.
Basically, down the line you can expect no TVs to support the Zapper again without some concerted effort to make them compatible, and let's face it, that is not likely.
That said, there are newer light guns with newer methods that do work on newer screens. This is good as it's still the best method of aiming. As nice as the Wii remote might be, it's method of direct target aiming is very much lacking. That's why all games with direct aiming require an in-game cursor. No one's using plastic sight scopes on the Wii remote for a reason, it wouldn't ever be accurate.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)