[AceLuby]

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Anyone play local co-op? It projects it in 4:3 on my widescreen. Anyone know why? Black bars on the side are annoying.

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Are you playing co-op with 3 people when this happens? If so, I believe it's necessary in order to prevent picture distortion.

If not, then your 360 might be configured for 4:3 and not the 16:9 which you obviously need. You can change it in the dashboard.

Also, if you got the Limited or Legendary edition, try using that video calibration tool on the Essentials disk.

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It's 2 player local co-op. The cutscenes are all full screen, but when it plays in-game there are black bars on the left and right. Also, every other game plays in full screen (along w/ single player Halo), so it's not the system or my TV. I haven't tried 3-4 player. Also, I'm not the only one w/ this issue.

Just so I don't leave out anything

Halo 3 - Co-op local campaign
Connected vid HDMI
32" LCD Widescreen 1080i
Plays in 4:3

Can anyone w/ a widescreen TV try 2 player co-op and see if it's happening to their game?

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OK, I've done some research on it and it turns out that Bungie made it this way for HD widescreen TV's. WTF!!! I think this is a horrible idea and they dropped the ball on this one.

Anyway, the workaround (though I haven't tried it) is to change the 360's viewing aspect ratio to 4:3 (instead of the proper16:9) You can then stretch the picture across the entire screen width. Not perfect becuase the screen is stretched, but (apparently) it looks better than the black bars on the side.

I'm going to give this a try and post results either later or tomorrow.