taking the Plunge into HDTV

[dsullo]

Well today I finally received approval from the wife to make my new TV purchase. I have been on the fence between the different models and various confusing specs that they offer. I settled on the:
Sony Grand WEGA 50" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready Rear-Projection LCD HDTV Model: KDF50WE655. The reason is my good friend just bought one from Sears and he got a very good price through doing a price match with them. I was able to basically get the same deal but he was able to get an extra 10% off for opening a credit card, they would not honor that for me.

This TV retails at Best buy /Circuit City type stores for around 2999-2800

I got mine for 2343.00

when you add in tax and delivery it comes to 2530.00

I think I got a pretty good deal , my friend did even better around 2350.00

It arrives on April Fools.

Dustin

[shvnsth]

i think i might have that exact same tv, nice buy

[Anthony1]

congrats on the nice TV. My first suggestion is to buy a XBOX and a XBOX High Definition AV pack if you don't already have one. Then if this set can display 720p natively, set your XBOX for 720p and 1080i output, and pop in Amped 2 or MVP Baseball.


Once you remove your jaw from the floor, let us know how sweet it looks!

[dsullo]

I will let you know how it looks Friday Night



Just to clarify I do have to alert the settings in my XBOX setting in addition to using the HI DEF Cables

[goatdan]

Actually, I'm on the fence about doing the same thing and I was wondering how gaming works on High Def. I'm looking at getting this:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-27-HDTV-TX-P2775HD-/sem/rpsm/oid/91174/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I have an Xbox and GameCube. Do both take advantage of the High Def settings? If a console doesn't take advantage of the high def settings (I currently have a Sega CDX hooked up to the ol' faithful TV) does it stretch, or does it just apply the picture to the middle of the screen?

Is it worth the difference in price for high def? I told my wife when we got a house, I wanted a new TV and she is reluctant to let me spend that much money on a TV. I can convince her if I have some reasons to, but otherwise it is about twice as much as the same size standard TV.

[SirDrexl]

That HDTV would probably be ideal for gaming, because it's not widescreen. You would still benefit from the progressive scan signal from most Xbox games and many GameCube games. So, you would get the benefits of the improved picture but not have the drawbacks of reformatted widescreen games. Games aren't really being developed for widescreen displays yet. With the possible exception of EA's recent Madden games, I haven't seen a game that looks better in 16x9 than in 4x3. Most games that do have a widescreen mode alter the field of vision so that you're looking through a different camera lens angle, and the 2D elements like scores and fonts get distorted to fit the screen.

Now, if you enable 720p and/or 1080i in the Xbox Dashboard, games that have a widescreen mode and support those modes will be displayed that way. Very few games support 1080i, but there are several that support 720p (and those will be widescreen modes). If you want them to be displayed 4:3, disable 720p and 1080i so that 480p will be output. (The game will be displayed in the highest resolution supported per the Dashboard.)

Also, keep in mind that when you go to higher resolutions the graphics chipset has more work to do (just like increasing the resolution setting on a PC game), so the frame rate may take a hit.

GameCube games are limited to 480p-no widescreen modes AFAIK.

[digitalpress]

Aha!

Either you read my mind, read my post, or are on a very similar wavelength, that''s the same TV I've been eyeing up! I'm holding out a just a bit longer though. My target is June... so now you can let me know how it works out!

Please do. :)

Have fun with your new purchase!

[SoulBlazer]

I'm happy with my 32 Inch Sony HDTV Widescreen TV. I can always turn the display to Normal or Full if I don't like it in widescreen format. And there ARE games besides EA's games that are using it -- Star Ocean 3 comes to mind, another game that I had to pick my jaw off the floor after I saw it.

In any case, it's great for the next generation of systems, plus also if you plan to do a lot of DVD and/or HDTV watching.

[calthaer]

Note that some PC games also have resolution modes that will only work on widescreen HDTV monitors (or TVs). Freedom Force v. 3rd Reich is one of these.

[dj898]

been using Plasma screen since 2003 and we are happy with it...
this is our main unit and getting a lot of work out thanks to my kid.
she wants the bloody elmo's world day in day out... :p

I also play many of my video game on the thing after kid's gone to bed...
with limited sapce we have at home this was must rather than luxury...

[nesgamer]

We have a 54 inch HDTV in the living room. When my parents aren't home I hook up the NES to it. It takes some time getting use to playing the NES on a big screen. We've had it since 2003 and it's awesome.

[mieu_c]

Me and the boyfriend just bought a 42' hdtv for X-mas. We like it but playstation dosn't do as well as we thought. He got the right cables for it and everything. We don't have an x-box, but I heard that system dose much better with hd. Even our gamecube dose better than playstation! Sony better fix that problem real quick...

[Anthony1]

That HDTV would probably be ideal for gaming, because it's not widescreen. You would still benefit from the progressive scan signal from most Xbox games and many GameCube games. So, you would get the benefits of the improved picture but not have the drawbacks of reformatted widescreen games. Games aren't really being developed for widescreen displays yet. With the possible exception of EA's recent Madden games, I haven't seen a game that looks better in 16x9 than in 4x3. Most games that do have a widescreen mode alter the field of vision so that you're looking through a different camera lens angle, and the 2D elements like scores and fonts get distorted to fit the screen.

Now, if you enable 720p and/or 1080i in the Xbox Dashboard, games that have a widescreen mode and support those modes will be displayed that way. Very few games support 1080i, but there are several that support 720p (and those will be widescreen modes). If you want them to be displayed 4:3, disable 720p and 1080i so that 480p will be output. (The game will be displayed in the highest resolution supported per the Dashboard.)

Also, keep in mind that when you go to higher resolutions the graphics chipset has more work to do (just like increasing the resolution setting on a PC game), so the frame rate may take a hit.

GameCube games are limited to 480p-no widescreen modes AFAIK.





Actually, alot of your takes are a little off. If you had done this post about 3 years ago, I might have agreed with alot of it, but now, alot has changed in regards to widescreen gaming.

First off, the PS2, XBOX and Cube have alot of games that are 16:9. Go to www.hdtvarcade.com and look at the lists. Even the GameCube has alot of 16:9 games now. The XBOX games that run in 720p and 1080i do not run any slower than they would at 480p. Actually there really aren't that many of them that use 720p or 1080i, and the reason is that there would be a performance hit. But the ones that do actually do 720p and 1080i, they don't run any faster in 480p, so disregard that.

Now the real question that still remains is concerning the old school games. Games for systems prior to the PS2, XBOX and Cube. Especially the really old school ones. Myself personally, I've gotten used to the various stretch and fill modes, and it really doesn't bother me very much. I have everything set to fill the screen, even if it isn't native anamorphic widescreen 16:9. Once you get used to watching regular crappy TV (non HDTV) in a stretched or filled mode, you won't really notice that the games are distorted.

Also, if you really want to experience old school games the way that they were meant to be, then have two gaming TV's. One will be your big widescreen HDTV that will be in the living room, and the other will be a nice R.G.B. monitor in your Room of Doom. The R.G.B monitor will be the normal 4:3 type, and nothing will be distorted. Even better, you can turn it on it's side and play certain vertical shooters in TATE mode! Talk about playing games the way they were meant to be!

[Anthony1]

Me and the boyfriend just bought a 42' hdtv for X-mas. We like it but playstation dosn't do as well as we thought. He got the right cables for it and everything. We don't have an x-box, but I heard that system dose much better with hd. Even our gamecube dose better than playstation! Sony better fix that problem real quick...


Are you talking about PS2 or PSone?


If you are talking about PS2, then you need to have the component cables, and you need to have them hooked up to the 480p/1080i component input. You also need to turn on the PS2 without a disk inside and go into System Configuration. Set it for Component output. Then pop in a game like Ratchet & Clank: Up your arsenal. When the game starts up, go into the options and select progressive scan. In alot of the PS2 games that are 480p, you need to go into the options and actually select it. Otherwise it doesn't kick in.

Go to www.hdtvarcade.com and click on the PS2 list. Write down all the games that are 480p. Make sure you are actually playing them in progressive scan mode.


Sometimes with the PS2, non 480p games will look like crap on a HDTV. Unfortunately, that's just the way it is with the PS2's video signal. Having said all of that, there are still some PS2 games that look absolutely gorgeous in 480p. So make sure you are really getting the right signal to your HDTV.


Also, for all the PS2 games that aren't 480p, your best bet is to get a cheap R.G.B. monitor and a RGB cable, and play those PS2 games in R.G.B. Once you play a game like Killzone or San Andreas in R.G.B. you will understand what I'm talking about.

For me, when it comes to PS2 games, I play the 480p ones on my HDTV's, and the non 480p ones on my R.G.B. monitors. It's the best of both worlds.

[goatdan]

Okay, so I went and checked out the 27" Samsung HDTV that I was looking into at Circuit City last night... Great system. It looks incredible, and it allows you to switch between widescreen and 4:3 ratios when you want too. I really like that. The only problem that I had with it is that it is essentially the same size as my current TV. Considering that I know that my wife isn't going to be too keen on me getting another TV after this purchase for about 10 years, I am thinking about upgrading slightly...

Now I'm looking at the 32" model - http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=&prod_id=TXP3264X%2fXAA

It would be about $200 more (my area Circuit City has the 27" on open-box markdown for only $550... this one is $720 currently) but I think it would be worth it.

I want to know some stuff before I buy it though. Anyone who can help I would really appreciate it:

- What is the difference between R.G.B. and component? Or is there none?
- I know my Xbox, DVD player and GameCube all support high-def TV stuff. Is there a switcher box for these?
- How does hooking up network TV work? The TV has a built-in tuner I know, but I don't understand exactly what that means. Hoes this work with normal broadcasts, or would I have to get cable? I'm not interested in cable (the TV is good for gaming and movies, says I).
- I know about how progressive scan = good and HDTV = good. Do these work together sorta?
- Are there any professional review sites for various HDTV models? When searching for a graphics card, I know I can always look for reviews... I haven't found any for HDTVs so far.
- Any other tips?

Thanks a bunch everyone. I haven't bought a new TV... well, ever. My current TV is a Samsung that my parents bought as a top-of-the-line Samsung in about 1990, and it's still working well (and was a nice moving-out gift from them when they got a nice Sony TV). I figure it will become my basement gaming TV while this new HDTV does the grunt work of stuff in the living room... but I have no clue what to look for. Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

[alexkidd2000]

For good opinions on TVs go to avsforum.com or hometheatrespot.com