HDTV Revisted

[Darth Sensei]

I'm looking into getting a HDTV 32" or greater. If I go larger than 32" I'll need to get a new entertainment center and the one I have is fine, so I'm still mulling that issue over.

Here is my question. Does HDTV give you an advantage in gaming, especially online games like Halo 2? I have a regular 32" TV, but I heard from someone on live that with HDTV the invisibilty power up has no effect. He told me with his HDTV he can pick them out just as easily as when they're visible. Also, on sniping and fighting at long distances, is there an advantage?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Gamereviewgod]

I can't speak on the invisibility, but it's easier to pick out enemies in the distance with the increased resolution. The flickering from a standard TV is almost gone so the only things that look like they're moving are your enemies.

[SoulBlazer]

Not many games will use a HDTV right now, but some do, and more will come. Plus consider the benifts of it for movie and TV watching. A investment now, like I did last year, can serve you for a long time to come.

[Mr Mort]

I would recommend getting a widescreen if you're getting an HDTV. On many racing and FPS games on Xbox, your field of vision is actually increased, letting you see more of the playfield.

[Anthony1]

You might as well just go all the freaking way with it. That means getting a DLP Front Projector and having a screen 100 inches or bigger!!!

The nice thing about that, is that you don't need an entertainment center to hold the thing. The screen goes right on the wall. In fact to save alot of money, you can just paint your screen on with special paint and not paying anything for the screen other than the paint itself.

And with a 100 inch 16:9 widescreen screen, you will see "ALL" of the action very clearly.

Believe me, I have a 113" 16:9 screen and it's absolutely freaking amazing. Every time that I use it, I have to pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming. Playing a game in 720p on a 113 inch screen is like dying and going to heaven.

But the best part of the whole thing is that it can all be done for just under 1 grand.

[pacmanhat]

113"?!?!

O_O

Dear god...how bad did that set you back? And do you have pics of it in all its glory?

[Bluteg]

If I had a nickel for everytime Anthony1 said "absolutely freaking amazing" I could but a AES Metal Slug. LOL

Anyway unless you have a perfectly dark garage basement projection as I've heard is not all it's cracked up too be. The movie theater is almost completely dark for a purpose. In a practical setting would not the display off an A/V reciever disurb the picture?

[felix]

One of my buddies has a 54" hd.
It looks amazing with hdtv and with DVDs.. but with normal tv and normal gaming systems, it looks just like the normal tv counterpart. If you get the special cable hookups for your xbox, it will be TRUE hd.. I have seen halo2 on his hdtv and its very very nice. I think he payed somewhere around 40-50 for his hookups though :(

[WanganRunner]

Anthony: Most of the front projection setups that I've seen go for well over a grand, hell, lots of them are well over ten grand.

I'm not doubting or anything, I just want to know what gear you're using, so I can get the same gear!

[Sylentwulf]

Ya just ignore anthony's post with anything to do with TV's, there's your first rule.

Second would be to go to this site instead of a videogame forum - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/

Third - I would also suggest a widescreen and as big as you can afford. I had to ditch my BEAUTIFUL almost new entertainment center when I upgraded my TV to a 47" WS HDTV RPTV. If you end up going RPTV, 2 things you should REALLY push for is DLP, and auto-convergence. For the price of a 32 inch HDTV CRT monitor, you can probly get a good 47" widescreen.

[The Manimal]

I really don't see how you can get a 720p projector that runs $1K unless it's a business one and NOT suited for home theatre or "video". Even then, I don't see 720p for that price.

[goatdan]

I was looking at the same thing until I found out that my raise at work wasn't as big as they said it was going to be... Grrr...

My suggestion is to take a look at them and find out what you like the most. Personally, even though so many people told me to go with a widescreen one, I got myself totally set on a 4:3 one because I could turn it into widescreen if I wanted too, but like 4:3 for so many things that it was worth it to me. After spending a few hours wandering through various Circuit City's and Best Buy's, I found that my dream TV was this one:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-32-HDTV-Monitor-TX-P3264-/sem/rpsm/oid/96281/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

It is one of the cheapest 32" High Def tube TVs on the market currently, and I was amazed by the picture, and it was 4:3 just like I wanted. After seeing it in action, I set my mind on picking it up as soon as I got my house...

Now, I have my mind set on picking it up once I get a raise or can save some more money for it ;)

Good luck with the hunt!

[s1lence]

I will say that playing Halo 2 on a HDTV with the high def all the time and then playing in on a normal tv, wow what a huge difference. Now I understand why people like to play games at my house.

[shvnsth]

for a grand, you can get a infocus screenplay 4805 and some gooscreen paint and then your fucking set. those two together are the shit, you need to buy them. check any review site, that is the projector to buy for under a grand if you want 16:9 and all the hd's

[The Manimal]

i would want the 7210. but it's too pricey.

[GaijinPunch]

Do you play old games? If so, and you're set on HD, get a CRT... not a plasma/LCD as your old games will look like ass. Projection is NOT the way to go. No way it will look as good as tube... it just looks bigger. Bigger is not always better.

Currently, besides a very few amount of games, the only difference you'll see in HD is that it's in progressive scan, and not interlaced. This does give a clearer picture, but you'll notice the bigger differences next gen when games will be displayed in 720p and (hopefully) higher resolution.

[Anthony1]

for a grand, you can get a infocus screenplay 4805 and some gooscreen paint and then your fucking set. those two together are the shit, you need to buy them. check any review site, that is the projector to buy for under a grand if you want 16:9 and all the hd's


word skippy. This guy knows what's up.


I actually have the old Infocus X1, which is actually a 4:3 DLP Projector capable of 800 x 600 resolution, but I'm telling you, I use it in 16:9 mode, and my screen is a painted 16:9 screen, and it works absolutely awesome.

When I play a game like Amped 2 on the XBOX in 720p, it isn't really "true" 720p, because 800 X 600 is much lower than that, but I'm telling you, it looks mucho impressive.

By the way, I actually use Behr Ultra Bright White (Flat) for the screen and it worked great.


Also, yes the big downside is you do need a dark room to really enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed, but still.

[Anthony1]

Do you play old games? If so, and you're set on HD, get a CRT... not a plasma/LCD as your old games will look like ass. Projection is NOT the way to go. No way it will look as good as tube... it just looks bigger. Bigger is not always better.

Currently, besides a very few amount of games, the only difference you'll see in HD is that it's in progressive scan, and not interlaced. This does give a clearer picture, but you'll notice the bigger differences next gen when games will be displayed in 720p and (hopefully) higher resolution.


The only thing is that if you have a modded XBOX, and all the emulators on it, most of the emulators can be played in 720p mode with the XBOX Tri Linear Filtering turned on, and SuperScale2x mode activiated.

I have my modded XBOX hooked up to my DLP Projector, and playing a game like Streets of Rage 2 on a 113 inch screen with the 720p mode activated and all those settings the way I described is a dream come true.

Playing MAME roms on it in 480p is pretty freaking incredible too. SNES in 720p is amazing as well.

But if you are playing pre Dreamcast systems, and you must use the real hardware, then the best bet is to get a Sony PVM-2530 and email my boy Matthew for some cables.

[GaijinPunch]

The only thing is that if you have a modded XBOX, and all the emulators on it, most of the emulators can be played in 720p mode with the XBOX Tri Linear Filtering turned on, and SuperScale2x mode activiated.

Those games you are playing will only look WORSE when you play them in a higher resolution then they were made for. It is the plain truth. It's like playing something developed in 320x240 interlaced at 640x480 progressive. Actually, it's a 15hz signal sent at twice the strength. Sonic Mega Collection on Xbox or GC... bah, it will look like shit b/c they are old low-res games being played on a system that is not capable of display low-res. It is a hardware deficiency. In other words, every line is displayed twice, making the graphic larger, and blockier I might add. Emulators have ways around this, in the form of scanlines. That emulates low-res... and to the human eyes, is a very useful little trick. Filters like this work pretty well, but you have to use them... otherwise it just looks like shit.

This is a trend these days when porting retro games to newer consolse. The PS2 is the only of the current consoles that can display true low res graphics, but not all of the games due. The most recent debacle are the Psykyo Shooting Collections. They all used upscaled graphics, even though they were originally low-res, and the system can display low res. The result is "fake low-res" and looks inferior to true low-res. The closest I can describe is playing an old SNES rom on your computer at 640x480 resolution with no scan lines. Now use the scanlines... see the difference? Looks more like the original, no?

This is why you just don't play low-res 2D games on an LCD screen. Now interlacing, and they just look plain blech. The only way around it is an XRGB2 to simulate some scanlines, since even the high dollar TV suck at emulating low-res.


then the best bet is to get a Sony PVM-2530 and email my boy Matthew for some cables.

Already bought one, and am meeting him tomorrow actually... I can't imagine the coincidences of someone endorsing that monitor, and makes cables, and is named Matt.

[drwily008]

I totally agree with Goatdan on his suggestion for a Samsung.

I do love a projector...but, the drawbacks in the lighting do pose a frequent problem (i.e. when the sun is out and you have windows without blackouts).

I kid you not...and I'm not just bragging, I know electronics. I have been into it since the Dolby Pro-logic stuff. I love Samsung TVs, projectors, LCD, DLP, & monitors. I am looking at a Samsung LCD flat panel monitor right now. I also have 2 Samsung flatscreens and a 30" LCD Panel. I do NOT buy just for brand either, I always compare & critique for months before buying an electronic component.

Also AVSforum.com is the best, people are very friendly and helpful there. It's like DP of the Home Theater world.

[GaijinPunch]

The only thing is that if you have a modded XBOX, and all the emulators on it, most of the emulators can be played in 720p mode with the XBOX Tri Linear Filtering turned on, and SuperScale2x mode activiated.


Okay, you sparked my interest to give emulation on the Xbox another shot. I fired up the latest version of neogenesis on my HDTV. This should in theory be something like emulation on my computer at a lower resolution.

I used Tri Linear Filtering and turned on SuperScale2x. This mode gave the worst results. SuperScale doesn't even try to emulate a low res signal. The scanline modes were a nice try, but still crap. One of them actually looked halfway like scanlines, but due to the goofy resolution, they weren't "equal" if you catch my drift. The others, the scanlines were so far apart they looked like window blinds.

xsnesx doesn't even offer any scanlines in it's software filters, which is shameful.

This stuff would probably look better on a CRT. In theory, since it's low-res emulation it should work a lot better than it does even on an LCD display... just doesn't.

[shvnsth]

i keep a sony 50-in lcd hdtv for the older consoles (ps2, xbox, gc, dc, n64, snes, nes, sms, genesis) and i have a infocus project that runs 16:9 for this generation (xbox, ps2, and gc) and that works perfect. i would not suggest running the old consoles that do no support hd or 16:9 through a hd 16:9 projector, and def keep em seperated. if you don't have the money, but a hd projector, and get a smaller 27 in flat screen tv for running your older systems.