Widescreen HDTV making my PS2, Xbox, etc games look horrible

[PDorr3]

When I first got my HDTV (Widescreen) I was so excited because it was for my 360, which just makes the games look amazing. A few months later I figured I would see what my PS2 games looked like, first game I tried was Grandia 3 (just had bought it) and I noticed it didnt look to clear or crisp, so I figured well maybe its just the game.

To put it to the real test I put in Ico on ps2, and I know this game in and out, and I could tell right away that the games graphics looked worse than ever, blurry and pixelated.

By no means are any of the games unplayable, but they looks os damn bad compared to how they used to look on my regular old TV, not to mention none of them support widescreen so they are all stretched out.

My question is, is there any way to fix this problem on HDTV's? such as new cables or settings to clear things up a bit? what about older systems like saturn, genesis, etc?

[Anthony1]

When I first got my HDTV (Widescreen) I was so excited because it was for my 360, which just makes the games look amazing. A few months later I figured I would see what my PS2 games looked like, first game I tried was Grandia 3 (just had bought it) and I noticed it didnt look to clear or crisp, so I figured well maybe its just the game.

To put it to the real test I put in Ico on ps2, and I know this game in and out, and I could tell right away that the games graphics looked worse than ever, blurry and pixelated.

By no means are any of the games unplayable, but they looks os damn bad compared to how they used to look on my regular old TV, not to mention none of them support widescreen so they are all stretched out.

My question is, is there any way to fix this problem on HDTV's? such as new cables or settings to clear things up a bit? what about older systems like saturn, genesis, etc?



There isn't anything that can fix the OAR situation. OAR = Original Aspect Ratio. Games prior to Xbox were pretty much designed with 4:3 TV's in mind. Even a ton of Xbox 1 games have a 4:3 OAR. The vast majority of PS2 games have a 4:3 OAR as well. Same thing with GameCube. However, on all those systems, make sure that you go into the settings and check for a 16:9 mode because some of the games require you to select it in the options. I mainly remember that with the Playstation 2.

Old School games like Genesis and Super Nintendo and Playstation 1 and Saturn and all that, all of those games are all designed with a 4:3 aspect ratio. So anytime you play those on a Widescreen TV, it's not going to be totally ideal. Certain games won't look to bad stretched out, other games look pretty bad that way. It depends. But one nice thing is, that as time goes by, you will notice the distortion less and less. It won't bother you as much. But if you want things absolutely perfect, then you need to play 4:3 games on a 4:3 display and "true" widescreen games on a 16:9 display. That's just the way it is. No getting around that. Pick your poison. The 360, PS3 and Wii are all going to look much, much, much better on a 16:9 tv, but the old school stuff is going to look dramatically better on a 4:3 TV. You can't have your cake and eat it to.


Ok, now, before we are done, I'm just talking about the issue with widescreen TV's and 4:3 games, but there is good news for your other dilema. The picture quality dilema. There is definitely something that can improve that. It's called a XRGB2+, and if you don't have a VGA input on that HDTV you will also need that Audio Authority adapter to go along with the XRGB2+, so that it will work on Component. (don't have the model # of the top of my head, it's like 9A28 or something like that).

You will also need somebody to build you a little Euro to Jap Scart adapter, and then just get Euro rgb Scart cables for all your systems and your Golden.

As for the Aspect Ratio, unfortunately nothing you can do about that, unless you want to play your games with big grey or black bars on the sides, which looks even worse than the streched and distorted picture.

[l_lamb]

How did you hook up the PS2? I'm using the component video cables and mine looks as sharp as the PS2 can get. If you don't like the stretched look, try setting your TV to show the game without filing the screen. Most sets have a standard NTSC setting that grays out the sides to keep the aspect ratio at 4:3.

[meancode]

It has nothing to do with aspect ratio.

Pete, are you still using Composite (Yellow, Red, White) to hook your PS2 up to your HDTV? If so, that would probably look pretty bad. You need Component cables, if you don't have them already.

I would recommend the Mad Catz universal (works on PS2/Xbox) just because they are so cheap. I have two myself for my PS2 and Xbox.

A couple PS2 games, like God of War, support Progressive Scan, which make them look even better (for a PS2 game).

As for the screen stretching, you need to change that in your HDTV settings. It would be under video picture or something or something. My Samsung HDTV lists it as Size and has a 4:3 option.

Good Luck!

[jdc]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

[Ry Jon-Jinn]

Yeah, i played Perfect Dark on my 64 the other day on my new 32inch Samsung LCD, and it looked blurry as heck. But i donot have S-Video for the 64, Dreamcast, or Super Nintendo. But my 360, Gamecube, and PS2 look amazing, because i am using Componet with all of them. And the Saturn looks great with S-Video. Super Nintendo is the only one that looked fine with just Composite, but for the Dreamcast and 64, i will need to invest in S-Video. And games like God Of War look even better because you can set it up for widescreen in its options menu. And is it true that newer Gamecubes do not accept Componet anymore? If so then i am lucky, because S-Video is not as good.

[slip81]

Like others have said if you're not already using component that should help you out a lot.

As for the aspect ratio thing, that's the main reason I'm going to go with a 4:3 HDTV when I get one (hopefully in a few months). I know I'll still have black bars on the top and bottom when dealing with 16x9 stuff, but I've been watching letterbox so long it doesn't bother me. Something I don't think I could deal with though would be stretching or sidebars, especially since me and my friends do a lot of 4 player splitscreen mario kart and goldeneye, and I watch a lot of tv on dvd.

[meancode]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

Whoa, I would take that Sharp back! I just bought, in January, a Samsung HDTV that does 720p and 1080i for less than $1200.

But yes, everything looks like shit on a HDTV if it is using old composite. It is sad, but is the truth.

I know a couple people who have gotten 4:3 HDTVs because of their old systems. I would put up with the black bars on the left/right if I were you, since the 360, PS3, and Wii are all going to be widescreen.

[phantomfriar]

he Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

My friend you sound a bit confused...if you mean you're annoyed the original Xbox games only come out in 480p then that's NOT the fault of the TV!

Basically every LCD on the market right now over $600 (or from like 24-26 inches up) is at least going to do 720p!

I bought last year's Sharp Aquos 26' and it had 720p, 1080i and looked great...I returned it only because 26' wasn't big enough (you'll be surprised the huge difference between a 26 and a 32!). It was only like $899 on Amazon at the time.

If this Aquos is only capable of doing 480p, you must have a sub-26 inch model OR a model from a couple of years back or something...and if that's really what the TV is capable of outputting then return it. (on the other hand if you spent $2000 and 360 games look fine as you say, then the TV is indeed fine -- it's the old Xbox's limitations that are the problem, NOT THE TV).

Just remember when it comes to most original Xbox games, it wouldn't matter if you spent $3000 on a TV or $300...if the Xbox game is only capable of outputting 480p then 480p is all you're going to get, period, regardless of the TV's capable resolutions.

[meancode]

The difference between 26 and 32 is pretty amazing, I too opted for the 32 as it was so much more screen for only a couple hundred dollars more!

[ckendal]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

What size Sharp Aquos are you talking about? I have a 32" Sharp Aquos for my gaming TV and everything looks great. My Aquos does do 720p and 1080i easily, but the games do have to support the resolutions. Try loading up GT4 on PS2 using component cables and going into options and setting it to 1080i. You'll be pleasantly suprised how fucking awesome Gran Turismo 4 looks. You will think you were playing it on a 360. Most PS2 games though are 480i or 480p and while it is not the greatest, having the component cables will help these games look much more vibrant and crisp.

If you need any help configuring your TV jdc, lemme know!

Hope this helps!

-Carl

[PentiumMMX]

Yeah, i played Perfect Dark on my 64 the other day on my new 32inch Samsung LCD, and it looked blurry as heck. But i donot have S-Video for the 64, Dreamcast, or Super Nintendo. But my 360, Gamecube, and PS2 look amazing, because i am using Componet with all of them. And the Saturn looks great with S-Video. Super Nintendo is the only one that looked fine with just Composite, but for the Dreamcast and 64, i will need to invest in S-Video. And games like God Of War look even better because you can set it up for widescreen in its options menu. And is it true that newer Gamecubes do not accept Componet anymore? If so then i am lucky, because S-Video is not as good.

Something to point out concerning N64 and HDTV:

A few later N64 Games (Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64, and Banjo-Tooie are all I know of right now with this) offer Wide Screen Support. Try checking the Options Menu on the game you're playing to see if it's avalable.

...And on the Gamecube Question: Yes, newer GCNs don't have Componet Video Output. This started in 2004 to keep the price down. To tell if you have a newer Gamecube, look at the back to see if there is a Componet Video Output, and on the bottem, the model number should be "DOL-101". The origenal obviosly has the Componet Video Output and the model number "DOL-001".

[phantomfriar]

What size Sharp Aquos are you talking about. I have a 32" Sharp Aquos for my gaming TV and everything looks great. My Aquos does do 720p and 1080i easily, but the games do have to support the resolutions.

Yeah he sounds a little confused. Basically I think he's just pissed that the original Xbox games only do 480p (or at least a lot of them). You're not going to get higher resolutions with a $2000 set...they don't work miracles if the game can only 480p! :)

[lucavi]

as far as i know ps2 games will look like crap no matter what you do on a large hdtv. component cables help a little but not much. the picture is a little more clear but all the better to see the "jaggies" with. 16:9 ratio never helps either.

[The Manimal]

On my new DLP set, even Nintendo looks fine on it. Though when I run "Game Mode", it looks somewhat crappy...need to find a way to make this mode look better. The colors are "off" and can't seem to get them to watch the way they look with "Game Mode" off. :(

I do see rainbows though, and it can bug you in some games, where there's white on black.

[Ry Jon-Jinn]

Yeah Wind Waker looks beautifull using componet cables, so does Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2. The colors are very vibrant, and the reolution is much more crisp. I think they are running in 480p now if i am not mistaken?

[Trebuken]

Most TV's that upconvert all incoming signals provide a superior image. Many sets will only upconvert over component connections which is why the Xbox 360 may look so sweet and the PS2 on composite or S-video does not.

I playing everything stretched on my sets and I only notice a problem with MAME, evereything else looks natural.

Older systems get stretched more because of their lower resolutions, a good set can upconvert it nicely, or you can use the XRGB2+ or similar device if your set is not up to the task.

Xbox games played through your 360 will look nicer, as I imagine PS2 games on the PS3 will (I've actually stopped playing PS2 games because I'm waiting for the superior hardware). I realize the 360's compatibility is limited but I've elected to play the good games on the compatibility list that I have missed (KOTOR for example).

One crazy solution is to run your console into a computers TV input (if you have it), then play it on your HDTV through your video cards output, you can tweek this to death.

Of course if you upgrade to HDTV you might as well save your old set for your old systems...

Later,
Trebuken

[Anthony1]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.


Still, you can do a helluva lot with 480p. Does it have a VGA input on it at all, or just component? If it has a VGA input, then the Dreamcast should look outstanding on it, relatively speaking, via the VGA box. If it only has component, then the VGA box along with an Audio Authority VGA to component adapter would do the trick. Pure 480p bliss. Also, 480p is a great resolution for the XRGB2+. So you can use all your retro consoles on it in the equivalent of 480p rgb. Of course, you need to get your hands on a XRGB2+ which is extraordinarily expensive right now and hard to find. And finding the Japanese rgb scart cables is hard too. But there are still some things that can be done with 480p.


The two best are the Dreamcast via the VGA box, and all previous systems via the XRGB2+. Hopefully you have a vga input on the back of that, so you don't have to shell out $$ for the Audio Authority box to transcode the vga back to wide band component.

[Anthony1]

One thing I want to mention to everyone, is that to truly have things ideal, you need two completely different displays. One of them needs to be 16:9 and support either 720p or 1080i or both. One of them needs to be 4:3 and can be a HDTV (if you use a XRGB2+ with it) or a super large computer monitor (if you use a XRGB2+ with it) or a big ass Sony PVM rgb monitor, or something like that.


Then you can have the best of both worlds. One display simply isn't going to do it, because in some way or fashion you are going to be compromising something. That's just the way it is, and the sooner everyone realizes that and makes adjustments accordingly, they are always going to be slightly bugged by the fact that something just isn't quite right.


My suggestion is to have a widescreen HDTV in the living room, for use with wife and family and widescreen video games. Then in a home office room or computer room or room of Doom or something, to have a 4:3 set for classic games. Either use the XRGB2+ with a progressive scan 480p 4:3 TV or get a large 4:3 analog rgb monitor like a Sony PVM or Mitsubishi MegaView. Play your classic games primarily on your 4:3 set, if you want the perfect experience. Still play them on the widescreen too, for convience sake, but when you really want a solid experience, you go with the classic 4:3 display. As for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and even many Xbox 1 and PS2 and GameCube games, you want to be playing the native 16:9 games on a real deal widescreen. It's a big waste of the 360 to not be playing it on a widescreen.



Bottom line, you have to have two seperate displays somewhere in your house or apartment or whatever. One for old schools, one for next-gen, and you can of course play next-gen on the old school monitor and old schools on the next-gen HDTV, but if you really want everything to be perfectly proper, you have to play the particular game on the display that would be best for it. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but I've learned that ultimately this is the way to do it.

[KingCobra]

PS2 has to on Componet cables period on a HDTV or it's ass.

[THATinkjar]

Something to point out concerning N64 and HDTV:

A few later N64 Games (Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64, and Banjo-Tooie are all I know of right now with this) offer Wide Screen Support. Try checking the Options Menu on the game you're playing to see if it's avalable.

As did Perfect Dark, I believe. I wonder how bad the framerate would have been in widescreen on that game... @_@

[jdc]

Guys....read my post again. I don't play Xbox games on my 360. (They're SO "yesterday" LOL) It's NOT the games or the consoles that I'm talking about in that section of the post.

I have a brand new 26" 2006 Sharp Aquos "true" HDTV LCD tv with HDMI and all the bells and whistles. I've owned it for 6 months. It has 1 component, 1 S-vid and 4 regular RCA outlets and one of those RGB monitor outlets. However....the set itself doesn't seem to do anything BUT 480p. In other words, if you read the Bible-sized manual from front to back there are instructions on how to change everything you could imagine...but NO instructions on how to up the resolutions. I assumed that you would change the resolution from the TV itself as well as from the 360's dashboard. Whenever you change the input (console to console or tv) it automatically displays the resolution in a display box onscreen, which is never anything over 480p. I paid $1599 Canadian for the Aquos on sale, regular price was $1999.

If anyone here deals with tvs as a profession and can help me out, the model number of the set is LC-26DA5U.

"must be pissed because he's playing Xbox games" I'm playing 360 games on my 360.....and unless I'm wrong, shouldn't they all be playable in the 3 resolutions? I know for a FACT that Project Gotham can....I've played it in 1080 at the local shop. None of the 12 games that I own, including Project Gotham, work when I change the resolution from the dashboard of the 360 itself. I only get a picture on 480p.

[Gamereviewgod]

What happens when you select 720 or 1080 from the 360's options menu? Can you still see a picture?

[jdc]

Gamereviewgod...you've already know what I did wrong. LOL

Phoned Sharp....actually got a guy who is a gamer on the other end. Yep, this Aquos tv does everything including make breakfast. It has more to it than I thought....2 component, 2 S-video, 4 RCA and an HDMI. 9 potential outlets.

Unfortunately, I'm one of those guys who knows jack about electronics. If it doesn't say "how to" verbatim in a manual, I assume it can't be done. My "problem" was the Xbox 360 owners manual in this case. I kept clicking to change the resolution from the dashboard.....the screen went dark and showed no picture....and I assumed it wasn't supporting and I didn't confirm the change, so it quickly went back to 480p every time. It didn't mention in the 360 manual that it takes about 10 seconds or so to "refresh" to the new resolution.

So after owning the damned Aquos/ 360 combo for a half a year, I just fired up MotoGP 06.......in 1080i, and blew a load. What a freakin' difference! Needless to say, it's going to be fun to replay all of my 360 games at higher res. :D :-P Thanks to all for putting up with my stupidity. :P

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

[Gamereviewgod]

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

720p will be a little crisper. The difference is negligible at best for a lot of people though.

[Trebuken]

Oh...I had just figured it out too....

Your set displays the resolution of your source material on the screen. Odds are your set displays material the way it is input rather than converts it to 720P or 1080i like many do.

MotoGP does look awesome I feel. I do not like racing games but it is tempting nonetheless...

The differences between 720P and 1080i are in the eye of the beholder, and the abilities of the screen...

Wait til you play PREY...

Later,
Trebuken

[meancode]

I would say that most if not all of my 360 games look better at 720p than 1080i.

You should put it into 720p and try for yourself. It is more noticeable in some games than others.

I am glad to hear you got your stuff straitened out. Even if it took six months :P

[heybtbm]

I would say that most if not all of my 360 games look better at 720p than 1080i.

I agree. The 720p vs 1080i argument is nothing new here, but I can definitely see the improvement on GRAW, Oblivion, BF2MC, and COD2 when using 720p.

[jonjandran]

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

720p will be a little crisper. The difference is negligible at best for a lot of people though.

And a lot of HDTV's only do 720p natively, they have to upconvert to do 1080i. Which means more work for the T.V. which means you get ghosting and streaking in fast scenes, and sometimes banding and tearing.

[PDorr3]

Thanks for the replies guys, yes I am still using composite cables for my ps2 xbox etc, and this is probably why (as mentioned) that my ps2 games look like crap (I tried to play shadow of the colossus on my hdtv, and it looked sooo bad that I turned it off, and said I wouldent play it again until this problem was fixed).

Right now I am playing anything not on xbox 360 on my small commodore monitor, and lol as funny as it seems the games come in so much better on this old monitor than a freaking hdtv.

So since my hdtv uses the red green and blu cables for my 360, Im guessing theres room in back of my tv for some more component cables (Eventhough its a bitch to get behind this tv in a corner...)

Can any of you post some links or name brand ps2/xbox component cables that you find are the best? Ill pick them up soon... thanks :)

[slip81]

You could try the Monster brand component cables for both PS2 and Xbox. I personally haven't tried them, and Monster stuff does tend to be a bit on the pricey side. But I have used other Monster cables all with great results.

Monster isn't the best you can't get, but for the price it's pretty close since most audio/videophiles will tell you, cabling can get really exspensive.

[heybtbm]

Can any of you post some links or name brand ps2/xbox component cables that you find are the best? Ill pick them up soon... thanks :)

Before this starts getting out of hand with people recommending (Monster) this and (Madcatz) that...

The official Sony PS2 and official Xbox component cables are the best and the cheapest...end of story. You can easily find them for $19.99 at Best Buy or at Amazon (most other stores seem to have stopped selling them in the past year).

Also remember that while Xbox automatically plays games at 480p, the Gamecube and PS2 require you to hold down specific buttons (in most cases) to play progressive scan. Simply putting in a game and turning the console on will not always give you 480p.

Gamecube...hold "B" down while game is booting up.

PS2...hold "triangle" and "X" while booting up.

Very few 480p-capable PS2 and Gamecube games have a progressive scan option in the menu (or even mentioned on the box).

[mailman187666]

I know that even when using component cables with PS2 games, some of them won't really be that much better looking due to the fact that not all games support progressive scan. One PS2 game I've played in progressive scan was Star Ocean. There is no option in the game to switch it over to Progressive. But some games that say they are Progressive enabled, you have to actually hold down the O and X (or it could be O and triangle, it says in the instructions for the game) and it will prompt you to switch to progressive scan mode. I know Dragon Quest VIII, Star Ocean, Jak 3, Gran Turismo 4, and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within , and I think Shadow of the Colossus all make use of component cables. Dragon Quest 8 actually has the option to change the aspect ratio to widescreen too.

[Trebuken]

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

720p will be a little crisper. The difference is negligible at best for a lot of people though.

And a lot of HDTV's only do 720p natively, they have to upconvert to do 1080i. Which means more work for the T.V. which means you get ghosting and streaking in fast scenes, and sometimes banding and tearing.

720P is actually 1080i downconverted from 1080 lines to 720 lines of resolution. I believe every set that does 720P does 1080i...

Ghosting and streaking is a result of the quality of chips used to doe the conversions. Alot depends on source material, and even the contrats settings of the set.

720p vs. 1080i is a matter of taste, but relevant to your set. Many prefer 720p, which is cool, but for myself for example, my set actually upconverst to 1080p so the extra lines of resolution in the 1080i signal make an immense difference. There is a large difference between 108i downcoverted to 720p and 1080i upconverted to 1080p, espeacially on a large screen....

As to cables I too am of the opinion that you won't benefit much if at all from more expensive cables, though cheap cables can have less shielding and sometimes when a power cord or cable of some sort comes in contact you can get interference...cats chew through them quicker too..

Later,
Trebuken

[Trebuken]

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

720p will be a little crisper. The difference is negligible at best for a lot of people though.

And a lot of HDTV's only do 720p natively, they have to upconvert to do 1080i. Which means more work for the T.V. which means you get ghosting and streaking in fast scenes, and sometimes banding and tearing.

720P is actually 1080i downconverted from 1080 lines to 720 lines of resolution. I believe every set that does 720P does 1080i...

Ghosting and streaking is a result of the quality of chips used to doe the conversions. Alot depends on source material, and even the contrats settings of the set.

720p vs. 1080i is a matter of taste, but relevant to your set. Many prefer 720p, which is cool, but for myself for example, my set actually upconverst to 1080p so the extra lines of resolution in the 1080i signal make an immense difference. There is a large difference between 108i downcoverted to 720p and 1080i upconverted to 1080p, espeacially on a large screen....

As to cables I too am of the opinion that you won't benefit much if at all from more expensive cables, though cheap cables can have less shielding and sometimes when a power cord or cable of some sort comes in contact you can get interference...cats chew through them quicker too..

Later,
Trebuken

[jonjandran]

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

720p will be a little crisper. The difference is negligible at best for a lot of people though.

And a lot of HDTV's only do 720p natively, they have to upconvert to do 1080i. Which means more work for the T.V. which means you get ghosting and streaking in fast scenes, and sometimes banding and tearing.

720P is actually 1080i downconverted from 1080 lines to 720 lines of resolution. I believe every set that does 720P does 1080i...

Ghosting and streaking is a result of the quality of chips used to doe the conversions. Alot depends on source material, and even the contrats settings of the set.

720p vs. 1080i is a matter of taste, but relevant to your set. Many prefer 720p, which is cool, but for myself for example, my set actually upconverst to 1080p so the extra lines of resolution in the 1080i signal make an immense difference. There is a large difference between 108i downcoverted to 720p and 1080i upconverted to 1080p, espeacially on a large screen....

As to cables I too am of the opinion that you won't benefit much if at all from more expensive cables, though cheap cables can have less shielding and sometimes when a power cord or cable of some sort comes in contact you can get interference...cats chew through them quicker too..

Later,
Trebuken

That's not true.

720p is 1280x720 and a lot of Plasmas and Lcd T.Vs only do 1280x720. They upconvert to 1080i.

1080i will only work natively on 1920x1080 T.V's.

And yes it has to do with the quality of the chip when it is being upconverted from 720p to 1080i. But if your set doesn't have to upconvert it will look better in 1080i than if it is a Native 720p set that is using a chip to upconvert to 1080i.

So long story short: Use 720p if your T.V's resolution is 1280x720 , use 1080i if your T.V's resolution is 1920x1080. Using your HD T.V's Native resolution will result in the best picture for it.

[Trebuken]

My question is, when would I use 720p instead of 1080i?

720p will be a little crisper. The difference is negligible at best for a lot of people though.

And a lot of HDTV's only do 720p natively, they have to upconvert to do 1080i. Which means more work for the T.V. which means you get ghosting and streaking in fast scenes, and sometimes banding and tearing.

720P is actually 1080i downconverted from 1080 lines to 720 lines of resolution. I believe every set that does 720P does 1080i...

Ghosting and streaking is a result of the quality of chips used to doe the conversions. Alot depends on source material, and even the contrats settings of the set.

720p vs. 1080i is a matter of taste, but relevant to your set. Many prefer 720p, which is cool, but for myself for example, my set actually upconverst to 1080p so the extra lines of resolution in the 1080i signal make an immense difference. There is a large difference between 108i downcoverted to 720p and 1080i upconverted to 1080p, espeacially on a large screen....

As to cables I too am of the opinion that you won't benefit much if at all from more expensive cables, though cheap cables can have less shielding and sometimes when a power cord or cable of some sort comes in contact you can get interference...cats chew through them quicker too..

Later,
Trebuken

That's not true.

720p is 1280x720 and a lot of Plasmas and Lcd T.Vs only do 1280x720. They upconvert to 1080i.

1080i will only work natively on 1920x1080 T.V's.

And yes it has to do with the quality of the chip when it is being upconverted from 720p to 1080i. But if your set doesn't have to upconvert it will look better in 1080i than if it is a Native 720p set that is using a chip to upconvert to 1080i.

So long story short: Use 720p if your T.V's resolution is 1280x720 , use 1080i if your T.V's resolution is 1920x1080. Using your HD T.V's Native resolution will result in the best picture for it.

Hmmm...upon further investigation I find you are ummm mostly correct as I understand this...

http://ezinearticles.com/?720p-Vs-1080i-HDTV&id=91443

Of course you can't upconveret to 1080i if your set does not have 1080 lines of resolution if you argue that 1080 lines are required, though technically 1080i only displays 540 lines at a time.

I'll let Wikipedia be my final thought...

720p versus 1080i
Some U.S. broadcasters use 720p60 as their primary high-definition format; others use the 1080i standard. While 720p presents a complete 720 line frame to the viewer between 24 to 60 times each second (depending on the format), 1080i presents the picture as 50 or 60 partial 540 line "fields" (24 complete 1080-line fields, or "24p" is included in the ATSC standard though) which the human eye or a deinterlacer built into the display device must visually and temporally combine to build a 1080 line picture. The main tradeoff between the two is that 1080i may show more detail than 720p for a stationary shot of a subject at the expense of introducing interlace artifacts from a motion of the camera (such as a pan) or motion of the subject. 720p is used by ABC and ESPN because the smoother image is desirable for fast-action sports telecasts. Fox Broadcasting Company uses the tagline "the nation's finest high-definition standard" in advertising its 720p programming.

Proponents of 720p further argue that at the average viewing distance, with the average size of consumer HDTV sets, the human eye would not actually be able to perceive the difference in resolution between 720p and 1080i. This is because the 720p image "saturates" the perceivable resolution of the eye at this distance—watching from much closer to the monitor, however, the viewer would be able to see the difference.


Later,
Trebuken

[jonjandran]

Sorry I meant "downconvert the 1080i signal to 720p". Don't know why I called it upconverting. Guess I was thinking about Upconverting Dvd players.

[The Manimal]

at THX and SMPTE recommended viewing distances, the difference between 720p and 1080i/p is visible. I have a 1080p set and 1080p NBC looks considerably better (more detailed, sharper) than 720p ABC...

[The Manimal]

since the edit feature is not working!!! ignore my last post. here's the same thing with corrections:


at THX and SMPTE recommended viewing distances, the difference between 720p and 1080i/p is visible. I have a 1080p set and 1080i NBC looks considerably better (more detailed, sharper) on the set than 720p ABC...

[jdc]

I just fired it up in 720p instead of 1080i.....and 720p appears to be less "grainy". Is that correct?

[jonjandran]

I just fired it up in 720p instead of 1080i.....and 720p appears to be less "grainy". Is that correct?

Yes a lot of times that is how it will look. Like I said most sets are only 1280x720 so they run 720p better.

[GregLee]

There isn't anything that can fix the OAR situation. OAR = Original Aspect Ratio. Games prior to Xbox were pretty much designed with 4:3 TV's in mind. Even a ton of Xbox 1 games have a 4:3 OAR. The vast majority of PS2 games have a 4:3 OAR as well. Same thing with GameCube. However, on all those systems, make sure that you go into the settings and check for a 16:9 mode because some of the games require you to select it in the options.
Many Gamecube games have a widescreen option -- about 59 of them (using the database at hdgames.net to count). Of those, 46 also have a progressive scan option. Altogether, 137 GC games have progressive scan.

For progressive scan widescreen games, I think the GC produces a very nice picture on my HD widescreen TV, using component cables. (Much better than S-Video, and much, much better than composite.)

[Anthony1]

There isn't anything that can fix the OAR situation. OAR = Original Aspect Ratio. Games prior to Xbox were pretty much designed with 4:3 TV's in mind. Even a ton of Xbox 1 games have a 4:3 OAR. The vast majority of PS2 games have a 4:3 OAR as well. Same thing with GameCube. However, on all those systems, make sure that you go into the settings and check for a 16:9 mode because some of the games require you to select it in the options.
Many Gamecube games have a widescreen option -- about 59 of them (using the database at hdgames.net to count). Of those, 46 also have a progressive scan option. Altogether, 137 GC games have progressive scan.

For progressive scan widescreen games, I think the GC produces a very nice picture on my HD widescreen TV, using component cables. (Much better than S-Video, and much, much better than composite.)



Yeah, the GC does produce a very nice picture when it comes to the widescreen 480p GameCube games that are out there. Apparently all 46 of them. I'm just saying that for all the games that don't have a 480p option, and they don't have a 16:9 OAR, then it's best to play on a regular 4:3 TV rather than a HDTV. (preferably of course a analog 15kHz rgb monitor)