Best monitors for playing?

[chadtower]

Just getting back into all of this, what are the best video outputs to play with? What TVs rock? What monitors? What do the real big guys in this forum use?

[wberdan]

i use a generic 17" computer monitor right now, as a video switching/scaling device i use a DVDO ISCAN pro which upscans everything to 480 lines progressive scan. sometimes i use the xbox or ps2 on my projector..

use the best outputs you can, component is best, s-video second.

the absolute best picture imaginable would probably require the Faroudja DVP5000 and a Runco DTV-1200 CRT projector (or equivalent).

the faroudja scales anything 480i or 480p to 960p and anything that outputs 1080i to 1080p. the Runco can handle resolution up to 2500x2500 and project images up to probably 72" (16:9) diagonal. it can easily output a 1080p signal, which anyone that knows anything about high res knows that is absolutely insane.

thats the setup i fantasize about at nighttime.
but its slightly unattainable with a cost of $70k not including screen or sound.

ill stick to computer monitor and iscan for now: total cost= about $ 700

willie

[Eternal Champion]

Hmmmm, well for those of us who can't afford an upscan convertor...it depends on the console. For Genesis and SNES, if you can get RGB cables, (hint: Redmond), old analog RGB monitors (Apple, Amiga, Commodore, I think Atari had one). That's the absolute best way to go with those systems.

[chadtower]

What is Redmond?

[Eternal Champion]

Sorry--That's Redmond Cable. They make custom RGB game console cables. Check out:
http://www.connectworld.net/rcc/pages/game.html

[Sylentwulf]

Panasonic 47" Widescreen HDTV
Component cables for the PS2 and DVD Player
S-video for the Gamecube, and Digital Cable

21" NEC Monitor for the PC games (As rare as that happens)

[chadtower]

Hrm... I don't anticipate a widescreen HDTV any time soon. That's out.

[Gunstarhero]

Hrm... I don't anticipate a widescreen HDTV any time soon. That's out.

Do you have a price range you are shootin for? You can still get awesome TV's that are HDTV ready, and are perfect for gaming for under $1,000. There are plenty of options out there, alot of people go with the Sony VVega or Toshiba counterpart, they aren't HDTV, but they have that Digital comb filtering or whatever(somebody help me out here), at any rate those TV's are great for gaming, and seem to be popular and affordable. Samsung sells some sweet HDTV's for under $1,000, not huge TV's, we're talkin 27"-32", but they are very nice, thats what I went with for my setup.

[wberdan]

what pisses me off a lot is we have these really advanced consoles, like the xbox is just amazing when it outputs a 1080i image, but they dont have any test patterns or instructions to use them built in!
they should absolutely include those- it is IMPOSSIBLE to properly set up a video display without them.
also they should include on every game (i suggested this to MS but they obviously didnt listen)- whether the game outputs a 480p, 720p or 1080i image AND whether the games are enhanced for widescreen tvs.
there is no reason why they dont include that information now... its pure laziness.

also, i have seen tv's that say HD ready that are NOT hd ready- be careful what you buy, and read a LOT of reviews first. there are some notorious problems with certain sets- they are NOT all created equal.
even though some may actually be HD, some have gross color or convergence problems that are not fixable even by service personal.

willie

[Sylentwulf]

>:( >:(
CONVERGENCE
>:( >:(

That's all I have to say about that. If I had known it would be that much of a pain, I would have gladly paid a few hundred extra for auto-convergence.

[wberdan]

sylent- auto convergence is absolutely useless- it is simply not as accurate as doing it manually... you were better off getting manual.
does yours drift a lot? it shouldnt need to be adjusted more than once a month or so...
thats the good thing about the digital TV's/projectors.. they have near perfect geometry that never needs to be adjusted AND they have perfect convergence that never needs adjustment.
unfortunetely, they dont have as resolution as high as the CRT ones like you have, and the black levels suck.. they are more like a deeper grey than black.
sor instance my projector only outputs 1024x578 in 16:9 mode... that kinda blows...


willie

[Gamereviewgod]

I just bought a Samsung 32' HD set and it's unreal. Looking at X-Box and PS2 games through this thing is gaming bliss. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, some HDTV's can use RGB cables like the ones Redmond has, can't they??? How would you know?

[Gunstarhero]

I just bought a Samsung 32' HD set and it's unreal. Looking at X-Box and PS2 games through this thing is gaming bliss. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, some HDTV's can use RGB cables like the ones Redmond has, can't they??? How would you know?

Heck yeah, I love my Samsung HDTV monitor, and its totally made for gaming if you ask me. 4 sets of A/V hookups, 2 S-Video hookups, and a Component video set! Good call for a set. Sorry can't help you about the RGB thing though. Just wondering why would you want to use those when you have component and S-Video? I'm asking because I don't really know why people rave over RGB cables all the time, basically because I don't know what the advantages of using them on TV's are.

[stargate]

if you got a set of RGB cables, how would you hook them up to system? By soldering?

[wberdan]

here is the deal with RGB on HDTV's---
ALL of the HDTV's ive seen have a 15 pin DIN connector EXACTLY like the ones your monitor uses- unfortunetely I believe they NEED horizontal and vertical sync (which is normally contained in a couple of those 15 pins) ..... i dont know if the RGB cables that the previous poster was talking about were the old style (my hunch) that fits old computer monitors- those were just three connectors one for each RG and B...
and those will NOT work on any HDTV i have seen to date... unless you find some way to provide the sync info....i have no idea how to do that.

if they terminate to a 15 pin DIN however, then you MAY be in business

if that wasnt clear (sometimes my rambing makes little sense):

3 seperate RGB cables (like on a componant cable) from game console = no worky on HDTV

15 pin DIN connector output from console= MAY worky on HDTV

willie

[wberdan]

RGB is superior to component and any other output format there is today.
it completely seperates color information, unlike component...plus i think it runs through less circuitry generally, because it does not have any digital processing or anything like component does.. its totally analog. every extreme display you see will most likely only accept RGB inputs

willie

[Gunstarhero]

RGB is superior to component and any other output format there is today.
it completely seperates color information, unlike component...plus i think it runs through less circuitry generally, because it does not have any digital processing or anything like component does.. its totally analog. every extreme display you see will most likely only accept RGB inputs

willie

Man, I can't imagine getting the picture any better on my hdtv monitor, I'm in heaven right now using s-video for my SNES and N64...hook me up with RGB for a better picture and I might just wet myself LOL

[ManekiNeko]

I have an old composite color monitor that one of my neighbors gave me... it was originally for her Apple compatible computer, but since it was a composite color display it worked quite well for playing modern video games. It's quite crisp and sharp in comparison to a standard television set, although probably not preferable to a Dreamcast connected to a VGA monitor.

JR

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