360 + SDTV = meh?

[le geek]

Okay, so my brother-in-law came over yesterday and brought his 360, Beautiful Katamari and Halo 3. We hooked it up to my 36" Sony WEGA SDTV and - no surprise - Katamari looks about the same, but was still fun.

But Halo 3 also looked like more of the same. Now it was a little shinier and the draw distance was there, but it didn't look "next gen" to me. I know that you can do 4 player coop and there's all the "web 2.0" additions, but really as someone who likes Halo for the single player campaign (even though I still need to finish the first Halo) I have to say I was disappointed.

So is HALO kind of meh on the visuals or is the 360 just meh on an SDTV? It would have been good to have something like BioShock for a better comparison...

-Ben

[kaedesdisciple]

Okay, so my brother-in-law came over yesterday and brought his 360, Beautiful Katamari and Halo 3. We hooked it up to my 36" Sony WEGA SDTV and - no surprise - Katamari looks about the same, but was still fun.

But Halo 3 also looked like more of the same. Now it was a little shinier and the draw distance was there, but it didn't look "next gen" to me. I know that you can do 4 player coop and there's all the "web 2.0" additions, but really as someone who likes Halo for the single player campaign (even though I still need to finish the first Halo) I have to say I was disappointed.

So is HALO kind of meh on the visuals or is the 360 just meh on an SDTV? It would have been good to have something like BioShock for a better comparison...

-Ben

It sounds shallow, but I really didn't start appreciating my 360 until I bought an HDTV. I was feeling similarly before I bought it, rather underwhelmed by the whole experience. I don't think it'll make that much difference on katamari, but on games like Halo 3 or Gears, you will definitely notice and appreciate the difference.

[mailman187666]

I think the only new gen system that is worth playing on an SDtv is wii because it isn't all about HD graphics. Its like yeah you can play PS3 and 360 on SD but it isn't what its meant for. Unfortunately it seems this is the first generation of systems that require a better TV inorder for it to be truely next gen.

[Cinder6]

You're running into two problems. The first is that the 360 does, in fact, look "meh" on an SDTV. The second is that Halo 3's graphics aren't that much improved over Halo 2, which is sad.

[davidbrit2]

Just grab the VGA cables. The 360 looks significantly better on even just an average computer monitor.

[Poofta!]

Just grab the VGA cables. The 360 looks significantly better on even just an average computer monitor.

a computer monitor is better than an HDTV, so uh... yeah, it looks amazing.

vga will give you 720p and hdmi will give you 1080p (hdmi is actually same interface as dvi, so you can just use a simple little converter)


a 360 on SDTV is the equivalent of a Ferrari in NYC rush hour traffic....

[Slate]

I personally loved playing my 360 even when I didn't have an HD set (And I was playing dead rising.. Everyone knows the text problem with that game) But yes HD sets improve the 360 experience a lot. Gears looks great and bioshock is brilliant and I'm guessing that Halo 3 looks a lot better on an HD set. I haven't played it on a SDTV so I can't compare it.

Just grab the VGA cables. The 360 looks significantly better on even just an average computer monitor.

What he said.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

While I also enjoyed my 360 and PS3 on my SDTV, it did make a big difference when I got my HDTV. Prettier on the HDTV? Yes...Fun on ANY TV? Yes

[cyberfluxor]

I saw it on a 50ish inch HD projection TV and it looks nice. Not the best ever, but nice. It is an improvement over every PS2 shooter I own 3-fold and beats a lot of the Xbox shooters I've seen. Don't get me wrong, I still love my PC shooters more (ahh, Half-life, Pain Killer, Quake, Unreal) but it was nice.

Oh, and I've played Resistance on a 42" HD LCD TV and it was about on par with Halo 3 graphics. Some may disagree but from my standpoint and the limited gameplay I've had/seen.

[Damaramu]

Ok, I JUST brought home a nice new Xbox bundle (came with Forza 2, Ultimate Alliance, 20gb hdd, headset and 1 month live free).

I bought a VGA cable along with and after looking at the cable more closely.....I discover it's useless to me. You see, my older monitor won't support it. It has only...a male plug. Just like the VGA cable I bought, so there's no way in hooking up the Xbox to my monitor (needs a female plug like on the back of a 3D card).

Does anyone make a VGA plug with a female connector on it? Or am I just going to have to bite the bullet and pick up a newer monitor with the appropriate plug on it? What about those cooling unit/VGA connector combos? Will those work?

[Borman]

It should have a male/female changer in the package if its the official VGA cord.

[otaku]

I have access to an HDTV but the owner (room mate) doesn't like people playing on it so my 360 is still on my sony SDTV but soon I will get an HDTV from sony!

I do have a 20inch dell lcd I could use possibly..

I dunno it all looks good enough to me (I am running it through component)

[le geek]

Wet Blanket Update!

"It's the TV stupid!" - James "Fudgy the Whale" Carville

Tried out some 360 today in Hi Def and all is well. Halo 3 looks a lot better, even Beautiful Katamari looks better. Also tried Bioshock for the first time and it just jumped to the top of my want list. Skate seems cool too.

Now to save up for Hi Def... sigh...

[skylark]

You're running into two problems. The first is that the 360 does, in fact, look "meh" on an SDTV. The second is that Halo 3's graphics aren't that much improved over Halo 2, which is sad.

This was my impression. I walked in on my brother playing Halo 3 on my 42" HDTV, and I thought it was Halo 2 until he told me otherwise. There is a difference, but it's not the best game to judge by. I think a better indicator might be a comparison between Morrowind and Oblivion.

But really, the next gen HD experience is worth checking out. If you can upgrade, then do it.

[kedawa]

The way most games are being developed for the system, most of the added horsepower is being used to render at higher resolutions, so if you don't have a display that can take advantage of that, you aren't going to notice much of a difference.
That's not to say that there aren't other advantages to the new hardware, since better lightng and physics, and more objects onscreen can be appreciated at any resolution.
Still, this whole generation has been stunted by the HDTV transition.

vga will give you 720p and hdmi will give you 1080p (hdmi is actually same interface as dvi, so you can just use a simple little converter)

You can get 1080P out of the VGA connection.

[UniHamachi]

Actually, everything looks "meh" on SDTV. Even Wii games look leaps and bounds better on HDTV. DVD's on SD vs HD look like two different video standards.

Still, this whole generation has been stunted by the HDTV transition.

Absolutely. Everyone kills the Wii for not being "hi-def", but the real problem is that lags waaay behind in processing power. I would bet that a rock solid 60 fps at 480p with tons of polys and effects would look better in game than 1080i at stuttery 30fps. But no one is going to do that because the marketing dept would have them asassinated. They want to advertise the hi-def resolution.

Hell, Halo 3 wasn't quite hi-def -- only obessive nerds counting scanlines figured that out. Do you think anyone who was playing would have seen it?

Check out the Cars DVD on an HDTV set -- who wouldn't drool if a game looked like that? And yet, that's 480i (not even 480p). So it's not just a resolution issue, but MS and especially Sony act like the resolution alone will decide what looks good and what doesn't.

[Damaramu]

Well, I went to my local Micro Center and bought a VGA bridge to allow connectivity between my PC monitor and my 360:

HOLY SHEE-IT! What a difference! Games like Oblivion and Blacksite Area 51 (is this out yet? it's on my list of must haves!) just popped and oozed detail, especially the latter game. Oh man. I cannot wait until I get my widescreen monitor!