HDTV question

[SkiDragon]

This is not necessarily video game related, but I wanted to ask a question anyway. I got an HDTV for relatively cheap and it says it will display 1080i, and it is supposed to do progressive scan. Does this mean it should also display all the lower resolutions, like 720p, 420p, etc? I am wondering because after I hooked up my Xbox with component cables and made the correct settings on the Xbox "dashboard", I see little if any difference between that and a normal TV display.
If I was tricked, I will just take it back.

[dj898]

when it says 1080i it usually mean it will upconvert/downconvert 1080i signal to fit on its screen. Many of so called HDTV do accept 1080i but downconvert to display on their screen. Unless the screen is true HD you won't get to see 1080i and not many of so called HDTV support 720p either.

Best check the specification mate.
I have ALiS PDP and it does 1080i beautifully - chopping off few rows from top and bottom and display without an conversion. Luckily our FTA HD broadcasting is fairly decent...

cheers

[SkiDragon]

Ok, this is confusing. I though I had it all figured out.

This is the particular TV that I have.

http://www.adventtv.com/2751adetail.html#
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....8&type=product

Can you tell from this information whether of not it will actually display 1080i? or 720p? Or any of those?

Also, I dont have a high definition tuner or anything, but is normal TV supposed to look worse on an HDTV? Because I swear it does...

[dj898]

yes watching normal (analog) broadcast on HDTV is worse than on normal CRT TV because now you will see all the defects and faults with the signal that weren't so obvious with normal CRT TV. Simply put Garbage In Garbage Out... You really need HD source - inc. good quality DVD - to see the true potential of HDTV. I've been watching 1080i HDTV FTA broadcasting for last year or two and the difference especially with HD program is amazing - CSI HD comes to mind.

Seeing no mention of 720p in the specification I believe that TV won't support 720p. Also given its screen size and price I don't think it's true 1080i set either - probably 480p that downconvert 1080i signal to 480p...

If you need 720p look for another set...
also consider 16:9 widescreen format...

cheers

[SkiDragon]

If you could point me to a website that could explain how to tell if my HDTV is "fake", that would help. This TV may go back to the store if its not what I want. Its also stupid that normal TV looks worse. Oh well...

I just wanted to take advantage of some of the higher definition features of new games, but if it will make normal television and older systems look worse, I'm not sure I should bother.

[dj898]

check out www.avforums.com
I visit that forum from time to time as it's packed with all sorts of HD nuts(?).

For gaming you really don't need higher than 480p device. Sure Xbox does have couple of 720p/1080i titles but you need the screen bigger than, say 40"+ size, to appreciate the difference...

cheers

[SkiDragon]

Ok, it seems that Xbox games look a good deal better on the HDTV, normal TV looks a good deal worse, and other games (including PS2 (component, Gamecube (s-video), and Atari 2600 (RF)) look worse, but its hard to tell to what degree. I have not had a chance to try this with other systems.

By worse I am talking about a fuzzyness in TV and the games, blurring when there is white text on a black backround (or any two contrasting colors), a "ghost" effect as well as above blurriness in "Breakout". Also some FMVs in original playstation games (through PS2) look blocky and also kinda fuzzy. Hard to describe.

I know the Xbox has progressive scan for nearly all of its games, so I understand why that looks better. I checked, and I own no PS2 games that are progressive scan capable. For Gamecube I would need those expensive cables from Nintendo.

Interestingly, when I play a DVD in the Xbox (which does not do DVD progressive scan) the movies look about the same as on a normal TV. I have not tried DVD movies on the PS2, but it does not do progressive scan anyway. I should see how prog scan DVDs look.

I am guessing its the high definition that is causing the problems. Instead of assigning a block of its smaller pixels to a normal pixel, it seems to want to smooth out things, and blur them. This is just speculation of course.

Since very few games do real high def (1080i, 720p) (Will Halo 2?), and I;m guessing the high def is the problem (I dont see how the way it displays lines of pixels would affect anything), I was wondering if there were such a thing as a "normal", non high-def TV that was still capable of progressive scan. If there is, I would probably go for that.

Also, is there any way I can test a 1090i signal without getting a tuner or any of that?

Thanks.

[dj898]

maybe your TV is doing some sort of processing incoming signal.
Read its manual whether you can turn it off to see any difference... you might even need to go to service menu to do which I don't recommend unless you know what you are doing as playing with the service menu can screw up your TV... ;p