Help! My 46" DLP is classic gaming hell!

[leglevy]

Ok guys. Last year, me and my gf decided to go HD so we bought ourselves a nice 46" Samsung DLP (HL-P4663W). The set cost a little under 2K and the image quality blew us away. I never thought HD could be such a departure from what we once knew.

All this time, the amazing HDTV stayed with my gf at her place and I had my humble 26" Toshiba, a very simple, flat tube tv. I love this tv to death; it always gave a lot of love to my classic systems (Genesis, Saturn, Dreacast).

Then comes the DLP (I moved in) and all hell broke loose. Suddenly we had major, major lag at each button press. Horrible. Some games became unplayable, others became too difficult. The tv was awesome for everything, except GAMES.

Imagine the pain of dropping 2K on a tv that is useless for games. Yeah, it sucks.

But we found some solutions:

a) a Toshiba "upconverter" DVD that bumped standard res DVDs to 720p or 1080i (necessary to fix lip-sync issues)

b) a ADS 1500 - a scaler - for the classic games. It helped a lot with the lag and fixed typical "old tech" limitations like low resolution, color bleeding and the like

We got here through a lot of specialized forums but I can't say it was a pleasurable ride. Now, I need your help. I need the answer to 2 questions:

1. Is there any chance that the new 1080p sets will do justice to classic systems? Will they accept 480i as input, will they keep the video pristine? Is it possible that new models (like Sony's new SXRD KDS-50XBR1) will get rid of the lag?

2. What is your tv of choice, old or new, in regard to classic systems? Why?

I hope this wasn't too long, but I had to give you guys all the details. Thanks for the patience!

[Sothy]

Ive never heard of problems like that... It would piss me off.

Why didnt you just return it upon finding these issues and then get something else... I mean 2 grand holy shit.

[sega-trader]

It will be a long, long time before 480i support goes away. That is the resolution of all VCRs, many DVDs, all classic video game systems, many Xbox games, most gamecube games, and most PS2 games. Not to mention a majority of TV shows.

[leglevy]

We didn't want to go through the process of returning it... And DVDs looked amazing.

We also thought "there must be a way to fix this!"

[Anthony1]

When it comes to classic systems and absolute state of the art modern HDTV's, the best choice that one can make is to get your hands on a XRGB2-plus. Unfortunately, everybody else knows this too, and the premium you have to pay to get your hands on one now is ridiculous.


Of course, there is a reason why people are paying all that money

[cyberfluxor]

It sounds like a wierd problem to me and should be solved with just playing your older games on the other TV. Very simple answer, if you have the room to put it up someplace like a bedroom dresser infront of your bed.

[The Manimal]

this is the case for ALL samsung DLP RPTV sets (except pedestal models) but can be remedied by using something like the XRGB2+ and running VGA to the set.

No lag through VGA

2006 "HLS" series models have an improved 'Game Mode', which early/initial reports are that this problem is finally resolved.


It's because of video processing. Your image needs to be scaled to the resolution of the set AND be deinterlaced. Also, Samsung has "DNiE" which adds even more time.


Advice? Google info on disabling DNiE if you cannot do so through normal menus. This will require changing settings in the service menu which is somehting like TV OFF - 1 - 9 - 2 - MUTE - TV ON. I

Saftest bet for you is using some type of converter to convert to VGA.

[The Manimal]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=558125

[alexkidd2000]

How i love my ISF Calibrated Toshiba 51" RPTV. Space Harrier never looked better!

[Trebuken]

1080P sets can do good and bad things to games. Sometimes they magnify the flaws, but you can get used to that. Some of the colors in N64 games, for example, can look unnaturally good. NES games on the other hand may look good simply because they are unsophisticated.

My sister has the SXRD (I have a Toshiba 1080P). The only system she has attached is a PS2 (via component cables), and we could not get the aspect ration to fit the screen correctly. It looked a little off, but not necessarily in a bad way. I could only compare it to my Toshiba.

I have tried just the NES and N64 so far on my set and they both worked well, without lag. Need to get the correct viewing distance though. Extension cables and/or wireless controllers become a must. I have hooked them up through RCA/Composite connections and have not tried S-Video or RF yet.

Later,
Trebuken

[nebrazca78]

All this time, the amazing HDTV stayed with my gf at her place and I had my humble 26" Toshiba, a very simple, flat tube tv. I love this tv to death; it always gave a lot of love to my classic systems (Genesis, Saturn, Dreacast).


2. What is your tv of choice, old or new, in regard to classic systems? Why?

I'm guessing you may be talking about a 27" Toshiba? 26" is a strange size of T.V. unless it's a widescreen. I personally love my 27" Toshiba. It's a tube T.V. and it's not a flat-screen but it has the best color and clarity of any T.V. I've ever seen in it's price range ($400 new about 7 years ago). People who see it for the first time sometimes comment about how sweet it looks compared to their T.V.s. I also have a second 20" Toshiba set up in the living room so we can watch T.V. and play games at the same time. That T.V. is about 15 - 20 years old and it looks great. When I do upgrade in a few years I will be getting something gigantic but I'll make sure it works perfectly with my games. Otherwise it's only half a T.V.

[leglevy]

Hey,
I solved my problem. After much fear and suffering - and almost trading my DLP for a CRT rear projection that cost only $700 - I found a solution.

I bought this thing online last Thursday and got it today. Pretty fast shipping. After I hooked everything, I had some interesting results:

1. The Genesis wouldn't play

The Genny is 240p and few HDTV sets can deal with it. Since the thing I bought can't deal with it either - it doesn't do progressive scan - my Genny will be relegated to the 27" Toshiba SD.

(yes, you were right about the size

2. It looks a lot worse than my upconverter

Yeah, I lost picture quality. Consoles that are already 640x480 don't suffer as much but older systems like the Saturn show all their flaws. The only way to fix this is to not allow the tv to upscale the video. The following modes worked well: EXPAND for full screen games and WIDE PC for widescreen.

3. NO LAG!

Lag is gone for good. I bet the image processing doesn't include anything that comes through the VGA input.

In short, I'm really happy I solved my problem. It is very disheartening to not be able to play games on a top of the line HDTV. Thanks a lot for your answers!

Luis