Xbox 360 +1080p HDTV = WOW

[Steel_Wind]

Ok, for many of you this is old news and a matter of "of course".

For me, the coolness of Full HD is a new experience, brought to me this holiday by Mrs. Santa (portrayed in this case by my lovely wife).

I received a Sony 40" 1080P LCD TV with wall unit this Xmas. I have had a 480p projector (runs at XGA res) which I have used from time to time in the past as a large screen gaming rig. Add in a pretty solid technical understanding of the game creation and resolution/rendering process, I thought I knew all about it.

Gaming on the projector at a decent resolution has had its moments, but never moments of the jaw dropping wowness that has assaulted my eyes and ears over the past few days in full HD.

I have been watching Assassin's Creed initially at 720p and then in upscaled 1080p. (Watching as the aforementioned Mrs. Santa has been doing the playing)

All I can say is: WOW.

Yes. I knew it would look good. Seeing as I have a 100" screen via front projector and a home theatre 7.1 surround sound set up, the home theatre angle of getting an HDTV has always been secondary to us (It's not that we don't like it, rather, we like it so much we already have a front screen projector). Accordingly, with this HDTV, our primary concern was to get a great looking monitor to play Xbox 360 games on.

Anyways: the Sony Bravia 1080p 40" Widescreen LCD (KDL40V2500) delivered far beyond my expectations. I feel like I am late to the party, but HOLY CRAP, do some of these games ever look freakin spectacular.

Short strokes: If you don't have one and you've been on the fence - get one. You will be blown away at the difference in picture quality on the 360.

 

[John Crichton]

Welcome to the party, mang.

I continue to be blown away by the visuals pumped out by the PS3/360 on my 50" plasma. Try popping in a HD movie when you get the capability...

 

[Agamon]

But how is it for non-HD TV? That's what I mostly use my TV for these days. I have a Wii (no 360 or PS3) and no BluRay/HD player. I assume that getting an HD TV and receiver for sports and the odd TV show probably isn't worth it yet. Maybe next year around this time (I'll probably have a 360 by then, I'm guessing).

 

[John Crichton]

But how is it for non-HD TV? That's what I mostly use my TV for these days. I have a Wii (no 360 or PS3) and no BluRay/HD player. I assume that getting an HD TV and receiver for sports and the odd TV show probably isn't worth it yet. Maybe next year around this time (I'll probably have a 360 by then, I'm guessing).

There isn't much of a reason to get an HDTV if you aren't going to watch HD programming/movies or play HD gaming. The good news is all the HD equipment is plummeting in price and there is more of it coming out all the time. Once you start viewing HD stuff, there really isn't any use in going back.

You'll feel spoiled.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I much prefer HD over standard TV, though it was sort of an afterthought. We got an HD capable TV early this year (to replace our old dying TV), and after a couple of months finally picked up the HD tuner (no extra charge from our cable company). After much initial setup frustration, the reult was ... "WOW".

Haven't tried the 360 in HD yet, though. I don't feel like spending $$ for an HDMI cable, and haven't wanted to plug/unplug the HD component cables from the cable box to the TV every time. But I guess I'll have to give it a whirl one of these days.

 

[John Crichton]

I don't feel like spending $$ for an HDMI cable, and haven't wanted to plug/unplug the HD component cables from the cable box to the TV every time. But I guess I'll have to give it a whirl one of these days.

The 360 Elite comes with an HDMI cable, not that it's a great quality cable or anything. And the cords aren't that expensive compared to high quality component cables for the other systems that don't come with one. You can get them for around $15-20. No need to buy expensive HDMI cables.

 

[Redrobes]

I have an Xbox360 and its being used with a VGA cable on a large monitor which somebody was replacing with a flat screen so I nabbed it. Its very nice but not quite HD. I tried it on a friends 40" 1080p and it was very cool but it depends on how close you sit to the screen. HD allows you closer but small screens allow you closer too. I reckon somebody should work out the res to distance to screen size ratios and make a little chart. I.e. small screen 720 great, large screen 1080 required or small screen, sitting close 720 required etc.

Playing shooters where your cross hair (or plasma rifle equiv heh heh) is over a few pixels makes the HD a real improvement over the old TV standards. Reading head up text is so much better with a higher res screen too.

But if HD is off the pay scale then get a big PC monitor for a song and pick up the VGA cable. 1280x960 type res is very respectable and a half way house between 720 and 1080 HD.

Surround sound make a difference too. When you turn around in Halo the sound pans around you in sync. Useless in split screen tho

Talking of HD and split screen is anyone making games that split the screen down the vertical middle of a widescreen ? A 13:4.5 letterbox is just silly when you could have 6.5:9 - anyone know of any games that do this ?

 

[John Crichton]

I have an Xbox360 and its being used with a VGA cable on a large monitor which somebody was replacing with a flat screen so I nabbed it. Its very nice but not quite HD.

That's cool. You can get a nice flat screen these days for your PC really cheap. I've been using a widescreen 24" for a while now and I'm sure it's half the price it was when I got it.

I tried it on a friends 40" 1080p and it was very cool but it depends on how close you sit to the screen. HD allows you closer but small screens allow you closer too.

1080p is really only a difference maker at 50" and above, but yes the distance you are sitting from a screen does matter. 720p and 1080i are just fine for a 40" screen unless you are sitting about 2 feet away, which isn't healthy.

I reckon somebody should work out the res to distance to screen size ratios and make a little chart. I.e. small screen 720 great, large screen 1080 required or small screen, sitting close 720 required etc.

Like this?

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7608_7-1016109-2.html

But if HD is off the pay scale then get a big PC monitor for a song and pick up the VGA cable. 1280x960 type res is very respectable and a half way house between 720 and 1080 HD.

The price shouldn't be that much of a difference. You can get a TV that can handle HD at a respectable size for way under $1000. I would say just save up a bit more if you can't get a LCD/plasma that can handle HD. No need to be buying anything that requires the use of a VGA cable these days to use with a console.

 

[Redrobes]

The price shouldn't be that much of a difference. You can get a TV that can handle HD at a respectable size for way under $1000. I would say just save up a bit more if you can't get a LCD/plasma that can handle HD. No need to be buying anything that requires the use of a VGA cable these days to use with a console.

This monitor was a CRT - massive thing and I mean in depth not screen size. Nobody wanted it. Company chucking it had a pile of monitors to replace with LCDs and this was the last to go because of its size - couldn't give it away. But its high res and large screen so for the price of a VGA cable and some loss of room space its very cheap indeed - sorta $30 to get a reasonably large, reasonably high def screen hooked up. I have a TV to VGA box on it too and watch my TV on it. If it blows up, heck, its off to landfill heaven and ill get another, theres no shortage of them.

 

[trancejeremy]

It looks good. But some stuff is hard to make out, because I guess the textures and the fonts are too detailed, then get blocky/blurry when reduced. I think it really depends on the game.

I got a cheap $10 VGA cable off ebay and hooked it up to my PC monitor.

And bear in mind, most 360 games actually run at 720p (or less)