Next Gen / HDTV

steviec

As we all know, HDTV is being pushed heavily as a main feature of Microsoft and Sony's next gen consoles. Which is all well and good in America, but over here where there is no such thing as Hi-Def content of any kind whether on tv or on disc, you'd want to be a pretty hardcore gamer to splash out a couple of grand on a proper HDTV. So presumably, for the early part of this cycle at least, most people with an xbox 360 will be using it with a regular tv.

So I was just wondering how this will affect things. Does HDTV still use a scart connector or something different? Will an adaptor be required for the xbox 360 on a standard tv? Will it be possible to use a PC monitor and speakers as a HDTV? My monitor is a crystal clear LCD display that does 1280 X 768(which is about the norm), as far as I know HDTV is 1366 X 768 so there's not much difference there. Is there anything to stop you getting a large cheap CRT monitor and using it as a HDTV for a fifth of the price? There probably is, but thats why I'm asking

Mossy Monk

steviec wrote:

As we all know, HDTV is being pushed heavily as a main feature of Microsoft and Sony's next gen consoles. Which is all well and good in America, but over here where there is no such thing as Hi-Def content of any kind whether on tv or on disc

you dont know, HDTV is already available through the Astra 1 satellite
Sky will also be launching some HDTV channels next year

monument

Just on TV, HDTV is been trailed by the BBC and Sky next year, apparently the Beeb’s HD content will be free (we’ll possibly get it only over Sky here???) but to get Sky One, Movies etc in HD you'll have to pay extra, you'll also need a new set top box. (...this is all according to my memory of a Guardian article)

There’s info on the tech side of things here… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV

Jammer

HDTV's arent expensive. almost any plasma/LCD TV you buy now will be HDTV ready. It's the way of the future. The connection is HDCI (looks wise it reminds me of a big S-ATA cable), but for Sky needs to support HDCP (Hi-Def Copy Protection). I've seen the demo's that currys/dixons will be showing over xmas, and its class, looks like a moving photograph.

Explosive_Cornflake

I think it's Mr. Mean over on techseekers.net has a good write up on HDTV in ireland, with regards to sky and consoles and so on. Site is down or something at the minute, so I'll stick up a link later.

Edit: Google Cache http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:8iUWWsyE0AQJ:www.techseekers.net/modules.php%3Fname%3DForums%26file%3Dviewtopic%26p%3D11420+techseekers+hdtv&hl=en&client=firefox-a
and fixed name

Jimi-Spandex

I'm in the US, so I've been lucky enough to see alot of shows on the HD channels.

It's absolutely amazingly sweet. Sharts all over regular tv, especially nasty ntsc. There's nothing like watching american football on a big 84" HD screen. You'll find yourself watching any old garbage as long as it's high res.

As for games, having seen the 360 in action on HD it looks pretty good. Nothing remarkable though. I haven't seen it on regular tv though so I wouldn't be able to compare them

Retr0gamer

Would aliasing not stand out more in Hi-Def? The advantage of the CRT TVs was that the blurriness negated the use of anti-aliasing.

steviec

Retr0gamer wrote:

Would aliasing not stand out more in Hi-Def? The advantage of the CRT TVs was that the blurriness negated the use of anti-aliasing.

Yea it does, I was playing call of Duty on the X360 in gamestop in Hi-Def and there was some really really bad aliasing in places. The other games weren't so noticeable though so I doubt it'll be much of a problem with many games, the machine should be able to do anti-aliasing well enough.

iregk

steviec wrote:

Does HDTV still use a scart connector or something different? Will an adaptor be required for the xbox 360 on a standard tv? Will it be possible to use a PC monitor and speakers as a HDTV? My monitor is a crystal clear LCD display that does 1280 X 768(which is about the norm), as far as I know HDTV is 1366 X 768 so there's not much difference there. Is there anything to stop you getting a large cheap CRT monitor and using it as a HDTV for a fifth of the price? There probably is, but thats why I'm asking

Stevie, the hdtv does not use a scart, it has its own specialised cable. The xbox will also ship with standard scart cable for use with non hdtv's. With hdtv though its not just pixels there are different formats, i, si etc... so your lcd monitor wont by anywhere near it.

Also sky are planning for sky1 and skysports1 to go HD from next march, the bbc are not following until 2007 but to get the HD for sky requires a new sky box that is currently retailing at €350. So a lot to shell out straight away people... Also NTL have recently said they wont start HD until 2008 and have full HD broadcast by 2010.

Cuddlesworth

The inquirer posted that the xbox360 looks quite bad on a normal tv. For this reason all display models have been on hdtv screens.

Hercule

GREAT NEWS!

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=128901

Because of the ever advancing state of global HD-TV standard Sony has decided to scrap region encoding on their games for playstation 3 which means that we can finally buy Japanese and American games for our Irish Playstations without modding. If that isnt a good excuse for HD-TV I dont know what is :eek:

Cuddlesworth

GREAT NEWS!!

Sony is planning to make up software that means the first console a game is played on will be the only console it is played on. Hurray for gamers, now we have no exscuse for selling off games when we get bored of them

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27568

_CreeD_

There is more aliasing if you use the lower HD modes (480p for example) but the flickerless/solid image is still much better than interlaced. Remember too that Xbox360 games are (supposedly) all going to use Anti-Aliasing and be playable at 1080i (that's 1920x1080 resolution ) at release. If these standards are kept to it should look great on even the largest TV's.
As for content even just having a DVD player (Or original Xbox) that outputs 480p is a worthwhile reason to get HDTV imho, let alone waiting for native Higher def. content.

Praetorian

krazy_8s wrote:

GREAT NEWS!!

Sony is planning to make up software that means the first console a game is played on will be the only console it is played on. Hurray for gamers, now we have no exscuse for selling off games when we get bored of them

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27568

If they do that I definitely won't buy a Ps3

skywalker

Praetorian wrote:

If they do that I definitely won't buy a Ps3

You wont be the only one. If they do that I wont go near the console on principle, but surely they arent stupid enough to try this are they?

PixelTrawler

The call of duty demo looks quite like the pc demo and quite sharp from about 4 feet away - you dont notice the jaggies - i guess most people will play it 4-6 feet away so it should be ok. Not like the pc where you may be 1-2 feet

up close its quite rough... was looking at an x360 demo booth in xtravision the other evening - but you could definitely forgive it