Help w/ TV to get?

[Kritz23]

Hey, just joined the forums in search of help.

I don't have an HDTV in my house and I was looking to get one. The primary purpose of it would be to play the 360 on it and have like 50 or so tv channels on it. I'd like an HDTV as big as possible and cheap as possible. I've got about $1,500 + tax to spend on the tv.

I found this one: Best Buy link (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7196465&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050029&id=1112808997179)

It says its a rear-projection monitor? Not really sure what that means. Would that be a good choice or should I get like a 34' HDTV one for around $1,000. like this (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7064703&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050030&id=1110265591543) ?

Or, even though it's a Sony, should I get this 30' for $800? Link (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6494135&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050030&id=1077628885856)

Thanks in advance for the help

[r3lik1]

Hey, just joined the forums in search of help.

I don't have an HDTV in my house and I was looking to get one. The primary purpose of it would be to play the 360 on it and have like 50 or so tv channels on it. I'd like an HDTV as big as possible and cheap as possible. I've got about $1,500 + tax to spend on the tv.

I found this one: Best Buy link (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7196465&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050029&id=1112808997179)

It says its a rear-projection monitor? Not really sure what that means. Would that be a good choice or should I get like a 34' HDTV one for around $1,000. like this (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7064703&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050030&id=1110265591543) ?

Or, even though it's a Sony, should I get this 30' for $800? Link (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6494135&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050030&id=1077628885856)

Thanks in advance for the help


i wouldn't go w/ a projection screen..... i have a 54" projection screen that i used to play xbox on...and the color went out on it(well just the red), and the guy that came to look at it said its from playing xbox(or any game system) on it....projection screen + xbox = BAD

[Go420Dawgs]

See if you can find a DLP tv. I have a Samsung 50'' DLP tv. And Hdtv looks amazing on it. It uses light more efficiently then most tvs so you get a better picture quality.

[swivel]

I agree with GoDawgs. DLP is the best picture for the money. Stay away from the thin LCD and Plasmas unless you have the money to blow, or need the Wife Acceptance Factor. DLP sets, and the new LCD projection sets give you more screen for the same amount of money.

The biggest thing to look for is how black the blacks look. And when you are in the stores, know that they set the colors, saturation, and contrast to look especially vivid. Your screen won't look like that when you get home. Which is good, the greens are usually overblown in the supercenters.

Personally, I love Hitachi TV's right now. I have two Hitachis that have served me well. The ones with the breakout boxes are the best. You don't have to get to the back of the TV ever again.

Good luck, and keep us posted with your choice.

[Nato King]

that 52" looks great and it's only 1,099.oo that is cool. I just got a new TV. Sony 42" HD tv with sourrond sounds. It cost me about 3,689.00.

[ShadedNine]

I'll start by saying welcome to Xbox Addict.

As for the TV, the number one thing I'm stressing for those looking to use the set primarily for Xbox 360 is native 720p...that means 1280x720 or 1280x768 in some cases.

Why you ask? Simple. All xbox 360 games, as far as I am aware, will support up to and no higher than 720p. So, getting a higher resolution screen (and paying dearly for it) won't help you. In fact, it will actually look *worse* than a native 720p. The reason for this is quite simple. In the images below, I draw on and off horizontal black lines evenly spaced on a 128x72 image. I then scaled that image to 192x108. Both images were then exactly doubled in size, just in case anyone here has vertical banding problems on their monitors. Now in practice, both these screens would be the same size, we're simply looking for sharpness and detail here. You'll notice that the 192x108 image is softer...a result of the scaler putting grey lines 'in-between' the white and black in the rows where it had to add pixels. This means a slight loss of detail in your screen.

http://members.shaw.ca/serinkd/72p.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/serinkd/108p.jpg

Now that we've cleared that up, hopefully the stores you're shopping at also won't try to stick you with a 480p display (which is not HDTV, it's "E[nhanced]DTV").

As already mentioned, if you can find a DLP or LCD rear projection set that suits your budget, you will likely be much happier with the result. If you're able to go above $1000, I'd stay well away from any CRT Tube systems. You're better off with CRT Projection in most instances. As far as brands go, there's plenty that make a good system, but it does vary model to model. Sony actually isn't bad in the projection market, WEGA systems are excellent (it's their flat-panel tech that's behind). Hitachi, as suggested is good, Panasonic is good, Samsung, Philips...there's no shortage of competition.

[swivel]

Shaded... I don't know if you have spent time with 1080i, but it looks great. 1080p is really the way to go if you have the money. HD-DVD's are going to look best on 1080p. But even the 1080i looks great. HD Discovery blows ESPN away. Even with moving objects, which is counter to all theory.

Give me more resolution over refresh rate any day. Refresh is too fast for the eye in both cases.

And I've heard many XBox2 games will support 1080. Not sure where you heard they will max out at 720.

[Hero]

Plasmas wear out over time so quality will keep getting worse and worse. With DLP you have consistency and by the time you replace the lightbulb it will look as good as the day you first bought it.

the only weakness DLP has is that if you view the TV past a certain angle you wont be seeing much quality. But who views thier TV from the sides? :whistle:

[ShadedNine]

Shaded... I don't know if you have spent time with 1080i, but it looks great. 1080p is really the way to go if you have the money. HD-DVD's are going to look best on 1080p. But even the 1080i looks great. HD Discovery blows ESPN away. Even with moving objects, which is counter to all theory.

Give me more resolution over refresh rate any day. Refresh is too fast for the eye in both cases.

And I've heard many XBox2 games will support 1080. Not sure where you heard they will max out at 720.

Might bear more looking into, but I had heard that all games for the 360 would be 720p native, but the unit would upscale/downscale to anywhere from standard def to 1080i.

As for 720p vs. 1080i, I disagree but that argument has been fleshed out countless times in more forums that I can shake a stick at, so I won't go there. For all intents and purposes they're pretty much equal, only 1080i will look better with a 1080i source, and 720p will look better with a 720p source.

What it comes down to, is if the 360 DOES support direct unscaled output at 1080i as well, then either resolution of TV set will look great.

Need sources and/or clarification on that then...I did a quick search, turned up nothing that would specifically say if the console will actually support both resolutions, or just upscale it.

[Kritz23]

tvauthority (http://www.tvauthority.com/DLP-TV-HDTV/Toshiba-46HM95.asp)

Futureshop (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0770HDS0010043355&catid=23523&atab=2&spviewed=&logon=&langid=EN#content)

These would both be in my price range. Is either one suited well for the 360? Which one would be better? Once again, I appreciate the replies.

[Reclaimer]

Hey since we're talking about it, I was out today looking at TV's because I'm definately looking towards the future for hi-def enjoyment. I looked at a bunch of plasmas, LCD's and DLPs.
For one thing, off all the units I looked at, rear projection is definately out. Every TV that was a RP looked bad and too grainy, especially for the money.
I'm not digging LCD's because of viewing angles washing out. Plasmas look good and I asked the guys about life spans of plasmas and they all pretty much said that normal viewing and gaming you'll get at least 7-10 years out of the new models.
Saw some DLP models, they look good too.

The thing I'm wondering about is EDTV and HDTV. EDTV's are considerably cheaper than true HDs. The one thing I noticed, like a common denominator of EDTV's was that they don't give you the 1080i or 1024x768 resolutions.
Should I even be considering EDTV models in regards to gaming and normal TV viewing?

[swivel]

I'd stay away from EDTV's. You really need 1024X768. Otherwise you are going to be left behind as everything goes to Hi-Def.

The newer plasmas are actually OK for gaming now. Just make sure the model you are looking at is very recent. They are going things like Pixel Shift, which moves the image around in a way that you can't see. It totally alleviates burn-in. Also, the power draw on plasmas has gone down, so the longevity is up.

I used to be very anti-plasma... but most of the problems are fixed, and they still have the best blacks and lowest amount of motion blur. So I would be in the market for one of them (If money was no object). Otherwise, I would be looking at a DLP projector.

[ShadedNine]

@Kritz The Toshiba takes the cake, hands down.

@Rec First, you seem to be contradicting yourself. How can you like DLP, but dislike all rear projection (unless perhaps you were looking at front projection DLPs?). DLP, being a tiny chip about the size of a processor, doesn't put out much of an image without a light source and screen to bounce the light onto.

Plasmas are definitely nice if you can afford the size you're looking at getting, but they're very pricy. Reliability isn't so much a concern any longer, at least no more than the other technologies.

EDTV will be far from ideal for the 360. If you're even looking into spending the kind of money you'd have to spend for a decent plasma, you should be in an EDTV-free zone. With EDTV you'll find yourself upscaling images from the 360 and future HD DVDs. Regular TV watching and (current)DVD movies will be unnaffected (other than by the general quality of the TV itself). If you're setting your budget at less than $2000, then some of the better/larger EDTV models might be worth looking at. If you're going over that, only look to HDTV.

I'm still keeping my eye open for info on exactly what and how the 360 will output it's hi-def content at (ie: will it output native 1080i or scale it from 720p...)

[Reclaimer]

@Rec First, you seem to be contradicting yourself. How can you like DLP, but dislike all rear projection (unless perhaps you were looking at front projection DLPs?). DLP, being a tiny chip about the size of a processor, doesn't put out much of an image without a light source and screen to bounce the light onto.


Those were the older front projection models that I was looking at.
Thanks for the good info.

[Jags]

i got a crappy 19" tv its not bad but it HAS gone pink in the corner wat the hell is up with that
coz my last tv (same kind) blew a fuse and it TOO went pink in hte corner

[Go420Dawgs]

Here's my tv (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7074453&type=product&id=1110265592237)

Bought it about a year and a half ago when it was like 4 g

Think it will work on the new xbox ;)

[puccitech]

hello

I'm new to all this!... how do i post a new topic? hope you can help.

thanks

[Bakeman]

This is for the whole 720p discussion...

There is a video with two guys being interviewed, they mostly talk about the Media Center fucntions the 360 does and what not, near the end the guy behind the camera asked about HDTV's to get the best image from the 360. They said that for best image with Xbox 360 is to get a NATIVE 720p .. SUCH as the Samsung 23inch LCD that they have been showing the 360 off EVERYWHERE. The Kiosk systems use the exact tv.

Since I can't find the link to where I got the video, hit me up on AIM and I can send you the file. It is 80mb's ... AIM = BakemanXBA

[ShadedNine]

This is for the whole 720p discussion...

There is a video with two guys being interviewed, they mostly talk about the Media Center fucntions the 360 does and what not, near the end the guy behind the camera asked about HDTV's to get the best image from the 360. They said that for best image with Xbox 360 is to get a NATIVE 720p .. SUCH as the Samsung 23inch LCD that they have been showing the 360 off EVERYWHERE. The Kiosk systems use the exact tv.

Since I can't find the link to where I got the video, hit me up on AIM and I can send you the file. It is 80mb's ... AIM = BakemanXBA

Yeah, that's what I thought. Not sure where or when I heard it, wasn't in a video, but I got the impression somewhere that the 360 ran all its games at 1280x720 and scaled them from there to whatever was set on the dashboard.

I'm going to stick to believing this until I see evidence otherwise, and urge those buying TVs primarily for the 360 to favor 720p over 1080i models (for most other applications, it really doesn't make a noticeable difference, there's a dozen other factors that are more important).