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Videogames, HDTV and Widescreen 16:9? 118

Posted by simoniker from the many-tiny-pixels dept.
Swerbo writes "I've been thinking about buying a widescreen HDTV-ready television for quite some time now, but being the geek that I am, I'm more interested in playing video games on it than on watching DVDs or HDTV. I couldn't find much on Slashdot about this (except some material on the new GTA3/VC box set), and most of the info on the Net is superficial or fact-based such as which games are available in 480p, 720p, 1080i, and/or 16:9. So, I couldn't think of a better place to ask: Has anyone been playing video games on HDTV and/or in 16:9 widescreen format? If so, what have your experiences been? Is it awesome? Does it suck? Does it justify the additional cost of an HDTV just to play 4:3 using 480p (since not much else is supported yet like 720p or 1080i with/without 16:9?) Or does your framerate drop and the games get choppy? What's the availability of HD games on the various console platforms, and why don't more games handle native 16:9 widescreen format (with extras like side-by-side split screen rather than vertical split-screen)?"
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Videogames, HDTV and Widescreen 16:9? More

Videogames, HDTV and Widescreen 16:9?

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  • Xbox games have decent -> good support for 16:9.

    MechAssualt come to mind, although the graphics don't stand up they offer vertical split multiplayer.

    I haven't bought the additional hardware for my ZeldaCube, the cartoon Link looks just fine a little stretched.

  • site (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:17AM (#7528866)
    Check out http://hdgames.net [hdgames.net]. There is some good info there.

    • Re:site (Score:3, Informative)

      by Munk ( 59689 ) *
      Yeah hdgames.net has a lot of information, but I like the way that this site [hdtvpub.com] is structured better and the search is nice. This is a link to the xbox HD games, but to dropdown contains the other consoles.
  • You will want a plasma or LCD HDTV if you are going to be playing alot of video games because of the static images that alot video games have that will cause burn-in on the screen.

    • Re:HDTV (Score:5, Informative)

      by slaker ( 53818 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:33AM (#7529034)
      Plasma monitors also burn in. In fact, it's a really stupid thing to do, to watch 4x3 content on a 16x9 plasma screen, or vice versa, since the black bars on the edges lead to burn in just as easily as any other static pictures.

      My brother owns a plasma TV. Apparently the little logos TV stations put in the corner of the screen can do it, too.

      LCDs burn in, too, sort of, but the LCD version of it goes away if you leave your display off for a week or so. The timeframe for LCD burn in is more like that for a CRT (several days/weeks). Plasma and projection CRTs both burn in VERY quickly (I've heard as little as 20 minutes).

      While I'm at it, allow me to say something heretical, as someone who owns a 32" widescreen CRT: For everyday viewing, 4x3 is better.

      Why?

      I would've paid the same price for a 4x3 presentation monitor with the same horizontal measurement as my widescreen, and I would've gotten something like four more inches of viewable area in the vertical dimension. Since the horizontal area is the same, the total size of a 16x9 image is the same, but 4x3 content is A LOT bigger. And not distorted or surrounded by black bars.

      I tested this out with my 4x3 projector and a tape measure.

      Hope that Helps.

      • Re:HDTV (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Naffer ( 720686 )
        Yea, plamsa burn in is quite bad. Many high end plasma televisions have methods of removing short term burn in, but Plama also suffers from perm. burn in. In fact, the blue pixels have about half the usable life of the rest of the pixels so be prepared for lower quality images as your pannel ages.
      • Yup. This is one of the reasons I'm waiting for a really good HD DLP projector before making that kind of investment. I will say, however, that there are some CRT-based HD sets which aren't ideal but are inexpensive and have much better resolution than your typical TV. I managed to get a Zenith floor model set and it'll tide me over 'til I can get a triple-array, 1080i DLP projector.
      • I own a nice 16:9 HDTV projection CRT made by Phillips. I don't have any problems with burn even after playing lots of games on it. Interestingly, this seems to be because the TV itself is smart enough to shift 4:3 content horizontally a little bit every few minutes to compensate. Works well.
        As for HDTV/Widescreen format games, I play PS2, and most of tha games ether support 9:16 or don't look too bad stretched. Unfortunately not many support HDTV features. (aside from SOCOM). The best image I ever got
      • Go look at CNN on TV.
        Thier big plasma screens behind the news desk have the CNN logo burned into it! BWAHAHA!
  • A lot of Gamecube games support 480p (almost the majority).

    I also know, "Dragon's Lair 3D" (cool game by the way) supports 1080i on the XBox.

    Hope that helped.
  • I recently just got an HDTV ready 54" tv which I just love. I have not thought about hooking up a game to it yet, but that may be because I don't play console games. I only play FPS on the computer. I would like to find ways to expand the field of view in my FPS games like Halo, that would be sweet, and I think help tremendously with gameplay.

  • GameCube Progressive Scan and 16:9 (Score:3, Informative)

    by gurgi ( 65908 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:26AM (#7528943)
    I have a game cube and if a game supports 480p, it makes all the differance in the world. Metroid and Mario Sunshine are stunning. The only thing not supported much is 16:9, but for the few games that do support it (Eternal Darkness, F-Zero) it looks great. That's why I got a 36" 4:3 TV. Video games and normal TV are more common, and my tv does 16:9 well. There is no slow down at all with any of the progressive scan options in any of the games.
    • Dude, could you possibly post some pictures of that setup? I'd love to check it out, im in the market for a TV and I think HDTV would be a good investment.. just wanna seal the deal.

  • Don't bother (Score:5, Informative)

    by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:28AM (#7528978) Homepage
    If you have to ask whether the additional expense is worth it, don't bother. There are few games that support the added resolution or the widescreen features, and many of the few that do suffer from slowdown issues.

    The problem is that consoles are pushed as far as they can go during a development process... They just don't have an extra few thousand pixels lying around. Programmers can either spend additional time downtuning the graphics when a HDTV is detected, which makes a nasty mess of the simplicity that a console offers, or they can just ignore the .1% of console owners who have one.

    Most companies choose to ignore the HDTV crowd, and for good reason. The same reasons apply to widescreen... You can either redo all of your interface work, clipping planes, timing, surprises, etc, or you can give up on that very small portion of the market and invest those resources in making the game better for everyone.

    If you are thinking of spending the 2k for a high-res gaming setup, why not spend that money on a really good gaming computer? True, you will have to re-buy everything in 5 years, but by that time the cost of an HDTV will have gone down enough to warrant developing games compatible with the display.

    • Bullshit. (Score:3, Informative)

      by Inoshiro ( 71693 )
      Supporting HDTV on the Xbox is "free" in that the entire buffer renders at 480p, except for games that explicitly don't support it (Kung Fu Chaos) due to the way they use the buffer. It's just like the Dreamcast a few years ago -- not every game says it supports 480p, but in a collection of 50 games, you'll only find 1 or 2 games which actually won't work on a 480p setup.

      While not as many games support 720p or 16:9, they are out there. Panzer Dragoon, Quantum Redshift, and other games I have at 16:9 are
    • Agreed on that last bit. A nice Alienware or Apple (if you'd like to do some DV and stuff, or all the games you want come out for Mac anyways) high-end system is worth the money a lot more than an HDTV on an Xbox. For one thing, you don't have to geek the hardware in fishy ways to use it as a server whenever you are tired of it as a gaming machine. Just Linux the Alien, and if you go Apple you probably want to keep OS X on there. You can get a big-ass LCD, too. If you add a TV tuner, a Power Mac G5 wi
      • feh.
        spend 2k on a setup that'll be worth $400 in 2 years? that doesn't even compare to an investment that covers gaming, tv (gov't required broadcasting switchover will happen) and movie viewing (assuming you pick up a proscan dvd player, which last i checked, is on average $0 more than a non-proscan player)

        the HDTV system would be a better investment. unless of course you don't like tv, movies, or console games.

        and if you think console games don't have enough HD supporting titles - how many PC games do

    • Re:Don't bother (Score:3, Informative)

      by Babbster ( 107076 )
      Now THAT is classic naysaying.

      There are few games that support the added resolution or the widescreen features, and many of the few that do suffer from slowdown issues.

      Virtually all Xbox games support 480p output with NO (zero, nada, etc.) negative impact on frame rates/gameplay. While most are still in 4:3 format, they still look a lot better in progressive format. Gamecube has a somewhat lower percentage of 480p games, though most new ones have the capability - again, with NO (ZERO) negative impact

  • I did the same last year (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dogbowl ( 75870 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:30AM (#7529008) Homepage
    I was buying a HDTV, Initially I wanted the 16:9 format television but after much soul searching and back account checking, I realized that the majority of my TV use is for video games and regular television. Not too much 16:9 support there.

    I went with a 36' Toshiba 4:3 format screen and it definitely rocks. FOr the once a month when I watch a widescren DVD, I can handle the black bars. For the rest of the time, I get my games in 480p (taking up the whole screen). 480p definitely looks much better, but you do notice the jaggies more often. Don't regret the purchase at all .. I'd buy it again if I had to.

    (For the record, I've got a Gamecube, can't really speak for the xbox or PS2 HD support)
    • Sounds like you have the exact same setup as I do. I got a Toshiba 36HF71 and am very happy with it. I agree, when you need to watch 16x9, the bars are not that distracting. Besides most movies are narrower than 16x9 and you would get black bars anyways.

    • Re:I did the same last year (Score:5, Funny)

      by stienman ( 51024 ) <.adavis. .at. .ubasics.com.> on Friday November 21, 2003 @12:32PM (#7529616) Homepage Journal
      I went with a 36' Toshiba 4:3 format screen and it definitely rocks.

      Did you have to remodel to fit the 36' screen in your house, or did you just install it in the back yard and look out the window? Does a thirty six foot screen require its own concrete pad?

      -Adam
    • I was buying a HDTV, Initially I wanted the 16:9 format television but after much soul searching and back account checking, I realized that the majority of my TV use is for video games and regular television. Not too much 16:9 support there.

      It all depends on what kind of TV you're watching. HD programming is as often in 16:9 as not if you have a good selection of HD programming in your area.

      Considering that most people buying HDTVs now will still have them for quite a few years to come, it may be in thei

    • (For the record, I've got a Gamecube, can't really speak for the xbox or PS2 HD support)

      IMHO, HD support is implemented much better on the Gamecube than on the PS2. The majority of games on the gamecube support 480p with no noticeable drop in framerate. In contrast, very few of the PS2 games support any HD modes. The only HD game I own on the ps2 is SSX3, and though the framerate is fine there is a *very* noticeable drop in responsiveness from the controller (not sure I understand why). Also, the

  • More Input, Please (Score:3, Informative)

    by XxtraLarGe ( 551297 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:35AM (#7529055) Journal
    This topic should be on the front page, so it can get more than 20 comments. I'm looking into a Plasma screen TV too, and would like to know which games will be high-def or 16*9 aspect ratio. I've got a PS2 right now, but looking into an XBox next.
    • Cheaper plasma screen (7000$) only do 480p, not 720p or 768p. Get a DLP or better yet, a nice CRT based RPTV. Toshiba HDX series, Pioneer Elite, and Mitsu Diamond can be had for ~1800 in 55-65" varieties.

  • If you HDTV support, you need Xbox (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The greatness and fanboyism that surrounds the other systems on /. aside, if you want a to play games on a big screen with good visuals and relative ease, then you need an Xbox. Limited only by the source material (in this case, the games themselves), the Xbox hardware supports 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i resolutions. The latter two resolutions (720p, 1080i) are inherently widescreen (16:9). 480p is a good resolution for 4:3. In the dashboard on the Xbox, you can access video settings to determine what outpu
    • Guess what? You're a fanboy. Yup. The vast majority of Gamecube games also support 480p. Theres quite a bit of 16:9 support, but not so much 720p or 1080i. Most Playstation 2 games do not support progressive scan or 16:9.
    • My copy of Syberia has problems with 16:9 in resolutions higher than 480. The game is supposed to support 720 and 1080, but those on my TV have black bars on the side ala 4:3.

      Rumor has it that Soul Caliber 2 has this problem as well.

  • Widespread XBox/PS support for 16:9 in PAL region (Score:4, Informative)

    by vrai ( 521708 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:45AM (#7529159)
    Most of my XBox, and nearly all my newer PS2 games support 16:9 widescreen. This could be limited to PAL releases, as many have a 60Hz option which would be rather redundant for NTSC versions. The GC has support for 60Hz in places, but I have relatively few GC games that aren't Nintendo in-house, so I can't comment on the wide-screen issue for that machine.

    Note that in the UK at least pretty much all new televisions are widescreen (bar crappy 14" portables). As such people would start to get a bit annoyed if games didn't take advantage of this. Certainly games like GTA/VC and FIFA make good use of the extra width to show peripheral vision and more pitch respectively.

  • if i want HDTV-sized images on anything bigger than a 21" computer screen, i'll get a DLP projector, some screen goo and a dark room. to get cool looking GFX on a console, make the screen bigger (32"+), to get good looking GFX on a computer, turn up the res and have a big (19"+) screen. I'd sure as hell like a DLP projector that can push a 72" 4:3 image onto a wall at a decent resolution, i.e 1280x1024 than a plasma that'll burn in.

  • AVS Forum (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zathrus ( 232140 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:53AM (#7529232) Homepage
    Everytime a thread about anything home theater related the answer is the same -- go check out AVS Forum [avsforum.com], it's answered there.

    In this case go read the Home Theater Gaming/Console area and perhaps look into the Home Theater PC area. It's not clear if you were wanting to play PC games on your big screen TV (quite do able; for HD you'd want a TV with DVI input and a video card with DVI output) or console games (support varies widely, with the PS2 having the least support and the Xbox having the most).

    As for why consoles don't support HD more -- it's simple. They don't have the power, and it's a great deal of additional development and QA time for a small segment of the market.

    Consoles have really miserable resolution -- essentially 640x240 at 60 fps (NTSC; PAL is a bit more resolution at 50 fps). Yes, NTSC is roughly 640x480 resolution, but it's interlaced -- you don't have to draw half the screen every frame and you're foolish if you think the console games are doing so when they don't need to. If you change to a progressive scan picture then you're immediately at twice the work that needs to be done. Bump it up to a 720p 4:3 and you're nearly quadrupling the effort from there (or nearly 8x as much as a SD screen). Widescreen requires even more work. And remember, a 720p 4:3 image still has less resolution than a 1024x768 (XGA) monitor and only needs to run at a paltry 60 fps.

    As for splitscreen -- if you split a 16:9 screen you don't get two 4:3 images. Supporting split screen 16:9 means you have to support at least 3 different aspect ratios... most likely you're already going to support horizontally split 4:3, so now it's 4 different aspect ratios. That's a whole lot of development and QA time, and probably not worth the effort (yet).

    A few caveats -- gun games do not work with virtually any HDTV. The gun watches for the interlaced signal and most HDTVs (all digital systems, almost all RPs, and most FPs) will never display interlaced -- they upscale to progressive internally. If you want to play gun games then you'll need to move the system to an older CRT based TV.

    If you use an Xbox, be aware that the Live console is still in 480i only. This can be an issue if you have a TV that has separate inputs for 480i/p and 480p/720p/1080i (all Samsung DLP RP's currently). There are ways around this (cable splitting, using a VGA adapter), but it's something to be aware of and consider when purchasing a TV.

    If you do not get a DLP/LCD/LCoS based TV then you will have to be careful of burn-in. Proper calibration of the set can eliminate this danger, but most people don't calibrate. Plasma does have a burn-in issue as well, but it's not as severe as CRT.

    I currently have my PS2 connected to my 46" Samsung DLP. No issues. Not many games support widescreen or 480p, but it really doesn't bug me. It's nice to play on a really big screen with a full surround system. I'm hoping to make my next PC portable enough to use as an occasional HTPC and play some games (HL2, D3) on it as well... should be a blast.
    • Just a small note regarding your comments -- it's really not hard to support a bunch of different aspect ratios from a programming standpoint. Most of the newer games are using some 3d api and the hardware can just adjust the scaling/stretching factors .. IE if you write your code properly, it's no more difficult to support 10 aspect ratios than it is to support 2.

      Plus, PC ports of games make this more of a necessity anyway with the different aspect resolutions of PC monitors these days... mainly 5:4, 16:9
    • Actually, it is not true that consoles usually only draw at 640x240. The default mode on the Xbox is to render a complete 640x480 screen, and the display hardware uses the extra scan lines to implement a flicker filter. Developers are encouraged to use this mode partially for the visual difference, but also because the game can support 480p without modification. Since the fill-rate is the same, the user gets progressive scan for free.

      You are mostly right about the higher resolutions, though. The big i

      • Actually, it is not true that consoles usually only draw at 640x240. The default mode on the Xbox is to render a complete 640x480 screen, and the display hardware uses the extra scan lines to implement a flicker filter. Developers are encouraged to use this mode partially for the visual difference, but also because the game can support 480p without modification. Since the fill-rate is the same, the user gets progressive scan for free.

        This is also the case on the DreamCast, which is why most of it's games
    • If you're at all interested in PC Gaming on your HDTV, definitely check out AVS forum. ATI sells a ~$35 adapter for their radeon cards that will give you component output. A little bit of tweaking with powerstrip can apparently also give you some "nonstandard" resolutions on your set, with a number of posters showing pics of their setups running resolutions like 1024x768 or 1280x1024, which play much more nicely with games than things like 1920x1080.

      I *just* got my adapter the other day, and I haven't ha
    • >if you split a 16:9 screen you don't get two 4:3 images Not necessarily, depends on the game. PGR2 has widescreen split-screen multiplayer support that puts a couple 4:3 screens side by side. They use empty space at the top and bottom. Other games like SSX tricky have a sidebyside mode but do not bother clamping the ratio, they just used the screen that was available. I have had a 61" widescreen and have played my xbox on it since launch, and have not had any hint of burn-in. I know this would pro

    • RE:ssentially 640x240 at 60 fps (NTSC; PAL is a bit more resolution at 50 fps). Yes, NTSC is roughly 640x480 resolution, but it's interlaced -- you don't have to draw half the screen every frame and you're foolish if you think the console games are doing so when they don't need to. If you change to a progressive scan picture then you're immediately at twice the work that needs to be done. Bump it up to a 720p 4:3 and you're nearly quadrupling the effort from there (or nearly 8x as much as a SD screen). Wide

  • I have a PS2 and 65" Toshiba, and I'm as much a game-geek as anyone, but unless you have muchos dinero sitting around, I wouldn't advise purchasing an HD set primarily for gaming. PS2 and gamecube only seem to have limited support in the hardware for 16:9 HD. And although, X-box has the hardware, very few of the games support it. Unless you're into progressive scan widescreen DVD and HDTV (check on availability in your area too), I'd suggest something like a Sony Wega CRT until the next generation of consol

  • Look to the Future! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dormous ( 638736 ) <mikemucc.yahoo@com> on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:55AM (#7529252)
    This generation of consoles support limited HDTV features. The GameCube supports 480 lines progressive scanned (480p)(with a special video adapter) as mentioned above. The Xbox supports 1080 lines interlaced (1080i) on some games. Sony is planning on releasing a version of the PS2 that will support HDTV modes. Yes, games on all these platforms look great on a hi-res HDTV display, even if they don't support the hi-res features. Even the N64 looked great on a 16:9 HDTV. Everything is brighter and looks cleaner, period.

    OK, here is the trick, this generation of consoles doesn't support HDTV, but the next generation will. Also, the HDTV Spec calls for a 16:9 formatted television. If you have bought a progressive scan 4:3 tv, you will have to watch TV letterboxed.

    So the answer is, go ahead and buy your HDTV. You will love it. Your games will look great. Your next gen games will look even better. :-)

    Dormous

    • The Model 50001 PS2 supports progressive scan output on DVD movies only and DVD+/-R media.

      It's still less flexible than those 60$ CDN DVD players you can buy at Future Shop that do progressive scan and MP3/Kodak picture CD/JPG/WMV cd playback.
      • Also, the XBox also supports 720p on many games, and virtually *always* runs at 480p unless the game specifically tells it not to.

        To my knowledge, the only games that support 1080i are Enter The Matrix and Dragon's Lair.

        (Since the XBox uses PC hardware to render the image, it renders progressive-scan by default.)

  • Quick summary. (Score:5, Informative)

    by hawkstone ( 233083 ) on Friday November 21, 2003 @11:58AM (#7529290)
    Sounds like we're talking about consoles here.

    Some PS2 games support 480p. Some XBox games support 720p. I believe some GameCube games support 480p. And not all games that support an HD display mode also support an explicit 16x9 mode. In fact, I've found little correlation between options for widescreen and options for progressive scan; many games support widescreen but *not* progressive scan. I'm betting that the newer the game is, the more likely it is to have HDTV support, however.

    As another poster mentioned, check out hdgames.net [hdgames.net]. I don't know how comprehensive their list is, but it hasn't lied to me yet. Looking at their database for the PS2, they've got about 60 games listed that support 16x9, about 20 that support 480p, and about half of those that support 480p also support 16x9.

    I just went from a standard def 32" tube to a 50" widescreen HDTV a couple months ago. The downside to this is you can see all the flaws in analog programming, simply because the display is so clear and so BIG. True HDTV programming is amazing, however. Videogames, however, have no signal noise to worry about, so all you get is a crystal clear picture. The downside here is that aliasing is much more obvious at the normal console resolution, simply because the pixels are so well defined. This is where progressive scan really helps, and for games that support it, it does look great.

    16x9 support actually isn't as big a deal as you'd think. The reason is not that you'd rather play them in 4x3, but that HDTVs typically have nonlinear scaling modes that fit a 4x3 image to a 16x9 screen with little perceptible distortion. (In essence, they scale the picture more at the edges where less of the action is happening. It's only noticeable with some camera movements, or when watching the crawls on news stations.)

    I should point out that in my experience, video games don't have the same aspect ratio problems as live TV, simply because they are not realistic enough. I'll play any videogame using one of these 4x3 to 16x9 scaling modes and feel perfectly comfortable with it. And then I get any game in full widescreen glory.

    Also, I should point out that any time I put my PS2 in progressive scan mode, the picture does fill up the 16x9 screen on its own, whether or not there is an option to enable widescreen. I'm betting most games that support 480p, when they don't have an explicit option, will usually rescale things for widescreen automatically. Because of what I said above, however, it's sometimes hard to tell.

    And yes, it rocks. No, I haven't noticed any framerate issues in 480p.

    Now, I justified the cost of an HDTV without needing my video game addiction. I just used my normal DVD viewing addiction. And my TiVo addiction, but that was really about the size more than the hi-def. Could I justify it just for video games? Probably, yes, but the increased size is not an insignificant part of that.

    • as this EXCELLENT post was PS2 specific, I will elaborate a bit on some XBOX specifics (I do not own a ps2, but that is not to say I don't enjoy playing ps2 titles at friends houses)...

      The xbox graphic sub system renders all games progressive scan, so there is no frame rate loss for progressive. 99.9% of XBOX titles display 480p (to my knowledge, only 'kung-fu chaos' displays interlaced on a progressive display due to it's use of interlacing for some graphic tricks.) As for Higher resolutions, see the afor

  • If you are planning to have using tv for more than gaming, then I'd say definitely if you are willing to spend the money. I've played Halo on a widescreen tv and it was just incredible. If this is only for games though and you'll rarely use it for movies, don't bother. The price right now doesn't justify it.
    • Halo doesn't support 16:9, so if you are watching it in widescreen, you're just watching the 4:3 stretched to fit the screen.

      I can't really recommend 16:9 televisions, even though I love mine. You'll find with a 16:9, you can't just "watch" television anymore. Everything has it's own format, and the screen must be adjusted to fit that format.

      For DVD's, it's typically standard mode, but if they aren't anamorphic (and many movies aren't), you'll have to use expand mode. If the DVD is 4:3 (many old movi

  • with Component out cable and HDTV. You can play two player with vertical split instead of horizontal split screen. Makes it 1000 times better. And all the other cube games that support progressive scan r0x0r with the hdness. An HDTV is kinda expensive though, so unless you play games a lot or also use it for som DVD watching it may not justify the cost. But it is freakin' awesome.
  • I have a 50" widescreen Samsung DLP HDTV. It is absolutely fabulous in 16:9 for games that support it. Many do. I remember 007 for the N64 did.

    Also, since it is DLP, there is no burn-in potential at all. According to Samsung's site, and a few others, no DLP television can ever suffer from burn in.

    • LCD Rear Project TV's dont have any burn in problems and have a much brighter picture than DLP TV, the only downside is that their blacks are not as true as DLP TV. I have a Sony KF50WE610 and am very happy with it, I don't think the black performence is as bad as reviewers make it out to be and it looks a whole lot brighter than the Samsung DLP I was considering....

  • PS2 (Score:2)

    by pudge ( 3605 ) *
    I love widescreen games, though I have few of them. Madden 2003, GTA: Vice City, GT3. I wish there were more of them that used it.
  • Widescreen support in games is fustrating - in the UK the majority of new TVs (Well, certainly large living-room TVs) seem to be widescreen nowadays, and quite a lot of digital TV is broadcast in widescreen (The settop boxes adjust the picture to the type of TV you have). However, many games don't support widescreen at all, I think largely because it hasn't really caught on in the US yet. On the other hand, HDTV doesn't seem to exist over here at all, so I suppose it's swings and roundabouts...
  • I've been playing PS2 video games on a 54" Sony Widescreen for the last few months, and I can tell you--when a game is designed for 16x9, it looks awesome. Examples of this are Gran Turismo 3, Grand Theft Auto, most of EA's sports titles, the Tony Hawk series, Jak and Daxter...the list goes on. It's hard for me to play madden football nowadays without the added real estate that 16x9 offers.

    Sadly, most games are still not designed for 16x9, and in fact, some of my favorite games just can't look good in 16

  • HDTV Gaming (Score:2, Informative)

    by Launt ( 685164 )
    The Xbox is currently the only console that supports anything beyond 480p. Games do look better in 480p on the gamecube, ps2 and xbox though. The only game that I have supporting 1080i is dragons lair 3d on the xbox. It does look good and there is no noticable loss in framerate. Too bad the game sucks. A few Sega sports games support 720p and I've read Enter the Matrix on the xbox supports 720p and 1080i but does have some slow down in those modes.

    You must buy the HD A/V kit for the xbox to even get 480p.

  • I've got a Sharp 27F631 [sharp-usa.com]. Its one of the few 4:3 TV models that will shrink a widescreen signal down to the correct aspect ratio, which is required for widescreen games (games aren't anamorphic). It was this feature that I bought the TV for, as I wanted to play games in widescreen without having to buy a widescreen television.

    A significant number of games actually do have a widescreen option, however the only games that I have found that really are enhanced through widescreen are racing games. The extra

  • I have a 32 inches 16:9 Panasonic Tau. I bought it primarly for movie watching, but I do most of my console gaming on it too. Most Gamecube and XBOX games support progressive scan in some degree, and it does make a pretty significant difference in image quality over playing with progressive mode off. I don't think that the cost of a really good TV is really worth it if all you're going to do with the TV is gaming though.

    On the other hand, my gaming experience got much better when I bought a high quality 7.

  • I have had an HDTV widescreen for a couple of years now and I will never go back to 4:3. The prices for big screen HDTV's have come way down in just a few years. The latest DLP rear projection I think are the best bet because of price and I have read that they do not burn in. They also have a really slim profile, so it is as close to thin plasma as you can get. I have a rear projection Toshiba 40H80, its not the new DLP technology, but I dont have any burn in yet. Dont get a plasma, I have seen countless ti
  • I have a 16:9 HDTV and an xbox with the HD pack and I have to say that Halo looks awesome on the TV. The best part is when you play four players the split screen works really well. Other games work as well, but to varing degrees. One thing to be aware of is that the DVD player in the xbox doesn't play DVDs in DHTV so you will need a seperate DVD player for watching movies. I also have a PS2 and gamecube. The PS2 doesn't use HDTV so it hasn't changed much, it does provide support for widescreen which is
  • We have a highend 70" plasma TV at work that is hooked up to an xbox (yea, i know). The TV auto-adjusts the picture to fit it into the widescreen aspect ratio. It's a little strange for the first couple of minutes, but after that, you start to forget, and it looks fine. The people just look a little bulkier. I've played a wide variaty of games on it, and I have to say, it kicks ass. The best part about that aspect is splitscreen, or four screen multi-player games which the size really make s wonderfull.
  • The X-Box is definitely the best system for true HDTV games. Although the PS2 and Gamecube do have a number of titles which support 480p and 16:9, they don't appear to support the "true HDTV" resolutions of 720p and 1080i. To make matters worse, the Gamecube is not capable of digital audio output, which is something which would generally be expected of a higher end signal source.

    As far as appearance of the games, well, it varies greatly by game. Some games which look fantastic on an S-Video connection

  • If you do get a HDTV, spring for the component video output for your gamecube. I didn't really notice the difference on the PS2 from the composite, but zelda looks spectacular.

    Also, make sure you get a model that has decent stretch modes to convert to widescreen - I have a model that just stretches the last 10% of the edges so it doesn't make people look fat, and I watch absolutely everything in full screen (no letterboxing!). This is especially important because of the lack of widescreen pictures out ther
  • I own a 4:3 36" Sony XBR TV, capable of 480p and 1080i (with letterboxing). If a game offers 16:9 anamorphic support, I usually don't use it, because I like to be able to see the details that I'd have to strain to see if the picture were made smaller.

    But when I played Eternal Darkness on the GC, playing in 16:9 mode was a no-brainer. The game is so cinematic and immersive that I felt like I was watching a movie, and the widescreen was the icing on the cake. Other games with a cinematic feel, I imagine, wou
  • The only game so far that I've actually enjoyed playing in 16:9 is Beatmania IIDX, a japanese import. The arcade original is formatted in such a way that when you play it on a normal screen, it has to crop out one player or the other for the notes you're pushing to be a reasonable size for viewing - whereas on the 16:9, you can see everything perfectly and it's just wonderful.

  • I don't know about gaming on an HDTV, but I have a widescreen on my laptop (1680 x 1050 WSXGA) and it hasn't been of much advantage to gaming. Most games let you pick from common 4:3 screen ratios like 1024 x 768, which then get stretched out a bit to fill the wider screen. The aspect ratios being off is annoying but not nearly as noticable as I would have expected.

    I hope that between the increasing popularity of non-4:3 screens and fact that gaming graphics rendered from 3D models these days instead of

  • No written description would do Prince of Persia justice, it must be played, and it must be played on HD, with DSS. If you have only been playing PS2 versions you have no idea what you're missing, not only in terms of visuals but sound as well. Game Platform 480p 720p 1080i 16:9 Online Dragon Lair 3d Xbox 480p 720p 1080i 16:9 Enter The Matrix Xbox 480p 720p 1080i 16:9 Syberia Xbox 480p 720p 1080i 16:9 World Series Baseball 2K3 Xbox 480p 720p 16:9 Soul Calibur II Xbox 480p 7
  • Hi! I'm currently using an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro and the xtra ATI Radeon HDTV widget (30$). This allows me to run windows in 4:3 or 16:9 wide screen mode by selecting resolutions like 720x480 and 856x480 and there are some for 1080i too. Plus handy keyboard shortcuts to switch modes. For gaming I have found 1080i works fine but for everything else I keep it to 480p becuase of the refresh rate -- with interlaced as in 1080i of course you get lots of flicker cos the signal is 60Hz interlaced meaning 30Hz to
  • I have all three consoles. Some Gamecube games like Super Monkey Ball 2 support widescreen, but the only way you're really going to enjoy the HD benefits are with an Xbox and a rather limited set of games. That said, those that do support 720p or 1080i (I personally have NBA 2k3 and Soul Calibur II, both of which are 720p, and I know Tony Hawk 4 and others support it) look incredible. For the Xbox, for HD resolutions, you will indeed need the $20 HD cable pack, which comes with a set of component cables.
  • Either Wipeout 2097 or Wip3out has a widescreen option where it compresses the picture horizontally, expecting you to use the TV's stretch feature to expand it back to 16:9. It's just normal analogue though.

    My recommendation, buy the rig anyway, it sounds cool and exactly what game developers will be supporting more and more. I'm sure that if you're producing you own signal in the form of PC and games stuff you'll find many more interesting things to display than if you just rely on broadcast TV.

  • I have Mitsubishi HDTV thats a couple of years old and all the Nintendo systems since the NES hooked up to it.

    I've only got a couple of games that support 16:9, StarFox is one of them. Just like a computer monitor it actually gives you a larger playing field.

    Fine, so whats the fun of playing a 5:4 game on a 16:9 screen? Pleanty. I've found that most cartoons and video games look fine stretched out. Everything is a little wider than it should be, but with video games it looks like the way the artist in
  • HD TVs also have an advantage over non-HD, picture wise, for non-progressive scan images.

    Also, I have an Xbox and since it comes with component video, I was able to compare the picture quality between HD and non-HD games on an HD TV; the difference is tremendous.

  • Okay quit wading through the tons of "I'm not sure"s and "I believe"s; here's the low-down on consoles and HDTVs as it stands now.

    Btw, I've had a 34" Sony WEGA widescreen HDTV for nearly a year now, and am an avid gamer on all 3 major consoles.

    Xbox is by far the king, supporting 480i and 480p on nearly every game, 720p on a few (e.g., Soul Calibur 2) and 1080i on a few as well (e.g., Dragon's Lair 3D). It is also more apt to support 16:9 (widescreen) though it depends on the game. (Interestingly,
  • How odd this came up today. I JUST got my Samsung 61" DLP delivered today. It is amazing, judging by the few games I have played so far. I decided on the DLP because there's no burn in possability, huge size for low price, no ghosting (very important and very present on LCD projection TVs I have seen), and very thin. I went to every major electronics store (not Best Buy level. Only the snooty high class ones.), saw most sets side by side. You should do the same. Go to Tweeter and get then to change t
  • big screen tv talk is that all of my computer monitors are bigger than my tv
  • Get a DLP Projector. I've had one for about 6 months and I love it. Sure it cost me $2K, but you can (especially now) get them a lot cheaper. Games are awesome on an 8' diagonal screen =). No burn in, plus it is portable. I've taken my "big screen" over to my friend's house on occasion to play some games. I now have two other friends that invested into projectors. I've seen people pay more for HDTVs that give a smaller screen and look so much worse than my projector achieves. There are a few negatives on pr
  • Equipment I'm using:
    105" Diagnol Dalite High Power Screen
    Sanyo PLV-70 Running at a native resolution of 1360x768 with 1:1 pixel mapping
    2.8 Ghz Athlon with Geforce fx 5900
    Ultra Gyration mouse + keyboard
    Powerstrip software for custom video rez's

    PC Games that run 16:9 at 1360x768 that I have played.
    MotoGP 2
    Vice City
    Unreal Tournament
    MS Flight Simulator - haven't tried but prolly can do it.

    XBox games
    Dragon's Lair
    Matrix? I forget...
    Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 (Best looking Xbox game at 720p!)
    That Volleyball game wi

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