The Gamer's Guide To HDTV

[farrow099]

Completely agree that DLP should have been included... The past year has been a HDTV hunt for me; I'v owned a 37" lcd then a 42" plasma... Then a 50" samsung DLP... and now a 62" Toshiba DLP and I must say... I LOVE THE DLP!

I picked up my current set off ebay for around $1k, rented a uHaul and picked it up a mere 40miles away. They even threw in the stand

The DLP offers better black levels, better uniformity, better contrast, NO GHOSTING, AND no rainbow effect can be seen by friends of mine who were sensitive to my slightly older 50" Samsung set.

Of course the viewing angles are not as good and the unit has a solid 9" of depth on 62" Plasmas... DLP sets are however extremely light weight for their size and very easy to move.

I feel dlp is a great technology and I am much happier with the picture of this late model Toshiba than I was with any other set I've owned.

 

[joex444]

Wow, Mark. You suck. Haven't seen people hate a THG writer so much since Patrick Schmidt.

 

[RoadKillGrill]

If you are looking for wow factor get a DLP projector. Sure it limited to night and dark areas to use but its a 100"+ screen.There increadably portable, most will fit in a bookbag. My friends and i played GOW on the side of a building, about a 20 foot span and it was amazing. I use it in my apartment as a tv (I watch hardly any tv), been in 3 apartments and have found no shortage of walls to throw at.

Sure the bulb has a short life of 3000 hours but when it cost the same as a good plasma and is 4x the size, 200$ every 2 years is not all that bad. If only getting my car fixed yearly costed that little.

This is defiantly not a setup for most people, but as I find myself moving allot being able to carry your television with one hand is nice.

 

[techguy911]

LOL i would not buy a plasma or lcd TV for gaming you cant beat the price of a good 24" computer monitor for 500 bucks can i got myself a 24" lcd computer monitor 1080p ,hdmi, component ,PiP.

The picture on my ps3 is amazing super sharp, bright clear colors, i can't really complain.

LG-L246WP

The text on folding@home is very readable even though its a tiny font, very sharp ,clear text.

I use my other devices on it as well a multimedia box plays divx,xvids 1080p output with a 750 gig hd.

Also has hdmi->dvi cord and component inputs.

Blu-ray well when i play blu-ray movie on it at 1080p you really see detail and very nice picture.

let see i can pay 3000+ 1080p plasma or lcd or pay 500 bucks for a 24" 1080p lcd that sits right next to my 19" lcd computer monitor.

I don't watch tv anyways there are no sci-fi shows playing thats all i watch.
If i do want to watch tv i can hook a digital tuner to my monitor on my vcr anyways has one built in.

 

[collypoo]

Something that I always find a little strange and will probably be flamed for is this whole 1080p issue. I personally wouldn't want my game to be playing at 30fps. The strobing would kill my brain. Maybe when they start adding motion blur in games as standard but until then I'll stick with 1080i (60 interlaced frames per sec.) and save the extra money on getting other stuff to enhance my gaming experience. And as for the whole DLP issue, they are a great addition to any home as long as your not sensitive to the spinning color wheel (super sensitive now that they have faster color wheels and the like). A 3 chip DLP is really where it's at if you can afford it. Great color and beautiful blacks, can't go wrong with that.

C

 

[vaguedreams]

While I am not one to say anyone's opinion is wrong, I will say that in this situation I would lean towards that opinion. I am not talking about preferences or why one thing is better then another, I am talking about things from a purely practical standpoint.

Here are a couple of facts I would like to throw out that I feel the article does not address.

1.) Console Gamers - No matter what the happy go lucky buzzwords, that vendors use to sell crap, are it will not change the fact that most console games are going to be written at 720p. There will be a few that hit the 1080 mark, like small staged games (fight night for example possibly NBA games) most are going to be written at 720p. Not even sony and their true HD hype machine can change that. For Example. Virtua Fighter, a one on one brawler in a small arena is unable to keep a solid frame rate at 1080p so they opted for 720. Soul Caliber is another one being designed with 720 because they can't get the frame rate to lock at 60fps at 1080p.

2.) TV watchers - Not one broadcaster that I know has stated they are going to be delivering 1080p content. There are rumors that espn may start broadcasting and filming in 1080p, but I have a hard time accepting that for a few very practical reasons, such as most peoples tv's do not support 1080p, and they spent millions upgrading to 720p already. Broadcasters that I have experience with are all fairly solid on their HDTV options. TV shows and movies seem to be going with 1080i, while sporting events are focusing on the superior frame rate of 720p. Add the major networks together and we are starting to get into the billions spent on current hd programming. Like it or not, this is not likely to change in the immediate future either.

3.) The two above reasons are very real scenarios. This brings me to another point. Having a 1080p set can be a hindrance instead of a benefit because of the above statements. No matter what, a 1080p set must have the image scaled to fit it. Going from 720p to 1080p is a large jump (over twice as many pixels). Using an LCD and Plasma that are fixed displays many times will make the image worse then viewing it at it's native resolution. At best your scaler will give you an image that is equal to the native resolution. That's a lot of if's for not much of a payout.

The only things I know that currently plan on fully supporting this 1080p thing is Blue Ray, HD-DVD, and PC games at this point. Broadcaster may start broadcasting at 1080p down the road, and console games may start releasing every title at 1080p, and in the future every tv may have a hollywood quality video processor, but until then you are asking people to pay a premium for something they may never, ever, take advantage of.

If you are going to be heavy into bluray or hd-dvd, if you do a lot of pc gaming and have a monster videocard that can render at 1080p / 60fps, if you have money to burn then this article may be for you. If you are a budget conscious consumer looking for the best bang for your buck you may want to look around and educate yourself by going to hd websites, and looking at the products and comparing real world images.

 

[gochichi]

This is a silly article. I would call it more of an advertising.

A) HD "gaming" = marketing... PLEASE. High resolution games are about 12 years old. My 21" IBM that is in brand new condition, that I picked up used for $70.00 laughs at "1080P" at 100Hz. (But I digress).

B) Everyone who claims to care about lag, video quality and "gaming" would be best advised to pick up a 34" Sony. Craigslist... under $500.00 easily with a stand... nationwide. As sure as the sun sets. As SURE as the sun sets.

C) 34" CRT Sony has TRUE or native 1080i, which compares very well with 1080P. 1080i through a 1323x754 pixel screen is just plain weird... and nothing like 1080i on a high end CRT HDTV.

D) Gamers are mostly: young males, not filthy rich, and have good enough eye sight to tell the response time improvement, the true black levels, and overall image quality. So you grab a fellow gamer, pick one of these 200lbs gorillas up and have yourself a good time. You'll sweat, but the reward is sweet.

Honestly, I see how the latest LCDs are beginning to make sense for gaming on a PC, b/c your face is a couple of feet if not inches away from the screen. Which LCD will be more comfortable and so on. But there is just no contest for TVs... it's CRT all of the way (for gaming that is). And while an advertisement article such as this can't dwelve into it... the fact is that people that don't have an eye for quality (the same people that are likely to not care whether or not the signal is HD or not, and stretch the image without hesitation... i.e. 80% of people) are shedding these used 34" Sony's in lieu of thinner sets that they can newb on.

If after getting the deal of the century on a 200lb masterpiece, you feel you have too much money left over, you can always buy some games for your HD console, or buy another HD console as well.

I have nothing to gain here. My firm recommendation for "gaming" HDTV set is a used Sony 34", hands down. If you consider that dwelving into used is "cheating", or you're obsessed with warranties, then a 30" Samsung HDTV might do I suppose... but not nearly as well.

You'll be much better off with something like that, and buying yourself a couple of years of use this way will save you thousands of dollars in style. In two years, the situation may very well be that these 1080P plasmas are reasonably priced and you can proceed to buy a better one than the ones discussed here for a fraction of the price.

This idea that you must get a 1080P now in order to "future proof" is bogus. Future proofing might work in some limited way, the way that the people that spent $7000.00 on the first 34" Sony HDTVs ... when there weren't Xbox 360's, PS3's, or even Bluray or HD-DVD... not to mention much of any HD programming... they "future proofed", and technically it's true. But at what cost and what did they really gain?

If you're a gamer, my other line of advice is to be nimble. Swap your TV whenever you feel like it, and don't blow all of your money on some bad advice.

 

[gochichi]

True... a 24" Computer LCD is not a bad option for gaming as well.

If you really have the money to buy top of the line stuff every year than go for it. Though you may consider picking up a better hobbie then, like traveling, or getting a really awesome car...

It's best to spend at the point where you could replace things every two years. It wasn't always this way with TVs... but HDTVs today are in a constant state of flux, and will change the same if not more than computer parts typically have.