I just bought a new Samsung 42" Plasma HDTV

Samsung 42" Plasma HDTV (HP-R4252)
SAM HPR4252
• 42" plasma display
• Widescreen (16:9)
• 10,000:1 contrast ratio • Built-in HD tuner
• HDMI input
• 1024 x 768 resolution

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-42-...roductDetail.do




BUT....Halo2 does not look so hot and the video settings in XBox don't help much. It just looks toooo biiig and its streched out in wide screen.

Anyone have any advice for XBox on HDTV Plasmas?

It looks big because your panel is low resolution, 1024x768 isn't a "widescreen" or hi-definition resolution.

Thanks Paul.

The TV is a Widescreen (16:9) AND a HDTV.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-42-...roductDetail.do

I will also note that other games looks GREAT - such as Burnout3, just not Halo2 on XBox Live.

That's what they tell you, however 1024x768 is a "square" (4:3) resolution, they just spread the horizontal pixels out more which is why it looks stretched, for hi-def you need 1280x768 or higher.

Paul,

So you're saying that TV makers are selling HDTVs and they arn't really HD?

So you're saying this TV isn't a HDTV?

Samsung 42" Widescreen Plasma HDTV
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-42-...roductDetail.do

That's exactly what I'm saying. It's capable of receiving hi-definition signals then outputting them at a lower resolution, but, it is not capable of displaying them at the native 16:9 hi-def resolution (1365x1024).
A lot of manufacturers do this to get suckers to buy things, and most of them will be happy with what they get because they don't know what they should be getting.

Edit: just noticed you're using a regular xbox, which is only capable of low resolution anyway, which won't help matters on the picture quality front since your panel will have to upscale the images.

Well, I do know what looks good and thats my HDTV channels...

I don't think I'm a sucker for purchasing this TV.

Using that logic most "HDTV" on the market are not really HD.

If thats the case, isn't that considered False Advertising Paul?

This TV was rated the best Plasma HDTV by CNET and it has a 1024 x 720 Resolution and HDTV resolutions supported 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p.

Now, thats the exact same as mine Paul, well, mine actually has a higher resolution.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_TH_37PHD...77.html?tag=sub

http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_HP_R4252/4...7-31396047.html

I guess the whole market is in the dark.

Let us consult the Oracle.

O' mighty Wikipedia, we call to you! Bestow thy secrets upon us!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV

"For example, the format 720p60 is 1280 × 720 pixels"
.. But so is 1024x768. Which, yes, is a 4:3 ratio. But which is also "HDTV"? I guess. Who knows


However, this does not answer any of your original questions about XBOX image quality. We're such a helpful crowd here.

It may support them by downscaling (and therefore look pants), but it won't display them at their native resolution.
How you you think a 1080 picture (1080 horizontal lines) is going to fit on your 768/720 (you've quoted two different resolutions now) (768/720 horizontal lines) display?

Aaaaaaaanyway, back to the original question, the reason your xbox picture looks poo is because your xbox outputs 525 horizonal lines (IIRC), your display then has to double up on pixels to make it 768/720 lines (this is why it looks "big" since it has to nearly double the size of everything), most displays do a reasonable good job of this when there isn't a lot of detail/movement in the picture, if there's a lot of movement or detail in the picture (say rain, or video of the sea) then it starts to look like a blocky mess because the upscaler can't keep up.
The reason for the picture being squashed is because either; the panel has wide spacings on the horizontal pixels (I haven't seen the display so can't say), or your xbox is outputting at 4:3 rather than 16:9.

The only way to get a decent picture would be to get an xbox360, but even then pictures will still look messy due to your panel having to scale the images with it not being a native hi-def panel (unless it's a 720 panel, which isn't what you quoted in your original post).

I *think* (but don't quote me on this because I haven't done extensive reasearch into them) your panel is an EDTV panel which accepts HDTV signals via downscaling.



Edit: you know what, your panel might be classed as high-def over there, I'm not sure what your standards are, however, over here (and most of the world IIRC) if a panel can't display 720 or 1080 at its native resolution it can't be classed as a HDTV display, that's why a lot of products have recently been stripped of their HDTV 'status'.

I have the same problems on my HD projector.. burnout, need for speed etc etc all look good. But slow paced FPS games dont. I think its simply because the consoles are not hdtv, you don't notice the resolution when playing a racing game because things are moving so quickly. XBOX 360 will solve this

If that's the case then it's likely better texture quality in Burnout3 than Halo2. Lower resolution textures may look decent on an analog TV but look poor in HDTV.

My friend has the exsact same TV (or something very similair) and on Halo 2, the screen is very 'pixelated' i guess is wat descripes it, it looks amazing from the couch a farther away from the TV, but upclose its looks way worse than Tube TV.

You want to sit further away from a panel anyway when viewing... I notice this with ALL panels I have looked at for purchasing.

I got it looking pretty good now - just had to do some tweaking and putting it at 4:3 doesn't hurt either

Oh, and Paul...do a little more research on HDTV and EDTV please

How about *you* do the research since you obviously don't know much about it. I have no need to do research on HDTV standards, I already know them, you tend to do quite a bit of research before splashing out around £50k on equipment, just that over on your island you do things different to the rest of the world (take ntsc for instance, and you class 420 as HD... wtf, that's lower than low definition over here). As for EDTV, it's crap so no need to look into it

i hear the HDTV standard is going to change soon anyways… so stuff will be out of date before its even in use :-/

Hey guys, I just came to browse around for a special on server's always hoping to add to my 7 server collection, However didnt find any but thought I would share my 2 cents with this thread!!

Anyway I recently purchased a Westing House LVM-37W1 for my room. Now im on a budget and my 21" crt monitor went out. I had to shop wisely. Since this wasnt going to be for just a tv, it would also replace my monitor.

The thing about this model, is that its not even a TV. it has no analog cable feed. (Which is really pointless anyway nowadays) It has strickly digital inputs for displaying the industrys best hdtv resolution; 1920x1080p.
Your asking now.. WOW THE PRICE IS EXCELLENT FOR THE SPECS. Who the hell is westing house. They've actually been around for some time, and have just started making tv's / lcd's. 1 Year warrenty is decent. But I picked up a 3year extention to be on the safe side. Total bill came out to 1675$ with 4 years warrenty on www.pricegrabber.com Definatly the price I was looking for.

I have a server hooked up to vga, and my game system hooked up to dvi1
Both look amazing. The monitor is one of the best i've seen even. I compaired quality to a sharp aquos 45" LCD that has the same features for 2000$ more. The westing house kills the sharp's quality. In fact while setting up a 45" aquos at my boss's house, the lcd cracked internally just from moving the screen (SAFELY WITH TWO PEOPLE!) i've never seen such horrible quality as sharps aquos, just for future refrence. (Costco took it back thank god) Another thing that the westing house has the others dont is AUTO CORRECTION!!! (BECAUSE ITS A MONITOR!) I use this day in day out, when switching between resolutions for games/etc.

All I can say is, if your looking to do the highest resolution and wanna get the same quality or possibly better quality you would get out of a 21" dell / viewsonic widescreen with low ms refresh delay. (Westing house has 16ms <--- very low)

Then this is your monitor. Trust me guys, being the cheap ass that I am.. This is the best monitor for your money. I also have a free to air satelite running on componnent /svideo in 720x568 that looks amazing. Can't yet figure out how to get this particular box to display higher. However everyting you throw at this screen looks fabulous!!!

just my 2 cents.. MAKE SURE YOU BUY 1920x1080p, its defiantly worth it for a pc.[/i]