High definition TV

[XiceWolf]

Seconds that motion. On a total unrelated topic what is a high definition TV ? Does anyone have one ? And does it make spotting people on GR easier ?

[Boom]

Xice, read this:

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/hdtv1.htm

[fluds]

"The UK is way behind other parts of the world when it comes to HDTV and it will be many years before we see HDTV images broadcast over satellite or cable services. Until this happens, there will sadly be no market for it in the UK and manufacturers will not support it here, but expensive plasma screens and projectors will usually support HDTV images."

"If you are lucky enough to have such a TV, you will need a component lead to display a HDTV image."


GR I believe only plays at the usual resolution, although some games have been developed to take advantage of the higher resolution, given by these expensive plasma tvs. So at the moment its probably no clearer than a CRT 100 Hz tv. (This is a guess as I have not seen a game run on a HDTV plasma screen only a 100Hz tv).

[XiceWolf]

Some American I was playin with last night was bragging about the ease of spotting people on his new tv in GR. DAmm those rich Americans !!!

[Boom]

As for HDTV, Plasmas can support the different HDTV signals, but where the confusion lies is the signal.

First, cable/sat companies need to broadcast in HDTV format and 2nd your component systems (games console, dvd, etc.) need to be able to provide an HDTV signal. The signal comes down to the number of lines. Europe has always had a better display than North America, but now North American cable/sat companies are adopting the newer HDTV signals faster than Europe.

Anyway, why M$ chose not to ship the EU Xbox with HDTV support I don't know as I could have benefited from it (instead I sue the S-video signal to the Plasma or RGB-Scart to my other Tele's).

[Boom]

This is the last unrelated post, but HDTV broadcasting will becoming to Europe in the near future:

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/news/frame.html?http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/displaynews.php?id=4500

Originally posted by XiceWolf
Seconds that motion. On a total unrelated topic what is a high definition TV ? Does anyone have one ? And does it make spotting people on GR easier ?

[Mantrid]

I thought every Xbox supported HDTV and you just needed that high def lead with the component inputs on it?

That was going to be part of my justification to buy a plasma.

[HappyHiker]

I checked out HDTV when I was last in the states and I might have the stats wrong here so don't get too pedantic with me but the reason we brits don't have hdtv is thats its not much better than PAL.

NTSC(50 scans a second raster scan - excuse me if I'm getting the technicallities wrong) is basically sh*t quality so all the yanks have to pay a fortune to upgrade to HDTV. Now Standard PAL(60 raster scans a second - again I'm just recalling the stats so excuse me) is somewhere in between, but Digital Satalitte/cable is better than PAL and I believe is almost as good as HDTV. So there is no reason for a self respecting Brit, and any true blooded European(irony intended) to upgrade to HDTV, get y'rself a LCD (40' fromSamsung) and kick the yankies ass at GR. Failing that lodge a complaint with the UN or pop a cap in his ass at Rtcw.

BTW: When the H*ll is Kotor coming to UK ;-) G*d damn!

:devsmoke:

[NEONKNIGHT]

BTW: When the H*ll is Kotor coming to UK ;-) G*d damn!

The 12th September.;)

[Boom]

IMO, a plasma still rates buying for the XBox irrespective of the HDTV output. If you saw the opening cutscene sequences of Brute Force on a 50" Plasma, you'd know what I mean. Modern DVD players can output an awesome signal on a Plasma. All the big FX movies look really good! :D


Originally posted by morris
yeah i was going to get a plasma for the hdtv but only just found out uk xbox's don't support it.

[Mantrid]

My other worry about getting a plasma is how long they last. Something between 10-30,000 hours?

[Boom]

Obviously they've only done white-screen type testing, but most of the manufacturers estimate the average lifespan between 20000 and 30000 hours. How much TV do you watch? At 4 hours a day, that's like 17 years. Good enough for me.

Check this out:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/plasmatv-life.html

Originally posted by Mantrid
My other worry about getting a plasma is how long they last. Something between 10-30,000 hours?

[Boom]

For a decent FAQ on Plasmas, check this:

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/bigfaq.html

[Jerrek]

NTSC(50 scans a second raster scan - excuse me if I'm getting the technicallities wrong) is basically sh*t quality so all the yanks have to pay a fortune to upgrade to HDTV. Now Standard PAL(60 raster scans a second - again I'm just recalling the stats so excuse me) is somewhere in between, but Digital Satalitte/cable is better than PAL and I believe is almost as good as HDTV. So there is no reason for a self respecting Brit, and any true blooded European(irony intended) to upgrade to HDTV, get y'rself a LCD (40' fromSamsung) and kick the yankies ass at GR. Failing that lodge a complaint with the UN or pop a cap in his ass at Rtcw.

OK some truths from the drivel.


There are two fundamental differences between NTSC and PAL. The first is the "resolution" or "scan lines" as the TV industry calls it. PAL has 625 lines and NTSC has 525 lines. That means NTSC provides a slightly smaller picture. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage depending on what you do with your TV. In my case, watching movies, it is quite an advantage in that it makes the black bars at the top and bottom of the movies smaller. With PAL you get more black space. How wonderful.

The second difference is the refresh rate of the TV. This is not frame rate. Refresh rate is how fast your cathode ray tube refreshes. Your computer monitor is probably 85 Hz or so. NTSC refreshes at 60 Hz, which is bad. But PAL refreshes at 50 Hz. That must be absolutely horribile. Turn your monitor to 60 Hz and see how bad it is. I don't think monitors can even go to 50 Hz.

PAL is also usually 25 frames per second, while NTSC is 29.97 frames per second.

Now, considering both NTSC and PAL, I gladly sacrifice that extra 100 lines of black space for a higher refresh rate. 60 Hz gives me a headache, but 50 Hz makes me want to kill myself.



Now HDTV... Regular TV is broadcasted in analog mode. In NTSC, the picture occupies roughly 480 of the 525 scan lines, and there are 440 dots on the horizontal plane. That gives it a resolution of about 480 x 440. Digital media, such as digital satellite and digital cable, broadcast at 640 x 480 and 704 x 480. DVD is 720 x 480.

Now lets talk HDTV. HDTV is digital and it has a higher resolution (both horizontally and vertically). The signal comes in two modes, progressive and interlaced. Interlaced refreshes every other line (lines 1, 3, 5, etc.) on a refresh cycle, and then the other lines (2, 4, 6, etc.) on the next refresh cycle. This is done to conserve bandwidth. Progressive means it refreshes every line every time.

HDTV supports the following resolutions: 720, and 1080. They can be either interlaced or progressive. The numbers mean the number of horizontal dots on the screen.


720 means 1280 x 720

1080 means 1920 x 1080


Now how does that compare?



NTSC - 525 lines

PAL - 625 lines

Digital TV - 640, 704 lines

HDTV 720 - 720 lines

DVD - 780 lines

HDTV 1080 - 1080 lines


Having lived half my life in countries that use PAL, I can honestly say the difference between PAL and NTSC is minimal except for the damn refresh rate problem. However, anyone telling me that HDTV is about as good as PAL is simply, to put it in simple terms, a moron. There is a *huge* difference. More than three times the resolution, *and* you get more picture (16:9 aspect ratio).

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2003/08/3.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/hdtv3.jpg

On my satellite I get a few HD channels:

Discovery HDTV (Discovery channel with different programming in HD format)
HBO HDTV (movie channel)
Showtime HDTV (movie channel)
HDNet (sports channel, mainly NHL and MLB games, as well as concerts and also PPV movies)


I don't own a HDTV because they are too expensive. They are big though, very big, and the picture is so crisp and crystal clear. I went to Futureshop where they had a regular big screen TV (53") right beside a 53" HDTV showing the same show, and oh my... the differences are so amazing.

I do have a HDTV receiver though and I plug that into my computer. (I watch satellite and cable on my computer because I don't own a TV.) It is amazing to watch TV, which is usually only a fraction of the screen, that takes up more than what my monitor usually runs at.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/personal/system.jpg <-- my setup right now



There is simply NO comparison between HDTV and PAL/NTSC/SECAM.

As far as it becoming commonplace... Well, it is getting there. HDTVs are expensive, but by 2006 *all* broadcasting in the United States and Canada will have to be HDTV compliant. There are 871 HDTV stations in the U.S. right now.
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=hdtv.htm&url=http://www.hdpictures.com/stations.htm


I should also mention... HDTV can be supported by any medium, whether it be CRT, LCD, plasma, or projector. HDTV simply means it supports a very high resolution.

And does it make spotting people on GR easier ? Without a doubt. What would normall have to be presented on 50 pixels now has 450 pixels.

[zerolight]

stats stats stats...

end of the day next to no games support HDTV because its effectively running at a higher resolution than a normal tv. games are optimized for normal resolutions, and therefore would be slow and clunky on 720 or more. so they'd have to reduce texture quality and detail to compensate... etc.

hence plasma or not, you wont get HDTV from a console. you will get a clearer sharper picture just because the tv is better, but you wont get a higher rez.

you can still get component video leads for your UK xbox so that you can get the highest possible signal quality into the plasma though.

[Jerrek]

Actually most games support HDTV.

http://www.hdtvpub.com/games/xbox/microsoft-xbox.cfm