Are you going HD for the Xbox 360 or not??

[mt50]

Finally are there any benefits from me buying the ?300 LCD tv than buying a pc tft instead??

it's got a TV tuner built in and speakers. oh and more connections other than dvi/vga

[jammi]

Finally are there any benefits from me buying the ?300 LCD tv than buying a pc tft instead??

if you like running you pc at high res then your better off with a TFT, as most LCD TV's only go up to 1360x768 were I like to run a min of 1680x1050 and most new large TFT's have S-video etc, some even have component

[Jei]

I've done quite a bit of research and from what i gather in order to get a guarenteed decent picture on any of the current gen machines i'm gonna have to be paying in excess of ?50 just for cables. Some cheaper leads are hit and miss.


Oh decisions decisions, i'd prefer to just use the one set for all my consoles so i've just gotta weigh it up from the looks of things.

[sj33]

I've always been quite confused by how people complain about SD stuff look poor on HD screens - I can tell you my Saturn looks flippin' gorgeous on my 26" HD-Ready LCD, and I get to play Nights in widescreen too =P Perhaps a CRT of a similar price would look even better, but it sure as heck doesn't look crap

On a 17" widescreen, the difference would be largely neglible anyway.

[Jei]

I'm gonna go for it then, from what i've read up on it's quite a high specced LCD for ?300, Even if it doesn't support Hdmi


By the time the ps3 comes out i should be in a much better position financially so i'm not too worried about HDMI support just yet

[Lyris]

Finally are there any benefits from me buying the ?300 LCD tv than buying a pc tft instead??

This is lifted from something I just typed last night over at the AV Forums. So you can get it in context, someone was complaing about poor quality Component 480p quality on a Dell LCD Monitor:

"This is probably normal. I'm assuming the monitor is designed mainly for computer use, and the Component input is more of a value-added extra, right?

This is one of the reasons that dedicated LCD televisions cost a lot more than LCD monitors. While it's possible that a computer user could buy an LCD monitor and run it at its native resolution 100% of the time, an LCD TV will almost never be driven at its native resolution and will have to handle a huge variety of resolutions - PAL, NTSC, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i - NONE of which will typically match the resolution of the TV. So because of that, a very expensive high-quality scaler is needed."

LCD TVs tend to have better quality scalers, obviously bigger sizes, proper 16:9 aspect ratio, and better viewing angles.

[sj33]

There's a chance there might be a Component connector for the PS3 anyway, though you'll be out of luck as far as Blu-Ray movies on the PS3 goes.

I reckon you've made a good choice though, A HD set to see you through at least the next year or so for ?300, and it'll beat the pants off of any SD set in terms of detail.

[Jei]

@ Lyris - Yeh I read this last night, pretty much been scanning AVforums etc to find out as much info as I can. I put a thread on there asking about the set that i want but yet again, as it only came out last week noone knows. Good info though and I remember it answered a few questions I needed to know so cheers for that.

@ Shakey_Jake33 - Yeh I agree, at the end of the day i'm running my PC through a 15" crt so even when the ps3 comes out i'l still have a nice LCD for the PC so it's not a massive loss. Fingers crossed eh! Only thing that I can't find out is if it'l accept a signal from my USA ps2 and JAP saturn as they're the only 2 consoles that are true NTSC rather than pal 50HZ, i'l be buggered if it doesn't.

[JamesBelsey]

I went HD about 6 months ago for 4 reasons. Firstly for true HDTV when Sky actually get around to releasing it (looking like February at the moment), then the new HD disc formats (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray), then for viewing photos and stuff in HD through Xbox Media Center, and finally for HD gaming with PS3 (and Xbox 360 if I actually decide to buy one).

I wouldn't have gone HD just for Xbox 360 (or PS3) though.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I'm going to run mine through my Dell 20" W/S flat panel PC monitor. I'll have my PC connected to the DVI port, and the 360 to the VGA port. One button press on the front and it switches inputs.

Wish I'd known Dell were going to make a 24" version when I bought mine, but still, it'll do for now.

[Crisp_Rapper]

i'll buy a hdtv at some point but not in the immediate future (next 5/6 months or so). i personally don't think it's neccessary... nice, but not neccessary.

[Dezm0nd]

Not going HD until more things start to use it, perfectly fine with RGB at the moment. Sure games might look better but like someone else said, surely not a grands worth. It took me ages to get a semi decent TV for a good price. I'll just sit and play the waiting game.

[Kotatsu Neko]

i'll buy a hdtv at some point but not in the immediate future (next 5/6 months or so). i personally don't think it's neccessary... nice, but not neccessary.

I think it's been completely over hyped personally. It's not going to change gaming, it'll just make the picture sharper. No biggie. Play a PC game and fiddle with the resolution settings to see the difference it makes.

As you say, it's nice, but it's not worth spending much money on now. Perhaps when HD-DVD is established and we can sign up to HD cable or HD satellite TV, but it would be very silly to spend so much just for sharper looking games.

[sj33]

Probably true... mind you, if anyone was looking to buy a new TV like I was anyway, I think it would be shortsighted not to consider a HD one.

[Crisp_Rapper]

aye, i don't use sky anyway... my tv is used for games and the odd dvd, the tv i have now is about 13yr old, 4.3 and the image is a little 'soft' but it's still a hell of a lot better than most sets.

i'm quite happy to sit with my old tv and play a 360/ps3/revo on it until i can clearly see the need to upgrade, and by that time we'll be seeing some lovely 1080p sets for the same sort of cash as the 720p ones are now. i've been stung buying into things too early before and it's not happening on a ?600+ tv