HD young, gamers on standard-def

I bought an HDTV and returned it. Playing at a higher resolution can make the game more likely to drop in frame rate. This can be very significant in multilayer. An example is in COD2 with the sniper, the frame rate will drop if there's a lot going on in the screen. Therefore making your sniper rifle move slower and causing you to be less effective. A smooth frame rate is more important to me than a slightly prettier picture.

@47

Heh, I thought I was the only person who returned an HDTV. They all called me mad! There just wasn't enough pay-off. Then again, I'm more of a movie buff than a gamer. And even Blu-Ray/PS3 isn't doing it for me. (Terrible selections/price.)

@47 You experianced a frame-rate drop when you went to a HDTV...I hope it was an LCD. You upgrade from a CRT monitor to a LCD and you might see a drop in 'frame rate'. It's not actually a drop in frame-rate, it is refresh rate. An LCD monitor refreshes at like 8ms, a CRT is like 0.5ms. I noticed a MASSIVE difference in Titan Quest when i upgraded to an LCD, the refresh rate was so bad it was unplayable. It only happens in certain games i have found too. I dont know if this information applys to your problem, but it's not a drop in frame rate cause of your HDTV, it is a drop in refresh rate that makes it looks dodgy. Then again, i dont know if LCD tv's are plagued with the same problems as the monitors.

My friend plays his 360 on an HDTV, saw it, was impressed, shrugged, went back home and switched on my 24" Sony tv and my ps2 and continued playing Okami.

My tv isn't even flat. HDTV is impressive, but not worth the money. Not for my future Wii, PS3 or even 360 (yes i plan to own all three, sometime in the future).

But if I was a rapper I'd have an HDTV in every room of my mansion, including my bathroom.

HDTV still need 2+ years to really matter.

"6. i think the problem with many of the people here is that they are all rich 20 something's living at sme high end dorm with mommy's money flowing freely into their pockets....
...
the diffference is that i have to pay for my stufff on my own so i choose what is more important."

or could it possibly be that many of us are normal 20 somethings with college degrees, not dependents and jobs that pay well enough that we have disposable income after paying student loans? Grow up kid and dont insult a broad demographic.

Meh - I still don't have a widescreen TV, let alone HDTV. It's only just getting to the point where I can justify buying one of those...

Then again, I don't play games on it - except my old SNES games.

It starts when I have the money for an HD tv. Which is unlikely to happen soon, since I could barely afford the 360.

I haven't made the jump to next-gen yet. However, when it happens I will also be buying an HDTV to go with it. I just don't see the point in owning a next-gen system without HD.

We're still in the infancy of HDTV. There's still not a lot of HDTV channels available, making the purchasing of an expensive item to get a limited number of better looking channels, and pay more for the privilege to do so, somewhat of a questionable item for most. It's certainly not in impulse buy. And even though pricing is coming down, it's still ridiculuously expensive for most major brands.

And that person is right, watching SD on an HDTV is noticably worse than watching SD on an SDTV. And has any mentioned how HD channels also show some SD content as well-- commericals for example or certain content throughout the day, depending on the channel.

Most people only buy TVs every 10-15 years. So it's going to take at least that long for everyone to goto an HDTV. And outside of early adopters, HDTV only really started catching on last year.

Now is the time, you can get a decent 37" LCD for less than $1000 (bedroom tv, I connected my dreamcast). I hope my wii doesn't look too shitty on my 60" Grand Wega which is my main gaming rig. Thay should force OTA to all HD now, and stop waiting, only then will all networks broadcast in HD (still waiting for my VH1 Classic in HD)

I personally couldn't care less about if my next console supports HD or not.

Does anyone here own a 1080p TV?
In fact, how about a poll joystiq?

I don't think i've seen a single post from anyone claiming to own one.

It seems to me that Microsoft and Sony both believe that the growth in availability of HD technology will be analogous to the growth we have seen in the availability of high-speed internet connections. I see this thinking as being flawed.

The cost of an internet connection is relatively low, about $40 a month, and that cost becomes more negligible once you factor in that the internet is not only a source of entertainment used for gaming, surfing, or chatting. It is also a great homework aid, a networking tool, and a business application. An HDTV is purely for entertainment. Factor that in with a pricetag of at least $800 (and an average cost of about $2000) and an HDTV becomes economically unfeasible for many middle class families.

I think Nintendo's decision to not include HDTV compatibility in the Wii was a smart one. It'll keep both hardware and software costs down and that'll be a major selling point for them. Also Nintendo has stated that they're trying to attract a wider audience to video gaming and, really, only the most hardcore gamers are going to have HDTVs for gaming anyway.

I have to admit that I sprung for an HDTV last night because I got tired of not being able to read on screen text in my Xbox360 games. I had a big smile on my face after going into the menus and bumping it up from tv mode to widescreen 1080i.

As far as watching TV on it, DiscoveryHD was amazing but I watch all my TV through a non HD TiVo, so until I build a MythTV box, the HDTV will only benefit my 360.

In response to kawaii:

"People with SDTVS ARE POOR IGNORANT PEOPLE"

I may be poor, but I ain't ignorant. I consider HDTV to be nothing more than a silly luxury.

Somehow, I don't expect many people to suddenly be able to afford a 1,500 dollar TV. HDTV won't truly be a standard until more than 95% of people have it. Which probably won't really be for at least another 10 years. Seriously, the whole HDTV craze is inane. The improvement in picture quality is so minimal but it's so hyped up to the point where consoles HAVE to have HD quality picture or else it's crap. This whole graphics issue and glitz issue is what's driving the games industry into the ground and is the reason games are costing more and more. Gimme a break, people. You're fucking morons.

Funny that when people say the price of a HDTV is 2000+, they normally look for big, LARGE units. Smaller units would certainly cost less, and would handle SD nicely too- Bigger ain't better.

And use your minds plz. There's monthly installments to make HDTVs affordable to the average Joe, just like cars (though on a much larger scale). Fifty bucks a month= 1000 bucks for a HDTV. (Duh.)

I'm only going to say this one last time and I am going to use caps (sorry!) to get my point across to some of you.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND $1000+ TO ENJOY HD, I REPEAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND 1000+ TO ENJOY HD.....

You can buy HDTVs as low as 499 for a 27" HDTV CRT with 720p/1080i with HDMI in it.

And you don't need to surf all over the web for that kind of deal either, I got my samsung 27" HDTV for $425 at best buy for my bed room and I just got a 42" samsung DLP for $1200 and I can barely tell the difference when im playing my xbox360 on both of them.


I wish sony and microsoft did a better job telling customers that you dont need a big screen tv to enjoy HDTV..........

*Two years, that is.
Same goes for Broadband- noone lets you sign on a contract less than one year.

Yeah - all you American folks so adimate about sticking to SDTV, remember this date - Feburary 17th, 2009.

After that - your TV's will be pretty much useless unless you wanna play your old Atari or something. All analog broadcast signals are to be shut off that day. Unless your TV has a digital tuner, your TV will recieve absolutely nothing but snow.

And I got a great Samsung 32" CRT 480i-p/p720p/1080i CRT for $600, and I love this thing. I wouldn't dream about going back to SD.

""HDTV is the future of gaming, but when will that happen?""

Started last year.

67 you are incorrect - you can use an SDTV then there will just be a converter in your cable box.

The sad thing is, everyone with an SDTV will be disappointed in the PS3 and Xbox 360. Games that are meant to be in 720p+ look like crap in 480i. It's really difficult to appreciate a game like Dead Rising when all the textures are blurry.

Whichever side you choose, the experience is essentially meaningless without the right display to show the power of your next gen system. SDTV makes Blu-ray and HD-DVD completely worthless as well.

For those going to take the plunge into HDTV, get rear-projection. Budget LCD's have a horrible refresh rate.

"You can buy HDTVs as low as 499 for a 27" HDTV CRT with 720p/1080i with HDMI in it."

If you like crap that is.

@47, you are stupid and extremely ignorant. That problem happens on standard tvs. It's also specific to call of duty 2, I've had that happen on the pc version.

@48, I can see why you're disappointed. You've probably never seen a movie in hd, while I have.

I have a 27" hdtv and am thinking of who to sell that to so I can get a 32". There's no going back, hd isnt' the future: it's now.

"Feburary 17th, 2009.

After that - your TV's will be pretty much useless unless you wanna play your old Atari or something. All analog broadcast signals are to be shut off that day."

Unless the shutoff date is pushed back another three years due to slow adoption of digital TV tuners. Hey, it's happened once already.

"Unless your TV has a digital tuner, your TV will recieve absolutely nothing but snow."

Only if you're getting your TV programming from over-the-air broadcasts. Cable TV will still work the way it always has. All DVD players, VCRs and game consoles will still work the way they always have.

@70 please explain how it is crap . Do you own one ? Because I own both a 27" HDTV and a 42" DLP and the difference on gaming in HD is size and the lack of widescreen .....

A $499 HDTV at this time is simply 'crap'.

What more needs to be said. I am positive your contrast ratio sucks.

" A $499 HDTV at this time is simply 'crap'.

What more needs to be said. I am positive your contrast ratio sucks."

Unless you bought a tube TV, in which case the contrast ratio is probably 10 times better than your flat panel.

HDTV/=flatpanel tv

My friend has a 26" hdtv that he got for $499 on ebay. It's far from crap.

Docwho must have never seen a HDTV CRT in action so his opinion from here on are pretty much worthless.

Anyway the only down side with the lower-end (read: $499-$799) CRT HDTVs is that they are so damn heavy.

Although samsung does has a 32" crt hdtv "slim-flat" (less heavy) for around $699 thats not a bad deal and can be found at most retailers....

Jeez you guys make me feel terrible for being an early adopter. I bought my HDTV a couple months before the 360 in anticipation. Maybe it's just me but I like a pretty picture (ok I love it). Before the 360 came out I was able to watch Lost and other primetime programs in HD glory.

A few XBox1 games were in 720p like XMen Legends 2 so I got my fix of HD content. I just can't go back now. I even bought a widescreen monitor for my PC. I'm not rich and you don't need to be rich to enjoy HDTV.

Right now, it doesn't really matter that Nintendo isn't supporting HD with Wii, but three years or so into its life, around the end of 2009, it definitely will matter. However, Nintendo's next console should be launching two years or so after 2009, so it won't be such a big deal, since Nintendo has said their next console, after Wii, will be HD.

However, all I have to say is that their console after Wii BETTER have ALL games on it run in 1080p. Similar to how Wii is about twice as powerful as Xbox, the highest performing console of this generation, Nintendo's console after Wii should be twice as powerful as the PS3, the next generation's top console, and since some PS3 games run in 1080p, ALL of "Wii 2's" games should run in 1080p.

---

As a side note, I'm marveling at how everyone is saying HD isn't a big deal. I presume you must all be Nintendo/Wii fanboys, right? Yeah, well I am, too, but that doesn't make me blind to the fact that HD DOES make a big difference in graphics and generally looks MUCH MUCH better than 480i or 480p. In the end, though, GAMEPLAY is all that matters, which Wii seems to have the most of. But completely disregarding good HD graphics is simply being ignorant and dull.

Like I said earlier-- Most people who THINK they've seen HD content probably haven't seen it. What they've seen is a 480p DVD run through the HDTV displays at Best Buy, or the compressed "digital" HD from a cable company. Both are FAR from the quality of a pure digital over-the-air broadcast. I don't even bother with cable anymore because HD from my antenna is so much better, and any shows I want to see on cable can be purchased cheaper (on a per-show basis) in decent quality from iTunes (or seen free on Adult Swim Fix).

The retail stores and cable companies are misrepresenting HD. It's really, really sad that they show people a standard DVD and say it's HD. It's not.

the whole HDTV craze is inane. The improvement in picture quality is so minimal

whoa there nelly. last year, i bought a 42 inch samsung plasma that was "only" EDTV and even on that, the difference between HD and non HD programming was stunning. As for content availabilty, all of the netowrk shows are shot in HD now, and all of the premium cable channels are as well. It will be great when food netowrk and vh1 and stuff switch over, but i am not overly freaking out about it now. Lots of content looks killer now, even on EDTVs.

Also, as for price. just this weekend I "impulse bought" a 32 inch Westinghouse HD LCD. I was iffy on the off brand, but after comparing it to the others costing more than twice as much, it certainly held it's own. The thing, before my reward zone discount, was $799 on the shelf, after my reward zone 12% off one item weekend discount, i walked out with it for $690.

$690 for a nice HD LCD is not unreasonable, and it's gonna keep getting cheaper and more accesible. hell, i can cary it myself and it fit in the trunk of a cab. comcast is bringing me a second HD box tommorow, but i got a $10 antennae and OTA CBS/ABC/NBC/Fox all look amazing.

19 and 27 inch LCDs from teh same brand can be found for much less. not to mention the HD CRTS.

my guess is black friday will have some insane deals- i could imagne walmart selling this $690 32inch lcd for like $499 just to get stampede.

anyone that says there is only a litle picture quality difference is trying to kid themselves. do some odd jobs, or go without beer and weed for a couple weeks and go grab one.