a newbie needin help (1 Viewer)

[paulDark]

Hi, guys. I'm just getting my feet wet in the whole hdtv market, and I'm needing as many truly unbiased opinions as I can get. While I've spent a lot of time researching, I'm finding there are too many options to have a definitive "this TV is the one!" statement, so I'll just explain my needs and you can hopefully point in the right direction.

I am a gamer. My needs are not huge, but not minimal. I have right now a 30"(or 32", i forget) CRT television. Obviously that's not high enough for HD content. I am VERY interested in HDTV's for the upcoming HD wars, but more imporantly my GAMES. I want them very good, not necessarily the BEST. for instance, 720p is acceptable. And I do want to know exactly how HDMI cables fit into the whole scheme of game consoles/tv/cable box (like I said, I'm new and those "what AREN'T they telling me" questions keep popping up). And yes, I will be having multiple consoles for my TV, so keep that in mind as well.

And now, experts, go at it School this newb.

 

[Steve_Blazer]

Game consoles currently only give out a 480p signal via component cables.
Thats is pretty much it right now until the PS3 or they upgrade the xbox360.

Xbox 360 uses a regular DVD drive and as far as I know upconverts non-480p games to 480p.

So still 480p maximum.

So dont worry about HDMI.

Not an issue if your only using game consoles as there are none available that HDMI capable.

HDMI has problems with how HDCP has been implemented by various component manufacturers (Motorola and cable boxes spring to mind).

You DO have options regarding receivers and TVs that can upconvert from 480i/p but the various capabilities and combinations is way too many to list here.