What is the safest picture levels I can play my Xbox at on my 51" Sony RPHDTV? (1 Viewer)

[kurt_fire]

I have a Sony 51" rear-projection HDTV that is only a few months old. I have set my Xbox up to it in the past and wasn't very impressed with the picture. Now DVDs look absolutely fantastic, but Xbox games appear better on my 27" 10 year old Magnovox tube TV than my new HDTV.

What's the problem?

I have my video settings adjusted on my Xbox input to exactly what DVE recommends. The games are just too dark and not very crisp. What is the safest contrast/brightness settings I could get away with on my TV that will not cause burn-in.

I have them currently around 38 contrast, 40 brightness, on my current Xbox setting but it's still wayy to dark. I've read anything above that and you are greatly risking burning into the screen.

What should I do? Specifically Sony owners, what should I do?

 

[Brandon_S]

Kurt,

It is pretty much accepted that the Xbox High Def pack outupts a somewhat dark picture. Does your TV had different contrast and brightness settings per input? If so just bump the contrast and brightness each up about 2 or 3 notches.

Most Xbox games don't contain enough static images to really hurt your TV. Even Halo 2's HUD disappears when you die (which is fairly often for me ). It sounds like you are cautious as it is, so just keep the contrast and brightness within 5 ticks of those DVE levels and you should be ok.

Another option would be to run DVE through the Xbox (if you have the DVD remote). Hope this helps.

 

[kurt_fire]

well, 2-3 clicks from the DVE settings still makes the Xbox image look like garbage.

I'm thinking if I put both contrast/BN at roughly %50 the image will be nice. But is that too high of a setting for an Xbox; will this high of a settings cause burn-in?

 

[Brandon_S]

Kurt,

You might want to buy/borrow a DVD remote kit and try to calibrate the Xbox input that way. On my Xbox input, both my contrast and brightness are close to 50%. The only way to be sure is to run a test disc through the Xbox and find out. Might be worth the peace of mind to lay down the cash for the remote and give it a try.

 

[kurt_fire]

Brandon_S, that is exactly how I calibrated my Xbox's input. I ran my DVE in my Xbox; I own the DVD kit. But it's still too dark...will brightness and contrast at 50% cause burn-in?

 

[Brandon_S]

Kurt,

How far above what DVE tells you do you have to go to get an acceptable picture with the Xbox? Contrast is generally considered to be the factor that is most likely to cause burn in. You probably don't want to move contrast too far.

Try messing with the brightness withing a 5 tick range to see if that helps any.

On my Mitsu, my contrast and brightness are both about 2-3 ticks above their settings on my DVD input. I don't really worry about burn-in because I know that most games I play won't have static images on the screen long enough to cause a problem. Even if you play a long session of Halo, there are so many cutscenes and other screens that break up the image long enough to not have to worry about burn-in.

Hopefully for MS next system they will work on the signal output darkness problem the HD packs have. It is a pretty commonly known problem.

Hope this has helped at least somewhat...