Why do XBOX games look like crap on my widescreen HDTV? (1 Viewer)

[Jake Gove]

The only one that looks good is Tony Hawk 4, which is 720P. Games according the the thread here that support 480P like Mortal Kombat DA and James Bond Nightfire and Splinter Cell all look like crap, with tons of jagged lines. The HDTV is a 57" Toshiba I just bought with hopes that all my games would look great. I'm pretty disappointed. Can anyone give any advice?

 

[JamesH]

A HDTV will give you a crisper picture at the cost of better exposing flaws like jaggies...especially on a big 57 inch set.

I went with a smaller direct view HDTV since the picture is so much brighter and clearer.

 

[Andrew Grall]

I can tell you that getting my Toshiba widescreen ISF calibrated made a big difference for me. A lot of things seemed "blurry". But after the basic calibration, focus, etc., it looks great with X-Box games.

 

[Joe Reed]

Jake Gove, I feel the same way after paying $3600 for the 50" GWII, I was hoping games would look amazing, but like you said the only good one was NBA2k3 in 720p, So I am returning the set and getting the 4x3 Sony 36"Wega xbr and dvd recorder/hard drive by panny and other stuff for the same price, and then I will be in gaming bliss.

 

[DwightK]

My TV is just S@V disk calibrated and the xobx games look great. Jake, what type of connection do you have from xobx to TV?
An unpleasant experience is to play a bit of some xpbx game like MechAssault then stop, switch input, and start up a PS1 game PS1 games on a Digital RPTV is scary. heck even PS2 games are a tad annoying with the shimmering but I adjust very quickly.

 

[Jake Gove]

The XBOX is connected via component cable. I adjusted the settings on the TV using a THX DVD.

 

[Dave F]

As JamesH noted, a HDTV will expose the flaws. Jagged edges will jump out, precisely because you have a TV capable of display at a high resolution.

-Dave

 

[Ian C]

An HDTV just shows you the issue of anti-aliasing in consoles, probably to really be addressed in the next generation (or with more 720p games for the XBOX). The blurrines of an analog set has been like "built-in" anti-aliasing for consoles to this point, so they hadn't really paid all that much attention to it.

Ian

 

[Joe michaels]

A 57 inch TV is really going to magnify all the details of the game but my question would be is that you have the settings correct such as using a high resolution input, the correct settings on all the game eqipment etc.

 

[Joe michaels]

Also what kind of set were you playing on prior to this? Not only do you have to get used to the look of an RPTV but you are using a high resolution display which is meant to bring out every detain and in gaming, there is only so much detail to be had.
It's defintely a trade off. I have a Sony Wega and games look great on it. I hooked my systems to my high defintion set expecting it to look really great and was dissapointed in some games as well. I only have have a 46 inch widescreen set though. Games like Halo and DOA 3 look phenomenal on it.

The blurrines of an analog set has been like "built-in" anti-aliasing for consoles to this point, so they hadn't really paid all that much attention to it.

well the fact that you have 'dividers' or space between each pixel is why that is. with the HDTV set the pixles are so tight that you see every single detail in the line and that the curves in a game system aren't really curves but jagged lines. I think that some of the anti-aliasing in games is actually harmful to the quality on and RPTV because of the way they display.

 

[Leif Wall]

I've got a 53" Panasonic and XBox games look awesome. DOA3 is jaw dropping, though plenty of jaggies. PS2 looks like poo though.

 

[Jeffrey Itterly]

Make sure you're sitting back far enough. I bought an extension cable for my XBOX controller and all the games look great on my 55" Toshiba. I sit about 13 feet from the TV.....

 

[EdR]

I play on a projector at 74" diagonal, via progressive scan, I'm very happy with how games look. The aliasing doesn't bother me, except in games where there's a ton.

I guess I just assume there will be aliasing, especially at 480 lines. Although the Xbox has better AA than other consoles, it seems only a few games really use it (MotoGP does a good job).

 

[Duane Robinson]

Do you guys think we'll completely get rid of jaggies and shimmering next generation or will we still have to put up with them even with these super consoles coming out. Because nothing ruins a beautiful image for me than jaggies and shimmering. Just kills me to see an artist's hard work just ruined because of those limitations. Kinda like putting a piece of wax paper over a Picasso or facial hair on a cute chick.

 

[EdR]

Do you guys think we'll completely get rid of jaggies and shimmering next generation or will we still have to put up with them even with these super consoles coming out. Because nothing ruins a beautiful image for me than jaggies and shimmering.

Nest generation, I doubt it...but maybe the one after that (especially if you're talking a majority of games).

What I really want to see is a game that looks exactly like the opening sequence to "Need For Speed:HP2" it's obviously rendered, it's completely anti-aliased, but I can't wait or the day that a console can render that in real time.

At the moment, that's kind of my benchmark for where I want to see games go, it's not so realistic that it's a decade away in terms of computing power, but it's realistic enough that it can fool you.

 

[DonJ]

EdR Have you checked out Splinter Cell? Although not perfect it is the best game graphically ever beside being one of the best games all around ever. Then also wait for Halo 2 and Project Gotham 2 they should be amazing as well.

 

[dan fritzen]

can you guys tell me what other games besides NBA2003 and Tony Hawk 4 are above 480p resolution?

 

[Jake Gove]

Dragon's Lair is 1080i.

 

[EdR]

I said above that I doubted that we'd be rid of aliasing in the next gen of consoles.

I'm going to backtrack a bit and say that there's a good chance that it could happen. When I see where PC hardware is, like the GeForce FX, and the latest Radeon...it seems possible that they could do some really high-quality AA at 640x480, or possibly 720p.

But that's kind of the catch, if consoles in general move to 720p, then the odds of seeing full AA are less...if we stay at 480 lines, full AA is much more likely. The good news is that, by simply rasing the resolution to 720 lines, each little 'step' in a jagged line is much smaller, and so, in effect, you get some amount of AA for 'free' just by raising the resolution.

 

[DeepakJR]

Anyone have any idea or hope that Halo 2 may be in 1080i...? That would be so kick ass!!
L8rz,
Deepak Jr.