New HD TV and Xbox - :( Examples found!

[Toad]

I just splashed out on a new Sony Bravia 40" TV. It's full 1080p and all that stuff... I plugged in my Xbox and I'm not overly impressed to be honest. I've changed the Xbox settings to 1080p and the TV flicks on to 1080p too, but the picture isn't as high res as I was expecting. The odd thing is, if I change the Xbox settings to 720p, the picture isn't any worse, it's exactly the same. Would this be the component cable limiting the res?

A friend of mine has the same model Sony Bravia, but 46", and his PS3 looks stunning, it's razor sharp. My Xbox looks a bit like a PC monitor that's running on a lower res than its optimum if you get what I mean? Call od Duty 4 doesn't look all that impressive, it's blocky to be exact...

Has anyone else experienced this?

[saxyVTRsaxo]

Have you swtiched the switch over on the back of the xbox. It says Tv/HD, switch it to HD

[Toad]

Yeah I've done that. I'm guessing it's just the Xbox. :(

[Toad]

Need to go buy a PS3 now... :ponder:

[Clouds_mate]

Only HDMI supports 1080p iirc mate.

[Matt_e]

yeah have you used hdmi cable?

[Qucifer666]

you could try the vga cable, may work

[Toad]

My Xbox doesn't have an HDMI out... Apparently only the newer version do. But still, I wasn't expecting the picture to suffer so much because of this. I'm pretty gutted, it's a million miles from what the PS3 looks like on the same TV.

[Jacko]

component cable only outpus 420p i think...like the wii...few quid on a new hdmi cable will see a stupidly awesome improvement.

[Toad]

Just done some more testing. There's NO difference whatsoever between 720p and 1080p. So I assume it looks blocky because it's a big TV running on 720p when it needs to be 1080p to be crisp.

[GrantW]

Thats the problem then, need the HDMI port mate.

[Toad]

component cable only outpus 420p i think...like the wii...few quid on a new hdmi cable will see a stupidly awesome improvement.

My 360 doesn't have an HDMI out...

[Jacko]

my bad. thats a god awfull mistake by microsoft.

[MaRiO89]

My Bro's Xbox on his Bravia looks fine..

Shocked at yours not having a HDMI port..Whats the point of making a HD capable console if you cant use it at HD resolutions..

PS3 ftw tbh..Does everything the Xbox does and a few other things better tbh..Not being biased..Its fact..

[Qucifer666]

get the vga cable, that should improove it

[Toad]

If I change the Xbox settings to 420p, it looks worse, but not a by miles... Wierd.

[GrantW]

VGA Cable only runs at 720p, I know because thats what im using with my projector.

To rub salt in the wounds, i have the HDMI port on mine and dont even need it lol.

[Toad]

I've read that you don't need HDMI to run 1080 resolution... But who's correct? :ponder:

I'm really gutted. The screen is pony...

[Toad]

Just had a quick go on Forza 2, and the cars don't look right. The edges of the bodywork look grainy, and flicker with white pixels. Something ain't right...

[MaRiO89]

You cant run 1080 res without a HDMI cable..

[Toad]

Read this, the part about the picture quality with Xbox Elite Vs Orginal (HDMI Vs Compononet) Apparently the difference is teeny. There certainly shouldn't be as big of a difference as what I'm seeing.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/26/xbox-360-elite-vs-classic-the-test/

[Robb]

I am in the same boat mate.

Using a 46" 1080p Samsung TV and a gay Non-HDMI Xbox 360. And I agree, graphics arent all that, and nothing happens when you change display settings.

Bro has the same TV but in 40 inch, running a PS3 with a HDMI lead and his looks shit hot in comparison.

Just waiting to get a PS3/HDMI Xbox and then I will start complaining....

[Toad]

Interesting! Thanks for the post mate, it's nice to know I haven't completely lost the plot!!! :)

The only way I can sum things up is this: The PS3 on the 46" TV looked like a PC monitor. All the text for example, was razor sharp, and there was no blurring / smoothing of the text either. On my 360 on the same TV but 40", the text looks quite bad actually. Nothing like a PC monitor at all. When I was playing COD4, you know how you get the picture of the map you are just about to join when playing on-line? It look all blocky, like it's on a crappy 800*600 resolution, but has been expanded to fit the screen. I'm not impressed.

[Clouds_mate]

I ran my old xbox on the same cable you did. Now i have a new xbox and use HDMI.

Ive also had a HDMI PS3. i cant really say i noticed a difference between any of them

Edit just read seen what you put with the link. It isnt noticable.

[Toad]

This has got me a bit miffed Leckie. I wonder what's going on then...

[Clouds_mate]

Maybe its a setting on your TV or something just as silly as that?

It should see a massive improvement. I know Ruddy was pretty gobsmacked when using my tv compaired to SD.

Ive only played the console in HD so i have no idea what its like without.

I know alot of people that use VGA and they say its alot better then the other cables.

I think they is an AV forum (dont know link) that will be able to help you config your TV. if that doesnt work buy a VGA cable for like £15 a think. gota be cheaper then buying a new console lol

[Robb]

I know the Sony and Samsung TVs differ, you can actually set Sony to 1080p IIRC however Samsung has 'game mode', which I would presume would be 1080p also. I doubt it would be a setting, but it might be worth asking your mate if he has tinkered with anything. My bro plug and played as far as hes concerned.

I am trying to get a hold of a PS3, should be able to get one this week if I pull my finger out so will test it out and see how I get on.

[craig180]

If your TV is brand new it will need "running in" before it starts performing it's best.

The main problem you have though is your TV is a Sony Bravia and they are shite unless running an HD source

Your VGA should run progressive 720, and if you tell the TV to upscale to 1080 it will still only be receiving a 720 image so in theory, as you have said, there is little or no difference.

Give the TV a bit of time though and it will improve. Also make sure you are using a decent cable (forget fancy gold plugs etc, just make sure it's properly and magnetically shielded)

[b0t13]

running ur tv in?, not heard that before lol

[Jungle_Jim]

i notice a massive difference if i dont run my ps3 on hdmi 1080, im used to playing on an HD tv but if i take it round my dads house and use the scart as he doesnt have an hd tv it looks shite, no better than a ps2

[bytor]

Toad, it would seem you have the problem where no FSAA is applied (Anti-aliasing removes jagged lines). I can't quite tell from your post whether this is your problem but it sounds like it.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/bs52x/100_1792.jpg

http://forums.xbox.com/1/16852999/ShowPost.aspx#16852999
http://forums.xbox.com/1/19315178/ShowPost.aspx#19315178

Theres no fix for this, and from what i've read it has started since the 2007 spring dashboard update

I done a fair bit of reading about this because my friend was in the same situation as you.

Just read the whole thread, and i'd put money on this being your problem (from what you say about forza 2). Also, this problem isn't just with SCART (with HD switch), it will also a happen with Component, SCART "to" VGA, SCART "to" DVI, HDMI etc. If you have a VGA port on your TV your can try getting a SCART "to" VGA and setting the resolution to 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 (with this you will have black bands top and bottom of your tv due to the 360 not supporting it lol another stupid thing, either that or it will run at the wrong ratio) although it would be a wasted £15. I orignally thought it was the SCART with HD switch, just being useless, after we tested it with the VGA cable, off to google it was.

[Toad]

Thanks for the input guys!!!

I've got a little more info... I've been speaking to a mate of mine about this, as he has a 360 using the component just like me, but on a 32" TV which doesn't support 1080p as it's quite old. Anyway, he has his Xbox set to 1080p and his picture is razor sharp as I would expect it to be. If he changes the Xbox setting to 720p, the picture quality is reduced significantly. So why on my TV / Xbox when I change between 720p / 1080i / 1080p is there no change of the picture whatsoever? Something is definately not right.

I did a little more testing... I flicked the switch at the back of the componet cable so it's not on HD mode, I then went back in and the picture was now running on 480i. And to be honest, the 480i picture wasn't a whole lot worse than my "apparent" 1080p picture. It's as if my Xbox isn't giving the required resolution to the TV, and the TV is just inflating the picture to make it fit the big screen, hence why it looks blocky as opposed to razor sharp.

Bytor - That picture does remind me of Forza 2! And when those jagged lines move, they flicker with white pixles and look pretty rough. I didn't notice this will COD4, but generally COD4 just didn't seem to be running in high resolution. It's a bit like running a game on your PC in 800*600 resolution but with a 19" monitor when the resolution should be set to 1280*1024. I remember when I first bought Battlefield 2 for my PC, and it would automatically run in 1024*768 even though I selected 1280*1024 and the result was a blocky picture which was smoothed out in a way. I think these LCD TVs are like PC LCD monitors, in the way that they need to be run in their optimum resolution to get a sharp picture, otherwise they give that blocky / blurred image. What do you think?

[bytor]

Its hard to say Toad, without seeing what you are seeing. But as you know theres a difference between running a resolution that isn't native to your monitor / tv and no FSAA being applied. You can try a VGA cable as I said, theres loads on Amazon, Microsoft even do a VGA cable, I think the one we used was by Joytech, around £15-20 posted.

[Toad]

It must be resolution related. I haven't used HD on my Xbox before, so I was expecting a big jump in picture quality... To be honest, I prefer the look on my shitty old 20" CRT TV... At least the text is accurate...

[Hanuman]

tbh mate in simple terms your tvs fked, anyone who knows anything will tell you (anyone NOT biased) there is no difference between ps3 and xbox graphics its proven!

i had a sony tv 32" reallll big chunky tv worth about £1500 (when bought 5+ year ago)and told it was better than nearly all new lcd flatscreens apart from it doesnt have hd, and low and behold i bought a new toshib hd 32" lcd and the sony 5 odd year old is FAR better picture for watching football and sound, BUT as soon as i put the xbox 360 on the tohshiba hd the jump was MASSIVE! and that was from a 32" sony which is probably the best tv you could buy before hd lcds (apart from it weighs literally about 20stone.

so if your saying your jump to a new sony bravia (which of the top of my head cost a fortune) is crap and blury then quite frankly the tvs broke or you havnt sorted out the tv settings for hd, go back to the shop and tell them.

[Toad]

I think I'm going to try a VGA cable first. From what I've read, this should force a 1920*1080 signal... I'm sure this is just a resolution issue.

[Jacko]

swap it for an elite.

[danzman1991]

Sell the Xbox, buy a PS3..

[Robb]

Let us know how you get on with the VGA, I need to know too lol.

[Toad]

Slight change of plan. :)

I've spoken to the shop where I bought the TV from, and they are happy for me to pop in with my Xbox and try it on the same TV I have, and also any other TVs... They mentioned that they have an Xbox (elite) on demo on a 46" TV and it's perfectly sharp. It will be interesting to find out exactly how mine performs on the same TV.

Some other info... The component cable is mean't to be able to provide up to a 1080i signal, hence, that should be a high enough resolution for my TV, and you shouldn't notice any difference between 1080i and 1080p on a still image. If anyone wants to see a perfect example of how my Xbox looks, and I mean PERFECT example! You will need either a 19" or a 17" LCD monitor on your PC. Right, if you're using a 19" PC monitor, check your display resolution, it should be set to 1280*1024. Now, change it to 1024*768. Notice any difference? You'll see that the edges to text and images has become slightly blurred, and basically it just looks crap. This is EXACTLY how my Xbox looks, identical in every way. If you're using a 17" monitor, the resolution should be set to 1024*768 (I think) Now change this to 800*600, and you will see what I'm talking about...

[Robb]

I am running a 21 inch widescreen monitor and what youve just said about resolution is correct.

Im running the same resolution as my 20 inch monitor at home and on this one it shows alright but slightly stretched and distorted.

[Toad]

There you go mate. That's about the best way I can describe it... Annoying huh?

[bytor]

Toad, nothing wrong with your TV, I forgot about the issue with Monitors / TV's that are 16:10 (1920x1200) native, you will get this problem regardless. As your TV is 16:9 the VGA cable should sort this, as you can then run your TV's native resolution.

[Toad]

Right guys, I've got a fairly big update here, and I would also like some more assistance if possible, as I'm still not completely convinced about some aspects.

I went to the store yesterday evening as planned, and they had an Xbox elite and a PS3 both being displayed on 2 of the same model TVs; 46" Sony Bravia's. When I saw the display of the Xbox main menu it was actually slightly worse than on my TV! And this was using HDMI - HDMI! I think the reason behind this is due to the TV being that little bit bigger than mine, and the Xbox main menu isn't programed to run in full resolution, hence all the blocky text / images. They had Forza 2 on demo, and it looked pretty crap to be honest, it was very blocky and looked generally crap IMO. But remember, Forza 2 is only a 720p game... Anyway, as I said, the PS3 was sitting right next to the Xbox, and the picture from that was fantastic. The menu was perfect, all razor sharp, so assume Sony have programed the PS3 to run if full defo in the menu system?

Right, second part to this update, and this is where I need you help big time! I bought a VGA cable for the Xbox yesterday lunchtime, as I thought it wouldn't hurt to see what the difference is between it and the component. I plugged the cable into the Xbox, and the PC type connector into the TV and fired everything up. When the Xbox started to load, it was only using a tiny area of the TV, looked quite funny. I went into the Xbox display settings, and instead of the options with the component like 720p, 1080i, 1080p, you got a list of resolution, starting from 640*480 (which it was currently on) all the way up to 1920*1080. I started choosing some of the higher resolutions, and as I did this, the image on the screen would get bigger, filling up more of the TV's size. However, I wasn't impressed with the picture quality at all, as there was a lot of ghosting of the images and text. For example, you could see like a triple image of the same letter of text, it looked very poor. Anyway, here's the big issue: When I selected 1920*1080 from the Xbox menu, my TV went blank, and it then came up with the message "Unsupported signal, check your PC settings..." How disappointing! This pretty much made the VGA cable useless, as the picture quality was worse than the component, and I couldn't even choose a resolution to fit the whole of the screen!

I thought enough was enough, so I hooked my PC up to the TV. This would take out the possibility of any issue with the Xbox or the Xbox VGA cable. When the PC booted up, it was on a resolution of 1360 * 768 and the picture was lovely. It was a proper monitor looking picture, however, it was only using about 3/4 of the TV screen. The little slider in the properties setting on my PC wouldn't allow me to choose a higher resolution. I went into my graphics card settings, where I can choose a larger range of resolution, and from there I chose the 1920 * 1080 resolution, but as soon as I chose this resolution, the TV went blank and gave the same message as with the Xbox: "Unsupported signal, check your PC settings..." So what's going on guys? My assumption is that the VGA adapter in the back of my TV is not designed to accept a higher resolution than 1360 * 768, hence why I cannot choose it from the Xbox or the PC, would you agree? Has anyone else here tried using a VGA adpater with there Xbox and setting the resolution to 1920 * 1080?

EDIT: I thought i should add... I looked in the instruction manual of my TV, and it has a list of supported VGA resolutions, and ones it recommends you use. Funnily enough, the maximum resolution was 1360 * 768! So if I have a 1920 * 1080 TV, why won't it allow that resolution through the VGA?

[Hanuman]

this wont help you but...

how can a sony bravia make xbox hd crap,

i have a £600 toshiba hd and the picture is amazing on the xbox, had a ps3 ran on it and they looked NO DIFFERENT,

if i went and spent all the money on a big sony bravia and found it wouldnt work due to the tv res i would take it back tbh and get a better tv

[Hanuman]

28day returns ftw

[Toad]

What size TV is you Toshiba?

I've just been on the phone to Sony's technical support, and the answer to the resolution query is indeed down to the limitations of the VGA adapter. The VGA adapter on the TV will not allow a greater resolution that 1360 * 768. So if I wanted to use my TV / PC at 1920 * 1080, I would need to use a DVI / HDMI connection. So if anyone is thinking of using their Xbox 360 with a VGA cable on a TV bigger than 32", think again, as you will not be able to run 1920 * 1080.

[Hanuman]

my tosh is 32inch

[Paul_Collins]

I have an elite, i was running it on the standard settings (720 i think). When i changed it to 1080p with the hdmi cable the difference was immence, like you said Toad when its running on the 720 setting the text is all blurry, and its difficult to read.

My mate has the ps3 and says that the graphics are equivelent if not slightly better.

Am i right saying that only the elite has the hdmi output?

oh and i have a 40" HD 1080p Samsung TV.

[Toad]

my tosh is 32inch

That's my point dude. Run the Xbox on a bigger TV (such as my 40") and it looks bad, as the TV is too big for the resolution being used. A friend of mine is using his 360 on a 32" Samsung and it looks great.

[Toad]

I have an elite, i was running it on the standard settings (720 i think). When i changed it to 1080p with the hdmi cable the difference was immence, like you said Toad when its running on the 720 setting the text is all blurry, and its difficult to read.

My mate has the ps3 and says that the graphics are equivelent if not slightly better.

Am i right saying that only the elite has the hdmi output?

oh and i have a 40" HD 1080p Samsung TV.

I don't get it. I was looking at an Elite yesterday on a 46" TV in full 1080p and it looked crap. The main menu was really blocky. Put it on a 32" and it looks sweet.

[Scattle]

My arcade has hdmi output

[Paul_Collins]

I don't get it. I was looking at an Elite yesterday on a 46" TV in full 1080p and it looked crap. The main menu was really blocky. Put it on a 32" and it looks sweet.

Yeah i can see what you mean, with the 1080p set up on mine and the hdmi the text is very sharp, not blurry or anything.

Double check your 360 settings, and the tv settings.

Maybe its the actual TV. When i was playing Fifa 08 without the 1080 on, and the hdmi cable, it looked like a completely different game. all the graphics looked 100 times sharper.

Samsung ftw!

[Toad]

But like I said, I've seen the Elite on a 46" using HDMI and it's more blocky than mine as the TV is even bigger. I don't think the Xbox menu has been designed to run in such a high resolution. If you flick down to 720p, does the main menu look any different? It doesn't make any difference whatsoever on mine...

[Paul_Collins]

ill check later on tonight for you as its not set up atm.

I know its a long shot but is the TV definately 1080p compatible?

Dont really know much about TV's. I just bought one on offer and it had 1080p on it.

[Toad]

Yeah man, it's defo 1080p. When I'm using component on the Xbox, and I choose 1080p, the TV detects the 1080p signal no probs. But If I change between 720p and 1080p, there's no difference to the main menu screen at all. If you could check that would be cool man, cheers.

[Paul_Collins]

ok no prob, ill go through the xbox settings as well, im sure theres a few settings there.

Im 99% sure there is something wrong.

Just thinking now, thre is no way the text and everything be so blotchy, when playing games like COD4 the graphics are 2nd to none!

[Hanuman]

That's my point dude. Run the Xbox on a bigger TV (such as my 40") and it looks bad, as the TV is too big for the resolution being used. A friend of mine is using his 360 on a 32" Samsung and it looks great.


my uncle runs his on a 37inch LG and he had bioshock running on it and it looked IMENSE, slightly better than me tosh tbh :S


im totally confused by this thread really

[Toad]

I must admit, the text in COD4 looks much better than the game menu! But the actual gaming in COD4 didn't exactly leave me thinking it was anything special. Maybe I'm just being fussy, lol. But I'm certian that when in the game, if you look into the background (for example) the scenery is very low detail, looks blocky...

[Toad]

my uncle runs his on a 37inch LG and he had bioshock running on it and it looked IMENSE, slightly better than me tosh tbh :S


im totally confused by this thread really

I'm confused too. :(

[Paul_Collins]

maybe you had your expectations too high :p

But seriously theres got to be something simple wrong.
Does the TV have to be set up specificly for the 1080p Gaming?

Dont know if it will make any difference, but instead of using the scart socket, try taking the AV things out (3 of them 2 for sound one for picture), and plug them in seperate.

Just a long shot tbh.

[Hanuman]

never heard of anyone with problems with a 38ish / 42 inch hd tv with normal xbox mate, i got a few using 38ish and even seen my uncles, all i can say is your tvs shat for xbox

[Toad]

maybe you had your expectations too high :p

But seriously theres got to be something simple wrong.
Does the TV have to be set up specificly for the 1080p Gaming?

Dont know if it will make any difference, but instead of using the scart socket, try taking the AV things out (3 of them 2 for sound one for picture), and plug them in seperate.

Just a long shot tbh.

I am using component mate, no scart. I'm interested to see if you notice any difference between 720p and 1080p. :y:

[Toad]

never heard of anyone with problems with a 38ish / 42 inch hd tv with normal xbox mate, i got a few using 38ish and even seen my uncles, all i can say is your tvs shat for xbox

Do you know if any on these chaps are using a VGA connection?

I'm lost on this, and slowly giving up hope. :wall:

[Paul_Collins]

i am almost certain ill see a difference, as there was a difference with the hdmi setting.

What ill do is take the hdmi off, and just use the original xbox scart lead and all that then put 720 on and see if there is a difference.

[Toad]

By original scart, do you mean the component connection? I don't think you'll notice much difference between component and HDMI, but I'm wondering whether you'll notice any difference between 720p and 1080p... Something I didn't try actually, and that's playing COD4 with Xbox setting on 720p instead of 1080p. Would you expect there to be a big difference?

[Hanuman]

whats vga ?

i use the one that plugs into your xbox (older 360) then flick the swith to hd, then its got the 3 pins ,redwhite yellow into the tv hd setting 1, then turn me tv to hd hannel 1

i dont plug a scart into the tv i use the 3 lil leads

[Toad]

VGA is another way to connect your Xbox to your telly, or your PC monitor, as it has the PC monitor type connection.

[Toad]

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is the TV I've got:

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=KDL-40D3500&site=odw_en_GB&imageType=Main&category=TVP+32-40+Sony+BRAVIA+TV

[Paul_Collins]

Yeah i did notice the difference, everything is sooo much sharper. I didnt have it connected at first as i didnt know what it was for.

I should imagine ill notice the difference.

TV looks spot on.

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/389587/SAMSUNG-LE40M87BDX-XEU/tab/specification#spec

thats the one i have ( i said £50 extra tho for surround sound, and with COD4 is immense!!)

[Toad]

Cool, looks like a similar spec to mine. Yours has a higher brightness, but mine has a higher contrast. All pretty similar.

[Scattle]

Toad, register on here http://www.avforums.com/
Search for your TV, and there will be the settings that will be right for your TV to play xbox on, theres a lot of info on there for a lot fo TV's so that will probably improve the grpahics.

[Jacko]

played a 360 last night on a shit tele...was shit.

[Hanuman]

1 grands worth of tv not been able to play xbox hd properly i would ship that straight back tbh, id be WELLLLLLLLLL peeeeeeed off, hope it all works out for you bud

p.s sony suck! if only microsoft made tvs eh!

[craigy_87]

if you can, try get a hold of a mates ps3 see if that looks amazing with the tv is so sack off the xbox
tv looks far too good to get rid of for an xbox

[Toad]

Toad, register on here http://www.avforums.com/
Search for your TV, and there will be the settings that will be right for your TV to play xbox on, theres a lot of info on there for a lot fo TV's so that will probably improve the grpahics.

Cheers bud, but it's definately not a TV setting. When playing the likes of COD4, I can clearly see that it's just down to the Xbox. I think my expectations were too high... I'll be honest, COD4 looks better on my shitty 20" old widescreen non-HD tv than on the 40" HD one. I can't believe how bad Forza 2 looks on the 40" either! Again, on my old 20" TV Forza 2 looks pretty good. I played the GT5 demo a few weeks ago on my mates TV which is the same model as mine but slightly bigger, and I thought the graphics were amazing. There's just no comparison.

[Hanuman]

hows it the xbox fault theres loadsa people on here with bigger than 32inch hd tvs and working fine? iv seen my uncles 37inch lg and its better than mine,

there is no difference in graphics for xbox and playstation on the same games, theyv compared loads of games,

as soon as you turn xbox to hd you should CLEARLY see the difference from a standard NONE hd its that simple. unless the hd tv is crap or something is majorly wrong

[craigy_87]

hanuman we're not bashing xbox's here even though i'm a sony fan i still like them
toad i'd still check a ps3 with your tv before you go buying one incase there is a fault with the tv or cable etc then you can make a decision

[Toad]

hows it the xbox fault theres loadsa people on here with bigger than 32inch hd tvs and working fine? iv seen my uncles 37inch lg and its better than mine,

there is no difference in graphics for xbox and playstation on the same games, theyv compared loads of games,

as soon as you turn xbox to hd you should CLEARLY see the difference from a standard NONE hd its that simple. unless the hd tv is crap or something is majorly wrong

I need to be careful here because it's beginning to sound like I'm having a pop at the Xbox when I'm really not meaning to. :oops:

I've played Forza 2 and COD4 on a 32" HD (non-1080p) TV and they looked fine, not AMAZING, but good... I just don't think the Xbox likes bigger TVs...

[Paul_Collins]

what xbox 360 do you have anyway Toad?

Premium, arcade, elite?

[Paul_Collins]

I need to be careful here because it's beginning to sound like I'm having a pop at the Xbox when I'm really not meaning to. :oops:

I've played Forza 2 and COD4 on a 32" HD (non-1080p) TV and they looked fine, not AMAZING, but good... I just don't think the Xbox likes bigger TVs...

Like i said, mine is fine, graphics are unbelievable, like you said you might have been expecting way too much.

[Toad]

hanuman we're not bashing xbox's here even though i'm a sony fan i still like them
toad i'd still check a ps3 with your tv before you go buying one incase there is a fault with the tv or cable etc then you can make a decision

I think the TV is fine mate. I saw the Xbox Elite on a 46" 1080p TV and the main menu looked rubbish. I flicked through the options and it was on 1080p too... Because the TV is so big, the text in main menu is really big too, and I don't believe the Xbox has been designed to handle the bigger screen, so the image is just blown up to fit, making it look a little dodgy. When playing COD4 I can see the image is nice and sharp, but there's a lot of poor detail used in the game, that you don't notice on a non-HD TV as it's all faded in. If you look at COD4 on the PC and compare it to the Xbox, you will be seriously blown away. Go to www.gamespot.com and look at the screen shots for COD4 on the PC and then for the Xbox, the difference is chalk and cheese.

[Toad]

what xbox 360 do you have anyway Toad?

Premium, arcade, elite?

It's a bog standard one mate, but the 20gb HDD was bought seperately. I thought this was the problem at first, but last night when I went and saw an Elite on 46" 1080p, I realised there can't be anything wrong with my TV. Well, not unless by some unlikely chance that their TV / Xbox and my TV / Xbox are both setup incorrectly.

[Powermetalmad]

Can I ask ... Is it an Lcd by any Chance ?

[Paul_Collins]

if you had one with an hdmi lead i am certain you would tell the difference.

I went from a smelly 19" TV to a 40" HD 1080 and the difference was unbelievable.

Gotta be something silly wrong

[Toad]

if you had one with an hdmi lead i am certain you would tell the difference.

I went from a smelly 19" TV to a 40" HD 1080 and the difference was unbelievable.

Gotta be something silly wrong

If you could still check things out later today that would be cool mate. :y:

I still think there's something up with the Xbox menu screen. I was looking in my friends list, and their icons look they have been made out of lego, lol.

[Paul_Collins]

lol, yeah will check.

[Toad]

Well I gave into temptation and went out and bought a PS3 this evening. I got the pack with GT5... All I can say is...

WOW!

Absolutely stunning! :)

I'm now hugging my TV. :hug:

[Lozza_vtr]

Well I gave into temptation and went out and bought a PS3 this evening. I got the pack with GT5... All I can say is...

WOW!

Absolutely stunning! :)

I'm now hugging my TV. :hug:

Nice. Well at least you are happy now fella. :y:

[Toad]

Very happy dude. I can't believe the picture quality. It's just stunning. I'm well chuffed! :y: Obviously still miffed about the 360 though...

[craigy_87]

ahhh nice one least its sorted now an you can enjoy some HD gaming aswell as some blu ray movies
sooo xbox for sale how much :P lol

[b0t13]

ps3 rocks, now proven by the smelly toad !

cnt wait to get one :D

[Toad]

ahhh nice one least its sorted now an you can enjoy some HD gaming aswell as some blu ray movies
sooo xbox for sale how much :P lol

Hehe, I can't depart with it yet as I'm a COD4 freak! :) ...and still need my fix! :panic:

[Toad]

ps3 rocks, now proven by the smelly toad !

cnt wait to get one :D

GT5 on the 40" is just stunning, there's no other way to describe it. I can clearly see that when playing COD4 on my Xbox that it's not running in the same resolution, even though the TV says it's 1080p mode. Wierd...

[Robb]

So the verdict is, if your xbox resolution isnt right:

buy a ps3 lol.

An expensive solution but I was gonna buy one eventually anyway.

[Toad]

Yes mate, a little slap dash, but I needed a blu-ray player for the TV anyway, so why not buy a PS3? ;) I still really like playing my Xbox, so I still want to get to the bottom of this issue.

[RCD-Performance]

I find my xbox fine, running 1080p on a 42inch panasonic. with the standard component cable the xbox came with, and i find it fantastic, when i take it too my mates on his non HD 50inch sony rear projection, the difference is more than noticable.

[Toad]

I finally found some examples! Here's some screenshots of what COD4 looks like on my 40" 1080p telly:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/309/reviews/939212_20071102_screen035.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/220/939212_20070809_screen006.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/162/reviews/939212_20070612_screen001.jpg

On full 1080p, shouldn't I be expecting to see it looking more like this:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2008/087/939212_20080328_screen002.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/280/reviews/939217_20071008_screen003.jpg


What do you think?

[grantlowery]

that is quite a difference, just get COD on ps3 and all is well in the world lol

[Toad]

It shouldn't be any different between the 2 systems though.

[Viper]

hmm, the bottom two pictures are how it looks on my PC with an amazing GFX card.

i would have expected it to look a bit better on your TV than on the first pics u posted

[Toad]

See how it doesn't seem to be anything to do with the quality, as the images of the first pics are sharp, but they seem low on detail, like it's running on a lower resolution. Wierd...

I know it's a bit of a daft example, but I got GT5 on PS3 last night, and the screen looks like the same resolution as the 2 bottom pics, nice high resolution and great detail.

[Robb]

the top 2 examples are exactly what i see.

good quality but still not 'all that'....

[Karl]

COD4 is quite a grainy game imo.
Not being funny, but Robb thought my tele was crystal clear, and thats through component cable...

those high quality ones,
imo I think are PC shots,
even they might be pre calculated graphics (ie movie) to make COD look better,
youll have to get photos of your actual xbox.