New HD TV and Xbox - :( Examples found! - Page 2 - Saxperience

Toad · 26th March 2008, 18:27

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/x...ssic-the-test/

Robb · 26th March 2008, 19:01

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 · 26th March 2008, 19:18

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 · 26th March 2008, 19:35

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 · 26th March 2008, 20:13

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

Clouds_mate · 26th March 2008, 20:22

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 · 26th March 2008, 20:49

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^p · 26th March 2008, 21:25

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 · 27th March 2008, 00:25

running ur tv in?, not heard that before lol

Jungle_Jim^m · 27th March 2008, 00:32

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 · 27th March 2008, 01:36

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://forums.xbox.com/1/16852999/Sh....aspx#16852999
http://forums.xbox.com/1/19315178/Sh....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 · 27th March 2008, 08:02

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 · 27th March 2008, 08:29

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 · 27th March 2008, 08:48

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 · 27th March 2008, 09:24

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 · 27th March 2008, 10:13

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 · 27th March 2008, 10:14

swap it for an elite.

danzman1991 · 27th March 2008, 11:18

Sell the Xbox, buy a PS3..

Robb · 27th March 2008, 11:19

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

Toad · 27th March 2008, 11:30

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...