Post by: Pale on January 17, 2008, 02:31:59 AM
So I'm relatively new to the HD TV scene. Up to this point I had always let my Wii stretch out my VC games like crazy. I'm usually TOTALLY against stretching images, but when you are working with sprites and old school games that don't feature proportional characters anyway, it doesn't really bother me as much.
I recently started playing Prime 2, which features a progressive scan mode but not a wide screen mode. After about 2 hours worth of seeing a short, squatty Samus in cut scenes, I started switching my TV over to 4:3.
Now I know there was a bit of an uproar at Wii launch about VC games not playing in their native aspect ratio. Do any of you have a good reason for not simply changing the setting on your TV? It works great for me in Prime 2.
Post by: nitsu niflheim on January 17, 2008, 03:32:58 AM
Post by: ShyGuy on January 17, 2008, 03:59:20 AM
Post by: NeoThunder on January 17, 2008, 05:08:07 AM
Really all and all the stretch doesn't bother me, I would rather have that than VC games running in 480i on a composite cable. For me after awhile you kinda forget about the stretch and it doesn't bother me.
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on January 17, 2008, 07:24:05 AM
Post by: MLS_man_64 on January 17, 2008, 09:28:34 AM
Post by: IceCold on January 17, 2008, 10:48:18 AM
Post by: Caliban on January 17, 2008, 11:18:37 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on January 17, 2008, 11:50:37 AM
My parents' TV has that. Why the hell do they make them grey? The TV is a silvery colour so do they think it will blend in? Black is the only colour that makes sense at ALL. Fortunately I've gotten used to them. I can't stand to watch ANYTHING but in it's native resolution. I'm picky like that and constantly suspicious of my Dad fiddling with the screen size. It tooks YEARS to convince him that the widescreen bars were not "chopping off the top and bottom of the movie". Though my Wii is connected to my standard resolution TV at my house and not my parents HD so this issue hasn't come up with games yet. I couldn't imagine myself stretching the games though. I don't do that with GBC games on my GBA either.
Post by: UncleBob on January 17, 2008, 12:49:37 PM
However, VC Games stretched don't look that bad. I tend to not worry that much about fiddling with the settings when playing them.
Post by: Darkheart on January 17, 2008, 01:33:20 PM
Post by: Pale on January 17, 2008, 01:37:35 PM
That's the primary reason I bought a dlp, so I didn't even have to think about that stuff.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on January 17, 2008, 01:40:05 PM
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on January 18, 2008, 03:20:33 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: MLS_man_64
What button?
The little blue one second from the right on the second row after the menu button on my TV remote.
Post by: MLS_man_64 on January 18, 2008, 07:56:49 AM
Post by: Maverick on January 18, 2008, 08:23:38 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Pale
Bars are gray on plasmas and lcds that risk burn-in because it is said that gray lowers the chances of burning an image in.
That's the primary reason I bought a dlp, so I didn't even have to think about that stuff.
I was under the impression that it is impossible for an LCD to be a victim of "burn in". Did the interwebs lie to me?!?!
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on January 18, 2008, 08:26:27 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: MaverickQuote
Originally posted by: Pale
Bars are gray on plasmas and lcds that risk burn-in because it is said that gray lowers the chances of burning an image in.
That's the primary reason I bought a dlp, so I didn't even have to think about that stuff.
I was under the impression that it is impossible for an LCD to be a victim of "burn in". Did the interwebs lie to me?!?!
Yes they did, while they aren't as susceptible to it as a Plasma or even CRT, from what I understand they can still have burn-in. I've even seen some demo kiosks with burn-in on their LCDs, it just takes longer to do it.
Post by: darknight06 on January 18, 2008, 08:42:34 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on January 18, 2008, 08:57:46 AM
My parents' TV isn't a plasma or LCD. Is there a way for a TV manufacturer to design a TV that instead of putting bars on the screen the pixels just don't "light up" in that area? If burn-in is an issue than why not show nothing at all? A screen can't get burn-in if it isn't on. I don't know very much at all about how TVs work. Is turning off part of a screen too difficult or just not possible to do? If I fiddle with the settings on my computer monitor and squish everything horizontally is the blackness on the sides just literally the colour black being sent to those pixels or is nothing being sent to that pixels?
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on January 18, 2008, 09:31:52 AM
Despite the claims to "super tech", HDTVs largely don't handle "previous generation" content as well as they should. Well, EFF-them.
Post by: darknight06 on January 18, 2008, 10:53:39 AM
Now Ian, on CRTs if I'm not mistaken, those pixels are actually off. At least it seems to be that way since otherwise they would've burned in long time ago. With CRTs, if the resolution is supported, they actually beam the resolutions onto the screen straight on since pixels on a CRT aren't like those of LCD where every pixel on the panel IS a pixel it uses. On an LCD, anything lower than it's native either does one of two things, shrink the image to match the resolution pixel for pixel, or attempt to fill the screen through interpolation and guessing just how it should display the pixels on screen.
Post by: Maverick on January 18, 2008, 02:16:34 PM
http://compreviews.about.com/od/monitors/a/LCDBurnIn.htm
Post by: BranDonk Kong on January 18, 2008, 03:08:01 PM
Post by: IceCold on January 18, 2008, 03:35:22 PM
Post by: Pale on January 19, 2008, 02:00:58 PM
61 inch Samsung LED engine tv.
I love it. I carried my Wii into best buy to do a delay check before buying it and everything worked perfectly. I play Guitar Hero and DDR on it without any issues with lag. It's a beautiful set.
I suggest buying from Amazon. They offer free shipping and no sales tax. I saved about 500 bucks over going into Best Buy or Circuit City.
Here's a link...
Amazon.com
Post by: BranDonk Kong on January 19, 2008, 02:57:14 PM
Edit - wow, 3 HDMI, 2 component, and VGA (and 2 S video, for the camcorder and maybe a VCR should I ever need to hook one up), I could get rid of my component switcher if I had all of those inputs.
Post by: IceCold on January 20, 2008, 02:57:34 PM
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on January 21, 2008, 05:32:01 AM
LCDs don't "burn-in" at all. Burn-in has to do with phosphors actually burning out from heat and turning dark. Any display that uses phosphors can suffer from it. This includes CRTs, Plasmas, and the perpetually two years off SEDs. LCDs can suffer from image persistance because they fade over time, and it's possible for a static image to cause uneven fading.
Whether you can avoid burn-in on those black bars by simply turning off that part of the screen really depends on the type of TV. CRTs work this way. LCDs work exactly the opposite way (the pixels making up the black bars are actually turned on). I'm pretty sure plasmas can do this, but the reason they don't is so that the phosphors behind the bars will wear out at the same rate as all the others. Otherwise you'd eventually have areas of the screen along the edges that are much brighter than the rest of it.
Post by: Pale on January 21, 2008, 07:48:15 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: IceCold
What about the warranty, Pale? Well, apart from the manufacturer's one.
Best Buy extended warranties are a rip-off in my opinion.
It's a simple matter of statistics. Best Buy wouldn't sell them if costs of replacements and repairs averaged out to higher than the cost of the plan. Therefore the same thing happens in reverse for the consumer, if the consumer NEVER buys warranties on items like that, on average, they will have spent less money in the long run than if they bought them on everything.
Samsung covers for a year and they do in home service, which is pretty damn nice. I know this for a fact because I went through it with my tv...
You can read about it in this post at my site...
http://palehour.com/index.php?PBStart=35&PBPost=25
Also, if you REALLY want more than a year, you can buy it right from Samsung, which again seems like a better idea to me.
TL;DR version:
There is no way in hell a Best Buy warranty is worth the additional 500 bucks the tv will cost you as well as the price of the plan which is most likely 200-300 bucks.
Post by: Caliban on January 21, 2008, 08:11:16 AM
Post by: vudu on January 21, 2008, 08:21:27 AM
Post by: Pale on January 21, 2008, 09:47:07 AM
The worst case scenario if you don't have car insurance is you can't get your leg sewn back on, or you die.
The worst case scenario for not buying a protection plan on a TV is you have to buy a new tv.
Nothing is black and white.
Post by: ShyGuy on January 21, 2008, 10:01:06 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Pale
Well the other part of my reasoning comes in with the worst case scenario...
The worst case scenario if you don't have car insurance is you can't get your leg sewn back on, or you die.
The worst case scenario for not buying a protection plan on a TV is you have to buy a new tv.
Nothing is black and white.
What about if you get a Wiimote stuck into your skull? I bet you wish you had gotten the Best Buy Extended Warranty then wouldn't you? huh? huh?
The extended warranties are good if your rich and think your TV is broken when the batteries go dead in your remote.
Post by: Maverick on January 21, 2008, 04:00:37 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: PartyBear
Whether you can avoid burn-in on those black bars by simply turning off that part of the screen really depends on the type of TV. CRTs work this way. LCDs work exactly the opposite way (the pixels making up the black bars are actually turned on). I'm pretty sure plasmas can do this, but the reason they don't is so that the phosphors behind the bars will wear out at the same rate as all the others. Otherwise you'd eventually have areas of the screen along the edges that are much brighter than the rest of it.
Wait... so... I DON'T have to worry about Black Bars making my screen uneven on an LCD right? I'm planning on buying a Philips 47" LCD 1080p near the end of next month, and now I'm starting to debate on doing that or going for a larger DLP set. Are there any cons to DLP other than a slimmer viewing angle and having to replace the Color Wheel thingy?
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on January 21, 2008, 04:13:17 PM
All the benefits of DLP with all the care-free of LCD
Post by: Maverick on January 21, 2008, 04:21:34 PM
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on January 22, 2008, 03:26:43 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Maverick
Wait... so... I DON'T have to worry about Black Bars making my screen uneven on an LCD right? I'm planning on buying a Philips 47" LCD 1080p near the end of next month, and now I'm starting to debate on doing that or going for a larger DLP set. Are there any cons to DLP other than a slimmer viewing angle and having to replace the Color Wheel thingy?
I don't think it's really worth worrying about image persistence on LCDs. It's not likely to happen in a typical household.
Most of the complaints about DLPs have to do with the rainbow effect and problems with the lamp (loud cooling fan, short lifespan, takes a while to warm up). LEDs mostly take care of the former, and completely do away with the latter, so that's why there are so many fans around here.
There are pros and cons to every kind of display. If you did your research and like that TV, don't worry about it.
Post by: Louieturkey on January 22, 2008, 04:28:26 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: PartyBearThere are pros and cons to every kind of display. If you did your research and like that TV, don't worry about it.
This is the best advice you can take. Go do your own research on the different sets. Weigh the pros and cons of each type of tv and whichever one you like best after going through all that is the one you want.
Go with what works for you, not with what someone else says will work for you.
Post by: Maverick on January 22, 2008, 06:38:47 AM
But thanks for the advice, I'm still leaning towards my LCD, but I'll look a little more into competitively priced DLPs as well.
Post by: Pale on January 22, 2008, 07:04:01 AM
For example, a 50 inch Samsung plasma runs the same price on Amazon as a 61 inch Samsung DLP. People get caught up in thinking they want a thin TV you can hang on a wall....
Here's some interesting numbers. The same 50 inch Plasma weighs 25 pounds MORE than a 61 inch DLP.
The DLP is only 10 inches deeper than the plasma. Even if you want to hang it on your wall, it would take just as much effort to mount a capable shelf for the DLP as it would to mount a bracket that can hold the 100 pounds of plasma.
Post by: NeoThunder on January 22, 2008, 11:07:44 AM
it's LCD, CRT, Plasma from lowest to highest burn in risk
Post by: Pale on March 06, 2008, 10:43:09 PM
VC demos in Brawl are played in standard 4:3 (pillar box) on wide screen tvs without having to change your tv settings....
If Brawl can do it, why don't the actual VC games? The Star Fox 64 demo in Brawl actually looks BETTER than the Star Fox 64 VC game.
Color me confused.
Post by: darknight06 on March 06, 2008, 11:50:57 PM
Post by: Pale on March 07, 2008, 12:29:05 AM
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on March 07, 2008, 01:14:56 AM
Post by: Nemo on March 07, 2008, 02:19:22 AM
I wonder why Nintendo doesn't give the option to stretch the game to fit the whole screen?
You can make it happen. You just have to go into the Wii System menu and set your widescreen settings to "full screen". ;)
Although, I personally don't know why anyone would want a stretched image. Gross.
Post by: darknight06 on March 09, 2008, 10:33:21 PM
Post by: animecyberrat on March 12, 2008, 08:38:12 PM
Post by: Mikintosh on March 15, 2008, 06:45:04 PM
I wonder why Nintendo doesn't give the option to stretch the game to fit the whole screen?
You can make it happen. You just have to go into the Wii System menu and set your widescreen settings to "full screen". ;)
Although, I personally don't know why anyone would want a stretched image. Gross.
Yeah, I thought that option on the GBA and the Game Boy Player was idiotic (I even got annoyed when I accidentally pressed the shoulder button and it messed up the visual), so I wouldn't see the appeal, especially for more detailed games.
Of course, I've barely even been near an HDTV outside of CostCo, so maybe I'm not the best resource...
