Messages

[MattVDB]

1

General Gaming / RE:Any Suggestions? (audio recievers)

« on: June 04, 2004, 08:33:38 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: MattVDB
"Out of the market"...  What does that mean?  This reciever belonged to a friend of mine.  I was asking here for him.

When I said I was "out of the market", that was refering to the circa 100 dollar field.  Yes, I am and audiophile.  I was looking to see if anybody here knew the best sounding equipment for cheap, because that isn't my market anymore...

Anyway, this thread can be locked now.  I found one.  Thanks for looking.

Honestly, I don't think there's such a thing as a sub-$100 receiver that can do DD 5.1 and Pro-Logic.

I own a Pioneer receiver that does DD, DTS, and Pro-Logic, but lacks some of the more advanced features of more expensive stuff.  That was the lowest-end 5.1 A/V receiver Pioneer makes and I paid about $180 for it.  That model is probably hard to find now, but I remember Kenwood or some other electronics company making surround sound receivers for around $150-$180.  Have you visited any dedicated home theater or audio-video related forums?  I think they can provide much better help in your search.  They certainly helped me a bunch when I looking into surround sound.

[Bill]

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan

« on: March 21, 2004, 07:54:05 PM »

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Originally posted by: Bill
Ok, that makes no sense...Picking HD over great gameplay?  And you call yourself a gamer...

I don't think anyone here has said that.   HD (or even 480p) and great gameplay aren't mutually exclusive.  Some of us gamers enjoy a nice looking AND playing game.

Quote


"I also want to play a complex fighting game, or a good sports game, or even a sim-type game."

If you want these games, get a different system...I hate all three of those genres, so I'm in heaven with the GC's lineup...

Soul Caliber II and Super Smash Bros Melee aren't "complex fighting games?"

Madden 2004 and NBA 2K3 aren't "good sports games?"

Believe it or not, just because the Gamecube doesn't have the largest selection of games from every genre doesn't mean the games already available completely suck.

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TalkBack / RE:GameCube Price Drop and New Specs for Japan

« on: March 21, 2004, 07:41:53 PM »

Here's my take:

I have a home theater system.  Maybe not worth many thousands of dollars, but enough for a cool experience when I play games.  Having surround sound and large image projected on a wall does make a difference when playing Gamecube games.

XBox, and to a lesser extent GC, are probably the first consoles to my knowledge to have certain developers explore the full possibilities of a home theater-type experience on a console w/high resolutions and surround sound for games.  While XBox may go all the way with high definition and Dolby Digital support, the many GC games having progressive scan and Pro Logic II isn't bad either.

While I'm not exactly happy to see the digital AV port go (did Nintendo ever plan to use something for the "A" part), as long as the Cube can still support progressive scan and there will be cheaper cable options, it's not a huge deal.  Yes, I'm also one the "old" Cube owners.

[WesDawg]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:TRSTS NPD Sales Thread

« on: December 17, 2003, 12:19:06 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: WesDawg
It makes me sad to see Madden sell so much too, but I usually just keep it to meself and quietly hate people from afar. Today I'll whine though. I do get pissed when Tiger Woods gets crazy great reviews for adding a stupid dress up feature and almost no new gameplay. And also, there's a big difference between a new version of Mario or Doom coming out every 3-5 years and the yearly ritual that comes out known as Madden. Face it, the main reason people buy the new edition of Madden is because it has updated stats and "better" graphics, and because it has a new number stamped on the front. You might not be that guy, but that's what drives the majority of its sales. That's what pisses me off. It caters to all the idiots who have to have the newest thing out there in the gaming world.

Back on topic, Go Nintendo!

Although I keep to myself when someone makes the usual "sports games just update their rosters, and voila, NEW game" argument, I believe that these game developers would probably make even better games by publishing every other year.  Economics would prevent that from happening positively though.

WesDawg, have you actually played Madden '04?  Part of the attraction this year is the new Owner mode, part of it is the new Playmaker control, and maybe, maybe part of it is the create-a-playbook feature.  There are also subtle things like the camera reacting to playaction plays and such.  No, I didn't buy it; I rented it.  I have Madden '02 PC and while they may have the same "shell," they play with a different flow.  Madden 2004 seems to play faster (not just the framerate) than 2002.  This "barely new updates, thus new game" argument is pretty tired in general; would these people make a similar argument of certain pieces of software in general?

In other news: MKD went gold!!!!! Yee-haw!

[digdug]

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General Gaming / RE:Problems displaying GC games in Progressive Scan mode (Hitachi 42" Plasma)

« on: December 07, 2003, 04:32:58 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: digdug
Hey all,

I own a 42" Hitachi Plasma TV which supports VGA, DVI, and Component inputs.  I ordered the component cable thinking I'd have no problems displaying progressive scan games, but when I tried I get a blank screen and two errors: "No Sync Signal", and "Invalid Scan Freq".  I'd imagine these errors deal with the horizontal/vertical frequencies the TV is trying to display the signal at, but I can't change them manually unless I use a VGA cable (TV setting restriction).

Has anyone out there run across a similar issue?  Suggestions?

Thank in advance,

Dig

I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like to me that your plasma TV accepts a RGB component input, but the Gamecube is sending a Y-Pb-Pr component signal.  These signals are incompatible and the only solution for that is getting a transcoder.

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General Gaming / RE:Calibrating video

« on: December 07, 2003, 04:29:06 PM »

I'd suggest using a calibration DVD to use for calibrating TVs for best picture quality, if that's possible.

A decent plain & simple program is the THX Optimizer on the setup menu on many THX-certified DVDs.   However, since the optimizer tests are good for the DVD it's featured in, I'd only use the Optimizer on DVDs that are known to have the best video quality.

For something that can provide more consistent calibration tools, there's Digital Video Essentials.  DVE has tests for both video and audio for surround sound systems.  There are many online stores that sell it for under $20.

[the whatz that?]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:gamecube find its niche...

« on: December 06, 2003, 08:24:32 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: the whatz that?
this is nice for cubers, maybe we'll start to see more real estate given to the cube in our local video rental places.  i know in mine it's depressing to see how small the cube's selection is...

The closest video store from my house doesn't even have Gamecube games.  Although there's a shelf of N64 games there.  Eek.

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General Gaming / RE:Gamecube on computer via s-video

« on: November 30, 2003, 06:46:44 PM »

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 First, check to make sure that your graphic card supports things like "video capture" or "tv tuner". If so, then yes you can connect a GameCube via the S-video-IN port. But the audio cables will have to be connected to the "line-in" port of your sound card, or connected to an external speaker system.

The program "FreeVCR" (or Free VCR) will let you watch the video that's connected to your capture/graphics card. Bear in mind that video images that are meant to be seen on TV don't look so good when viewed thru a computer's tv tuner/video capture hardware. You will lose image clarity and color vibrance.

When you do have some way of inputting the video into your computer, look into a program I've read much about called DScaler; what DScaler does is takes the interlaced S-Video signal, which is fine for normal TVs, but not that good for computer monitors, and can covert that signal into a progressive signal for your monitor.   Unfortunately, I haven't really used this as I don't have a TV Tuner yet so I can't comment on any kind of picture quality.

Hope that helps.