question about best resolution choice for native 720p HD games

Hi. I wanted to know what's the best choice for playing 720p Xbox
360 games.

I've got an old 4:3 Sony CRT that does 1080i native and 480p, but
cannot do 720p, thus it can do HD resolution, but only in interlaced
mode. If i want a progressive scan image from this set, I'm forced to
use SD resolution.

I've also got a new 16:9 LCD that does 720p native.

I'm using an Xbox 360 with component cables and I understand the 360
hardware has good resolution scaling capabilities built in. I'm not
entirely certain what this will actually do, though. If it'll take a
native 720p game and scale it to 1080i, and how much of a difference
that makes.

The source game material I'm working with are Ridge Racer 6 & Ace
Combat 6--both are (AFAIK) native 720p resolution games, not 1080i or
1080p and not sub-HD resolution like some 360/PS3 games.

With the 720p LCD set I've tried setting my 360 to both 720p and
1080i. Both work fine, and the games look good, but it's hard for me
to tell the difference, in terms of native vs scaled resolution, and
progressive scan vs interlaced. I know what these terms mean, I'm
just trying to decide what's the optimal setting, and what other
people do.

On Aug 29, 4:27*pm, parallax-scroll wrote:
Hi. *I wanted to know what's the best choice for playing 720p *Xbox
360 games.

I've got an old 4:3 *Sony CRT that does 1080i native and 480p, but
cannot do 720p, thus it can do HD resolution, but only in interlaced
mode. If i want a progressive scan image from this set, I'm forced to
use SD resolution.

I've also got a new 16:9 LCD that does 720p native.

I'm using an Xbox 360 with component cables and I understand the 360
hardware has good resolution scaling capabilities built in. I'm not
entirely certain what this will actually do, though. *If it'll take a
native 720p game and scale it to 1080i, and how much of a difference
that makes.

The source game material I'm working with are Ridge Racer 6 & Ace
Combat 6--both are (AFAIK) native 720p resolution games, not 1080i or
1080p and not sub-HD resolution like some 360/PS3 games.

With the 720p LCD set I've tried setting my 360 to both 720p and
1080i. Both work fine, and the games look good, but it's hard for me
to tell the difference, in terms of native vs scaled resolution, and
progressive scan vs interlaced. *I know what these terms mean, I'm
just trying to decide what's the optimal setting, and what other
people do.

I think in almost all cases you would want to keep the 360 set to 720p
when playing on your 720p LCD. The only possible exception is if you
have a game that is outputting 1080p and your TV downscales to 720p
better than the 360 does. If you plan to use the 360 on both TV's and
you want to use the 1080i resolution for the Sony then you might as
well set the 360 to 1080i and it should look good on both since you
already verified (and I concluded the same thing on my HDTV) that
1080i vs 720p doesn't make any noticeable difference on a 720p TV the
TV scales accordingly without any loss in noticeable quality. Really
you just have to experiment and see what you thinks looks best, every
TV is different.

On Aug 29, 7:09*pm, Tomcat wrote:
On Aug 29, 4:27*pm, parallax-scroll wrote:





Hi. *I wanted to know what's the best choice for playing 720p *Xbox
360 games.

I've got an old 4:3 *Sony CRT that does 1080i native and 480p, but
cannot do 720p, thus it can do HD resolution, but only in interlaced
mode. If i want a progressive scan image from this set, I'm forced to
use SD resolution.

I've also got a new 16:9 LCD that does 720p native.

I'm using an Xbox 360 with component cables and I understand the 360
hardware has good resolution scaling capabilities built in. I'm not
entirely certain what this will actually do, though. *If it'll take a
native 720p game and scale it to 1080i, and how much of a difference
that makes.

The source game material I'm working with are Ridge Racer 6 & Ace
Combat 6--both are (AFAIK) native 720p resolution games, not 1080i or
1080p and not sub-HD resolution like some 360/PS3 games.

With the 720p LCD set I've tried setting my 360 to both 720p and
1080i. Both work fine, and the games look good, but it's hard for me
to tell the difference, in terms of native vs scaled resolution, and
progressive scan vs interlaced. *I know what these terms mean, I'm
just trying to decide what's the optimal setting, and what other
people do.

I think in almost all cases you would want to keep the 360 set to 720p
when playing on your 720p LCD. *The only possible exception is if you
have a game that is outputting 1080p and your TV downscales to 720p
better than the 360 does. *If you plan to use the 360 on both TV's and
you want to use the 1080i resolution for the Sony then you might as
well set the 360 to 1080i and it should look good on both since you
already verified (and I concluded the same thing on my HDTV) that
1080i vs 720p doesn't make any noticeable difference on a 720p TV the
TV scales accordingly without any loss in noticeable quality. *Really
you just have to experiment and see what you thinks looks best, every
TV is different.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

yeah I agree I used to have my 360 set to 1080i for the xbox and my
HDTV is 768p native but can handle 1080i non native , but after
setting it to 720p the moving images had less trails and it was easier
on my eyes.

In the end experiment with the resolution as you eyes may percieve
differently , but for me lowering the resolution to the TV's native
was for the better ,escpecially on an LCD with motion , progressive is
always gonna be better at motion on an LCD display, as you'll get less
ghosting and it will be easier on the eyes.

But you said your CRT is 1080i native? That's not bad try that first
and with your LCD use 720p without a doubt 720p will perform better on
a 720p native set (although more likely its 768p) anyways try em out.

On Aug 29, 6:50*pm, " wrote:


But you said your CRT is 1080i native? That's not bad *try that first
and with your LCD use 720p without a doubt 720p will perform better on
a 720p native set (although more likely its 768p) *anyways try em out.- Hide quoted text -


The only problem with 1080i on the 4:3 CRT is that the image will be
letterboxed. That might be okay if it's a big 36" CRT but if it's not
a big TV then I'd rather just stick with a resolution that matches the
TV's aspect ratio.

IIRC Xbox can set the aspect ratio independent of the resolution so you
should be able to get 4:3 1080i. Trinitron's are always 1080i (verified
with an oscilloscope) so thats an easy choice. The 720P LCD is a bit
tricky. Its likely a 1366x768. If it accepts 1080P input then that is the
best choice most of the time. If it only takes 1080i you'll have to see for
yourself. If you value framerate over an extra 127488 pixels than for those
few games that actually render 1080P select 720P.

On Aug 30, 10:29*am, "Jim" wrote:
IIRC Xbox can set the aspect ratio independent of the resolution so you
should be able to get 4:3 1080i. *Trinitron's are always 1080i (verified
with an oscilloscope) so thats an easy choice. *The 720P LCD is a bit
tricky. *Its likely a 1366x768. *If it accepts 1080P input then that is the
best choice most of the time. *If it only takes 1080i you'll have to see for
yourself. *If you value framerate over an extra 127488 pixels than for those
few games that actually render 1080P select 720P.

Yeah on a 768p native LCD I had better results with 720p , now if you
were to just look at a still image 1080i is better but as soon as you
move you get serious ghosting on a 1080i image. And most games have
lots of motion, I sit very close to my 32' LCD when gaming and noticed
when I played far cry2 I got extreme ghosting at 1080i and while
turning moving etc. the sight distance in the game was less as the far
off images seemed to melt into eachother while in motion, but changing
it to 720p , the image had less ghosting and better sight distance as
the far off images were not melting into eachother.


I don't think a 768p LCD is even capable of 1080p , it can handle max
1080i


I used 1080i for a long time on my 768p LCD , but after changing to
720p I really noticed a change for the better, even when I put in
games I haven't played in awhile I noticed more detail because at
1080i your likely to miss the smaller details due to ghosting while in
motion.

In article " writes:
On Aug 30, 10:29=A0am, "Jim" wrote:
IIRC Xbox can set the aspect ratio independent of the resolution so you
should be able to get 4:3 1080i. =A0Trinitron's are always 1080i (verifie=
d
with an oscilloscope) so thats an easy choice. =A0The 720P LCD is a bit
tricky. =A0Its likely a 1366x768. =A0If it accepts 1080P input then that =
is the
best choice most of the time. =A0If it only takes 1080i you'll have to se=
e for
yourself. =A0If you value framerate over an extra 127488 pixels than for =
those
few games that actually render 1080P select 720P.

Yeah on a 768p native LCD I had better results with 720p , now if you
were to just look at a still image 1080i is better but as soon as you
move you get serious ghosting on a 1080i image. And most games have
lots of motion, I sit very close to my 32' LCD when gaming and noticed
when I played far cry2 I got extreme ghosting at 1080i and while
turning moving etc. the sight distance in the game was less as the far
off images seemed to melt into eachother while in motion, but changing
it to 720p , the image had less ghosting and better sight distance as
the far off images were not melting into eachother.


I don't think a 768p LCD is even capable of 1080p , it can handle max
1080i


I used 1080i for a long time on my 768p LCD , but after changing to
720p I really noticed a change for the better, even when I put in
games I haven't played in awhile I noticed more detail because at
1080i your likely to miss the smaller details due to ghosting while in
motion.


Of course, the real difference is in the varying abilities of the scan
rate and resolution converters in the electronics driving the panel.
One 768 line display may do poorly on interlaced inputs, while another
may do very well.

The actual resolution of the display screens being compared is a good
bit less important than the qualities of the scan conversion logic.

Alan

Pardon my ignorance but isn't 1080i usually just a 540 image with the
scan lines doubled unlike true 1080p or even 720p? It's been my
understanding that a 720p image looks better than 1080i. I don't even
think 1080i is even offered on newer lcd tv's? I know my brother had
1080i on his older rear-projection widescreen tv but I think you had
to have a special connector and it was a simulated hd effect to boot.

On Sep 2, 4:37 pm, Joe Phillips wrote:
Pardon my ignorance but isn't 1080i usually just a 540 image with the
scan lines doubled unlike true 1080p or even 720p?

1080i has the same number of pixels as 1080p it's just they aren't
painted on the screen all at the same time.

"Tomcat" wrote in message
...
On Sep 2, 4:37 pm, Joe Phillips
wrote:
Pardon my ignorance but isn't 1080i usually just a 540
image with the
scan lines doubled unlike true 1080p or even 720p?

1080i has the same number of pixels as 1080p it's just
they aren't
painted on the screen all at the same time.

OK folks here is a question: Why are only 720p and 1080i
used for HD in ATSC transmissions? There are 18 MPEG2
formats allowed for ATSC in the specification:

H pixels, V pixels, Aspect ratio, Frames/sec., Fields/sec.

1) 1920 x 1080 16x9 30 60
2) 1920 x 1080 16x9 30 30
3) 1920 x 1080 16x9 24 24
4) 1280 x 720 16x9 60 60
5) 1280 x 720 16x9 30 30
6) 1280 x 720 16x9 24 24
7) 704 x 480 16x9 60 60
8) 704 x 480 16x9 30 60
9) 704 x 480 16x9 30 30
10) 704 x 480 16x9 24 24
11) 704 x 480 4x3 60 60
12) 704 x 480 4x3 30 60
13) 704 x 480 4x3 30 30
14) 704 x 480 4x3 24 24
15) 640 x 480 4x3 60 60
16) 640 x 480 4x3 30 60
17) 640 x 480 4x3 30 30
18) 640 x 480 4x3 24 24

It appears that broadcasters use #1 and #4 for HD and #16
for SD. Why not #3 for HD movies or #2 for other stuff if
you are a progressive fan.

David