Greetings,

Its crazy calling around, asking dealers "Do you have any 480i tvs, or just standard def", most think its a prank call.

About a year ago I bought a 34xbr960 on ebay, and enjoyed it since. Great for 360/ps3 and dvd/bluray. This tv is the ultimate game tv for current games.

But, when I mess around with the xbox or ps2 games on component video, the screen is too detailed, very sharp edges on God of War and older xbox games, so detailed you can see the pixels.

So my question, is how far back do I need to go to find a great tv for older games? Seems like the older games maxed out at 480i.

My few experiments, on a smaller tv with composite output, is a nice picture. And on a JVC AV-32260 through component video is great. No lines in the graphics, nice glossy, shiny look on games like Fable and Knights of the Old Republic. This tv, is very plain, just 3 line digital comb filter, 700 lines resolution, and component output, no mention of 480i. Also, when I check 480p support on xbox setting, tv didnt support that at all.

Im guessing that the first batch of tv's with component output, only supported 480i, which might be the best fit for my search.

Ideally, the best idea is a TV with the same look as the JVC, except a 36 inch or higher. They do make a 36 tv, av-36260.

Apart from your best ideas for a great 36 or even 40 inch game crt, does any of the Sony Wega in the past beat out the JVC?

In the end, a good crt that has component video but doesnt support 480p, seems like the best combo from my testing.

Thanks for any ideas.

Also, any suggestions for new lcd or plasma's that handle older games well.

The reason that the small set looks better to you is simply because of the size. It has nothing to do with 480i/p. You need to sit back further from the 960 if the pixellation bothers you. A large 480i TV will look awful, not the way you imagine it. The black lines will be big and obvious.

Oh, the two tests I did was from a smaller 13 inch tv which looks fine, plus the JVC-AV32260 is a 32 inch screen that looks great through the component video at the same distance of the 960 component video. The 960 with hdmi has no lines at all, but older games through component is not worth using. My guess is that any 720i or higher tv, can not display lower resolution. All the newer tvs, great at upscaling, but downscaling doesnt work as well.

well, after getting the itch to play some old xbox games for the past month, I have realized the 34xbr960 is a great tv for older games. Just have to play with the picture modes (the darkest one, pro), and do the unthinkable of putting sharpness to zero.

It took me a few weeks of getting use to seeing a low resolution game on a standard tv with component input, then seeing those same games on the 960 was the same or better.

On xbox, seems like the picture was too detailed when I went into xbox system setting and said yes on the high res settings, but when I left them on no, the picture was great through component. Fog and haze in games came out as that and not pixeled.

I hope this helps others that want to get a crt that plays older games well, the experimenting saved me from having another 200 lb + tv in the home.