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XBR960 and Gaming...Issues  

post #1 of 14
2/7/06 at 8:19pm
Thread Starter 
Just recently bought a brand new KD-34XBR960. I did a whole lot of research, decided it was the best TV for myself, heard such great reviews about the picture, bought into the "legend", so I went out and bought it.

Dont get me wrong, the super fine pitch is amazing, and because I am still waiting on the DVD player, antenna, ect., I haven't been able to fully witness its glory.

However, the one thing I have tried is gaming on it, and to be frank, it dissapoints me. I have a Gamecube, quite a fan of the system, and it can pump out some nice graphics. I have a Composite, Monster S-Video, and the official japanese (and only) Gamecube Component. I have been using the Monster S-video on my old TV (SD 24" I'Art), and well it produced an EXCELLENT picture, despite the small size. Playing games such as Resident Evil 4, Baten Kaitos and Pikmin 2 (some of the best graphics of any system) game an awesome, film-like picture.

So I was excited to finally use the component cable and Progressive scanning for the first time. Plugged it in the TV, turned on Progressive...and....bleh. The picture in almost all games becomes very sharp, and edges are very jagged, as if there were no anti-aliasing. However, turning off progressive scan resulted in a SLIGHTLY smoother, but still terrible image. I tried using the Monster S-video....better picture believe it or not, but still very jagged, blended colors, and overall very poor picture. I tried Normal screen...Wide Zoom..full...ect...all the same.

So, after a long description and gripe...here is my question. Why is the picture on my old 24" SD TV better than my new Super Fine Pitch XBR? I know it isn't the cable...is it the fact 480i/480p is still Standard-Definition, and will never look good on my 1080i HDTV?

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post #2 of 14
2/7/06 at 8:39pm
it could be the quality of the games, but I would think it would relate more to the settings you are using

color mode, individual settings for each mode, DRC mode if using svideo, composite or component at 480i, etc...

also you should play your games in OAR, if its a 4:3 game use Normal, if its a 16:9 game use Full

widezoom stretches and distorts to fill the screen
post #3 of 14
2/8/06 at 6:45am
Not all GC games are progressive scan, by a longshot. This was so underutilized that Nintendo dropped component video OUTRIGHT on later pressings of GC's. That being said, you're still getting the best PQ possible out of the GC with the component cables.

You also will be at the mercy of the games themselves, like Walker said.

My games all look fantastic, so I daresay you need to take some nice to calibrate it or, better yet, get it ISF calibrated. Even lowly PS2 games look great on my XBR960 after that, although this TV shows no mercy. Garbage in, garbage out. Any nitpicky flaw? I'll see it on this set, especially post ISF calibration. So PS2 doesn't get played much anymore. ;)



Here's some settings for you to try:

Set the TV to Pro at all times. Go into Advanced Video and set it to CineMotion and Monitor at all times.

Here's some ballpark settings you can work off of:

Picture: 35 -ish
Brightness: 45 -ish
Hue and Color = default center
Sharpness: No more than 20 or so
VM: Off
And experiment with either Neutral or Warm and see which looks better.
post #4 of 14
2/8/06 at 12:46pm
I own an XBR960... I can't believe how bad it makes my PS2 and GC games look... But, I also can't believe how GREAT my Xbox 360 looks compared to my old Philips 27". I agree with you 100% that GC looks worse on this set than it did on an SDTV... (I have not had mine calibrated, but I did do some tweaks to the service menu).
post #5 of 14
2/8/06 at 2:57pm
I have the 34XBR960 as well and just got my PS2 hooked up and am having a display problem. I have both the PS2 and DVD player routed through my receiver currently to switch the component video as my old TV only had 1 component in and it is a big pain that I haven't had time to deal with yet to pull out the receiver and go directly in to the TV with the 2 component lines. Anyway, DVD displays fine in 16:9 and looks great after a calibration with VE. The PS2 looks good but displays in a box in the center of the screen. I've set it to 16:9 in the system menu and hit Triangle X during boot up to set it to progressive scan and then went to the menu in SS3 and put it in widescreen mode and it looks good in teh small 16:9 box in the middle of the screen but does not use probably half of the screen. I can use zoom to fill the screen but that looks terrible and shouldn't be neccessary. Any ideas?

Sorry for the length of my first post.
post #6 of 14
2/8/06 at 6:46pm
Thread Starter 
Q, I honestly do not see how you are getting your "fantastic" graphics. I have messed with all the settings on the XBR, and via component, the games simply do not look as good. Testing it on games that have the "Progressive Scan Compatible" logo on the back, component makes the graphics sharper and brighter. However, it makes it TOO sharp, as to the point where the graphic edges are jagged.

The GC graphics via S-video on my old Standard-Definition were MUCH smoother and overall better looking. Much more desirable from a 3Dgraphics stand point. I am just curious as to why....and I'm guessing its because the SD-Generation systems just dont look as good on HD TVs, Prog Scan or not.
post #7 of 14
2/8/06 at 8:50pm
Quote:
The GC graphics via S-video on my old Standard-Definition were MUCH smoother and overall better looking. Much more desirable from a 3Dgraphics stand point. I am just curious as to why....and I'm guessing its because the SD-Generation systems just dont look as good on HD TVs, Prog Scan or not.
well I am going to say something, I have downloaded MAME and NES emulation software/games, and they look great on my TV, sure the SNES titles did not look as good as the MAME(arcade) games
but at 480p I found the games looked great on my KD30XS955, surely a PS2 should be capable of displaying games, as well as 10 year old arcade games and much better than the SNES games which I found acceptable

and I am connecting from my PC via DVI to HDMI, but scaling the games to 1080i was way too much for my PC(CPU and GPU), so I was using 480p
my PC is a 2.4 Ghz with a 6800 nvidia card
post #8 of 14
2/12/06 at 3:52pm
Thats because game cube and ps2 are crap. First of all did you get your tv Calibrated? You probaly didn;t. I have the 360 and a calibrated 960 and it is totaly amazing. Invest in some new stuff game cube is like saying the nintendo mario brothers does not look so great on my xbr960? Check the 360
post #9 of 14
2/14/06 at 10:12pm
I don't think Gamecube goes automaticcly into progressive. I think you have to hold down a key combo.
post #10 of 14
2/15/06 at 12:46pm
Its due to the limitation of the consoles and each game. I have Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, and N64. I only have the PS2 and the Xbox connected to my KD30XS955. I would've liked to connect the GC too, but I got one of the newer consoles that does not support a component connection.

I can tell you that God of War and Gran Turismo 4 look amazing on my TV. Although Splinter Cell 1&2 for Xbox don't look as amazing (they don't support progressive scan or widescreen) they look fine if you apply cinemotion to them and put it in widescreen zoom mode. On the flip side, X-Men Legends 2 and Soul Calibur 2 for Xbox, both of which support 720p look downright fantastic.

As you can see, it depends on the console maker and the game development team to incorporate the HD technology into their products. This is the main selling point of Xbox 360 and PS3, real HD gaming. With the GC, PS2, and Xbox, HD was merely an afterthought, especially for game makers.

What's worse is that Nintendo has already stated that the Revolution will not use HD at all! From what I can recall, 90% of GC games support progressive scan, but Nintendo removed the Digital out port in the back of the GC in 2003 or 2004 I believe because they found out only 1% of GC owners were utilizing the component cables. If you want true Hi-Def gaming, you will have to puchase a PS3 or Xbox 360.
post #11 of 14
2/15/06 at 1:58pm
I love Nintendo... and I have heard the same thing about revolution... Makes me sad.
post #12 of 14
2/15/06 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rally9x
I don't think Gamecube goes automaticcly into progressive. I think you have to hold down a key combo.
You are correct. I believe you have to hold down the start button when you boot up a game in order to activate the progressive scan.
post #13 of 14
2/16/06 at 2:05am
Actualy you hold down the "B" button when powering up gamecube to enable progressive scan ,It should come up with a question asking if you want it enabled and you should only have to do it once per game.
post #14 of 14
2/16/06 at 8:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathesar
Actualy you hold down the "B" button when powering up gamecube to enable progressive scan ,It should come up with a question asking if you want it enabled and you should only have to do it once per game.
Oh, cool. I called Nintendo customer service last night and I'm trading in my new console to get an older (but still new) console so I can use a component connection. I'm looking forward to playing Metroid Prime 1&2 on the HDTV now.
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