woohoo! we got an HDTV!

[ThunderPrince]

Upgrade time!
On a whim like a week or so ago my grandpa decided to get the whole family a big gift for christmas, today my mom comes home from grocery shopping and has this massive box, several actually. I think the tv was a Sony Bravia, we watched Eagle Eye on bluray and some random DVDs just to see. Overall it is really super awesome.

So I'm still pretty leery of this HDTV nonsense, are there any disadvantages to owning one? how long do they last? how well do games work on them? I keep hearing about image burning, so if I play my dreamcast on it it will fuck it up?

[elvis]

LCDs are fine (which is what your Bravia is). Plasma is the one you need to worry about for burn-in, but that's becoming less and less of a risk with newer generations.

Playing your DC on the Bravia won't cause any problems. Make sure you get yourself a VGA cable and enjoy it in 480p sexiness.

[lordofduct]

Burn in - a problem that has plagued televisions for much longer the HDTVs have been around. It mostly effects CRT projection screens. On you LCD it isn't a big risk, but this doesn't mean you should leave your TV on with the game paused or on a static screen (like a menu) for long periods of time. No matter the TV this just isn't healthy...

nevermind it just being a waste of electricity.


How long do they last -- Well that depends on the set. LCD, DLP, CRT, Plasma all have different expected life spans which you can find on the internet. Also if there is a lamp in it you have lamp life (CRT doesn't need a lamp unless it's a projection screen). Lamps can be expensive on larger screens... very expensive. And have a certain life span. Most Televisions describe the lifespan of the lamp in the user manual. Either way the life span is comparable to any "non" HDTV. It isn't like the fact it is higher resolution changes the life span of it.


How well do games work --- well that's all just personal opinion. Seeing as you have a LCD screen, this means it has a native resolution. So some upscaling will have to occur to display your old consoles. Have you watched regular TV on your set yet?? Well notice the slight distortion to the picture?? NO!?? Well if you don't notice it, then who cares! You won't mind playing on it.

Bar in mind though there is one other issue that can arise though. This Analogue to Digital conversion and upscaling takes time... a couple milliseconds. You probably won't notice a thing, but if you're playing a game where a couple millisecond reaction time is pertinent... well... sorry.


Either way, the thing is sitting there... why not just test it out yourself. I don't think you'll be disapointed by anything.

[Niode]

So I'm still pretty leery of this HDTV nonsense, are there any disadvantages to owning one?

Yes, you've got a Sony Bravia. Plus it's LCD.

You get absolutely rubbish upscaling ability combined with native resolution and the fact that not many consumer grade Bravias (or LCD HDTVs for that matter) support 1:1 pixel mapping.

Basically means anything that is standard definition will look pants. Any console that doesn't have progressive scan or better will look terrible. Plus if you are American you don't use SCART so the best Standard Definition connection you generally get is S-Video (the common 4 pin cables you have are incapable of transmitting RGB - the best quality signal for SD).

Then again, like LoD said, you might never see how terrible the picture is because you just don't know what you are looking at.

[RadarScope1]

New HDTV in general: +++

Retro games on new HDTV: ---