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Plasma TVs for Video Games?
moonboy asks: "As plasma televisions continue to come down in price (Gateway even has a 42" available for $2999) I'm considering purchasing one. Has anyone here had any experience with these and particularly playing games on them? I'm thinking about both console and PC games however, I'm concerned about refresh and resolution. How do they compare?"
It shouldn't, most plasmas are progressive scan and 1080i- hence they should refresh every pixel VERY quickly. Progressive Scan means that the entire screen is redrawn in a certain time interval not just the pixels that change. 1080i is just a form of HDTV.
I don't know of any TVs that support 1080p, which is what your describing. (Not that they don't exist.)
Usually 720p is the highest progressive scan available.
There's a fairly good description of progressive vs. interlaced at Panasonic, but it concentrates on 480p vs. 480i. (The basic idea is the same though.)
I'm looking for a HEPA media filter for my TV. I'm alergic to reality shows.
Plasma displays are completely different from LCD's. They change color quickly, even quicker than CRT's, so in this respect they might even be better.
They (Sony):
Seem to go fuzzy (text wise). This is bad for those strategy gamers out there.
Seem to be suffering from burn-in.
Are widescreen so you need a game that does widescreen resolutions.
Need higher resolutions to avoid seeing all those single pixels.
Are expensive - you could buy a bloody good 21 inch CRT.
Heh, funny you would say that.
/can/ you be to the screen?
I just made exactly this decision. I had the money saved and wanted a high end viewing solution to go with my high end audio solution.
What I think it boils down to is how it's going to be used.
When you start comparing resolutions vs $ etc. Size is a matter of perspective - how close are you to the screen. How close
If it's going to be more than just you viewing the screen, then a large screen makes sense. But my primary usage was personal. I wanted something to play games and watch movies on. Other than what would end up being perhaps 1 movie night a month with a group for friends, 99% of the time it would be just me viewing.
Huge dollars for $ 1024x760 on a big screen, or less $ for 1600x1200 on a smaller one?
The other major consideration in a major purchase like this is HDCP. High Definition Copy Protection. If your prospective set doesn't have it, don't buy it, cuz there is a good chance you might not be able to view future HD content. (thanks MPAA)
I chose to spend my money on a 21" Viewsonic LCD and an Nvidia Ti4600 to drive it, leaving enough left over to upgrade that purchase much sooner than I could of with the big screen.
Because light guns rely on the horizontal and vertical blanking that's inherently a CRT thing. :-)
Plasma and LCDs don't refresh that way, ispo facto: your light gun won't work.
-psy
I was amazed when I heard Gateway was coming out with a $3000 plasma HDTV. Then I found out why it's so cheap... it's not HDTV. You'll notice no where on their site do they refer to it as an HDTV or capable of DISPLAYING at that high resolution. You'll see stuff like, "capable of accepting 1080I and 720p HDTV signals," or "16:9 Wide Aspect Ratio," or "compatible signals include computer display resolutions up to 1280 X 1024 and HDTV signals including 720p and 1080i."
However, notice the native resolution of the TV is only DVD quality (approximately 480 horizontal lines). That's twice as good as regular TV, but for $3000 I'll either fork out more for a real plasma HDTV, or a little less for a good rear-projection HDTV.
I wonder how many people out there will buy one of these Gateway TV's assuming they are HD, just because they're plasma, 16:9 screens?
"And like that
Most high end plasmas move their virtual screen around on their physical screen. This is a really slow process (ie. 1-2 minutes cycle time) and it only moves a few pixels up and down, so it is unnoticable. This is because they also realized that burn-in is an issue and they need to do something. I have personally watched a Sony 50+ inch at Good Guys for several minutes but it was unnoticable, unless I put my fingertip at the edge of the picture.
However, it might not protect against burn-in in case of more static screens, like video games or public ad displays.
Peter
Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
Of course, light guns are based on technology almost as old as arcade games are (70's at least) so maybe someone will come around and develop a new one soon that will work with LCDs. I think we can all agree that LCDs are going to become common: they use less electricity, less space, and are 'cooler' ;)
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I watched a review of House of the Dead 2 on CNN HLN and they had it running on the plasma screen so you could see the graphics and then flipped over to a smaller CRT to show the light gun. They specifically mentioned that the light guns don't work on plasma screens, because of the lack of the blanking period.