XBOX360 on a CRT TV

fluffy69

fluffy69

CAG Veteran
Hi to everyone,
I bought a 29" CRT TV about three years ago. i don't plan to upgrade it to a LCD or Plasma TV in the next two years; but i'm thinking of getting a xbox360. i would like to know if anyone of you out there has the xbox360 hooked up to a CRT TV and if the games are playable on such a screen? is it worth the money?

thanks for your suggestions
 
I'm guessing that you have a standard definition CRT TV. Xbox 360 still looks fantastic in SD. Sure, HD makes a big difference, but SD is still very respectable. Some of the launch games don't show a big difference when viewed in SD and the text in Dead Rising is hard to read, but other then that you will notice a very large increase in visual quality no matter what television you are using.

You can find pretty dang cheap LCDs for not a lot of money... I'm talking less than $800. Another option is to hook your 360 up to a computer monitor, which you obviously have because you are posting here. Sure, the screen won't be the largest around, but it will more than make up for it in quality.
 
I'm gaming on a 32" Standard def tv. My 360 looks awesome on the TV. I love playing Gears of War, Test Drive unlimited, and PGR3.

My only complaint is text is very hard to read especially in Dead Rising and PGR3.

Basically having the 360 makes me REALLY want to get an HDTV. Unfortunately after seeing my parents new 40" Sony Bravia LCD 1080P tv I think that is the only thing I would buy. But $2,000 for a tv is way too much money for my budget.

So if you want a 360 get it. You won't regret it. You will however want an HDTV sooner. :)
 
I currently have my 360 hooked up to a 32" Toshiba SD CRT via S-Video and it looks fine. The text on Dead Rising is very hard to read, but that's about the only game I've noticed an issue on.
 
I played my 360 on a APEX 27" Regular TV ( 3 Years Old ) for about a year. IMO the games looked great. I recently went to a 37" HDTV and I can honestly say that my 27" looked very very very good on all the games besides small text on Dead Rising.

Go Get a 360 since it worth it on any TV.
 
I'm playing on a pretty foodstamps tv with one right now @ school. Basically I don't even have RCA cables available on the damn thing, but it's free and 28". The only complaint is games with small menu texts and whatnot. It's not a big enough deal to get a new setup though.
 
[quote name='fluffy69']Hi to everyone,
I bought a 29" CRT TV about three years ago. i don't plan to upgrade it to a LCD or Plasma TV in the next two years; but i'm thinking of getting a xbox360. i would like to know if anyone of you out there has the xbox360 hooked up to a CRT TV and if the games are playable on such a screen? is it worth the money?

thanks for your suggestions[/QUOTE]

Can you hook component cables to the TV? I have an CRT TV that looks great and with component hooked up I have no problems reading the text in Dead Rising. Even without hooking up component cables it looked great, except the text in Dead Rising will be hard to read.
 
I'm gaming on a 30" HD CRT set and the visual performance is outstanding. In case you are looking to upgrade to an HDTV in the near future, I'd recommend going with an HD CRT over an LCD if you are staying under 34". In this size range, CRT still has the best picture quality and you can find many great sets on clearance. You really can't beat the performance/price ratio of a good CRT. Of course they are very bulky :p

I've also played Gears on a standard def 27" and it looked very good. The games are really the best part of the 360, not the visuals, so if you are interested in what the 360 has to offer in the games department, don't let the lack of HD hold you back.

-Bob
 
I just upgraded to hd myself but I don't feel it i necessary t enjoy the 360. Some games like madden seem to flow a bit smoother in hd. I had a 36 inch sd hooked through component and it did pretty good
 
I am also playing on a 32" SDTV the 360 is still a leap forward in graphics without having a HDTV. I have had my 360 on an HDTV as well and I would say that while it is sweet it isn't worth dropping mad dough on a flat planel (or less money on an HD CRT that you will regret buying in a month when everyone you know has a flat panel) for the 360. If you have a lot of HD content available from your cable/sat provider it may be worth the expense but IMO there is no need to upgrade if your only HD source is your 360.
 
Can the 360 display 1080i over component? I have a HD CRT , so no 720p. I am currently considering a 360 to use part of my tax return on. I'm curious if there are games that are 720p native and I don't know how the console would handle it.
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']Can the 360 display 1080i over component? I have a HD CRT , so no 720p. I am currently considering a 360 to use part of my tax return on. I'm curious if there are games that are 720p native and I don't know how the console would handle it.[/QUOTE]

The 360 has a bit in hardware scaler. It will upscale to 1080i for you and look great.
 
I can't see the difference between 720p and 1080i is there any good resources that show the pros and cons? the 720 seems more stable i think
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']Can the 360 display 1080i over component? I have a HD CRT , so no 720p. I am currently considering a 360 to use part of my tax return on. I'm curious if there are games that are 720p native and I don't know how the console would handle it.[/QUOTE]

I use a 38 inch HD CRT via component at 1080i and it looks fantastic. You should be quite pleased with the picture quality.
 
Like people said, the only games I've noticed that are a little hard to see are Dead Rising (the subtitle text is TINY) and LOTR:BFME (menu text is a little small). Neither of which take away from the game - everything else is fine. I play usually on a little 20" CRT, and it's fine. I'll eventually upgrade, but for now, I'm in no hurry.
 
thank you for all of your suggestions. i think a xbox360 would be a good investment. and who knows, maybe i'll upgrade to hd in the near future.
 
[quote name='jlarlee']I can't see the difference between 720p and 1080i is there any good resources that show the pros and cons? the 720 seems more stable i think[/QUOTE]


The only thing I've noticed (I have a 32" Samsung LCD TV) is that on Bankshot Billiards, the balls at the bottom of the screen (ones you've sunk) were more prominently displayed at 1080i than 720p. In 720p, I could see half the ball... in 1080i, I could see nearly all of their surface...

Other than that, like you I can tell no appreciable difference between the two. And judging from what I've read about HD-TVs, at 32" or below, the resolution isn't distinguishable.

I run in 1080i, just because it seemed like a good fit since I run my PS3 1080i.
 
You should run your 360 at whatever the native resolution of your TV is... for LCD's it is either 720p (more common) or 1080p (you will know if you have this, because you paid for it out of your ass).
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']Can the 360 display 1080i over component? I have a HD CRT , so no 720p. I am currently considering a 360 to use part of my tax return on. I'm curious if there are games that are 720p native and I don't know how the console would handle it.[/QUOTE]

All 360 games are 720p native, and as mentioned the hardware scaler can take it up or down from there.

Remember that the 360 works on computer monitors too. Personally I'd MUCH rather run it on a monitor than an SDTV. Some games are hard to play in SD, and all of them look pretty lousy compared to a monitor or HDTV (or TV that does some HD resolutions).
 
I play on a Samsung 30" widescreen CRT HDTV. It can do 720p and 1080i. The picture is awesome. I'm currently running it in 1080i.
 
[quote name='jlarlee']I can't see the difference between 720p and 1080i is there any good resources that show the pros and cons? the 720 seems more stable i think[/QUOTE]

If your display supports 720p then you should choose 720p. All games are 720p so there should be no scaling of the image and the picture should look the best.

Plus progressive scan refreshes at 60fps and interlaced is only 30fps.
 
[quote name='Indiana']If your display supports 720p then you should choose 720p. All games are 720p so there should be no scaling of the image and the picture should look the best.

Plus progressive scan refreshes at 60fps and interlaced is only 30fps.[/quote] Is that right? I've heard it the other way around too. My 30" widescreen HD CRT's native rez is 1080i, but should I just use 720p anyway because progressive scan will run smoother than interlaced? Or should I stick with the TV's native resolution? My TV upconverts all signals to 1080i.

Trying it right now and I can't tell a difference.
 
Progressive scan basically draws each horizonal line of each frame in sequence, as opposed to interlacing, where every other line is drawn in alternating fashion each frame.

Interlacezoom.gif


Run your 360 at your TV's native resolution. No CRT TV's (to the best of my knowledge) can actually show 720p, they just convert it to a 1080i signal.

Just run it at the native resolution... it will work best that way.
 
Well I played Gears of War for 30+ minutes and the framerate is much smoother than in 1080i, noticably during cutscenes. I think the graphics might have taken a slight hit though. Need to go back to 1080i to check.
 
[quote name='chaarlieee']Is that right? I've heard it the other way around too. My 30" widescreen HD CRT's native rez is 1080i, but should I just use 720p anyway because progressive scan will run smoother than interlaced? Or should I stick with the TV's native resolution? My TV upconverts all signals to 1080i.

Trying it right now and I can't tell a difference.[/QUOTE]

In your case just use whichever looks best to you.
The only difference is:

-if you set the 360 to 720p, the TV scales it to 1080i
-if you set the TV to 1080i, the 360 scales it to 1080i

So it's mostly just a matter of which scaler works better, your TV or your 360's.

For anyone with a 720p LCD (ie most of them), 720p is the only resolution that makes sense.
 
[quote name='FaintDeftone']How do you figure out what the TV's native resolution is?[/QUOTE]
Look in the manual. Or post the model and someone will look it up for you.
 
Alrighty, I looked in the manual and it didn't say. Searched a bit online and found out it's 1080i (what I have it on). Thanks.
 
[quote name='FaintDeftone']Alrighty, I looked in the manual and it didn't say. Searched a bit online and found out it's 1080i (what I have it on). Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Also, what kind of TV is it? If it's LCD or Plasma it's not 1080i. (But a CRT would be.)
 
[quote name='fluffy69']Hi to everyone,
I bought a 29" CRT TV about three years ago. i don't plan to upgrade it to a LCD or Plasma TV in the next two years; but i'm thinking of getting a xbox360. i would like to know if anyone of you out there has the xbox360 hooked up to a CRT TV and if the games are playable on such a screen? is it worth the money?

thanks for your suggestions[/quote]

yes games look great on a crt too.

you can also just pick up the 360's VGA cables and use your PC monitor. it supports tons of resolutions.
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']Also, what kind of TV is it? If it's LCD or Plasma it's not 1080i. (But a CRT would be.)[/QUOTE]

It's CRT.
 
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