Standard Def: The Forgotten Generation

Very good article on Eurogamer examining the whole issue of HD over CRT and how it might or might not impact performance on both 360 and PS3...

Standard Def: The Forgotten Generation

July 25th, 2009

In an interview on Eurogamer this week, Epic Games' Mark Rein dropped what you might call a technological bombshell: over half of the Xbox 360 owners who played Gears of War 2 did so on a standard-definition television.

While I'm fairly confident in suggesting that Eurogamers en masse are most likely HDed up to the max (or at least to 720p), the questions I want to ask consist of the following: how do developers approach the SD modes in the games? And, are there any performance penalties over and above the reduction in detail? More than that, bearing in mind that less than half the resolution needs to be rendered, are there actually any performance benefits in dropping down to SD, or indeed 480p? In short, assuming that SDTV owners are indeed around 50 per cent of the audience, are they getting the attention they deserve?

Full story: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... ef-article

I'm a VGA player myself - I decided to buy a PC TFT flatscreen monitor for the exclusive use of my 360. Sadly, VGA users get almost completely overlooked in the otherwise intriguing article - and yet I'd argue we VGA players get fantastic picture quality at a fraction of the cost of HDTV players.

You're still playing in HD, cal.

And these days the cost difference isn't that much between a decent monitor and a decent 22-24" HDTV.

Two observations on the topic though. Firstly I'm quite shocked that 50% of gamers played Ib HD, and secondly the people playing in SD must be furious with how difficult it is to see how much ammo they have. Or see any writing in general.

I'm still on SDTV, and text/such is fine for me. Even Dead Rising & Banjo Kazooie N&B, for some odd reason.

I do plan to go HD one day, but for now I'm not that bothered at the moment.

I would imagine most non hardcore gamers are on SDTV. Most people just don't change the TV that often and I still see HDTV as a luxury that most do without.

In an interview on Eurogamer this week, Epic Games' Mark Rein dropped what you might call a technological bombshell: over half of the Xbox 360 owners who played Gears of War 2 did so on a standard-definition television.

I wonder what proportion of Gears 2 players dont have live?

I don't plan on buying an HD-TV until it's literally necessary. Like, when consoles become HD-only, like how games last gen began becoming 60hz-only.

Cal wrote:I'm a VGA player myself - I decided to buy a PC TFT flatscreen monitor for the exclusive use of my 360. Sadly, VGA users get almost completely overlooked in the otherwise intriguing article - and yet I'd argue we VGA players get fantastic picture quality at a fraction of the cost of HDTV players.

You're still playing in a HD resolution...it might not be a standard one, but its HD.

People should just move with the times, I bet hardly any televisions sold today are SD and therefore the audience is only going to keep shrinking. All the televisions in my house are now at least 720p, even the kids bedrooms.

Rik wrote:People should just move with the times, I bet hardly any televisions sold today are SD and therefore the audience is only going to keep shrinking. All the televisions in my house are now at least 720p, even the kids bedrooms.

Yeah, everyone should just throw their current perfectly serviceable TVs out of the window and buy HD sets. Losers.

Rik wrote:People should just move with the times, I bet hardly any televisions sold today are SD and therefore the audience is only going to keep shrinking. All the televisions in my house are now at least 720p, even the kids bedrooms.

I'll move on when my SDTV dies out. As of now, it's still alive and all games are SDTV supported so I'll be fine for another year(s)

That way HDTV will drop in price (if not much) so they will become affordable for me to consider :shifty:

Rik wrote:People should just move with the times, I bet hardly any televisions sold today are SD and therefore the audience is only going to keep shrinking. All the televisions in my house are now at least 720p, even the kids bedrooms.

Not everyone buys new TVs every few years though and you are being ridiculous if you are suggesting they should.

I just ditched my SD sets, it's outdated technology. CRT lasts forever so no point waiting until it breaks it could be 10 years :lol:

Sell it to somebody else and go HD.

HSH28 wrote:
Rik wrote:People should just move with the times, I bet hardly any televisions sold today are SD and therefore the audience is only going to keep shrinking. All the televisions in my house are now at least 720p, even the kids bedrooms.

Not everyone buys new TVs every few years though and you are being ridiculous if you are suggesting they should.

You are being ridiculous saying I said that, I decided I didn't want SD sets in the house as every room has a PS3 or 360 in it (apart from bathroom/kitchen) and your not using them to their potential with an SD set. What other people do is up to them I'm just saying what I decided.

I havent planned to buy a HDTV yet, as I dont have any current gen consoles yet.

Although I heard the graphics are still decent on a SDTV.

I'm an SD gamer, strawberry float Rik and strawberry float the haters.

Henke wrote:I'm an SD gamer, strawberry float Rik and strawberry float the haters.

I counter your hate with sympathy.

Some people can settle for second best.

Rik wrote:
Henke wrote:I'm an SD gamer, strawberry float Rik and strawberry float the haters.

I counter your hate with sympathy.

Some people can settle for second best.

Some people don't really give a gooseberry fool either way.

Rik wrote:
Henke wrote:I'm an SD gamer, strawberry float Rik and strawberry float the haters.

I counter your hate with sympathy.

Some people can settle for second best.

Some people are studying and not in full time work. Some people have other commitments that require their money. Some people aren't pathetic enough to spunk a load of cash just to make their games look a bit better.

True.

If you only have a last gen console like Dreamcast, PS2 or Wii then it is still better to play on an old CRT as the games look worse scaled on a HDTV.

PC monitors have displayed at least ****x720 for many, many years now. In fact there are some crazy high resolutions available for higher end monitors now, going even beyond 1920x1200. Just ask Rik

Standard Def: The Forgotten Generation

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