Testing HDTV

[MikeC]

Got myself an hd tv finally, connected the xbox 360 up, looking good. However, when it comes to watching tv, all I currently have is an analogue tv aerial, as a direct result of that, the picture quality Im getting is extremely poor, with ghosting etc.

Next month I'm gonna get sky running off it, so that will undoubtedly improve it. But the picture quality aint too great either when I'm watching dvds through the 360 :S

Is there a way of downloading something off the computer, sticking it onto a dvd and playing it via the 360, which will show what my tv is capable of, in comparison to normal tv? (Only ask cos I tried this, the 360 read the disc as "mixed media" and wouldnt play it :S )

 

[McBunny]

nope there isnt what you need is a pc connected to it to see propper hd or you could buy an upscaling dvd player to try it with

 

[MikeC]

I didn't even think about connecting it to my pc, i'll take a look tonight and see what lead I need

 

[biojo]

u can up the resolution on the 360, in the settings, also have u bought a hdtv cable from the 360 to tv

 

[MikeC]

Yeah, done all that - I'm using the cable that came with my premium pack

 

[Gareth]

this is what I have found, IMHO on HDTV the 360 isn't all that. I connected my PC to it (Samsung 42" HDTV) and ran some HD stuff and it was perfect.

 

[MikeC]

How did you connect your PC to the tv? I've got the samsung 26" jobbie

 

[McBunny]

dvi to hdmi cable most probably not sure what connectors your tv supports

the 360 cant upscale dvd's

 

[MikeC]

When are HD DVD players coming out? And HD DVD's?

I'll be able to pick up one of those cables at PC World I imagine?

 

[Gareth]

mine has a d-sub on the back as well as the HDMI, so used that.

 

[MikeC]

wtf is a d-sub? lol Mines got the HDMI i know that much

 

[Gareth]

its the regular PC monitor connection (not DVI) but VGA

 

[McBunny]

the d sub connectors it sthe one that has 15 pin holes in it and is D shaped

 

[MikeC]

Ah yes, mine has that too lol

 

[Evil Ally]

Usually you can use a DVI-HDMI cable to connect the PC (probably best keeping it all digital). You can download some demo material from alt.binaries.hdtv to play on your PC.

There was some discussion as to whether or not the 360 could playback HD media files, I'm not sure if it has been done yet. Hopefully once it's been fixed and had all the copy protection/DRM removed it will be an even better media centre than the last xbox. Some good reading over at www.doom9.org, www.avforums.com and www.abhdtv.com

 

[Jonny Disco]

None of the current VGA cards that claim to output HD actually work at present. You'd need a HD DVD rom in your PC as well.

Sky Customer service reckon that the new HD Sky boxes are going to cost £700.

Think I'll wait a while for prices to become sensible.

 

[McBunny]

jonny your wrong so please be quiet