The reason why I havent buy a ps3 yet was because I didnt have money to buy a nice lcd tv.
My ps2 and gamecube were hooked via s-video to a regular 20"+ toshiba 4:3 crt, but I knew that if I was going to buy a ps3, it better be displayed in hd (if not it wouldn’t be worth). I was checking prices for lcd tvs and they wont go lower than $400 on 32" sets. I wanted to play videogames in a new console, and then I realized that the wii had 480p max output. I bought one, and then looked on craigslist for a used widescreen crt hdtv. I bought this samsung txp2675wh :
Now I want to buy a ps3, but Im again in a budget to buy the lcd, so I was wondering if it was a good idea to buy a used widescreen crt hdtv capable of 720p. I dont think I can use the samsung tv I have with it, because it doesnt have an hdmi port (only dvi and component). Even if I buy an hdmi to dvi adapter, the image wont be 720p because the tv also has hdcp and I think the hd signal will get lost in the video output process (Im not sure though).
I have done my research using google but theres nothing guaranteed. I was thinking in buying an old samsung slimfit model like this one :
The problem is that I have read a lot of info about the slimfit being a really crappy tv because of many technical problems. The tv aesthetics look impressive, and I havent had a problem with the other samsung I bought, but still it doesnt seem like a good idea.
Does anyone use a ps3 with a crt hdtv here? What do you think about it?
I didnt know that I could get 720p with component cables. That really helps!
The problem is that the tv I have is 26" widescreen, and I wanted to have one of at least 30" or 32". Thats why the samsung slim fit was going to be my next choice.
Your current TV’s specs claim 1080i/720p with a component input. Personally, I would get the PS3 and connect it that way (not with the default composite cables the system comes with). I believe you’ll be happy with what you got.
Going to buy a used TV with a lot of reported problems does seem like a bad idea, you could end up just throwing all the money you spent on it away. If you’re budget conscious you’re probably better off waiting a while and spending the same amount of money down the line on a model that has gone down in price, or continue saving some money so you can buy a better one. Not trying to preach, just think it would be a better investment. This model you’re looking at seems as if it wouldn’t be any better than what you’ve got except for being a bit bigger. You should just hold off and get something you know you’ll be happy with for however long you think you’ll have it - personally, when buying a TV I like to think it’s something I’ll use for about 5 years, not replacing in 1-2.
Just because it’s 720p (or any supported resolution for that matter) doesn’t mean the actual picture quality is good. Think about that, and be very careful.
You have a point there. I was thinking that I may use this tv for one more year. Right now, it seems that the pinnacle of tvs will be an lcd 1080p 40 inches around, so I may be able to buy one of those later (hopefully by that time there will be more ps3 games with native 1080p resolution).
I will buy the ps3 with component cables, hook it up, and see how the display looks. If it looks good for me I will stick to it for a while, if not then I will have to buy a 32" cheap lcd.
The other thing to note about CRT’s is that a lot of them have poor geometry, especially around the edges of the screen. They also tend to have a lot of overscan (5-10%) compared to modern LCD’s and plasmas which can be set to no overscan. So you may actually lose text and a decent amount of the picture. It won’t matter as much for SFIV since you can adjust the position of the lifebars and super bars. It could matter for a lot of other games.
One thing about CRT HD sets is that they do not actually display 720P, they will either upconvert to 1080i or downconvert to 480p or 540p (some Toshiba’s). A CRT HD will lag too, but it is usually thought to be better since it can actually display at two different resolutions (480p / 1080i ) unlike LCD / DLP/ Plasma , which are fixed resolution.
You should be able to use a DVI to HDMI converter with no problem. If your TV has DVI with HDCP it should be able to pass the handshake through an adapter. Even if not, that should only matter when watching Bluray movies, not games.
As far as component vs HDMI, component cables can carry a 1080P, it’s a matter of weather or not the PS3 will output 1080p over component. Picture quality wise I have never been able to tell a difference between component vs HDMI. I also would not worry so much about getting 1080p over 720p unless you are looking for something over 50" or you are sitting ridiculously close.
The ps3 will not upscale a 720p game to 1080i or 1080p. It downscales to 480p.
If you have a tv that can only display 480p/1080i then that means you have no way to play ps3 games in true HD unless those games have a 1080p native resolution. There are only a handful of ps3 games like that.
The ps3 will let you select 1080p over the component cables, but will only let you play games in this mode. And there have never been any commercially released crt hdtv’s that can handle 1080p. Computer monitors can do it just fine though as long as you find a way to convert the signal to RGB VGA.
You can buy seperate upscalers to convert the ps3’s 720p signal to 1080i, but I would say those introduce lag or are very expensive. I think there are some guys on shmups.com that use a few upscalers with very little lag, but they cost hundreds of dollars. Kind of defeats the point for this thread.
megaultrasuper is right about the scalers, it can get expensive fast. Most of the scalers that the guys on the shmups.com are for upping 480i signals to 480p 720p or 1080 i/p. If you want something to upscale 720p to 1080i/p you are looking at even more money. Though I want to say there is a relatively inexpensive one, the HD Fury that will let you convert HDMI to VGA.
It will accept input of 480p, 720p, or 1080i, but the tube will not actually display a true 720p signal. The TV will convert 720p to either 1080i or 480p. I have never seen a CRT HD television that can natively display 720p. I’m not saying it will look bad or have bad lag, just letting you know. It would behoove you though to send the set a signal that it can natively display (480p / 1080i) for purposes of reducing processing and therefore reducing lag.
I had an HD CRT for many years and never had a problem with it’s picture quality or lag.
Just for the record, the component cables werent able to give a 720p resolution on the crt that I have ( txp2675wh ). I used my ps2 component cables since its no different from the ps3 ones, by the way. Its weird because I can get local channels in high definition using an antenna, but when trying to get the hd from a device like a dvd player or game system, it just goes back to 480i/p. Maybe HDCP has something to with it, or maybe its because I was using a third party component cable with the ps3, or maybe because the samsung hd841 dvd player has issues with dvi settings and cant upconvert to 720p resolutions … I dont know. I will just wait 1 or 2 weeks and then buy a fucking lcd … damn!
Component cables do not use HDCP. As I said, CRT HD sets are not actually capable of displaying 720p. They will either upconvert to 1080i or downconvert to 480p. In your case it seems to be downconverting to 480p. Try your DVD player at 1080i and see if that works. Also double check your manual about your component inputs. Some old sets would have multiple component inputs, but only specific ones would be capable of accepting HD signals.
I have tried putting the dvd in 1080i also, and still no luck. I also switched the component inputs and still no hd. I have been reading some faqs in the samsung website, and the problem may be just that the hd support, when used with external devices, may not work anymore.
I shouldnt complain because I found this tv on craigslist for $50, and I was mainly using it with my wii ( 480p ). I guess I didnt notice that the tv wasnt working properly. After all its a very old one, and you get what you pay. I still need to test the ps3 with a samsung slimfit crt tv with hdmi and component cables and see how it will look like.
