Gaming TV, TV, TV......... TV!

[Mantis41]

I just thought of a very good reason why I would never use my game console as a PVR.

I have a nice shiny 47" Bravia that I have spent quite a bit of time setting up. The TV, internet, DVD and streaming modes have all been set up to best effect so even SD content looks brilliant.

On the other hand the console modes have been set-up for maximum performance with all processing turned off. This still looks great for high def games but will look crap for SD and low HD quality video.

Unless the X1(80) can producing the same processing magic for SD and low HD video then there is no way on earth I would let the stupid thing play my video content.

 

[FAST6191]

I just thought of a very good reason why I would never use my game console as a PVR.

I have a nice shiny 47" Bravia that I have spent quite a bit of time setting up. The TV, internet, DVD and streaming modes have all been set up to best effect so even SD content looks brilliant.

On the other hand the console modes have been set-up for maximum performance with all processing turned off. This still looks great for high def games but will look crap for SD and low HD quality video.

Unless the X1(80) can producing the same processing magic for SD and low HD video then there is no way on earth I would let the stupid thing play my video content.

Analogue aside (and that is a field unto itself) every TV I have ever seen try upscaling has done it rather poorly compared to a properly set up PC, even one now many years old. The less said about deinterlacing the better. Given the consoles are slightly tweaked PCs and have decent processing power (TVs by and large do not) it becomes less of an issue.

Now patents might get in the way of this but that is a slightly different discussion and the more relevant aspect is most companies do not have a clue or lock the poor bastards that have a clue up when it comes time to implement things.

Alternatively most TVs I have seen have a nice button to allow me to change audio, video and post processing settings at the drop of a hat.

 

[emigre]

There was me thinking the biggest flaw of the TV function is that its completely US centric. On that note has the Tvii functionality of the WiiU be used with any kind of content in regions other than the US?

 

[Mantis41]

When I play SD quality vid on my computer it looks well... SD quality. Throw the same video at the TV and it looks brilliant in comparison. Given the TV is 4 times the size of the PC monitor it should look much worse but doesn't.

The built in picture settings on most TVs are crap and I would never use them. I always use manual settings. I have set up each TV input to be optimized for what it is going to be used for then all I have to do is flick it from 360 to TV or DVD or PVR and everything is already set up perfectly for that input. To change modes on the selected input I would have to change 5 or 6 different settings.

Maybe I'm fussy but I don't see the point in having an expensive telly if it's not set up right and playing TV on a gaming setup is going to look awful.

 

[FAST6191]

That would seem to indicate that your computer is not set up properly rather than being inherently inferior (I assume you have a proper monitor if you have made it to the point in life where you are calibrating your TV), though part of that might be differences in distance from screen and such (sofa to TV probably being less than chair to TV or to laptop).

Hmm, most TVs usually manage a custom setting or two to pick from. If it is going to be annoying for you to have it done and the consoles will not be matching capabilities then might be time to get a HDMI splitter (they are not that much) and fire it through different inputs.

 

[Mantis41]

There doesn't seem to be the same options for image control and motion smoothing when watching video on the PC. I am just using the bog standard media player which probably doesn't help.

The splitter would work well for me with an X1. I could then just change HDMI sources to the preferred setup when watching TV or Video.

 

[Apache Thunder]

Yeah, most computer monitors don't have as many picture adjustment controls as TVs and unlike TVs, PCs are typically used for many other things other then video content and thus custom monitor settings could adversely effect the quality of non-video content. I would bet more higher end monitors have better options and a quick change method. Perhaps some even have an extra cord that goes to USB so that software can dynamically adjust the screen when you start playing video games or playing videos. But that's going to the high end luxury items type of thing.

So it's not too surprising that TVs are seem to be better at playing SD videos and video in general. It's just that's mostly all TVs ever do tend to do and thus have settings better suited for it.

The underlying hardware isn't any better then PCs. It's usually just the software for TVs (yes TVs have software built into them. The modern ones anyway. But it's read-only in most cases) are created just to optimize video quality and not much else.

The Xbox consoles are the closest to PCs in terms of hardware compared to all the other consoles so if Microsoft is going to start veering them into general entertainment machines, they better not skip on the TV centric settings required to make SD and HD video quality look good. Otherwise people will end up skipping the console entirely and just use their existing hardware for their entertainment purposes.

We already have cable set top boxes, DVRs, Ruku, and stuff and most won't throw them away and replace them with a game console anytime soon. Even if that console purportedly has many of the functions the other stuff already has.

Given how badly Windows 8 has been a big flop, I don't think many will be too trusting into Microsoft when it comes to the quality of the content the XBox system would provide for their non-gaming needs.