HD content + SD television = ?

SaraLuna

I currently have a SD sony set (this one.) I plan on upgrading to HD sometime mid-to-late next year.

That said, I'm getting a 360 in the next month or so and I'm wondering if I should go ahead and get the hd-dvd drive now or wait until I have a set that will take full advantage of it. My questions are as follows:

• Will it be able to play hd-dvds on an sd set at all? I would assume it is able to 'downscale' content to 480i, however I've not seen anything confirming that.
• assuming it can downscale, how noticeable would the difference be between hd and standard dvds, if at all? (I'll be using component cables, if it matters)
• I don't actually have a third question, I just can't stand having a bulleted list with only two items

edit: next week best buy is running a promo for a free hd copy of 300 in addition to the pack-in king kong + 5 others. I figure I can sell off the ones I don't want to recoup almost half the cost

Arth

My money says they'll downscale, and you will notice no real difference on a regular TV. I'm planning on buying a 360 myself even though all I have is a 20 inch SDTV. I mean, the TV's all of three feet from my bed, and five feet from my computer desk. My room is tiny.

LewieP

pablo_price wrote: »

• I don't actually have a third question, I just can't stand having a bulleted list with only two items

The best quality that and SD TV can display is DVD, unless you would benefit from the "Dolby True-HD" lossless audio I don't think you would notice any difference of DVD to HD DVD, except cost.

Mmmm... Cocks...

Well, quick question if you'll be using component doesn't that mean the TV will due 480p? I mean it's not HD but don't people call it like enhanced definition or something. I'm gonna bet money that your old DVD player was composite so you would see a slight set up in quality, but you'd see the same step up by playing your same old DVDs over the 360. If you really wanted a reason you could pick up the VGA adapter. The 360 does 1080p over VGA now right?

SaraLuna

I just checked on my wii, and no - the tv doesn't like a 480p signal.

And yeah, I'm using a ps2/oxbox over composite for my current dvd player, so I'll be getting a upgrade either way.

Mashalot

Yeah, I've got a similar sony, no progressive scan. Does have a 16:9 function though.

Artheleron... just take note that text in some games / converted HD content text may still be a total eyestrain to read. No matter how close you get. The resolution isn't there. My friend had a huuugeass tube SDTV (probably close to 40" or something) in a small room and still had problems with the text in Dead Rising.

I would have thought that by itself a SDTV shouldn't be able to interpret HD signals, it would be up to the 360 or whatever to do the conversion then poop it out through composite or maybe component.

Daedalus

The HDDVD will look pretty much exactly the same as a regular DVD if you downscale it to 480i.