Plasma TVs and Competitive play

sligmasta

During the last 3 Pax all tournaments were played on Plasma screen televisions, which causes some problems.

Primarily, lag.

I understand that plasmas may be the only kind of tv you can obtain in the kind of bulk that pax requires, but i wonder if there is any way we could use lcd or tube televisions for the tournaments where even a few frames makes the largest difference (aka Smash bros)

if large amounts of these can not be obtained, would it be alright to bring my own television to play my tournament matches on?

Transparent

Um, I think you're backwards there. Plasmas have a much better response time than LCD.

Many TVs have a "game mode" in the settings that turns most image processing off, significantly reducing the lag you're talking about. I've seen it on Panasonic plasma screens, Samsung DLP projection screens, and even LG LCD screens.

So more correctly you were playing on a cheap plasma screen that has a slow image processing time. Or a good plasma that wasn't configured properly for gaming, I don't know since I didn't see what TVs they used last year or how they were hooked up (if they ran it through something to record the match that would have added lag too).

Wanting a different TV is fine, but don't blame it on a technology that at its core is superior for competition gaming due to its near instant response time.

Transparent

And to further comment to whomever picks the TVs:

Game mode is important regardless of technology. Look for it if you have the luxury of picking the TVs this year. Make sure it is on at the event before the tournaments.

Maybe post what model of TV will be used and someone who's a TV geek like myself can post back recommended settings.

BigRed

TVs are provided by a 3rd party AV company, Dont think type is exactly known until day of PAX other than "42" or 30something-inch flat pannel". I think people should be glad the TVs are acquired in general rather than what type... Unless you have some kind of super power that lets you play a console without a display.

Plus PAX is more fun rather than super competitive IMO.

Edit: also bringing your own TV would be silly and kind of out of the question. Unhooking a tournament station and hooking up a new TV would be stupid and a waste of time when tournaments have to be kept on schedule.

Wedge

If you want a pro-gamer con go to e4all maybe. PAX is about fun, the tournaments are for having fun, if you happen to win a prize, great, but if you're sacrificing chickens to your voodoo gods, wearing your lucky socks you haven't washed since 1997, or checking that the game discs are properly weight balanced so that they can spin at the maximum speed in the drive during play because you absolutely have to win at all costs then UR DOING IT WRONG. Relax, have fun, don't overthink it, just have fun.

sligmasta

im not saying im not grateful for all the awesome big screen tv's, im just saying that i would be willing to bring my own tube tv to play on if it would be allowed, i could set it up day one before all tournaments begin as to not off set the schedule and take it down after the last day, and as to the "game mode" on some plasma tv's, im not sure if the models used the last 3 years had them, because if they did, they certainly didnt have them on

and really wedge, whats the fun of playing in a tournament if your not playing your best?

Pat McRotch

sligmasta wrote: »

whats the fun of playing in a tournament if your not playing your best?

Being there in the first place.:P

Belruel

did you ever stop to think that everyone is playing with the same tv? so if you were to be able to play on a better tv, it would make things uneven. it would be like a second grade teacher making cupcakes for the class, but a kid complained and wanted to bring his own eclair. save the eclair for when you are at home, and have fun with the rest of the class eating cupcakes.

don't be that kid.

Zig21

Assuming this is in regard to Smash, I believe the switch to Wii should fix the problem. I've never gotten any complaints of lag for any of the 360 games. Also, the 32" Samsungs have always been LCDs (Samsung doesn't make plasmas smaller than 40"). Regardless, you cannot bring your own television for console tourney.

sligmasta

damn, was just hoping i had a solution to a complaint a lot of us had, oh well, see you all there!

Transparent

Zig21 wrote: »

Assuming this is in regard to Smash, I believe the switch to Wii should fix the problem. I've never gotten any complaints of lag for any of the 360 games. Also, the 32" Samsungs have always been LCDs (Samsung doesn't make plasmas smaller than 40"). Regardless, you cannot bring your own television for console tourney.

That was likely due to the options for the inputs being configured differently, the console itself won't affect the problem described here. On the game cube you probably didn't bother to use component cables and hold down the button combo on the controllers to turn on progressive scan. I recommend using component cables on the wii and setting it to 480p.

Only the low end Samsung displays lack game mode (it's called "entertainment" mode on this year's models). So there may be a solution for this issue depending on the model of television that will be used.

For some people this wouldn't be about being super competitive. It's about being an obsessive compulsive geek, a type of person I think is common at this event. Most people don't notice, but the slight lag from new TVs that run the signal through their BS image enhancements bugs the shit out of some of us.

EDIT: There's a discussion about TV lag going on the tech forum, people have confirmed that 480p lags less than 480i on a couple of different sets.

Zig21

480p was what I meant to bring up, so thanks for the correction. I believe we'll have component cables for every Wii. If not, we'll definitely get some.