NEED ADVICE: Monitor for xbox360

I'm pretty sure this monitor im going to buy on friday will do the job, but i thought id ask you guys and see if you can find anything wrong with it!

http://www.microanvika.com/product.asp?TXT=INFO&PNO=SON41251

I hope to replace one of my Apple Studio Displays with it, so ill have a nice 4:3 and the little widescreen for extra desktop space... then be able to switch the Sony monitor to it's HD connection for the xbox.

PLUS, it support Picture In Picture, so ill be able to have the xbox360 on, left on the live interface, so that when friends come online, ill be albe to see the live dashboard.

It only supports 720p, or rather its widescreen equivalent, 1280 x 768. but that is enough for me!

So, any reason why this Monitor/TV would be a bad choice?

 

Because it sais is NTSC and you live in the uk?

 

Should be fine, mine is similar in the 1280x1024 useage so i'll get the "letterboxing" but i'm ok with that. I do feel sorry for anyone who's LCD only does native 1024x768 though....iv'e found that anything other than the LCD's native resolution looks quite horrible...

 

Why is that diffrent to having two seperate devices?

it can be used as just a stand alone 17ince HDTV, right?

it's SONY, ive seen the quality in the Sony Centre, and it looks awesome.

 

Good point... i wonder why Sony dont include PAL when its sold in the UK... perhaps the site means that it it supports NTSC, as well as PAL.

 

Good to know... but im not sure how to ask for that in a store!

What is a good LCD speed? and what chip should i be looking for?

 

I've got a 21" CRT PC monitor hooked up to my 360 devkit and it looks pretty good in 1360x768. You can pick up a decent CRT for a lot less than an LCD, and it will handle different resolutions better than LCD.

 

Cool... not sure a CRT will fit on my desk and look quite as sexy as the Sony im after!

 

Yeah, if you want a decent CRT you'll need a desk that can take 25kg+, and I'm only talking about 19" here ^_^
I really can't compare TFT monitors to CRTs - I hate the whole "native resolution" thing with LCDs - it's too impractical, especially with TV use, and bilinear resizing looks like blurry ass, and the brightness/contrast you get from LCDs is quite lame in comparison to a tube. Not to mention any 480i/576i video nearly always looks like complete shite if it's actual 50/60Hz interlaced video (i.e. not a film), which is what most decently programmed games these days output (unless they do progressive outputs).

Here's the closest thing I could find on the Sony UK website: http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProd...n_GB&pageType=Features&category=Flatpanel+LCD

Dunno what the extra S is on the end of the model you were looking at is for - could just be "silver", or could actually be something significant. Actually, it doesn't seem to say anything about a tuner, but I dunno if that matters to you. It also apparently does digital video inputs at 60Hz only - this will be shite for watching PAL DVDs or 25/50fps HDTV, as 50 *does not* divide well into 60...

 

Use the money you save on the monitor to buy a decent desk

I've got a 19" DVI LCD on my PC at home. It's great for programming or general Windows use at it's native resolution, but playing games that don't support that res look pretty bad. (Even if they do support it during gameplay, most don't support it in cut scene video)

Anyway, it's horses for courses. If you want small footprint, and work at a fixed resolution, go for LCD. If you are after a quality picture at various resolutions, go for CRT. (My opinion)

 

I imagine i can set the 360 to 60Hz... right?

Also, when they finaly release a dvi cable for the 360, i will just use that.

So, you are saying anything other than the xbox360 at a lower res will look shite on that monitor?

At the moment, i play my xbox and ps2 through my Divers Series 2000 Dreamcast,
so i imagine ill see nothing but improvment with this monitor being used instead.

 

I've owned, and played games on several lcd monitors, and I can say that they don't even begin to compare to a 'normal' HDTV. Not only are they more expensive at smaller sizes (my 15' lcd I use currently cost me $350, and my 26' widescreen HDTV cost $250), but they have the problem that anything, in most cases, isn't running in the screens native resolution will blur horribly, the color/contrast will be inacurate (even Itagaki has specificly talked about this), or the screen will blur slightly when their is alot of activity.

Their good if you have space constraints (I did when I bought mine), but other then that they are fairly worthless in comparison with non-lcd displays.

 

Will the xbox360 output 1280 x 768?

 

I'm using an lcd screen now in my uni accomadation and it isn't bad at all. Games like king of fighters neowave/guilty gear/ espgaluda look amazing on it and most 2d games look very sharp indeed. 3d games on the other hand are a little blurry occasionally but nothing too major, also the sound out most lcds isn't too good. I would say the contrast and colour on my screen is great and I'm just using an LG one.

Given the choice and if I had the space a "proper" hd tv is what I would go for (going to buy a cheap hdtv soon enough!). Although lcds do look great for 2d gaming. And the problems with 3d gaming are never really that serious IMHO, just occasional issues crop up. However on space alone, you have little choice but to go LCD, they also look really good if you have to sit very near them to play.

 

Yes.

There's quite a selection available.

 

why is a hdtv considered better than a good monitor? Same technology, is it not?

 

XBox360 maximum resolution = 720p

And as far as I know:
Standard = 15khz, 740x480i
480p / 960i = 31.5 Khz, 740x480p / 1480x960i
540p / 1080i = 33.75 Khz, 960x540p / 1920X1080i
720p / 1440i = 45 Khz, 1280x720p / 2560x1440i
1080p = 1600x1080p

 

1080p is 1920*1080
1600*1080 would give approx 3:2 aspect ratio, not 16:9 as all others