Gamers And Sports Fans Should Think Long And Hard Before Buying An HDTV
- August 30th, 2007
- 2 Comments
Halo and football. What more could you want?
I don’t know, maybe the New York Times‘ readers aren’t “hip” to technology. That would explain why the paper published an article that holds its readers’ hands, demystifying HDTV terms like “refresh rate” and “ghosting.” The crux of the article is that not all HDTV sets are created equal—specifically, if you’re a sports fan or gamer (all of us, right?)—you may want to dig around before settling on an HDTV.
As you know, sports and video games tend to have periods of motion, fast motion if you’re lucky. The best type of HDTV set for that is the increasingly hard to find cathode ray tube-based ones. Problem is, these guys are stupid heavy (a 30-inch set described in the article weighs 200 pounds) and, likewise, you can’t hang them on your wall or anything like that. But manufacturers, armed with the fruits of engineering and marketing speak, are trying to address gamers and sports fans alike.
Apparently, 1080p was the buzz word last year; 120Hz refresh rate is this year’s.
All the top manufacturers from Toshiba to Sony to Samsung are have released or are coming out with HDTV sets with 120Hz refresh rates and faster response times (like 6ms fast). That should do the trick for most of us, I gather.
The article says gamers and sports fans would do well to take a look at the 46-inch Samsung LCD, the LN-T4665F. I’d concur: I have last year’s Samsung monitor, though only 26 inches, and it plays Xbox 360 like a champ.
Not All HDTVs Can Keep Up With the Action [New York Times]
Outlaw (Who am I?)
1 year ago
mmmmmmmm.
I don’t know what to do. I will likely have $2k budget to work with in a couple of months. I am torn between buying a new Home Entertainment setup or buying a MacBook Pro.
What to do? I have been researching both and really want the MacBook Pro (being a lifetime Windows user, I really like the MacBooks).
I am concerned about the HDTV because currently the only HD programming I have is from my XBox 360. I have SD satellite (Dish Network) with no intention to upgrading to HDTV. So is the cost of buying HD now worth it just for the 360? I enjoy my 360 perfectly fine now on SDTV.
I have a 1 year old Windows PC (HP a1330n) that I use. I would like to set up a wireless home network and get the Mac. But also would like the HDTV.
I don’t “need” either, but I just want them both. lol. I figure that HDTV will continue to go down in price (likely slower than the last year or two) but still will progress to lower prices.
The MacBook can display HD content right? Not HD DVD or Blue Ray but downloaded HD. Correct?
Confused.
TitanDeGroot (Who am I?)
1 year ago
To be honest my new Vizio is a big step up from the 10 year old Sony Flat Screen. I have to say my XBox 360 looks awesome at 1080.