Xbox One Won't Support SDTVs

[Xarathox]

I can't see the difference between HDTV and SDTV so I have my SDTV and enjoy it. Just another reason I'm glad I'm upgrading my PC this year.

I have a Phillips SDTV I bought back in 2003 (when HDTVs were still insanely expensive). Just recently my dad upgraded to an HDTV, and to test it out we hooked my 360 up to it via HDMI just to see how "pretty" my games would look on it. Turns out 360 games look like absolute shit on it. The only upside was that I no longer had to squint to read in game text, but the picture quality was highly pixelated, compared to my SDTV which the picture quality was crystal clear but text is a headache to read (literally).


The cause to the problem we later found out, is that not all HDTVs work well with the 360 due to the DVD-9 format it uses. Even after manually setting both the TV and the 360 to whatever output(s) your games support (720p, 1080i, 1080p is the norm) they'll still look like first gen Xbox graphics on certain brands. The PS3 doesn't have that problem it seems, because of the Blu-Ray format with most manufacturers supporting that these days over DVD. Though, that's just what I've been told, so no idea how accurate that is.

 

[taciturnCandid]

I'd like to note that if it were to support sdtvs, then you wouldn't see a difference graphics wise from the current generation. The reason why the current gen actually looks okay on an sdtv is that usually the actual resolutions of the games is a bit higher than 480p and slightly below 720p. They scale them up on higher definition tvs. Which is why there really isn't a huge difference between playing many xbox or ps3 games on a 720p tv or a 1080p tv. On games that are actually native 1080p the difference is pretty large

On games that aren't scaled the difference between playing on an hdtv and a sdtv is huge.

There is no point in buying a new console if they won't see any difference in display. There is more than a big enough library of games to play in the current generation that look just great on sdtvs.

Even if they did supply it you would complain that there isn't enough of a difference between the current generation and the next one.


for example

Take this

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and compare it to this

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That isn't even that high fidelity of a game and you can see a huge difference between them. And on both of them all settings are to max except resolution.

It gets even worse when it has to be stretched out further to match a bigger screen.

compare this

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With this

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And that is with everything but resolution maxed out.

For a further comparison try

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with this

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To really understand the difference you have to view the images fullscreen zoomed in (copy the image link and then follow it to imgur. There you can zoom in your view until it takes up all of your screen) enough to take up your whole screen. If your screen is that low res i'm sorry there is nothing I can do to help you.

The image should look good if you keep it small, but when you force it to take up the whole screen you can easily see the difference.

The lower res images were taken at 720x576 and the higher at 1920x1080 resolution. That is the comparison between playing a modern game on standard resolution vs high definition at max settings. That means with all the detail they put, without the resolution behind it, it doesn't look that great.

Basically if you buy a ps4 and play games on your sdtv with it, you will only see a few little details better than what you get with your ps3. It definitely will not be worth the price you pay for the console.

Microsoft shouldn't be catering to people with sdtv because if they do they will just get complaints that there isn't enough improvement to justify the costs

 

[TheZooblord]

Its not so much agasint people like you who just enjoy what they enjoy. its more towards people like, say, if i lsitened to vinyl records, then a new album came out and i would cause an outrage that they didnt print it on vinyl and isntead used a CD, how dare they use newer technology than i like. because thats exactly whats happening in this post.

I can see that. I personally am not going to whine or bellyache. I'm just not gonna buy an XBox One lol. Still, would be nice if the elitist hate on people behind the curve died down a little bit.

Some people seem to think that having older/newer tech somehow makes people inferior/superior to each other. It's so arrogant and... meaningless? Lol

Some people have old technology. Some, new. Doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Matthi205]

Two things come to mind immediately:
a) It's called standard definition for a reason.
b) CRTs are known for supporting gigantic resolutions of up to 3 times their standard. This can only be achieved at very low refresh rates.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Its not so much agasint people like you who just enjoy what they enjoy. its more towards people like, say, if i lsitened to vinyl records, then a new album came out and i would cause an outrage that they didnt print it on vinyl and isntead used a CD, how dare they use newer technology than i like. because thats exactly whats happening in this post.

I can see that. I personally am not going to whine or bellyache. I'm just not gonna buy an XBox One lol. Still, would be nice if the elitist hate on people behind the curve died down a little bit.

Some people seem to think that having older/newer tech somehow makes people inferior/superior to each other. It's so arrogant and... meaningless? Lol

Some people have old technology. Some, new. Doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

For me it isn't that I think I am superior to someone who who doesn't have high definition stuff, it is that i'm trying to point out two things.

One is that there is good reason behind this move and that catering to sdtv hurts the console itself. That this hate towards microsoft for this move shouldn't be hated as it is only sensible. If you look at the differences in the appearance of things at hd resolution and standard def res at the same settings, you can can see why increasing details won't really improve the graphical quality because of the lower resolution. In fact, you won't be able to make out a lot of those details and effects because it would be blurry or pixelated.

the other reason is to bring down some of the hype so that way when things do release people won't be near as disappointed. There is a lot of information that seems impressive, but really isn't. From looking at the specs and not knowing what they mean, you could think this would be top of the line technology, but the numbers lie.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Two things come to mind immediately:
a) It's called standard definition for a reason.
b) CRTs are known for supporting gigantic resolutions of up to 3 times their standard. This can only be achieved at very low refresh rates.

A. Because it was what was standard 15 years ago?

The vast majority of people in the US have hdtv. The people who have 480p and below are now a minority that just keeps shrinking.

B. Yes you can. But the pixels are just more spread out. you aren't getting a higher resolution, but rather an upscaled one.

Take a picture and stretch the shit out of it and you have a new resolution that was scaled from the old one. The overall resolution is larger, but the core resolution the image is based on didn't change.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Sorry, at this point I can only laugh at Microsoft. My bet is that by the time of release they'll have narrowed their target audience to one person. Who'll probably work at Microsoft.

 

[Racecarlock]

Sure, why don't you let me pull the money for that out of my ass as well.

If this is the wave of the future, then fuck the wave of the future. I just moved my Wii up to my room, so I think I'm going to enjoy mario galaxy and brawl for the next few months. Then I might get bioshock infinite, will get SRIV and GTA V, then that'll be it. Also I'm getting an ouya. They give a shit about money costs.

It appears I'm a retro gamer. Who knew?

"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT NEW GAMES?!"

Yeah, let me know what those are. Forza? Rigs of rods simulates crashes way better, and I've got plenty of other driving games? The new sports games? I can just get some old ones and it'll barely matter. Quantum break? It looks like a david cage interactive thing only without david cage. Plus I haven't seen actual gameplay of it so I have no reason to be excited. Call of duty? I'll just get 4 and be satisfied.

Plus all this bullshit about backwards compatibility and used games and this TV thing. I have no reason. Everything I've heard just makes it look worse. So fuck them, I'm not buying it.

 

[spartandude]

This honestly doesn't surprise me either. Anyone that gets pissed about this is kind of a dinosaur at this point. Even the current gen consoles look like crap on an SDTV. Asking for it to be compatible with an SDTV is asking a bit much, in my opinion. At a certain point, you have to move forward with technology, not hold on to the past.

Well, as someone with ZERO HD TVs in my household, because they're all 90's era, big screen SD ones, this is certainly unfriendly news.

I actually think the last poll found that nearly 30-40% of TV owners still owned SD TVs as their primary television... so that seems like a lot of the market they'll still miss out on.

Sorry, but for the people who actually want to use next gen consoles anyway, you'd be in the extreme minority if you wanted to use it on an SDTV. So let's talk about that poll, eh? 30-40% is statistically a large spread of difference. I'd be curious to find out when/where that poll was conducted and how accurate its numbering is, because 30-40 just isn't an accurate enough figure - it leaves a lot of wiggle room, because that 10% difference could be a LOT of people.

im sorry in a time of low economic growth in quite a few western countries people dont have the money to get HDTVs. but that poll is about people using their primary TVs, like the ones in their living rooms where the family sits around and watches tv
but think about the tvs in the kids rooms where a console will likely end up
if i may use experience from quite a few of my friends (yes i know anecdotal evidence isnt great but i imagine its fairly common) lets say the TV in your living room is HD as expected and youv likely got plugged in their you TV box (sky or virgin media for example) then you dvd player and quite likely a Wii.
now as money is tight for a lot of people these days chances are this is an older HD TV and can probably only suppoer these three things plugged into the back. so you buy your kids a tv for their room(s) to play their xbox or playstation but dont have the money for an HD so you get them an SD..... you are seeing the problem here right?

and while i do agree its much better for people just to upgrade to HD, but for quite a few people this isnt an option yet and likely wont be able to save for TV upgrades and a new console at the same time.

 

[Rack]

A 40" LEDTV from a decent brand is going to cost about half as much as the Xbox1. If you aren't gaming on an HDTV at all it's going to be a way bigger improvement than any next gen console will be. Pick one of those up then buy a console when it gets cheaper. If you already aren't planning to buy the 360 or PS4 for a couple of years odds are HDTVs are going to get even cheaper.

 

[elvor0]

In (surprisingly)before the smarmy fucker who says "People still have SDTVs? How cute!" like it's a grammarphone and they're hot shit.

On topic, *headdesk*, I mean I can't stand playing on a non HDTV because I'm so used to it, but this is ridiculous, a huge amount of people still have SDTVs, and most people ain't made of money. They're already having to fork over £400 or whatever the xbone is going to cost, and getting a decent HD TV is just going to make it even more prohibitive. No second hand games and now this, keep digging that hole microsoft.

 

[SpAc3man]

I actually think the last poll found that nearly 30-40% of TV owners still owned SD TVs as their primary television... so that seems like a lot of the market they'll still miss out on.

I would like to point out that the proportion of that 30-40% with SD TVs as their primary TV that would actually consider getting the Xbone in the first place would be very small. They aren't the target market so Microsoft isn't losing anywhere near 30-40% of potential customers.

 

[The White Hunter]

Well, as someone with ZERO HD TVs in my household, because they're all 90's era, big screen SD ones, this is certainly unfriendly news.

I actually think the last poll found that nearly 30-40% of TV owners still owned SD TVs as their primary television... so that seems like a lot of the market they'll still miss out on.

No shit. Couple this with the fact that they are screwing the used games portion AND the fact that you have to be online? They are seriously limiting their profits.

Also, I am so sorry for not being Rich, Microsoft. It isn't like I am trying to pay for College, Bills, and a one year study-abroad trip next year. Not to mention that there are probably many others worse off than I am.

Ugh, more and more info from this seriously pisses me off.

I really do think there's a guy in Sony's marketing department scratching his head over this one.

Honestly millions of idiots are gonna buy the thing anyway, but since millions of people are smarter consumers (even my dad researches stuff online) I don't see it being dominant if Sony's machine is friendly to the end consumer, and at the moment it looks a lot like it is.

 

[Belzera]

I actually think the last poll found that nearly 30-40% of TV owners still owned SD TVs as their primary television... so that seems like a lot of the market they'll still miss out on.

I would like to point out that the proportion of that 30-40% with SD TVs as their primary TV that would actually consider getting the Xbone in the first place would be very small. They aren't the target market so Microsoft isn't losing anywhere near 30-40% of potential customers.

So 30%-40% of Americans don't have HDTV's in an old poll. Okay yes not all of them would buy an Xbone but what about the rest of the world, they aren't making this console only to sell in America, but to sell on a global market I would be surprised if over half of the gamers worldwide currently use HDTV's

Heh Captcha was 'I like humans'

 

[SpAc3man]

So 30%-40% of Americans don't have HDTV's in an old poll. Okay yes not all of them would buy an Xbone but what about the rest of the world, they aren't making this console only to sell in America, but to sell on a global market I would be surprised if over half of the gamers worldwide currently use HDTV's

Heh Captcha was 'I like humans'

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the developed country with the highest proportion of SDTVs was in fact the USA.

I hardly know anyone who doesn't have at least one HDTV. My grandparents even have two, my four friends who are living in a crappy flat have a 55" plasma. All living in remote New Zealand.

The only people I know that don't have an HDTV would never in their life buy a games console even if it cost them pocket change.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

MS is trying really hard to alienate most nonUS countries.
The TV service is US only, Xbox Live is not available in many countries which have a better net connection than the US, now the lack of SD TV support (there are many countries where HD still didn't break trough and take a bigger chunk of the market).

It's like MS really hates money.

 

[SpAc3man]

MS is trying really hard to alienate most nonUS countries.
The TV service is US only, Xbox Live is not available in many countries which have a better net connection than the US, now the lack of SD TV support (there are many countries where HD still didn't break trough and take a bigger chunk of the market).

It's like MS really hates money.

That is a bit of an exaguration
Xbox live is available in all developed countries along with a lot of developing countries.
Countries with Xbox Live:

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