Console Gaming 101

ELTEE

Vice Admiral
I recently picked up a Wii for the holidays and have hooked it up to a flatscreen LCD television. Console gaming is nothing new to me, but gaming in conjunction with LCD tvs is.

What is the real risk of screen burning? I notice the Wii has a feature you can turn on that is supposed to reduce the likelihood of this occuring. Is it worth it to switch this on?

I really like the visuals on this tv, but if the risk of damaging it is too great, I'd rather play on an older tube unit. I remember reading similar warnings with NES and PS1 back in the day, but I never took those seriously
 
There's not really any risk, for a number of reasons:

- Modern games aren't (usually) built around static screens, which were what burned images into a CRT back in the 1980s. If you played Pong for 18 hours a day for a year then you could burn the court into your tube years ago... but a modern game is usually constantly moving, colorful, etc (and not much different from television).

- LCDs don't have the same "burn in" problem as CRTs to begin with. Earlier LCDs would sometimes get a stuck image, which was correctable. Newer LCDs have technology to avoid even that.

Other than that, just use common sense if you're still worried about it - don't leave your TV on at a pause screen for twenty hours or something.
 
LOAF's right. To expand on what he said, burn-in isn't really a problem for LCD's. LCD's do, however, experience image 'retention,' but it is a temporary ghosting that occurs from long-term static images (like the bars used for 4:3 aspect on a widescreen, if used too frequently.) Retention looks like burn-in, but goes away over time (basically, you just need to 'massage' those pixels.) I've only have this occur while my wife was using 4:3 all day for our son's TV shows. The bars stayed for a couple days, but playing everything on widescreen faded them away.

Burn-in is a bigger risk on Plasma TV's, albeit older ones. They utilize a brighter image, which can damage the cells. Again, this was mostly a problem on older screens.
 
can i add my 2 cents, i recently got an xbox 360 for the holidays, fun right!
even though i am an avid gamers, i only have the PSP, so this is an entirely different world, hey i am not blind, i have played the 360 at friends and family.
my question is connection, do need to go out and get a different cable other then the component cables that come with the 360 bundle? is there really a difference
 
my question is connection, do need to go out and get a different cable other then the component cables that come with the 360 bundle? is there really a difference

Maybe!

The Xbox will output everything up to 1080i using the component cable. If you have a TV cable of doing 1080p (and a newer Xbox that has the output) then you might want to replace it with an HDMI cable for the absolute best quality video possible.

(Kudos to Xbox for including the component cable right out of the box, though... the PS3 only comes with an RCA cable!)
 
If you do, be sure to get the cheapest kind of 1080p capable (HDMI 1.3a/b/c) cable. There's no difference in quality between the $10 kind and the $100 brands.
 
It's pointless advice if you can go the HDMI route, but if you are stuck with component cables, you can certainly upgrade to better cables than what is provided which will come closer to the HDMI picture standard.

I did this with the Wii and saw a huge difference.
 
i didnt know there were different types of component cables, thanks, i will also look for a cheaper hdmi cable too
 
It's pointless advice if you can go the HDMI route, but if you are stuck with component cables, you can certainly upgrade to better cables than what is provided which will come closer to the HDMI picture standard.

I did this with the Wii and saw a huge difference.

The Wii doesn't come with component cables -- it comes with RCA cables.

I haven't had any problem with the Xbox cables -- and I'm not sure what you'd upgrade to that's nicer than the Microsoft cables, since it's a proprietary output on the console side.
 
The Xbox will output everything up to 1080i using the component cable. If you have a TV cable of doing 1080p (and a newer Xbox that has the output) then you might want to replace it with an HDMI cable for the absolute best quality video possible.

The Xbox 360 component cables will actually even do 1080p for games and most other content, just not HD-DVD movies (nor Bluray theoretically in the future, due to restrictions on the unprotected analog signal. the limitation is not technical, if they have downloadable 1080p movies, the component cable would output 1080p for those too). There are reasons to still go with HDMI if possible though. Doing so eliminates a conversion to analog and then back to digital, and on certain TVs you'd avoid issues with aligning the image to fit exactly inside the screen.

I haven't had any problem with the Xbox cables -- and I'm not sure what you'd upgrade to that's nicer than the Microsoft cables, since it's a proprietary output on the console side.

There are XBox 360 Monster cables that run about $60, but there's no reason to get them. If you're concerned with anything like that, then you'd go with HDMI.
 
Just a quick correction - while LCD TV don't have burn in issues, plasma screens do. Modern plasma sets are quite immune to the problem (they have countermeasures), however, the first 100 hours of use tend to be critical. If you have a new plasma set, don't display any static images for a length of time. After that period, the set should be quite "burned in" and the set's burn in protection should keep the panel from being burned in too badly.

And I've seen the Windows login prompt burned into CRT monitors... you can make out the entire dialog on practically anything you could display...

And I got a new xbox360 to replace my old one (first gen - not quite launch unit, but a few months after) for the HDMI output. I found with component cables the 1080p image wasn't that great - very blurry. I had to set it down to 1080i to get a decent image. With my new sbox, I use HDMI and 1080p all the way. Gave the first gen to a friend as an xmas present.
 
The Wii doesn't come with component cables -- it comes with RCA cables.

Interesting - mine came with both (I think it was a special package or something - I also had rechargeable controllers, etc.)

The component cables are clearly superior to the RCA, and the upgraded components I purchased were a huge improvement over the original components that came included.

As for ChrisReid's comment on the Xbox monster cables, that's right. The only reason I stick with components is because my amp doesn't support HDMI. For me, the investment was worth while until I can upgrade the audio as well. With components, what you pay is what you get, especially if you have a good tv.
 
this is all very interesting, i appreciate all of the feedback.
regarding componetes, should i be connecting my xbox to my receiver, or can it be plugged directly into my tv (granting it has the components inputs)
is there a better choice
as of now my tv is dated, not LCD or plasma, i know, i know, i am wating for superbowl week to get a c=decent price
 
Interesting - mine came with both (I think it was a special package or something - I also had rechargeable controllers, etc.)

That was definitely some store's bundle package. Nintendo doesn't make a rechargeable battery pack. The only Nintendo package comes with the composite cables, Wii Sports and one controller/nunchuk.

regarding componetes, should i be connecting my xbox to my receiver, or can it be plugged directly into my tv (granting it has the components inputs)
is there a better choice

Is there a reason you have it plugged into the receiver? If the receiver is acting as some kind of necessary switchbox for your audio/video or you just use that device's remote to control everything, then you'd probably keep using it as long as you did that. Otherwise there's no reason at all to plug it into the receiver. Video wise there's no benefit to plugging it into the receiver as an intermediary - there can only be a downgrade in quality by doing so (however imperceptible depending on the quality of all your connections).
 
The only Nintendo package comes with the composite cables, Wii Sports and one controller/nunchuk.

The nintendo packaging itself did have cables (was sealed and within larger box), but they were not RGB composites - they were simply video, left, right speaker.

The packaging then added in the 'cheaper' RBG + stereo composites -these were upgraded.
 
I'll point out too that idling your game on a 360 automatically dims the screen after a certain amount of time (and shuts off the controler if it's wireless) further reducing possible burn-in.
 
The only Nintendo package comes with the composite cables, Wii Sports and one controller/nunchuk.

The nintendo packaging itself did have cables (was sealed and within larger box), but they were not RGB composites - they were simply video, left, right speaker.

Those are called composite cables. The red/green/blue/stereo ones are called component cables.
 
Heres a question:

What if your screen 'blinks'? As in, its playing whatever on the screen and then, for about one full second, it goes black, then recovers like nothing happend. Becomes a little annoying when you have only that one second in a video game to either pull the trigger or dont and lose half your team... very annoying.

I have had the screen for about a year now, maybe a little less. It has plugs on the side of it, for basic RGB, the extended version (forgot what its called) as well as the s-video plug and an assortment of others. It has a DVD player on the other side, and even a nifty little feature that turns it off if its left on for too long. Combined with a killer ratio on the 29' screen, it was a great buy. But now it blinks at me....

Should I be looking at a new one?
 
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