pc games on a TV

Camalot · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:30

Sorry if this is in wrong section didn't know which part to put it in!

I've been wanting to play pc games over a 32" sony TV my nan gave me, its only got two scart leads and an svideo lead. Ive connected it up via s-video.

When its through the TV, its flickery, not sharp enough to even read the text of the desktop icons. I've tried crysis all high and the highest res i can use is 1280x768. Games don't go over 50fps, so does this suggest the TV is set at 50hrtz refresh rate? Can this be changed? Is there anyway i can force a better res and/or get a better crisper image?

Heres a shot of crysis on the TV....

My idea was to use my monitor for web browsing/msn and the rest of it, then use a wireless conroller and play games on the tv.

badbob · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:33

No point setting 1280x768 as that's above PAL resolution, set 720x576. PAL is 50hz but if your games go above that it won't have vsync like tearing.

Camalot · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:36

badbob said:
No point setting 1280x768 as that's above PAL resolution, set 720x576. PAL is 50hz but if your games go above that it won't have vsync like tearing.

I'll give it another try, i tried games like bioshock/timeshift where i normally get 80-100fps on but on the tv neither goes over 50fps.

Ill try the lower res then, think the lowest was 800x600 :eek:

Ill look for 720x576 tho, can hardly read the numbers tho theres only three different resolutions it will allow me to pick

Thought the image would get worse the lower the res it set tho.

skullman · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:44

I'm sure them old Trinitron tv's can run at 60hz. My old 21" one did and even ran games at 1024x768 I think, but it still looked pretty bad.

Camalot · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:45

skullman said:
I'm sure them old Trinitron tv's can run at 60hz. My old 21" one did and even ran games at 1024x768 I think, but it still looked pretty bad.

Yea i tried all three res's and it still looks ***** :mad:

Can't select the res he told me to either :mad:

Image is jumpy to :mad:

badbob · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:49

skullman said:
I'm sure them old Trinitron tv's can run at 60hz. My old 21" one did and even ran games at 1024x768 I think, but it still looked pretty bad.

So do all other TV's. It's called NTSC, which is 720x480 60hz. So lower resolution, but less flicker...

TheMagicPirate · 5 Dec 2007 at 12:57

TV's are crap quailty compared to monitors or HDTV's, as previously mentioned a TV's max resolution is 720x576, Which is pretty poor by annyones standards these days.

n3x · 5 Dec 2007 at 13:36

you need a hdtv really, i used to have a tv as a second monitor and tbh it was pretty useless

krooton · 5 Dec 2007 at 13:39

Only good for movies, not enough pixels per inch for games to look nice.

uber soldat · 5 Dec 2007 at 14:21

krooton said:
Only good for movies, not enough pixels per inch for games to look nice.

I have a Panasonic Viera and games look fine on that

howdydoody · 5 Dec 2007 at 16:51

ive got myself a 42" Toshiba HDTV that can be used with a pc, i keep meaning to try it out but tbh im far too lazy to move my PC downstairs

divine` · 5 Dec 2007 at 17:01

howdydoody said:
ive got myself a 42" Toshiba HDTV that can be used with a pc, i keep meaning to try it out but tbh im far too lazy to move my PC downstairs

Thing is, the res will be 1366x768 or whatever it is, so will probably look fairly bad anyway, with a low res at such a big size.

krooton · 5 Dec 2007 at 17:05

uber soldat said:
I have a Panasonic Viera and games look fine on that

I meant CRT TVs foo!

skullman · 5 Dec 2007 at 17:07

divine` said:
Thing is, the res will be 1366x768 or whatever it is, so will probably look fairly bad anyway, with a low res at such a big size.

Depends how far from the screen he is. Still a million times better than sdtv.

divine` · 5 Dec 2007 at 17:13

skullman said:
Depends how far from the screen he is. Still a million times better than sdtv.

well, I dunno about a million

speeduk · 5 Dec 2007 at 17:19

divine` said:
Thing is, the res will be 1366x768 or whatever it is, so will probably look fairly bad anyway, with a low res at such a big size.

Ive gone from a 20" widescreen monitor @ 1680x1050 to a 32" HDTV @ 1366x768 and the difference in quality is minimal. Whack a tad more AA on and you're fine. The sheer size of the screen more than makes up for less work space.

divine` · 5 Dec 2007 at 17:25

I'd only ever be able to use such a res as a secondary output personally and certainly wouldn't go to the effort of hauling my PC downstairs just to see what it looked like.

I'm currently contemplating getting a 20" HD TV (1680x1050) to use a second monitor/tv/360 display.

Camalot · 5 Dec 2007 at 18:15

Guess ill just keep the tv for movies / programs and keep my pc on my monitor

Cheers for the input