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Xbone on SDTV? help? (Gaming)

by General Vagueness @, The Vault of Sass, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 17:09 (3811 days ago)

I'm getting an Xbone for Christmas so I can play the Halo compilation that was announced at E3, and unfortunately it only has HDMI output, and unfortunately the only TVs the console might be connected to are SD CRTs. I would just get a converter, but apparently they're expensive, and someone pointed out I'll be playing in the wrong aspect ratio. So I'm asking the A/V aficionados, what should I do? Will it be cheaper to get a converter or can I actually get a compatible TV for the same price as a good converter now? If I do this, should I just go ahead and go one better and get a box that converts a bunch of different inputs? In either case, does anyone have suggestions for make and model? I have a bunch of Amazon credit from doing surveys and doing Microsoft's Bing rewards program, so I would be buying it through there, unless there's something the same price or cheaper at a physical store near me (Target, Wal-mart, K-Mart, maybe Meijer), in case that helps anyone to help me decide.
thanks in advance

Xbone on SDTV? help?

by Claude Errera @, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 17:11 (3811 days ago) @ General Vagueness

For $150 or so, you can buy a 24" LCD monitor with HDMI input. Not sure if that's in or out of the budget.

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by kanbo @, Seattle, WA, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 17:15 (3811 days ago) @ General Vagueness

You should probably mention that you consider $50 "too expensive."

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by General Vagueness @, The Vault of Sass, Friday, June 27, 2014, 08:29 (3809 days ago) @ kanbo

You should probably mention that you consider $50 "too expensive."

I neglected to include budget and I forgot to check this. I'm looking at $50-$65, maybe $70 by the time I have the console and the game.

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by Xenos @, Shores of Time, Friday, June 27, 2014, 09:10 (3809 days ago) @ General Vagueness

You can actually find some decent ~15" widescreen monitors for around that range, but even refurbished finding something bigger than that will be hard. I would not recommend buying a used monitor (especially for that little) unless you personally see the picture and verify it looks good with minimal dead pixels.

Decent new 15.6" monitor for $60 with free shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/HL163ABB-15-6-LED-LCD-Monitor/dp/B00EPQZXNE/

If you can scrounge up even a little bit more though you can buy a decent 20" refurbished monitor like below for $75 with free shipping:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009594&ignorebbr=1

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by stabbim @, Des Moines, IA, USA, Friday, June 27, 2014, 15:50 (3808 days ago) @ Xenos

I'd probably scrounge up the extra somehow and get the Acer. Better resolution, and 5ms response time vs 16ms.

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by General Vagueness @, The Vault of Sass, Sunday, June 29, 2014, 14:44 (3806 days ago) @ Xenos

You can actually find some decent ~15" widescreen monitors for around that range, but even refurbished finding something bigger than that will be hard. I would not recommend buying a used monitor (especially for that little) unless you personally see the picture and verify it looks good with minimal dead pixels.

Decent new 15.6" monitor for $60 with free shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/HL163ABB-15-6-LED-LCD-Monitor/dp/B00EPQZXNE/

If you can scrounge up even a little bit more though you can buy a decent 20" refurbished monitor like below for $75 with free shipping:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009594&ignorebbr=1

Well thanks for trying and thanks for the advice. I should've mentioned also that I have some Amazon credit and I'll be getting a bunch more, so that's probably how I'll be getting whatever it is I get to make this happen.

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by Cody Miller @, Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 17:26 (3811 days ago) @ General Vagueness

So I'm asking the A/V aficionados, what should I do? Will it be cheaper to get a converter or can I actually get a compatible TV for the same price as a good converter now?

Yes. You can get a 1080p monitor with HDMI in for cheap now. Just bit the bullet and upgrade. I didn't for the longest time because of input lag, but it's been solved so there is no downside.

Get a TV instead of a monitor though, since you'd have to buy even more gear to get the audio from the monitor output to speakers (or play only with headphones).

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by Malagate @, Sea of Tranquility, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 17:48 (3811 days ago) @ Cody Miller

So I'm asking the A/V aficionados, what should I do? Will it be cheaper to get a converter or can I actually get a compatible TV for the same price as a good converter now?


Yes. You can get a 1080p monitor with HDMI in for cheap now. Just bit the bullet and upgrade. I didn't for the longest time because of input lag, but it's been solved so there is no downside.

Get a TV instead of a monitor though, since you'd have to buy even more gear to get the audio from the monitor output to speakers (or play only with headphones).

I rock the monitor/headphones combo. Finding a decent monitor with a 1/8 audio out isn't too hard. I run that to a set of PC speakers with a sub if I want to play it loud. It works well. Would recommend.

~m

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by Schedonnardus, Texas, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 18:48 (3811 days ago) @ General Vagueness

if you have a computer monitor with VGA inputs, you can use this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E98QMSI?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B00E98QMSI&a...

I use it when i go to my brother in law's to play on a computer monitor. Widescreen is ideal, b/c the Xbox one only has 1 aspect ratio. If you use a square monitor, it will chop off the sides.

The adapter has an audio jack, so you can use headphones or computer speakers.

If you don't have a widescreen monitor, they are pretty cheap nowadays (or you could just buy a tv). Woot.com will carry refurbed TVs/monitors between now and then. Or you could get a used monitor from Goodwill or Craigslist.

Best of luck!

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by stabbim @, Des Moines, IA, USA, Wednesday, June 25, 2014, 14:44 (3810 days ago) @ Schedonnardus

Widescreen is ideal, b/c the Xbox one only has 1 aspect ratio. If you use a square monitor, it will chop off the sides.

Is it locked at 16:9? I've only ever used mine on 16:9 displays, so I'm not sure. If so, then it's probably worth mentioning in this thread that some PC monitors are 16:10, and others are 16:9. If 16:10 isn't an option for the XBone then it's probably best to go with 16:9 so you don't constantly have black bars.

Tell you what, Vagueness. Even if the XBone can do 16:10, most games are probably designed more with 16:9 in mind. So I'd try to get a 16:9 monitor regardless.

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Xbone on SDTV? help?

by Schedonnardus, Texas, Thursday, June 26, 2014, 07:56 (3810 days ago) @ stabbim

i'm not 100% certain, but i did plug my Xbone into a square monitor, and the ends were chopped off. I then put it on a widescreen monitor (not exactly sure of the aspect ratio) and everything looked okay to me.

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Are there any aspect ratio settings on the XBO?

by ZackDark @, Not behind you. NO! Don't look., Thursday, June 26, 2014, 09:17 (3810 days ago) @ Schedonnardus

- No text -

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Are there any aspect ratio settings on the XBO?

by stabbim @, Des Moines, IA, USA, Friday, June 27, 2014, 15:49 (3808 days ago) @ ZackDark

Not that I can see currently. There's a resolution chooser that just shows 1080p and 720p for me. I'm using HDMI, though, so it's likely just showing me the settings that are native for my display.

I know when I've hooked my 360 up to a 16:10 monitor, it doesn't support that aspect ratio. The display does work, it just gets letterboxed a little. It's just faint black bars along the top and bottom, not as jarring as watching a 4:3 image on a 16:9 display for example. Not really sure whether the XBone supports it any better, though. My Google-fu is failing me on this one, either that or no one's actually tried it and posted the results.

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