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Spinter Cell: DA in 1080p: Your impressions

Right now, every 360 fanboy with a hopelessly old-fashioned 720p or 1080i max HDTV is wondering the same thing: What does Splinter Cell: Double Agent, supposedly the first Xbox 360 game to support 1080p, look like in glorious "True HD" (quotes added for sarcastic effect)? The 1080p debate is a rhetorical swamp filled with technical jargon, foggy "real world" benefits, arguments about performance trade-offs and general hype. Now that those of you with TVs capable of 1080p via component or VGA have gotten a look at the 360 in action post-Fall Update, what's your verdict? Is Splinter Cell really 1080p? Is the difference noticable? Is it worth the extra money you paid for your cutting edge HDTV? Please include the details of your set-up (TV model, screen size, inputs, etc.)?

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1. Ubisoft retracted the 1080p comment. It was a misunderstanding between a representative and the Kotaku guy (if I recall). You'll still have to wait a while for native 1080p content to arrive for the 360.

Posted at 6:20PM on Oct 31st 2006 by a Master Ninja 0 stars

2. It looks great, not spectacular. I'm playing it on a Dell 24" LCD (2405FPW). It doesn't really seem to be 1080p but perhaps it's just my perception since I've come to expect sharper images at that resolution with PC games running at the same resolution. Perhaps it's being upscaled and an update to the game is needed, or maybe it's just my eyes. For now, I would say getting a 1080p TV is overkill. The game is beautiful at 720p and looks better at 1080p but I couldn't justify the extra cost of a TV that supports that resolution. However, for those of us with monitors that support 1920x1080, go get yourself a VGA cable.

Posted at 6:21PM on Oct 31st 2006 by qbix 0 stars

3. @qbix

Thanks for your reply in the other post. I'll probably pick up the VGA cable sometime soon. I hope that it's quite a bit sharper than using component, because currently my 360 looks a lot better on my 26" CRT HDTV than on my 2405 using component.

Posted at 6:33PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Alan 0 stars

4. qbix, I must have missed your "other post"...I have a 2405 as well, but I am connecting over component. Is the difference with the vga cable very noticeable?

Posted at 6:39PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Wargazm 0 stars

5. A CRT will always look better than a LCD for anything but viewing text.

Posted at 6:40PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Scott 0 stars

6. Scott is right. LCDs are getting better but can't match CRTs but for most people the much lower size beats the better picture.

Posted at 6:46PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Matt 0 stars

7. I agree with Scott, a CRT will always look better than an LCD and it kills any other technology in terms of response time.

As for your question Wargazm, between component and VGA the deal breaker for me was response time. VGA is much faster than component on this monitor. Not quite the response time of a CRT but close enough that it doesn't bother me to play a few rounds of GeoWars. Mind you, I'm talking about differences in milliseconds and not everyone will notice them but I am one of those people who can't settle for video lag after playing on a CRT for years, but I digress.

In terms of image quality, I'd have to give it to VGA as well. If you look closely, you'll notice how the component image contains really sharp artifacts in certain places. It's normal because an HDTV will not pick this up, specially since they are made to be viewed at a distance. However, on a computer monitor which is sitting about 40 centimeters in front of you, you'll notice such things, and jaggies will become very apparent. With VGA, these artifacts are gone, and now with support for 1920x1080 the image is that much better.

I do have one reservation though, when it comes to color saturation and contrast, I prefer the way component looks as opposed to VGA. You can adjust the image within the service menu while on VGA mode, but it's hard to make it quite as rich as component. It's a small price to pay in my opinion.

So, again, I would encourage whoever has a monitor capable of 1920x1080 to at least give the VGA cable a try.

Posted at 7:12PM on Oct 31st 2006 by qbix 0 stars

8. Plasma pWns all!!!

Posted at 7:35PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Scot 0 stars

9. Just a quick note to say that the VGA cable looks a hell of a lot better on the Dell 2407 than component does.

Only problem is that there is some 'haircombing' artifacts when driving the 2407 at 1080p with the new fall update.

See: http://forums.xbox.com/7747847/ShowPost.aspx

Posted at 7:39PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Sid 0 stars

10. My opinion, im running on a Dell 37 LCD HDTV, on 1080i, i tried 1080p, but i only got a black screen, im not really a total tech nerd, does this mean i don't have the capabilities? Or do i need different cables for the 360? Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Scott - Im loving my LCD, i have no qualms of response time.. Seems to go very fast.. no ghosting. I saw a very significant change from CRT.. But then, like i said, not much of a tech freak.. :)

Posted at 7:53PM on Oct 31st 2006 by gombard 0 stars

11. At 1080 resolution, the difference between interlaced and progressive scan video isn't making THAT much of a difference and I work with this shit for a living.

Posted at 8:37PM on Oct 31st 2006 by 360us Maxuimus 0 stars

12. @ 360us Maxuimus : It depends what frame rate the game runs at. 1080p60 native content is -a lot- better than 1080i60 content, regardless of what you do for a living.

Posted at 9:32PM on Oct 31st 2006 by Dylan Neild 0 stars

13. I don't think this is a true resolution change like on a PC.

The difference between 1080i and 1080p is zero - although I see a bit more 'shimmering' on the dashboard than usual. That is it.

I played a whole bunch of games that were upconverted - they look the same as when I played them at 1080i.

Not a big deal, but my TV takes 1080p via component and it is nice to see 1080p flash on the OSD so I will probably just leave it at this res.

Posted at 12:04AM on Nov 1st 2006 by Perry L 0 stars

14. "runs at. 1080p60 native content is -a lot- better than 1080i60 content, regardless of what you do for a living."

Just making a point, no need to be a pompous ass.
And what do YOU do exactly that makes you the expert might I ask?

Posted at 1:51AM on Nov 1st 2006 by 360us Maxuimus 0 stars

15. 1080p..wow..SWeet

Posted at 2:51AM on Nov 1st 2006 by trevor 0 stars

16. To be honest you probably need a nice fast game to really appreciate the difference between 1080i60 and 1080p60 and then its not like your eyes can really dissern a great deal other than a slight bit less flicker (Especially as on an LCD your upconverting to 1080p60 anyways. You will just be using a slight bit less information to generate a 1080p imaage)

Posted at 4:58AM on Nov 1st 2006 by Chris 0 stars

17. This is all about bragging rights. There is no real world benefit of 1080i (showing as 1080p on an LCD, a technology which is inherently progressive-scan.) or 1080p on the same LCD.

If you see a difference, your HDTV must take up a whole room in your house.

Posted at 3:16PM on Nov 1st 2006 by ZeroCorpse 1 star

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