A day with HD and 360

posted by Jeff | Sunday, January 8, 2006, 2:52 AM | comments: 0

OK... look at the time. I haven't been addicted to gaming this way since, well, I guess never. GregLeg just signed off IM telling me the same thing.

As I mentioned before, I first saw HD in the late 90's at a tech demo, I think from Sony. I was blown away. It was some big ass monitor hooked up to what I assume was a D5 tape machine. The fact that it has taken ten years to get this in my house is kind of astounding.

So starting with the TV, I technically don't have any content I can play back at a full 1080, but lots of 720p stuff. I tried viewing some QT movie trailers at 1080p, but my comprooder doesn't have the balls to do it. In fact, Apple says you need a dual-processor P4 at 3 GHz. Ouch. The good news is that the Xbox 360 has trailers you can download in 720p. I nearly wet my pants when I saw the X3 trailer. I was also blown away at the Titanic movie footage that shipped on the machine. Wow. I mean holy shit wow. I can see already that when the HD DVD/BluRay thing gets figured out, I'm gonna have to re-buy my favorite movies. Lucas is gonna get my money for Star Wars for a sixth time.

DVD's didn't look great at first. Our DVD player is seven years old, a Sony that cost $500 at the time. Looking at the composite output, I wasn't that impressed. Looking at them through the 360, I was very impressed. The box must have some nice signal processing and up-resolution capability. The gold standard for quality was Episode III, and it looks fabulous. Some things you appreciate the mastering. The Veronica Mars first season has a bit of noise, and I think it's film noise. I haven't seen a DVD with obvious compression artifacts yet.

Over-the-air signals are interesting. I view/record them through my DVR computer, connected by DVI to the monitor at the full 1920x1080. The NBC affiliate is 1080i, but the signal is too weak. I can get our ABC, CBS, UPN and WB, all of which broadcast at 720p. Letterman in HD is cool, if only to see grinder girl in high def. :) You can also see just how old Dave is really getting with all of that detail. If you pause a recording, it looks like a high-res photo. I can't wait to watch 24 in HD! As I mentioned, my computer doesn't quite have the "stuff" sometimes, but I over-clocked it and it mostly keeps up.

Off topic, but Letterman has the microphone I want for my podcast on his desk.

The thing that isn't so cool is that standard def stuff doesn't look so good coming down the DirecTV pipe. The compression looks like shit, especially the local channels. I could tell on the old TV, but now it's even more obvious.

Now on to the Xbox 360... what an amazing machine. It's pricey, but my God is it amazing. The games honestly are cool, but I'm so fascinated by what the hardware and its operating system can do. Microsoft, really, really got it right. I know it has been said before, but the "killer app" is the console itself and its connection to Xbox Live. They now have a free account so you can download trailers and demos. Using points (purchased online or on cards at retail) you can buy various graphics, themes, games, etc. The Live membership itself, to play the real games online is $50 for 13 months, but Greg is gonna score me one for 30% off at his local going-out-of-business Toys-r-Us. Awesome. I already spent nearly $5 to buy Joust, and already some kids kicked my ass.

Oddly enough, the quality of the video looks the same at 720p and 1080i, and my guess is that the box and my TV have the same processing chip to upscale.

So what about the games? I have Perfect Dark Zero (shooter) and Kameo (adventure) so far. I really want Project Gotham Racing and NBA 2k6 too, and I have coupons. Kameo is a neat variation of the platform game, and it's so rich in detail and glowing lighting and beautiful textures. Really amazing. There was one point where I killed a bunch of trolls, and I look in the sky and there are dozens of dragons flying around and this rich background. I couldn't believe it was all being rendered in real-time.

Perfect Dark Zero... let's say I have a new favorite video game heroine. Sorry, Lara. Seriously, if Eidos is too stupid to do a 360 games, they're missing out. Joanna Dark is such a cool character for this decade, with her red streaky hair. As far as shooters go, it's familiar territory, with a story that reminds me more of a Splinter Cell plot than anything. But it's weird how there are reflections, volumetric light and great bump mapping that you don't even get in a PC game. In fact, given the high resolution of 720p, I'd venture to say that a lot of 360 games look even better than they do on PC's with video cards that cost more than the 360.

I also downloaded the demo for Quake 4, and I'm amazed. That style of shooter is too hard to I think on a console controller, but it really is beautiful. The Doom 3 engine translated very well to the 360.

So overall, I feel so stoked that the kind of quality I've been used to in digital photography is finally coming to video, and not just in professional stuff. I hope that with this job I can also afford to buy that HD camera when it gets easier to find.

One peripheral note... For the longest time, people were always big on getting huge TV's. However, a big TV doesn't mean a better picture, and in the old world of SD, I've always felt this way. My new TV barely fits in my entertainment center, but it looks great. If I had something bigger (because it is relatively small), it wouldn't actually look better. When I do go bigger, I hope I have a house with a room for a theater and a front projector.


Comments

No comments yet.


Post your comment: