mbs

I used to do a fair amount of console playing, but have been out of the loop recently (well, the past decade or so). I want to get back into in and have a question about which direction I should go.

I'm interested in using my HDTV for sure. And I have a farily new HTPC (Dual Core P4, 6600GT). I've also been eyeing the 360 (or depending on how soon I decide to take the plunge, a PS3).

Anyhow, I'm wondering... can I play PC games on my HTPC in HD? Will the games format themselves for widescreen (or will they look all stretched)? I'm guessing (hoping) my HTPC will play the games at 760p without too much strain, but realize that could also be an issue.

If I cannot play the games in 760p, I'll go for the 360/PS3 option.

Thanks for any opinions.

BeanDip0001

760p???? you mean 720p? yes you can game with your pc on your HDTV but you will be limited by the res that the computer port of your tv has, probably 1360*768 WXGA. anyway if i were you i'd get a 360 you're graphics card is nowhere near powerful enough to handel the oncomming games or for that matter display the games as high quality as the 360 can meaning GRAW or CoD2 etc. also some pc games have problems with native widescreen support. check out widescreengaming.com there is a section on what games support native widescreen on the pc. if you're tv doesn't have a computer port in, i'd second think hooking your pc to it, because of the overscan factor 99.9% of HDTVs hooked via HDMI or compnet will look screwed, plus you will be stuck with either 720p or 1080i which you can't read text, if you tv supports 1080p then you might be okay, but check before you connect.

mbs

Thanks. Actually, I did mean 760p (that is my TV's native resolution) and I have my PC currently hooked up and the resolution is fine (I fixed the overscan issues). My video card handles the resolution natively, so no issues there.

Your link to widescreengaming.com looks like exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the link!

mbs

Actually, it looks like widescreengaming.com is gone. But widescreengamingforum.com looks like it'll have the information I was looking for.

BeanDip0001

760p so whats the native compy screen res 1520*960 or something weird??? oh well yeah man i've got a very beastly compy and CoD2 looks better on the 360 by the end of the summer though computers will be back on top powerwise for gaming, but say 4000 for awesome gaming vs 400 "errroooorrrr does not compute"

dvd182

His display probably is at 1366 x 766, or something similar. This is what my monitor's native resolution is, but I guess I always call it just 720p anyway. To get that resolution while playing games you have to make sure your ingame resolution is set to that (kind of obvious, I know). Most of the games I play support it without doing anything, so I don't know what to tell if you a game doesn't. I'm sure I'll find out tonight anyway when I attempt to play through Grim Fandango again.

mbs

My display is 1366x766. Although I know 760p isn't a standard, 720p is 720 vertical lines (1280x720). So I call 766 vertical lines, 760p.

You've got me leaning toward just getting a console (the 360, likely). I might check availability of the 360 in my area today. Since I don't have any PC games that are less than 10 years old (or so), it isn't much more of an investment over what I currently have.

Thanks for the advice.