Why do older Game Consoles and VHS movies look superior on non-HDTVs?

Why do older Game Consoles and VHS movies look superior on non-HDTVs?

I recently bought a dreamcast and N64.

I have a 32" Toshiba 720p lcd hdtv. I also have a 32" sony trinitron. The games look like crap on the hdtv, and look great on the standard definition tv.

Same goes for the Nintendo Wii, VHs movies, and pretty much every other console made before this gen.

Why is it that these things look like crap on an HDTV? Are my settings wrong? Is it because they weren't intended for an HDTV, or is it simply because of different resolutions?

Its like running a 320x240 PC game on a 1900x1200 monitor. The graphics will have to stretch which gives it plenty of jaggies, but if you play it on non-HD the graphics won't stretch.

EDIT: Only consoles capable of true HD (360, PS3) look better on HD TV as they have a native resolution of 1280x720.

Its like running a 320x240 PC game on a 1900x1200 monitor. The graphics will have to stretch which gives it plenty of jaggies, but if you play it on non-HD the graphics won't stretch.

EDIT: Only consoles capable of true HD (360, PS3) look better on HD TV as they have a native resolution of 1280x720.

Vesica_Prime

My mistake I was using game's native resolutions but the fact remains that if you run a low res game on a HDTV you'll get inferior quality when compared to a non HDTV.

It has nothing to do with HDTV's at all.

It has more to do with the type of technologies in recent tv's and their large size. Both plasma tvs and LCD tv's do not display a very good imagae if not set at their native resolution. Each pixel must be a pixel big otherwise there are scaling and display issues. Add to that the large size of modern tvs compared to older CRTs, and the distortion becomes more apparent.

There were many, many devices capable of displaying past HD resolution even during the 1990's. But the problems you are describing didnt really exist. Thats because everyone was using CRT's which are superior at handling high and low resolution content.

Can you link me a good CRT tv with an HD resolution? I'd much rather have that than an HD Plasma or LCD it sounds.

It's because the source is low resolution, designed for use with old 480/576i standards. On an old TV, you're only seeing a low resolution (or a certain amount of lines) in the image so Standard Definition sources look sharp. If you watch those sources on an HDTV, the image can look very soft and lack any kind of clarity because there was only so much detail available in the first place. The amount of lines/pixels available has increased thus SD content looks progressively worse the higher the resolution of the TV.

For content to look any where near as clear or sharp as it was you'd have to watch it in a small window.

Can you link me a good CRT tv with an HD resolution? I'd much rather have that than an HD Plasma or LCD it sounds.

ffxfanforever

non HD consoles (PS2 and Wii) and standard definition tv chanels all look great on my 32 inch Samsung LCD HDTV I prefer it to crt tv's. I think it must dependent on the tv and I also use component cables.

Can you link me a good CRT tv with an HD resolution? I'd much rather have that than an HD Plasma or LCD it sounds.

Is it possible that some time in the future, someone will create a fix for all this resolution stuff that makes old content look good again? Or will all our old game consoles, VHS, etc. just be left to rot away.

Is it possible that some time in the future, someone will create a fix for all this resolution stuff that makes old content look good again? Or will all our old game consoles, VHS, etc. just be left to rot away.

Lehgavader