I've got a 40-something inch regular TV, and I'm quite content with it. I've seen HD games on friends' TVs. They look nicer, but not enough to make me want to buy new hardware.
Played on a 20inch flat tube SD and I rocked that for around a year. Bought 2 22" LCD monitors for my PC and use the second one as a game screen with a purchase of a $40 cord. Bounced between that and my projector for a year which was capable of 1080i and i thought it looked great compared to the 20 inch tubed SD. I just bought a Sony Bravia Series K for 800 bucks on sale at Target and holy hell. It has amazing depth and the contrast is 50,000 to 1 with 2ms response time. 4 hdmi ports. The tv blew my mind so much i had to buy a ps3. 1300 bucks later after taxes and everything is just great. Too bad i got my 4th round of the horrid rrod on the sexbox but it's all good. been playing GT5 nonstop and i could just cry at the beauty. It is easy to grab a 32" now for 500 bucks for all the good/great brands. If you're near a Target/Fry's/Walmart/anywhere but bestbuy, you will find a good deal.
HDTV's are definitely worth it if you can afford it. Not just for games, though. TV and movies also look so much better, too. Where I am, there is no extra fee for an HD cable box, so its a pretty good deal. Also, you cant get aDVR(you will never know how you did without) if you dont go hi-def, as far as I'm aware.
I can testify that if you have a good SDTV you can get a great picture with an S-VIDEO (or SVHS) cable if your TV has the port. You can get them cheap for around $10. I have a 32" Panasonic TV in my living room that is a 10 year old SDTV. It was a $1000 TV in the late 90's. It still has a very clear picture and deeper blacks than most HDTVs. I also have a Sony 40" Bravia LCD in my game room. I can say games look great on it but there isn't a huge difference when playing on my other TV. The only thing I did notice is some games are letterboxed with black bars and some aren't on the SDTV. I think it's also harder to read letters in small print on the SDTV. But, I would think most people would be totally happy with the 360 on a "normal" TV. If all I had was my old TV I could be quite happy with it.
I can testify that if you have a good SDTV you can get a great picture with an S-VIDEO (or SVHS) cable if your TV has the port. You can get them cheap for around $10. I have a 32" Panasonic TV in my living room that is a 10 year old SDTV. It was a $1000 TV in the late 90's. It still has a very clear picture and deeper blacks than most HDTVs. I also have a Sony 40" Bravia LCD in my game room. I can say games look great on it but there isn't a huge difference when playing on my other TV. The only thing I did notice is some games are letterboxed with black bars and some aren't on the SDTV. I think it's also harder to read letters in small print on the SDTV. But, I would think most people would be totally happy with the 360 on a "normal" TV. If all I had was my old TV I could be quite happy with it.
fanboy999
Its true that you can get a good picture with an S-Video cable, but to say that there isn't much difference between that and a 40" Sony Bravia LCD is a bit hard to swallow. You're either being a bit sensationalist or you dont havea good eye for picture quality(no offense). I used to sell TV's at Circuit City and many people would say the same thing about not being able to see a large difference between 480i and 720p, but once I showed them side-by-side, nearly everybody become instantly convinced. Convincing people about the jump in quality from 720p to 1080pwas much more of a challenge. ;)
Of course people can be perfectly happy with an SDTV, though. Anybody who says otherwise is either a snob or doesn't know what they're talking about. Newer games will still look good and graphics have absolutely zero relevance to the gameplay, so an HDTV is really only for those who want to get the 'maximum' experience from their 360. Its not necessary at all. The same deal applies with surround sound systems. Cool, but not necessary.
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