Widescreen Gaming Forum

Unless you've got an HD signal into the house, all you're gonna get on that HDTV is SD stuff anyway. I dunno about in the US, but it's getting harder and harder to find good deals on 'normal' TVs here. They've been all-but displaced by cheap not-quite-HD LCD TVs.

Unless you've got an HD signal into the house, all you're gonna get on that HDTV is SD stuff anyway. I dunno about in the US, but it's getting harder and harder to find good deals on 'normal' TVs here. They've been all-but displaced by cheap not-quite-HD LCD TVs.

I barely use mine for HD content... there isn't much on my local cable provider, and honestly I never really cared enough to see about getting more. My PS3 plays bul-ray, but I never buy them... not a movie guy and DVDs look fine for TV on disc.

I am thinking of switching to iTunes for TV seasons, actually.

Unless you've got an HD signal into the house, all you're gonna get on that HDTV is SD stuff anyway. I dunno about in the US, but it's getting harder and harder to find good deals on 'normal' TVs here. They've been all-but displaced by cheap not-quite-HD LCD TVs.

There is quite a difference between SD content and VHS though.

As far as I was aware:

NTSC "SD" = 480i
PAL "SD" = 576i

Original VHS recorders were fairly low res below that, but the VHS-HQ and Super VHS versions were better. OK, they're still not 480p/576p, let along 1080p... but an SD broadcast signal won't be a great deal better than a VHS cassette.

He has an HDTV and he records to VHS? D:

Yeah, I would think once you go HD, a VHS tape would be a little intolerable.

AFAIK he only receives SD service except for OTA HD channels. Still, it is a rather silly combination. He juggles literally dozens of VHS tapes for recordings and often doesn't get to watch everything before he needs to record a new show. :roll:

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VirtualDub Game Recording Guide | BFME2 & RotWK Widescreen/Triplehead Mods

I fully agree that the whole idea of a pay for online service is a little ridiculous.

I guess I basically moved to consoles because I stopped using my PC for a while, and I found it a lot cheaper than constantly upgrading my PC! Also, I quite like playing games in front of my TV.

Getting back into using PC's slowly though!

My biggest XBox 360 gripe by far is popularizing micro-transactions. PC games used to often have downloadable freebies. In consoleland, these same freebies now cost $5 or more, and now they're cutting stuff from their games so it can be sold later as DLC. Or even charging you to unlock stuff that's already on the disc. We've got games where harder difficulty levels, alternate characters, costumes, and good endings are sold separately. There are even games where you can buy experience points and currency. Paid bugfixes aren't far off, methinks.

My biggest XBox 360 gripe by far is popularizing micro-transactions. PC games used to often have downloadable freebies. In consoleland, these same freebies now cost $5 or more, and now they're cutting stuff from their games so it can be sold later as DLC. Or even charging you to unlock stuff that's already on the disc. We've got games where harder difficulty levels, alternate characters, costumes, and good endings are sold separately. There are even games where you can buy experience points and currency. Paid bugfixes aren't far off, methinks.

Wow, I didn't realize it had gone that far. If they jerk around their customer base long enough, eventually something will backfire in a big way.

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VirtualDub Game Recording Guide | BFME2 & RotWK Widescreen/Triplehead Mods

Well, I had hoped Horse Armor would backfire, but the consumer base lapped it up and said "Thank you sir, may I have another."

Well, I had hoped Horse Armor would backfire, but the consumer base lapped it up and said "Thank you sir, may I have another."

I don't mind DLC as a concept. Fallout 3 did it very well, even if the more combat focused ones were lame the general idea of 5 mini-expansions with different themes and locations instead of 1 full expansion worked out well I thought. Other games like Red Alert 3, Red Faction Guerrilla and Grand Theft Auto 4 have done similar things that also worked out well.

As a replacement for expansion packs it has its advantages and disadvantages, but it all kind of evens out in my opinion.

The real problem with DLC is that it is easily abused and the random consumer can't tell the difference between quality expansion conent and being fleeced. The idea that Call of Duty can sell 2-3 million people a map pack of 4 multiplayer maps for $10 is just depressing. The fact EA can sell cheat codes for $5 is depressing.

My problem with DLC has a lot less to do with the concept itself than it does ignorant consumers supporting poor value products, basically. That can be said for almost all aspects of gaming right now though, really.