Playing Oblivion on your TV set (PC version)

[Mr. Redundant]

well yeah, so my 21 inch monitor blew the other day, and I don't quite have the money to replace it at the moment, which really sucks because well... I can't play oblivion (

then I remembered that my Radeon 9800 pro had the s-video out thingy, so that I could connect it to my TV (Sony Wega 40Inch, not HD though)...

all I can say is wow.
you can tell that Oblivion was made to be played on a TV, I play it in 800x600 (although my tv is capable of 1024x768) and it looks breath-taking... not only because I dunno how the TV does it, but it looks higher rez than 1280x1024 on my monitor... but also it runs like a freaking dream.. .since it's in 800x600 I can crank almost all options to full... and it looks better than the xbox 360 version.

my system is a P4 2.8ghz, 1gb Ram, Radeon 9800 pro (128mb, 256bit architecture, genuine ATI card)

since I had such a phenominal difference from my monitor and TV with Oblivion... I tried some other games that I ran in low crappy jaggy resolutions before like

Farcry
Doom 3
Half-Life 2 (being able to run this game at a constant fps over 100 with all the bells and whistles on max including HDR, rocksauce)
Black and White 2
Battlefield 2 (omfg awesome framerate/fidelity improvement)
Call of Duty 2...
F.E.A.R. (another game with an immense graphical/framerate improvement)

so far, and let me tell you... I aint going back to my monitor hehe.

if you have a similar setup and have not tried your TV as a monitor for gaming before, seriously... do yourself a favor and try it.

the only game that has been slightly problematic is World of Warcraft, since all the text is so miniscule (TV makes games like uber high rez) it's hard to read.

I already had some people help me out and fix it however, so all is well

:cheers:

 

[Maxi]

(Sony Wega 40Inch, not HD though)...

.... my tv is capable of 1024x768)

The ****? 1024x768 IS _HD_

 

[Mr. Redundant]

The ****? 1024x768 IS _HD_

no HD is 1280x720 (720i/P) or even 1920 x 1080 (1080i/P).
unless my TV is HD and Im missing something, because it's capable of resolutions up to 1024x768.

I however play most of my games in 800x600 because I dont see any visible difference between 800x600 and 1024x768 (or even 640x480 on games that support it) on the TV.

all text is crisp, no jaggies, really defined.. I mean I really am blowed away.

I played xbox 360 on the kiosks on HD at various locales in my area (wanted one pretty bad at one point) and honestly, my games look better on my set, and that is unbiased... Im not a fanatic and Im not exaggerating, I am merely blown away by how good everything looks.


my TV also has a built in option in the video menu that will transform the picture into forced 16:9 ratio (essentially compressing the video making it look even more crisp... great for watching videos on my pc)

 

[VirusType2]

heh, this is what Dumb Dude was saying the other day, saying how great it looks.

Personally I'd rather just poor rubbing alchohol into my eyes then use my Video-out that my graphics card has, but you have S-Video? That's really pretty good. I use a S-Video to VGA converter box to hook all my consoles that cant directly plug into a monitor.

I could never go back from VGA to TV unless it was HDTV and it was a good one. (i watch TV on a PC monitor) - god that sounds nerdy. Lol

EDIT: sounds good though, sorry about your monitor. BTW I like your caster. My character is a caster, though I made a girl character and she is Effin hot BTW IMHO TBH GG

 

[Ennui]

WTF how long you been back mr. redundant? <3

 

[VirusType2]

By the way here is HD:

720p
1280 x 720

1080i or 1080p
1920 × 1080

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p


Normal TV is like 640x480 here.

I had to check myself for the record because I keep forgeting the exact resolution

 

[Mr. Redundant]

heh, this is what Dumb Dude was saying the other day, saying how great it looks.

Personally I'd rather just poor rubbing alchohol into my eyes then use my Video-out that my graphics card has, but you have S-Video? That's really pretty good. I use a S-Video to VGA converter box to hook all my consoles that cant directly plug into a monitor.

I could never go back from VGA to TV unless it was HDTV and it was a good one. (i watch TV on a PC monitor) - god that sounds nerdy. Lol

EDIT: sounds good though, sorry about your monitor. BTW I like your caster. My character is a caster, though I made a girl character and she is Effin hot BTW IMHO TBH GG

my card and TV have s-video input/output so yeah, it rocks the mofloi'n house. I am a graphics whore, which is why I never bothered with trying my TV out before, only now outta desperation when I had no options (other than to not play lol) did I go ahead and try it out.

I went from muddy jaggy Oblivion gameplay on my monitor, to maxed out textures 16xaa crisp high resolution graphics on my tv.. I mean a flooring difference, like I bought a new pc or something. which is why I am gushing about it so much.... I wish I had tried it sooner, and who knows there might be someone out there who has not tried it (like me) and might save themselves a couple hundred dollars by just playing on their tv.

Ennui, I haven't been "back" really heh, I just post a little more when I have the time to myself now.
good to see ya though
I need to get my act together sometime during the week so that we can organize some BF2 goodness with the old squad again or something

Normal TV is like 640x480 here.

I had to check myself for the record because I keep forgeting the exact resolution

yeah I did the same thing.. I dunno what the deal is though, because I play all my games in 800x600 or 1024x768, desktop at 800x600. Ati control center detects my TV as being able to display on 800x600 - 1024x768.
and I have no problems playing in those resolutions (and excellent framerates, especially since I play all my games on my monitor at 1280x1024... and honestly the fluidity and crispness of the TV has the monitor beat)


and even if there is something weird happening where the TV is displaying at 640x480 and not at any other resolution.... it's not the 640x480 you know from your monitor.
I would compare it to 1280x1024.

for instance I have an xbox, which I play on the same TV... which I thought played at 640x480 by default.... and it looks horribly jaggy and low rez, muddy etc.. you know... xboxish.

not so for my PC... it is simply amazing how good it looks, no jaggies, no muddy textures, no squinting to make things out.

 

[Dumb Dude]

I have a 46'' HDTV and I too notice that 1024x768 looks waaaaay better than normal monitors. Oblivion plays as smooth as ever at that resolution and looks way better than 1280x1024. My only little gripe is that its a streched image considering thats a 4:3 resolution on a 16:9 TV. I don't use an S-Video cable though. My TV has the D-Sub hookup on the front.

 

[Sainku]

I have not tried this on my new card as I don't have the cable to do so but I did on my old 9600 and it looked pretty good. I hate a crappy cable though and couldn't read the text.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

I have a 46'' HDTV and I too notice that 1024x768 looks waaaaay better than normal monitors. Oblivion plays as smooth as ever at that resolution and looks way better than 1280x1024 on my monitor. My only little gripe is that its a streched image considering thats a 4:3 resolution on a 16:9 TV.

why not play in a widescreen resolution? Oblivion does support them.
I don't have the stretching though, I don't have widescreen... even though as I said my TV can force the image into a letterbox 16:9 ratio (which is really cool)

 

[Dumb Dude]

I have tried using a widescreen resolution before and it doesn't display right. I forgot exactly what happens, but I remember it wasn't pretty. Also, this TV is a tad picky on the resolutions.

 

[Kamikazie]

hmm, i have a 52" tv that i will definatly give this a try at.

thank you Mr. Redundant, thank you!

 

[VirusType2]

my card and TV have s-video input

I dunno what the deal is though, because I play all my games in 800x600 or 1024x768, desktop at 800x600. Ati control center detects my TV as being able to display on 800x600 - 1024x768.

Hmm I'd be skeptical about Control Center. I've seen programs make mistakes as to what resolutions your monitor/TV can display, and setting it to a resolution or refresh that it doesn't support can burn out your TV/Monitor quick... possibly why your monitor died? :frown:

Maybe just a coincidence? Anyhow, If you don't notice a difference when you set it at 1024x768, then DON'T DO IT. set it lower with 60HZ right?

BTW yea there is a very big difference between the Video and S-Video. Video = Atari 2600 (30 year old technology), S-Video = l33t (15 year old technology), roughly.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Hmm I'd be skeptical about Control Center. I've seen programs make mistakes as to what resolutions your monitor/TV can display, and setting it to a resolution or refresh that it doesn't support can burn out your TV quick... possibly why your monitor died? :frown:

Maybe just a coincidence? Anyhow, If you don't notice a difference when you set it at 1024x768, then DONT DO IT. set it lower with 60HZ right?

V-sync is on for all my games for that very reason, 60hz for safety of course, and 800x600 on games that don't offer resolutions any smaller.

as for the reason my monitor "blew" it fell of the desk onto the floor.
hehe

 

[B_MAN]

so whats involved in getting it all going? what do you need?

 

[Mr. Redundant]

so whats involved in getting it all going? what do you need?

well you need a video card that has some sort of video out (my 9800 pro had built in s-video out), a cable to connect the card to the PC (mine came with an s-video cable out of the box which I never used)
and a TV that has some sort of compatible video in input.

so basically it goes from this:

(the black hole in the middle there)

using this:

into this:

(the black hole with svideo on it heh)

that's as simple as it was for me.

I then booted up my PC, put my TV on VIDEO-1 (by scrolling through my video settings with the remote tv/video button)

it booted up the desktop, it detected a TV as being the primary display device, it automatically set it to 800x600, 60hz, 24bit color.

I then went into video properties and installed the high DPI fonts/icons (so that they weren't miniscule and hard to read on the TV)

booted up my game, selected 800x600, maxed options, viola... kickassedlyness, sitting in my lazy chair in my living room with my cordless mouse and keyboard on each armrest... I feel like the kid from flight of the navigator heh.

 

[Unfocused]

I play Oblivion in 800x600 anyway, because it gives a performance boost over 1024x768 and looks the same, the only difference being screenshots, which are obviously small when viewed in higher resolutions.

 

[Bakurei]

ugh. I would kill myself if I would have to use S-Video

I sold my computer and I've been forced to use S-Video with my projector (borrowed a dvd-player which only has s-video) and my god it looks like shit. DVI, VGA or HDMI the only way to go

But yea playing games with a 92" screen makes the experience alot better.

 

[phantomdesign]

MY friend was here yesterday - and even with oblivion settings greatly reduced on my PC, he noted how incredible it looks on my computer. He asked me to go up-close to the bushes and stuff.

(Note: He has the 360-version & a HD-TV.)

I'm not saying "you're wrong" - just pointing out that it's a matter of prefference. I personally prefer the higher-resolution and crisper text.

 

[B_MAN]

im having a problem with s-video...
ive used the standard s-video cable combined with a converter that came with my card (evga geforce 6800GS 256mb)
when booting up windows, im able to view whats going on on the TV
however, once my desktop appears on my monitor, im unable to see anything on the TV, and it doesnt even detect it in the video settings
suggestions?

 

[Mr. Redundant]

im having a problem with s-video...
ive used the standard s-video cable combined with a converter that came with my card (evga geforce 6800GS 256mb)
when booting up windows, im able to view whats going on on the TV
however, once my desktop appears on my monitor, im unable to see anything on the TV, and it doesnt even detect it in the video settings
suggestions?

do you mean you are unable to see your icons? like your desktop resolution is too high for your tv?

if so, plug back in your monitor, change the resolution to 800x600 before plugging the s-video deal into the tv.

to change resolution simply right click on the desktop and from the pop up menu select "properties", then click on the "Settings" tab on the top right of the window.

then drag the resolution down to 800x600.

 

[B_MAN]

do you mean you are unable to see your icons? like your desktop resolution is too high for your tv?

if so, plug back in your monitor, change the resolution to 800x600 before plugging the s-video deal into the tv.

to change resolution simply right click on the desktop and from the pop up menu select "properties", then click on the "Settings" tab on the top right of the window.

then drag the resolution down to 800x600.

thanks, but that wasnt the problem
i hhad to run a setup wizard for my nvidia card
all is well now!
:cheers: