Video stuff

You know... I've always been fascinated by audio/video tech. Makes me wonder why the hell didn't I go into that instead of the life sciences (other than the fact that I'm decent in it and have no experience in the other). In fact, one of my friends actually called me out on it, asking why I'm sticking with biochem and nutrition (even though I've never said that I was interested in nutrition) when my interests clearly laid in game development, computers and generally improving the tech around the house.

Why am I typing this up? Because... I recently ordered an S-video cable after HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN GAMING?! Really should have gotten one when I got the PS2, but never really thought about it because of the graphical jump. Everything then just looked prettier and shiny (was 13, can't really blame me). And now? The jump to HD from SD is just insane, especially the CLARITY of the games. Even then, most games have the option of running at 480p or 720p outputs, although some are actually running at sub-HD levels. Anti-aliasing and other techniques really help mask that, and most people wouldn't know the difference anyways unless they hook it up to something to get the hard evidence. Besides, it also adds unnecessary fuel to the console wars when games are ported or optimized for a certain system. Mind you, I only have a PS3 simply because of how it suits my gaming habits: tend to play Japanese(-only) games, and also doubles as a Blu-Ray player. Wouldn't mind having a 360 actually, but that would mean I'd need both an NTSC-U/C and NTSC-J system to cover what I want to play. Oh, and maybe move to Japan for some demos. Not worth the effort, really.

Now, where was I going with this...? Right, tech stuff. While I do have the option of using the HDTV, I'd have to fight against my parents for it, and that would be an auto-loss on any given day. The only way to secure it is to wait until my mom's out for at least 2 hours. So... my other option is using the TV I'm watching right now: a rather large and OLD CRT. It's so old that I think that it's been in the house for about 15 years already. To put that into perspective, I'm currently 21. Not that anyone needs to know that

Now, the set-up is something of a home theatre, although I can't take advantage of the sound system (nothing's long enough), I CAN improve on the image quality. The composite cables are actually from the PS1 era, so you know that Sony's cables can last if you take care of them properly. Then again, that can be said of almost everything. Almost. What really pushed me over the edge was the fact that there's this little connection that always bothered me: "S-Video". Never really knew what that was, never bothered asking until now. I don't remember how or why, but I stumbled across these pages about fixed screen ratios and other things about playing classics on the new TVs without them looking like absolute crap. Now, my classic systems are locked up for the most part, simply because the controllers don't work and I can emulate them on a PSP. If I were curious enough to use them on the HD, I'd go back to those pages and start making a set-up for myself. Now if only I can find new/barely used working SNES controllers. Still need to beat Super Mario World because someone was "smart" enough to erase all the files.

And to think that I used to play on this old TV with mono sound and that weird one (and funny metallic smelling) wire for both audio and video. Again, I'd have to fight my parents to play on a better TV. It was the RF connector that I used first for the SNES. Never owned an NES, and it still looks ugly compared to the Famicom, but I'm pretty sure that my relatives that had one used the composite video. Of course at that time, I never noticed any sort of degradation of video and sound. I bet that if I went back to it while comparing to other set ups, scientific method of course, that I would be able to see and hear differences. Then the parents got a new TV, and passed on the older (and somewhat angry) one, which then switched over to composite video. It's an improvement, but I never noticed. Why? Other than the fact that I'm pretty near-sighted. Large, curved screen. And the fact that CRTs mask certain things about sprite work, making them not look as harsh with their sharp pointy pixels. Seriously, compare playing on an emulator to playing on a CRT. The GameBoy emulator I'm using even has an option to soften the display, and it looks much closer to what I remember seeing on the actual thing. This continued well into using the N64/PS1, then PS2, and now the PS3. At least until my cable arrives in the mail! OK... I also have a Wii, but I'm still waiting for other games to come out since no one's playing Brawl on my Friends List (and I'd much rather play them in-person).

1080p looks awesome, so I have no problem with that. 480i/480p is acceptable, since it's what I've played with for so long. It's just that 720p capable games downscaled to 480p is incredibly painful to read if not done right. Disgaea 3 and Demon's Souls are EXTREMELY guilty of this. Never had I ever had to squint so much just to read numbers, and numbers are incredibly important in these types of games! Devil May Cry 4 got it right with the text size. Then again, a game like that doesn't really need too much text. Sub-titles were readable. MGS4 gave me a bit of trouble, but it wasn't too bad. Hopefully the S-Video cable will improve things. I really want to get back into playing Disgaea 3, but after 200+ hours of squinting? No thanks. Doubly so for my recordings. Don't want stuff to look like crap after being trashed around by YouTube's converters.


I type too much.