Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

[Tivul]

Hey everyone, as some of you may know I'm purchasing FFXI for the Xbox 360 next week. I'm wondering how exactly macros and spells and the like are executed using the controller. I always hear about how many people rely on the controller for the combat aspects of the game, and I'm just curious as to what it's like. I also wanna know how targetting and such is done, and if it's hard to adapt to going from a keyboard. I've played tons of the old Final Fantasy and console games, but this seems to be a different breed, obviously. Can anyone offer any help?

Also, I wanna check what the resolution (or whatever they call it for a tv) is on my HDTV downstairs. It's rather large, and I wanna have a general idea of what Final Fantasy will look like on it. Any help you guys could offer would be wonderful!

[DakAttack]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

I find targetting to be a bit difficult, but you use the directional pad to find your targets. One press targets yourself, pressing left targets to your left, and pressing right targets to your right. Macros are used by pressing the left and right triggers, then using the directional pad to select the macros. It's a little easier, and a lot less laggy.

I heard resolution on HDTVs were more natural than normal TVs, but you'll have to purchase the $40 HDTV hook ups for the Xbox360.

[Tivul]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

$40?? Are you serious? Well that's lame :\

Targetting doesn't sound that bad, but damn I didn't realize there was an additional hook up I needed to purchase to play on my tv. Maybe I'll hook it up on one of our regular tv's then...d'you know how to check the resolution or whatever, in any case?

[Macht]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Yeah, the HD cables are expensive a cheap brand will cost you like $25 (Signal strength is weak though and can result in poor image quality). A high quality brand that maintains a strong signal though could run you near $90+...

[Bishop]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Shouldn't he already have HD cables if he bought the premium version? Or did you get ripped off with the standard edition?

[Tivul]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Nah, I'm DEFINATELY buying the premium version. The core system doesn't even come with a hard drive. I sorta have to buy the $400 one if I plan on playing FFXI on it. It also says under the things it includes (which I just checked) that it includes the Component HD AV Cable. Is that the right thing?

[DakAttack]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Yep.

[Macht]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Nah, I'm DEFINATELY buying the premium version. The core system doesn't even come with a hard drive. I sorta have to buy the $400 one if I plan on playing FFXI on it. It also says under the things it includes (which I just checked) that it includes the Component HD AV Cable. Is that the right thing?

Yeah, that's it. The cable is a mid to low quality brand. It'll get you a decent image quality if it matters to you to get better then you'll need to buy a better quality, just depends on you. Many people usually don't reconize the difference in image quality from a medium quality media vs. a high quality media. Most of the time they'll never notice it unless same brand TV are side by side with two different quality medias.

Same you'll see out of low quality coaxial cables vs. high quality. Low quality cables can make the image appear a little more grainy were as high quality is more smooth. Why I mention same brand TV, because between TV brands the image quality can also change some are grainier and some are smoother.

[Tivul]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it (even if you gave me a bit of the scare with the whole '$90 for a cable' thing )

The only other question I'd like to pose is this: how can I tell what sort of resolution (or whatever it's called for a tv) my tv has? I've heard it called something else, but I'm not quite sure what...anyways, is there a way to sort of judge how good FFXI will look on my tv without actually having it?

[Bishop]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Of course you can't judge without seeing it for yourself... The same picture could look different on 2 different monitors due to contrast, brightness, and just overall monitor quality. And yes, it is called resolution. Check the manual for your television to see if it's standard definition or high definiton. If it's high definition, it's resolution should also be written on the manual.

[Macht]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it (even if you gave me a bit of the scare with the whole '$90 for a cable' thing )

The only other question I'd like to pose is this: how can I tell what sort of resolution (or whatever it's called for a tv) my tv has? I've heard it called something else, but I'm not quite sure what...anyways, is there a way to sort of judge how good FFXI will look on my tv without actually having it?

Resolutions are much like the monitor. A TV for widescreen uses a resolution of 720x480 otherwise the basic TV standard size is like 480x480 or something.

If it's an HDTV then in the manual or somewere you should see it give a list of resolutions. Something like:

480i, 480p, 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p

The 480i and 480p are basically the same as non HDTVs. If you want an idea of how it'll look just adjust your Monitor to a resolution near those sizes and you'll get the picture (Uh, no pun intended). The difference though with the 480 from HDTV is that the the Monitor itself also has higher amount of pixels then the basic TV so even a 480i or 480p from an HDTV will still a bit clearer then on a basic TV.

Contrast and Brightness can be adjusted so mostly it's just how grainy or smooth an image is that can change between TVs as well as how a TV compresses the resolution or stretches it to fit the TV.

[Tivul]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Okay, I think I got it. Thanks guys

If I may just eep in one itsy-bitsy little question...what's a good resolution to view FFXI at ?

[trevorevor=1]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

i was wording how would u talk while playing the 360 do you use the head set that comes with the system?

[framerate]

Re: Questions about 360 setup and widescreen HDTV

Okay, I think I got it. Thanks guys

If I may just eep in one itsy-bitsy little question...what's a good resolution to view FFXI at ?

Referring to HD you're gonna have to see for yourself.

720p = 720 lies (horizontal) of resolution on your screen at any given millisecond. The screen refreshes (imagine a bar moving from the top to the bototm of the screem every few milliseconds) from top to bottom so that any time you are seeing 720 lines of resolution (p= progressive).

If a TV can do 720p (like a true HDTV) then it can also do 1080i.

1080i: 1080 lines horizontally but like a normal television (480i) it will show you the "even" lines for a split second and then the "odd" lines for a split a second. So at any given second you're only seeing 540 lines of resolution BUT since your eye can't really detect the difference there's actually 1080 lines for all intents and purposes.

But this is debatable. I went back and worth for a week and honestly I don't even remember which one I stopped on. I'm pretty sure I stopped on 720p because I *Thought* it looked maybe 0.1% clearer. But I've heard people say otherwise.

Just try them both and see what you think.. and then report back =)

Also, I hope it seems from my post that I know what I'm talking about... so I'd like to add that it seems to me that the cables that come with the xbox premium package are fairly decent quality. I use them exclusively on my 360 and haven't even THOUGHT of buying new ones... (although this post makes me wonder...)

From my experience with other types of cables though, the difference between the MEDIUM quality and the HIGH quality is hardly noticable (for the most part)

Hope that helps!