The television set is traditionally used for viewing TV content from cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcast or for viewing movies from DVD or the newer Blu-ray players. But with the latest developments in other video sources like gaming consoles and personal computers, it has become a must for new HDTV sets to have multimedia interfaces. This has compelled TV manufacturers to include not only the traditional functions in their new sets but also new multimedia connections and presets.
Gaming Consoles
Almost all new game consoles, except for the Wii, now come with HDMI outputs to take advantage of picture quality offered by HDTV sets for maximum gaming experience. On the other hand, most HDTV sets are now equipped with picture presets like “Game” or “Sports” configured specially to match the out-of -the-ordinary video from game consoles. Most games are produced on widescreen 480p or 720p, with some even done on 1080i. In case you have the older versions of these game consoles with only analog outputs, try to use the component video connections for better picture quality.
PlayStation 3
Sony’s PlayStation 3 or PS3 is not just your ordinary gaming console because it can also be used as a stand-alone Blu-ray player where you can play back your favorite movie titles. It even has HDMI outputs that support high definition 16:9 video. It however, also has composite, s-video, and component outputs for connection to older TV sets.
Wii
When Nintendo came up with the Wii (codenamed Revolution during design stage), they opted to concentrate on the gaming experience rather than the add-on features that Microsoft and Sony included in their game consoles. Wii does not have an HDMI output but it came up with a Component Video Cable that allows you to hook your console system to an HDTV or enhanced-definition TV (EDTV) to view 16:9 or widescreen 480p progressive output. It is also not equipped with a stand-alone DVD or Blu-ray player like PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft succeeding the Xbox. This was built to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii and considered as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. The Xbox Live service allows users to compete online and download games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, and movies. This console supports all games in high-definition 16:9 widescreen from 720p minimum to 1080i. The Xbox 360 can also play back DVDs at 480p without any additional hardware and also has an option for HD DVD playback. But this was already discontinued due to the demise of this format a few months back. It also has composite and component video outputs for connection to older TV sets.
Personal Computers
Be it Macintosh or Windows-based computers, newer models now have DVI or Digital Visual Interface, which is the digital version of VGA. This is used in connecting a computer to a PC monitor or a TV display. This is a type of connection that inputs uncompressed video signals from the source to the display device. A DVI link transmits 24 bits of information per pixel and since there is no compression used, there is no loss of picture quality from the source to the monitor. If your HDTV set only has HDMI input, you may need a DVI-to-HDMI adaptor cable, which is normally available in electronics stores. Some newer high-end computers now also come with HDMI outputs for direct connection to HDTV displays.
The gaming and computer industries have also now embraced HDTV technology taking full advantage of the superb picture quality offered by HDTV displays to enhance gaming and web surfing experience. It is becoming common nowadays in the household to find one large television set in the living room where members of the family converge to view movies or TV programs, surf the web or play their favorite video games. Television has certainly evolved from the traditional boob tube into a multimedia necessity. So when you decide to buy a new HDTV set, don’t forget to check the available interfaces from your computer and game console for compatibility issues. You should also check if the TV set you are considering is ready with new features like gaming picture presets for your new devices.
