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[NeuroChemist]

i originaly posted this is the xbox audio/video forum but i havent gotten any advice at all so i was wondering if you guys could help.

my tv only 26inchs, and from what i can tell it does 1080i nativly, since it says hdtv 1080i on the casing of the tv (this confuses me cuz i though that 1080i was sposed to be used for larger screens) but it also does 480p and 720p.

my problem is with 3 games inparticular: MK: Shoalin Monks, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and DOOM3 (<the worst)

what happens is, example, splinter cell, the light on sam fishers back (and his goggle thingy) leaves....well trails is the best word i can thing of... i assume you know what i mean..when i walk or creep the lights in the game leave a strange shadow like trail of the movement i just made.

doom3 is even worse, but halo or halo2 doesnt do it at all....or t.h.u.g.2,..... halo2 looks great w/ no problems at all. but doom3, halo2, and splinter cell are all in 480p so i dont understand whats happening. i have my ms dash (xbox is modded w/evox) set for 720 and 480 w/ 1080i turned off, as this seems to look the best for all games. i have treid messing with a custom video mode on my tv, adjusting brightness contrast and sharpness...(if any one would like to reccomend settings for these feel free :} )
to no avail.

so if any one would like to do a little investigating, or help me out at all i would really appreciate it, heres a link to my exact tv, a pdf of the manual is also on this site.       My TV

[twistedsymphony]

Nice TV... that's a very strange problem though...

Are you sure the problem is the TV?

The fact that it does it in some games but not in others makes me wonder if it is...

Do you have any friends or family with a set capable of 480p? You might want to try it on a different set.

[NeuroChemist]

thanks for the reply(and not closing my topic:)

ya, my friend also suggested it may not be the tv, maybe the games themselves, but i would have though more ppl would ask about it on here.
could it maybe be a up/down converting speed issue?

unfortunetly i dont know any1 else with a tv that does 480p, i suppose if i were a little more motivated i could go to circuit city w/my xbox and pretend like i wanted to buy a tv.

[twistedsymphony]

Does it only happen in 480p mode on those games? If it still happens in 480i on the problem games you could always plug the Green cable of the component set into the Composite connector of a standard TV, The image would still be black and white but it would display.

[NeuroChemist]

good idea ill try that

but i was playing around with it again last night around 1am in a completley dark room and i noticed it DOES do it on halo2 as well!  all the games infact,  it is only noticable in a very dark room. i tried watching a dvd in xbmc at 480p after and the problem is non existant. this is starting to really confuse me.  like i asked in my dvi topic, could this possibly be a result of playing the backup of a game instead of its original disc? (this post is being typed away from home, otherwise id just try it )
also, my xbox dash has 480p and 720p turned on, so does xbmc, am i supposed to have it turned on somehow in evo-x as well?
  with the 360 coming out so soon i really dont wanna have my tv serviced

[twistedsymphony]

as I said in the DVI post... whats digital is digital is digital... There should be ZERO difference in quality playing from the original disc or a direct rip... The only time quality would be effected is if you did something to the data after transferring it (like down-sampling the audio).

I don't know if playing a DVD video would show the difference, the console might react differently to generated video rather than pre-recorded video. Also if you're using an un-modified Xbox Dash to play your movies, they're coming out in 480i (the MS dash doesn't do ED 480p without modification). Also you don't need to change anything with Evox for HD... it inherits it's settings from the MS Dash.

[NeuroChemist]

thanx for patience.....as you can tell im not to xperienced in hd stuff.

QUOTE

Also if you're using an un-modified Xbox Dash to play your movies, they're coming out in 480i (the MS dash doesn't do ED 480p without modification). Also you don't need to change anything with Evox for HD... it inherits it's settings from the MS Dash.

wow i never knew that.....ill be sure to tell my friend w/ m.s.'s dvd playback that its normal that it looks worse than his dvd player.
since evox inherits the settings from ms dash is it only outputing 480i like the ms dash?
you said it doesnt do 480p w/out modification.....is the the modification the one ive already performed or rather a hd hack or mod?

edit: and since ive discoverd this issue w/ my tv in ALL my games, this is begining to look more like a tv prob. huh?

[twistedsymphony]

What I meant by in inheriting the setting from the MS dash is... Widescreen, 480p 720p and 1080i enabled...

Evox itself will only display in  480i and 480p (if it's enabled in the MS dash)

but all of the games launched from Evox will take on the highest resolution allowed by the MS dash)

As for the DVD player, it's a hex edit.. AFAIK there arn't any programs that do it for you manually, you have to rip out the xboxdash.xbe and hex edit it manually to make it support 480p (and that's the highest resolution you can make it support)

The same has to be done with the dongle free DVD player, which also only supports 480i without being hex edited (and once you do hex edit it, again only 480p support).

Ava and XBMC both support 480i/p 720p and 1080i without modification.

And in case you arn't familiar with those I'd recommend you read my generic AV standards sticky  

Most DVD players will do "progressive scan" through the component or better outputs, also known as ED or Enhanced Definition or 480p.

If you're interested in doing the hex edit: http://forums.xbox-s...howtopic=152822

It's very easy, I've done it to mine  

Also There are a few members here who find hex edits for games that only support 480i to make them support 480p.
http://forums.xbox-s...howtopic=377311

I do a lot of those too

Your next question will probably be if they can hex edit to make them support 720p or 1080i... yes and no. I don't think anyone has bothered trying with the MS Dash DVD player, but with games they have, typically it works but the Xbox runs out of power/ram to push the games at that resolution which makes them unplayable, I don't think any game has been found that can play at those resolutions with a hex edit.

As for your TV yeah if it's doing it in all the games it might be your TV...
Trouble shooting is all process of elimination

-Try it in 480i
-Try it with different AV cables (composite maybe?)
-Try a different Xbox on your TV
-Try your Xbox on a different TV
-Try different systems on different TVs with different cables

The biggest hurdle will be simply determining if the problem is with the Xbox or the TV.

[NeuroChemist]

thnx for the troubleshooting guide

ya i know of the hex edits for games to force 480p, but i wasnt aware of the ones for dvd-x ect., wich i 'spose doesnt really matter for me since i always use xbmc for dvd/music.

i guess ill start,  the process of elimination......after one more question

how would i go about trying it in 480i? by turning off all 3 hd outputs on xbox? and from all i can tell me tv doesnt do 480i, just 1080i.    thanx again for the ideas and info

[Carlo210]

Can't you change it in the Xbox dash? Maybe you should play around in there first.

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(NeuroChemist @ Oct 9 2005, 10:49 AM)

thnx for the troubleshooting guide

[soloredd]

I have the exact same TV as you and I haven't been able to reproduce what you are talking about. I have Halo 2 and Splinter Cell CT and I don't notice any "ghosting" (I'm assuming this is what you are experiencing? Where a trail is being left).

The way I have my Xbox setup is this: MS dash has widescreen enabled and all 3 resolutions enabled (480p, 720p, 1080i). You do NOT need to hex edit the MS dash anymore, you can just hold down both triggers and both thumbsticks at the same time, this will get the xboxdash.xbe to switch between interlaced and progressive. I use UnleashX as my dash and I have only 480p enabled on the dash since it only affects in-dash settings. Anything more and the text becomes REALLY small.

I will try backing up the games and see what happens and post back.

[soloredd]

Alright, tried backing up the game to HD and restarted the game. Still looks fine.

Not sure what to say unless maybe your picture settings on the TV itself are a bit off (put the brightness below 50, etc.).

[hamwbone]

i have big 55 inch wide screen HD tv and have some of the same issues, only thing i can think of is my tv was cheap, i think on some of the cheaper tv's, the phosphors stay lit or charged even after the electrons have passed over, some kind of residual glow keeping them from going completly black. just and idea,  as i am a cheap bastard ive just decided to live with it =)

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(soloredd @ Oct 9 2005, 02:56 PM)

I have the exact same TV as you and I haven't been able to reproduce what you are talking about. I have Halo 2 and Splinter Cell CT and I don't notice any "ghosting" (I'm assuming this is what you are experiencing? Where a trail is being left).