Anyone have trouble with Xbox on a Plasma?

[ErikElvis]

Extremely annoyed. Just bought this.. http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/PN64E550D1FXZA

I hung it to the wall and hooked everything up then decided to try to finish dead space 2. started playing and had this weird lag. I thought the area i was in was a space environment slowing me up. but kept going and never got better. I tried game mode.

Anybody ever run into an issue like this?

[Benson13]

Never heard of that before. I'll see what I can dig up.

[ErikElvis]

I was running through a panasonic receiver too. All HDMI. I tried to connect the xbox directly to the TV and did the same thing. Swapped wires around as well. I was disgusted last night. I might mess around with it today.

[Hoptimus]

Turn game mode off. Any extra processing in the TV makes for weird lag. My friend has a Samsung 43" Plasma and it works great.

[David Hingtgen]

True for all TV's---ANYTHING they attempt to tweak/fiddle/enhance will slow things down. You want the raw unfiltered signal going straight from the console to the screen. Motion interpolation, "smoothing"---all bad! If something can be turned off in the menu, do so. Turn off everything you can. You may have to set the TV to "movie" or "cinema" mode first to be able to turn some things off-----movie/cinema mode is usually the "purest" mode on a TV, with few "enhancements" active.

Sadly, "game mode" is often among the worst possible things to do.

[eugimon]

samsung's "game mode" turns off any unnecessary image processing but plays with the audio settings (probably for more bass).

[David Hingtgen]

That's surprising---did they finally get smart? I know that a couple years ago, game mode was universally awful.

[eugimon]

I've owned various sumsung tv's for the past 6 years, "game mode" has always worked that way. I don't know about other brands though.

[Duke Togo]

FPS are unplayable without game mode. Game mode puts the TV at 60Hz, which current gen games run at. Most TVs these days run at 120 or 240Hz; hence game mode. It also improves input lag. Game mode isn't a gimmick.

[GU-11]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but wouldn't playing video games on a plasma screen be a bad idea?

It's common knowledge that plasma screens have a nasty habit of "burning" images like TV station logos and life bars in games when the image stays there too long. Well, common knowledge way back when, TBH.

Or have plasma TV's improved to the point where these things don't happen any more?

[eugimon]

Burning in on a plasma isn't nearly the problem it was when they first came out. Most brands have various solutions to preventing burn in, supposedly samsung's works particularly well. If you do get burn in, you can try a variety of methods (most involve making the tv show "normal" stuff continuously)

but really. burn in might be a problem if you're using a plasma tv as your monitor while you practice for the world star craft II championships but playing a couple hours of halo isn't going to damage your screen.

[David Hingtgen]

FPS are unplayable without game mode. Game mode puts the TV at 60Hz, which current gen games run at. Most TVs these days run at 120 or 240Hz; hence game mode. It also improves input lag. Game mode isn't a gimmick.

It used to be quite the opposite---"game mode" circa 2005 would turn on most every "image-enhancing" option there was, to try to create greater contrast and "pop". This would of course, kill performance and induce lag.

I highly suspect there were very few TV-designers who played games or something during that period, and their test-subject was their kid's copy of Mario Party or something, and their goal was to make it look as much like a box of crayons as possible. (and we all know Mario Party pays no attention to what you actually press on the controller, it's utterly luck/BS, so any actual performance issues would be invisible)

[Chewie]

I have a Samsung PN60E530 that is connected to both my Xbox and my computer. I've run into zero issues with it. I do not use game mode when playing anything and only had a "problem" with PC Battlefield 3 but I am pretty sure it wasn't a framerate issue more than it was a "HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS HUGE" issue. PC Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 play perfectly.

As for burn in, as it's been said, it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be and you can change the tv over to "snow" for around an hour to get rid of it.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Chewie

[ErikElvis]

It seems Call of duty online works fine. Farcry 3 and dead space are having problems. Im gonna try and install dead space to the hard drive now.

I use to have the xbox hooked up to a 50" plasma and never had any problems. No screen burn issues either. Well I do have different color bars where the 4:3 box is. But the TV is about 5 years old.

Edited March 7, 2013 by ErikElvis

[GU-11]

Burning in on a plasma isn't nearly the problem it was when they first came out. Most brands have various solutions to preventing burn in, supposedly samsung's works particularly well. If you do get burn in, you can try a variety of methods (most involve making the tv show "normal" stuff continuously)

but really. burn in might be a problem if you're using a plasma tv as your monitor while you practice for the world star craft II championships but playing a couple hours of halo isn't going to damage your screen.

Sounds like plasma TVs have come a long way. I kept wondering why electronics companies are still churning out these plasmas even after the advent of LCD's and LED's. Plasma TV's do provide the best overall picture quality compared to LCD's, especially now since they've solved the burn-in problems.

[myk]

^^^Am I out of it, or do plasma's still do black/dark colors better than LCD's and LED's? I was thinking about buying a new fangled t.v. and was thinking plasma for the refresh rate and reportedly superior picture quality...

[Hoptimus]

I only buy Plasma. I like black to be black and I prefer the fast refresh rate. Gaming wise I have had no problems on my Panasonic 42" plasma with any games on my Xbox 360 or using it for my Mac.

[eugimon]

It used to be quite the opposite---"game mode" circa 2005 would turn on most every "image-enhancing" option there was, to try to create greater contrast and "pop". This would of course, kill performance and induce lag.

I highly suspect there were very few TV-designers who played games or something during that period, and their test-subject was their kid's copy of Mario Party or something, and their goal was to make it look as much like a box of crayons as possible. (and we all know Mario Party pays no attention to what you actually press on the controller, it's utterly luck/BS, so any actual performance issues would be invisible)

I see that theory a lot on the forums but I doubt it's true. Back in 2005 there wasn't much going on in terms of image enhancements on pictures, and even 120 hz tvs hadn't hit the market yet. I don't know what a tv could turn on. What I suspect actually is going on is this. Game mode is distinct from whatever picture settings you have normally, In terms of brightness, contrast, backlight, etc, it puts the tv back to its factory default state... which is high pop. So if you have your tv tuned in to a more natural setting and put it into "game mode" it looks too hot. You can adjust the game mode settings independently of your normal viewing mode, btw. So people saw that and figured game mode just meant "turning everything on".

As for plasma vs LCD:

That really depends on a few factors. Plasmas do have better dynamic ranges but they're not as bright as an LCD screen. So if you're using your tv during the tv in a bright room, LCD is going to do better. If you're watching more in a dimmed room, than plasma will give you deeper colors. Plasma runs hotter than LCD, so if saving the planet is your thing, an LED LCD tv will use significantly less electricity than a plasma. Also, most plasma tv's have a buzzing sound, sometimes this fades with use, sometimes it doesn't and it bothers some people (me) but it doesn't other peope, so ymmv.

Some of the higher end LCD tvs have iq that's within spitting distance of their plasma cousins. High contrast and dynamic backlighting can produce a very rich, and deep picture but those TVs usually cost significantly more than a decent plasma tv.

[ErikElvis]

Ok finished dead space and played a little Gears of war. EVerything seems to be ok. Not sure what was different really.

And I prefer the picture of a plasma. I was torn between a 64" plasma and 70" LED. I really wanted the 70 but when it comes down to it i liked the plasma picture better. I figure in a few years when Im ready to buy another the 80" will be reasonable.

[anime52k8]

Maybe it's just me and the games I like to play but I find the brighter picture and less saturate blacks of LED to be more conducive to gaming than plasma.

[David Hingtgen]

Also, most plasma tv's have a buzzing sound, sometimes this fades with use, sometimes it doesn't and it bothers some people (me)

God do I hate electronic buzzing sounds. LCD, CRT, speakers with no signal---they all buzz. If plasma TV's emit a more noticeable hum, then I'd despise them. (I've never really had a chance to examine one in a "viewing environment"---only at BestBuy and during family get-togethers, so only surrounded by other noises)

[Chowser]

Bought a 60" Samsung Plasma 3D smarttv last year and have had no issues with my 360.

I do have it in a darker room. I'm probably going to get an LED for the living room because it is brighter.

I think my tv autosets to game mode when it detects the 360 or PS3.

[Duke Togo]

Bought a 60" Samsung Plasma 3D smarttv last year and have had no issues with my 360.

I do have it in a darker room. I'm probably going to get an LED for the living room because it is brighter.

I think my tv autosets to game mode when it detects the 360 or PS3.

I hope not, unless you're using a seprate bluray player.

[Chowser]

The tv came with a 3d samsung bluray player. I dont think i've ever watched a bluray disc on the ps3. My first bluray disc was tron legacy 3d.

[eugimon]

samsung treats each hdmi in port uniquely. So if you have your ps3 and xbox on say, ports 1 and 2 and you have those on game mode and you have the blu ray player on port 3 and not in game mode, it will remember whatever setting you had each port set to last. I don't believe the TV itself can't detect whether the incoming signal is from a gaming console or not.

[ErikElvis]

I have one single HDMI running from the receiver to the TV and it seems I have to turn off game mode everytime I want to watch TV. Kinda annoying. but beats 50 wires hanging from the Tv I guess

[eugimon]

I really wish samsung would give "game mode" a distinct remote code/button instead of burying it in the menu.

[ErikElvis]

I really wish samsung would give "game mode" a distinct remote code/button instead of burying it in the menu.

Exactly.

My old samsung you could hit picture mode on the remote and cycle through real quick. I find it hard to believe the Japanese didnt think about that.

[eugimon]

I'm a fan of samsung's hardware, but their UI guys suck... and maybe the japanese did think of it, but samsung is korean.

[ErikElvis]

I'm a fan of samsung's hardware, but their UI guys suck... and maybe the japanese did think of it, but samsung is korean.

Haha really? I had no idea. That makes more sense.

Edited March 12, 2013 by ErikElvis

[GU-11]

Haha really? I had no idea. That makes more sense.

Just a little FYI.

Samsung, LG = South Korea

Haier = PR China

Redundant, but while I'm at it: Sony, Sanyo, Sharp, Panasonic = Japan