Splinter Cell: To 1080p or not to p
by Ken Weeks 
{ Oct 19th 2006 at 4:30AM }
Has the 1080p console era arrived sooner than expected, courtesy of Ubisoft? The above pic is screen cap from a debug copy of Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the Xbox 360 showing support for "true HD" (to use Sony's patronizing marketing terminology). GamePro says they received confirmation from Ubisoft that the retail version will indeed support 1080p. Elsewhere, 1up says their contact told them "No, it's 1080i" but admits things are pretty hectic at Ubi right now, so who knows? All acknowledge that 1080p support is useless without the necessary update Microsoft, expected some time in the near future (although GamePro theorizes that it could be included on the Double Agent disc). Even then, without an HDMI solution from MS, the much-hyped resolution would be possible only via the rare 1080p HDTV (Sharp?) that supports 1920x1080 via VGA input.
Meanwhile, back in standard-def-trying-in-vain-to-read-that -Dead-Rising-text land, the po' folk are snickering because their snooty 720p neighbors now have to go out and buy a new TV if they want to remain on the bleeding edge of the 360 community.
How many lucky bastards already have a 1080p HDTV and are just dying to put it to use? How many don't think they'll get a 1080p set for years?
Correction: As several readers have pointed out, only 1080p movies using the HD-DVD drive require HDMI. Games will work over both HDMI or VGA.
[Thanks Luke]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt @ Oct 19th 2006 4:39AM
"Even then, without an HDMI solution from MS, the much-hyped resolution would be possible only via the rare 1080p HDTV (Sharp?) that supports 1920x1080 via VGA input."
WRONG. Games can be outputed in component @ 1080p, but not HD-DVD. HD-DVD is the one that requires the VGA cable (legal reasons)
Clifton @ Oct 19th 2006 5:10AM
@Matt I'm glad someone caught that before the rumors got started.
somebody or other @ Oct 19th 2006 5:15AM
That is clearly a screenshot from the Display Settings screen of an unreleased Xbox 360 Dashboard, NOT from Splinter Cell. Oh, and the update isn't on the Double Agent disc either.
DeadPlasmaCell @ Oct 19th 2006 5:22AM
Man... AZN is going to love this one ....
J.Goodwin @ Oct 19th 2006 5:58AM
Why does it say 1080i on the right side if 1080p is selected?
Looks more like a bad photoshop job.
James Hyatt @ Oct 19th 2006 6:41AM
Your statement that 1080p is only available via VGA is misleading. That is only true of Movies. Games will output at 1980p using both cables.
Cdaghostie @ Oct 19th 2006 6:34AM
You overlooked that it said current setting was 1080 i
360 for some reason shows what your default is not what your about to change it too
nice is some aspects a pain in others
the worm @ Oct 19th 2006 7:00AM
in this weeks podcast (major nelson), albert (the 1080p guy) said that every TV they had tested that had a HDMI also accepted 1080p over VGA .. so where do you get there is only 1 TV that accepts VGA 1080p
Rory @ Oct 19th 2006 8:05AM
I have a Samsung HLS-6187 that accepts 1080p over component and VGA.
Scott @ Oct 19th 2006 9:10AM
I use a 24" widescreen sony CRT pc monitor. $300 and 2304 x 1440 @ 80 Hz max res. I can't wait for 1080P
DA360 @ Oct 19th 2006 9:37AM
Well, there has to be a reason why Ubisoft packed the 1080p update on the development version. Possibly the game will be compatible to it, or maybe they wanted to test compatibility. Who knows. Also, if they do include an update on the disk, it would be the first one on the Xbox 360 (though wouldn't be surprising as they had dash update executables on original Xbox discs).
Also, it would be nice if they posted a screen of the updated VGA resolutions. I use a 19 inch widescreen LCD monitor for my Xbox 360 and I want to see if its native resolution, 1440X900, is on the resolution select screen.
PsionStorm @ Oct 19th 2006 10:13AM
I have a 1080i television, 26" flat screen picture tube (it's what I could afford at the time, but man, I swear it looks better than some LCD/Plasma/DLP). I'm perfectly happy with my 1080i settings, considering most games only run up to 720p anyhow.
In all seriousness, I can't possibly imagine that 1080p Splinter Cell is going to be much better than 1080i or 720p Splinter Cell. The game looks gorgeous as it is. Maybe if I had a larger screen, it'd make a difference, but I'm doubting it.
STEVE @ Oct 19th 2006 3:45PM
The jump from 720p to 1080p is not as big as everybody is making it. The jump from 480i to 720p is substantial! And I think sony and now ms are trying to get people to think the jump is that big. If you have a 720p hdtv don't waste your money on a 1080p set. All this is just a shit load of smoke and mirrors!!
Tucker @ Oct 19th 2006 11:48AM
PsionStorm, it's not solely an issue of 'more pixels'. Depending on the scaler in the TV, a native 1080p set may not look so hot displaying a scaled 720p or 1080i picture. I'll be interested to see how this all pans out.
And, yeah, most 1080p sets I've seen take 1080p over VGA. It wasn't any more "rare" than a 1080p set to begin with, and I've been doing it for over a year now, so I can imagine it's even less "rare" now.
KaneRobot @ Oct 19th 2006 12:10PM
"so where do you get there is only 1 TV that accepts VGA 1080p"
While "1" is probably inaccurate, there are many HDTVs that do not. The article mentioned Sharp - I actually just bought a 46" 1080p set that was just released this month, and it was HORRIBLE. The panel emitted an annoying buzz and there was an awful banding-like effect that showed up whenever there was an up-down/down-up pan. I'd avoid that TV (as well as the 52" model) at all costs, despite the reasonable price.
And no, despite the fact that it's a brand new HDTV, it does not have a VGA port.
KaneRobot @ Oct 19th 2006 12:12PM
Oh, and before anyone says "just exchange it" - I did. This problem was not exclusive to that TV, check avsforum, there are dozens of people having the same problems.
thatdidnthurt @ Oct 19th 2006 12:13PM
I have a 1080p set and can't wait to see my TV used at full resolution. The LCD TV I bought is made by Sceptre and is on sale at costco.com now for $1300. Great deal and you can't go wrong buying at costco. The remote does suck on this TV though
Rodec @ Oct 19th 2006 1:46PM
I have the Sony 61" SXRD XBR1 (with a Dec 05 build date) and does indeed have a VGA port for 1080p. It states in the manual that it does NOT support 1080p via the HDMI port however, so every TV is different. This is splitting hairs though, most of us would be hard pressed to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. Never-the-less, anyone know where I can get a cable from the 360 to the VGA input on the back of mine?
Jay @ Oct 19th 2006 1:55PM
I got a 1080p set
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-rbAURtWTuMI/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=146350&I=647LVM42W2
and I can't wait to see some 1080p xbox360 on it.
Ben @ Oct 19th 2006 2:02PM
HDCP is just FUD. The movie studios are never going to turn it on because there are approximately 9 people in the world that have the hardware to watch HDCP content. If by some stretch of the imagination they turn it on 5 years from now, the hardware will be so cheap that we won't mind buying new stuff. So buy your 360 and your non-HDCP compliant toys now. It doesn't matter.