There’s probably not a lot of you out there still using a projection TV of any sort, but hey, some of us haven’t spent the big bucks to get the big flat screen just yet! As a result, while I have a 32-inch LCD, our family room TV is a 46-inch Toshiba projection screen. In the tradition of the CRT technology it uses, its recommended resolutions are 480p and 1080i, and the advantage it does offer is that there is zero lag for older games that run on 480i.
But, newer technology plugging in to older TV’s sometimes has its own set of pitfalls, one of which I was able to fix last night. Some games, such as Forza Motorsport 3, and the intros to all EA Sports games, feature an all-white background. When this happens, the screens begins to shake. Not drastically, but enough to give you a headache, big time! It took me about 30 minutes (and a second 360 due to our neighbor) to figure out that for some reason, the TV does not like when the 360 is set to 1080i as the highest resolution, it wants it set at 720p. So, it now is.
This might be one area (albeit for a very small number of users) where the PS3 has an advantage. It allows you to select all of the valid resolutions that your TV supports. So, if you had a monitor that could handle 720p and 1080p only (computer monitor with HDMI in?), you could set it that way and take 1080i out of the equation, or you could keep a LCD screen from ever backsliding all the way to 480i. The XBox 360 only allows for you to set a maximum resolution, so it leads to possibilities where some in-between resolution doesn’t play nice, and you can’t fix it, you’d merely be able to go lower than that resolution.
Problem solved though, interesting food for fodder for future dashboard updates (say that five times fast).
The UC Scenario: Cool With It [2009 NCAA]
There is a major silver lining to Texas pulling out one seriously ugly game against Nebraska last night: it leaves you to feel okay that Cincinnati isn’t getting a shot at the national championship.
The reason? It’s because you don’t now have to ask the theoretical question of whether TCU or Cincinnati was the better team and was more deserving, and sadly, that means in some twisted senseless logic, people will once again feel like the BCS worked. I for one do not believe that it did, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that in a world where there is definitely tiers even within the BCS conferences, Texas and the SEC winner were always going to be #1 and #2, and it’s hard to argue against it, I really can’t. So, it stops mattering who is #3, #4, any of those.
What it likely also means is that UC will get an opportunity to prove just how good they are, when they likely play Florida. I sense that Florida will be a double-digit favorite, and heck, they probably should beat them, but it will be a very entertaining game. Oh yes, and why should Brian Kelly stay? Because the odds he’ll coach in a game this big at Notre Dame anytime soon isn’t real good, meaning the UC job truly is more attractive than Notre Dame, unless it’s all about money (and I sense UC will call Lindner and tell him to donate another $5 million to keep Kelly around anyways).