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Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)
Monday, March 07, 2005
A new way for Adam to Xbox ...
I'm gonna take the blogging format to its egocentric roots this week, and tell you about my new PC and Xboxing set-up.I finally picked up a projection set up, and this is a great way to do gaming.
- The projector: Toshiba TDP-S20U Mobile Projector
- This is a great office projector doing a great job for PC and Xbox gaming. 2000:1 contrast, 14 lumens, supports HDTV and widescreen, and supports two VGA inputs, which lets me have both my PC and Xbox plugged in at the same time, with passthrough. Is it true HDTV? Nope, it's native 800x600, but it scales up to 1600x1200, so it does a great job, at a fraction of a cost of "true" HDTV projectors.
- The screen: Panoview DS-3100PM 100" Diagonal
- This is an awesome, cheap screen, with decent quality. I actually had an 84", but returned it (seriously, size matters). Even though it's on the lower end quality wise, and needs a little more light control in the room, it's a solid retractable projection screen that can wall or ceiling mounted, and has various stopping points to support 4:3 or widescreen.
- This is an awesome, cheap screen, with decent quality. I actually had an 84", but returned it (seriously, size matters). Even though it's on the lower end quality wise, and needs a little more light control in the room, it's a solid retractable projection screen that can wall or ceiling mounted, and has various stopping points to support 4:3 or widescreen.
- The audio: Altec Lansing IM2 (room); Sony MDR-RF975RK (headphones)
- I got the Altec Lansing IM2 when Buy.com was having one of their crazy one-day sales. I thought these things would be good for my mobile gaming, but the sound is so great from these little packables that I use them when I'm tired of the tinny on-board speakers on the Toshiba. The Sony's a good rechargable set of wireless headphones, and operates on the 900 MHz band. These things have served me well (without even having problems with cordless phone) until recently, when I swapped out my wireless network for a cheap 108mbps, and the interference is finally a problem. When using my PC, I use the PC speakers, because Sony packaged a decent set with my Vaio, and the Soundblaster Audigy let's swap left and right channels when using the projector. I'd get a surround sound system, but I need a system that lets me swap left and right and front and rear channels, and the systems I'm looking at that do that (*ahem*, Spherex) are too new and too expensive.
- I got the Altec Lansing IM2 when Buy.com was having one of their crazy one-day sales. I thought these things would be good for my mobile gaming, but the sound is so great from these little packables that I use them when I'm tired of the tinny on-board speakers on the Toshiba. The Sony's a good rechargable set of wireless headphones, and operates on the 900 MHz band. These things have served me well (without even having problems with cordless phone) until recently, when I swapped out my wireless network for a cheap 108mbps, and the interference is finally a problem. When using my PC, I use the PC speakers, because Sony packaged a decent set with my Vaio, and the Soundblaster Audigy let's swap left and right channels when using the projector. I'd get a surround sound system, but I need a system that lets me swap left and right and front and rear channels, and the systems I'm looking at that do that (*ahem*, Spherex) are too new and too expensive.
- The cables: Gamelink 400 X - Component Video; NEC ADP-CV1
- The Monster cables are nuts -- 10-foot, "Nitrogen injected dielectric", 24k gold contact connectors. I bought these at Hastings in a clearance bin for $10 (yeah, they didn't know what they had). The NEC adapter lets me get the component signal mapped to the right VGA pins, to keep the color separation, and the widescreen data.
- The Monster cables are nuts -- 10-foot, "Nitrogen injected dielectric", 24k gold contact connectors. I bought these at Hastings in a clearance bin for $10 (yeah, they didn't know what they had). The NEC adapter lets me get the component signal mapped to the right VGA pins, to keep the color separation, and the widescreen data.
- The computer: Sony Vaio PCV-RZ 44G
- Sony was offering competing Media Center-like PCs, and this box was one of the first of Sony's actual Microsoft Media Center Edition PCs. I've kept the thing upgraded to MCE2005 (thanks to a MSDN Universal License (no thanks to Sony). What makes this box cool is it has both the Window Media Center software, and the Sony software on the same box -- lot o' options.
- Sony was offering competing Media Center-like PCs, and this box was one of the first of Sony's actual Microsoft Media Center Edition PCs. I've kept the thing upgraded to MCE2005 (thanks to a MSDN Universal License (no thanks to Sony). What makes this box cool is it has both the Window Media Center software, and the Sony software on the same box -- lot o' options.
- The seating: Desk chair, pear bean bag, or folding camping captains chair
- The folding camping captains chair is cool. It's uber comfy, and has two cupholders for a beer and a bottled water. Or two beers.
- The folding camping captains chair is cool. It's uber comfy, and has two cupholders for a beer and a bottled water. Or two beers.
- The games: (Multiple)
- I like games that support at least 480p (most Xbox games), but 720p and widescreen is a great experience. Check out HDTV Arcade for a list of Xbox games supporting HDTV. I play Halo 2, X-Men: Legends, ESPN NHL 2K5, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, and Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Halo 2 is cool, because it supports widescreen and horizontal splitscreen. X-Men Legends just rocks at 720p and widescreen.
- I like games that support at least 480p (most Xbox games), but 720p and widescreen is a great experience. Check out HDTV Arcade for a list of Xbox games supporting HDTV. I play Halo 2, X-Men: Legends, ESPN NHL 2K5, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, and Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Halo 2 is cool, because it supports widescreen and horizontal splitscreen. X-Men Legends just rocks at 720p and widescreen.
OK, so my plan isn't to brag about my setup for the sake of bragging about it. Maybe. A little.
Anyway, it's a lot of fun to Xbox bigscreen. Besides, if you're on my mailing list, you're invited to play ... ;-)
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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.
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