For as long as I've had my Xbox 360 console, for a little over 2 years, I've been gaming on just a standard def TV. Mind you it's a 32" Toshiba flat screen with standard component inputs which the 360's component HD cables work with, so I didn't feel I have much to complain about. I mean I could still see substantial difference over the old Xbox1 visuals; the higher poly-count, better rendered textures, advanced lighting, pixel shaders, more expansive environments, numerous on screen characters... all that was as evident on SD as it would be on HD.
I never got to see that crispness and fidelity that 1080 or even 720 lines of resolution offered, and I didn't know anybody with an HDTV and a modern gamig console. Of course here on Gamespot, I can't go a day without hearing about how HD gaming is the greatest thing since sliced bread, hell from what people said, it reivented the way bread is sliced. Of course all this banter had me curious for the longest time what it would be like to experience that first hand.
My main problem with making the transition was PRICE. I would say an HDTV to be of a respectable size, say 27" at the very least (I couldn't even dare look at the price tags of those 50" monsters, lol), along with at least 8000:1 contrast ratio and 5ms response, still costs too much for me today, never even mind what they cost 2 years ago. I am not the kind of guy that can just throw $600 or more on a TV (speaking in Canadian prices). The 32" TV I have now I didn't spend the $500 on yself, it was a family birthday gift to me 2 years ago. So I pretty much accepted that an HDTV would be out of reach for me this entire generation. Maybe when the Xbox 720 came out or about a year afterwards, it would be viable for me. And here I am with a 360 with an HDMI port and the cable already packed in the box, but no HDTV to make use of that. But like I said, curiosity aside, with my large flat screen component, I guess what qualifies as EDTV, I wasn't complaining.
But then there was a subject that kept popping up in threads discussing making the move to HD displays. People who advocated that there really is no excuse since most people online already have access to one. "Just connect your 360 to the LCD you use with your PC, the technology is the same in those larger HDTV's". But even that raised concerns with me, namely, why would I want to downsize my screen area from 32" to a measly 17"? Surely a bigger viewable area is far better for gaming. Did the difference in doubling the lines of resolution really make up for the downsizing of the screen?
Again curiosity tugged at me. I knew there were more dots in my 17" than in my 32" TV. I had to admit, I was considering investigating that avenue, since my monitor was already there. Why not give it a shot, and if I don't think it's that much better, I can always go back to my TV. But when I looked at the cost of picking up the 360's VGA cable, plus a KVM switch so I could share my LCD between my PC and gaming console, I decided it wasn't worth it. Not only that, my 17" LCD is of the old 4:3 aspect ratio, not the 16:9 widescreen, so no telling how the HD display settings would even work on that. Again I just decided I'll keep to SD hook up for my 360.
--
Now that brings us to 2 days ago. When I was seeing some online ads at the CanadaComputers web site, I was browsing monitors, because I wanted something bigger for my Photoshop productivity. And I'm seeing a lot of these newer monitors have an HDMI port. hmmmm... could this mean? Why yes, yes I think it'll work. I could use the VGA connection for the PC, and the HDMI for the 360. No need for extra cables or switcher boxes. Just a press of the input button on the monitor and, voila!!
And then I saw the sweetest deal among the inventory. A 21.5" widescreen Benq. 10,000:1 contrast ratio with 5ms response time. And the best part, the very best part? Where other monitors of this size category were designed for 1680x1050, this model actually supported 1920x1080, a resolution usually only found in the more expensive 24" LCDs. It was basically advertised as supporting 1080p display. Oh and all this for the amazing price of $219 CDN, which at the time of my weekend pickup, was being offered for an in store deal of $205. This was just too good to be true! For $205, a price now in my range, I could not only enter the HD arena of gaming, but the very same device enhanced my PC desktop experience and productivity, which just doubled the value of that $205. Much sooner than I expected, the HD solution found its way to me, and killing two birds with one stone.
I am just loving the cleaness and clarity of the pictures I'm seeing. And not only that, and I'm not sure it's related to the resolution jump, but it seems as I was playing Halo 3 and GeoW 2, the control responsive has gotten a boost. I mean I'm playing with the same 360 controller, but the aiming just seems to be tighter, reticle movements more concise, and more responsive when I swing or just try to nudge the reticle, and I can really zero in on those head shots through the scope, even when I was getting a clear view on my 32" SDTV. I can really say, it's nice to be in the club now.
And sweet Lara, what this has done to my Photoshop experience is UNBELIEVABLE 
Anybody with experience with the app who knows how it can be a tricky proposition balancing all those pallette windows. Having to dock a few tabs together, needing to make the switch from one to the other as you're working, while not crippling by any means, sure makes the task of optimizing for the available space in 1280x1024 a constant chore. But now with the widescreen, I have so much space, I have my palletes arranaged in two columns, my layers, channels, history, text editor, color swatches, and more, always visible on the screen. And even with all that I can display a hi-res artwork (8x10, 200-250 dpi) with more of it visible at higher view scale (50% nominally), and see all the small text and images with great detail without having to zoom out too much. It. is. such. a BEAUTIFUL thing, I'm in heaven 