To HD or not to HD
Posted 23 months ago

With the rise of 1080p, Next Generation games, and Blue-Ray, High-Definition monitors are becoming somewhat of a necessity. PS3 and Xbox 360 can be found in almost any gamers household (most accompanied by and HDTV) as well which leads us to a pertinent question.

What is the best solution for an Ultimate Gaming Platform?

We find ourselves countless times indulging in conversations about whether to get a HD Plasma, LCD TV and/or Monitor? 1080p, 1080i, 780p and 780i? When does the difference in appearance become noticeable with larger or smaller units? What Maximum resolution is ideal? Do I really need 2ms response time? How big is to big for a computer? Computer Monitor or HDTV unit? One, two, three monitors? HDMI, DVI-D, Component, SVideo?

It always seems no matter where or when the conversation the answers to all these questions tend to differ depending on the socialites opinion. Forums all over the internet tend to tell us whats a good deal for the money but never, "This is ideal for gaming!" or "You don't really need this."

So I pose to ask the question. Get it out there in the open. Sure we'll have some opinions but some of these opinions should come from experts in the field *cough*FiringSquad*cough*.

So heres the scenario. Joe Blow Uzbekistan Jr. just won the Ultimate Gaming rig for Christmas, compliments of FiringSquad, and he wants a to buy a new monitor set up (preferably of the HDTV type, or equivilant) to relish in all the beauty that is Sli Overkill Perfection. Price is not an issue, since he doesn't need to spend money on a new comp, so anything goes but we want quality performance for multiple applications, gaming, HDTV, Blue-Ray the works.
He also wants to be able to hook his PS3 and/or Xbox 360 to it so he can game it up at his desk and brag to all his friends about how much cooler his is than them because they can't afford neat toys.
Yes Joe, swim in the clear waters of the fountain of youth! Make them worship your tech savvy soul.

So Joe Blow Uzbekistan Jr. logs back onto FiringSquad.com to look for a solution, and low and behold he finds this Forum! See Joe Jr. is ecstatic because everything is detailed in crystal clear quintessence.

He now knows whether to get a smaller sized monitor with the highest resolution his computer can handle or the biggest monitor his eyes can handle without making him blind. He knows what refresh rates are the best, whether to rock out HDTV or just shrug it off cause it won't really matter, which monitors on the market offer good resolutions, if he should get two for Supreme Commander, where inch size starts to make a difference when viewing HDTV, what ports he needs to be considering so he can hook up all his lovely new toys, even what contrast ratios he should be considering. Its all right at his finger tips thanks to the help of the staff at FiringSquad and their intelligent and competent subscribers.

So there it is people. Please don't let Joe down, we wouldn't want him to lose the respect of his worshipers cause he cant decide on what monitor to buy! Lets make sure Joe Blow Uzbekistan Jr. has the perfect set up, and even knows optional solutions to his problems!