New Requirement for Your Home Theatre

Every good home theatre setup needs the basics: you got your television set of some sort, your DVD player and your surround sound system. Other component may very, we've got people still holding onto their VCR's (I mock you!), LaserDisc players (I mock myself!) and fancy stuff like audio preprocessors and amplifiers. I'm going to propose that any good home theatre in 2005 has one more essential item: a modern video game system.

The big 3 video game systems available today, the Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft XBox and Nintendo Gamecube were all released to the general US public by the end of 2001. While that makes them comparably long in the tooth by modern electronics standards, they were all designed with High Definition television at least half in mind and all can produce some outstanding graphics and sounds. Having recently purchased a new Big Ass Television, I have recently embarked on a journey through the video game systems: I've owned my XBox for about 4 months and a Gamecube for a few days now. In addition I'm familiar with the PS2 from several friends, one of whom has it connected up to his high def monitor. Let's see what each has to offer you, and which one you should pick up to round out your home theatre setup.
My new acquisition is the Nintendo Gamecube so let's start with there. The Gamecube overall is the #3 selling system here in the US but has some extremely high quality games in the library. The common knock on the GC is that it's a system designed for children. While the fruitful Mario franchise and Nintendo development team means high quality childrens games, there are some great adult oriented games for the 'Cube, namely Eternal Darkness, the Metroid Prime series and most recently the showered-with-praise Resident Evil 4 (all Gamecube exclusive titles). The Gamecube uses a smaller disc for it's media, it can't read regular sized CD's or DVD's. I mentioned in the intro that all the companies had at least one eye on the future, that being high def, and when the Gamecube was released there was an optional Component Cable you could purchase for it. Said cable would output a high definition 480p signal to capable television sets when using compatible software.

All right, I just dropped a lot of "word bombs" on you in that last sentence, so let's break it down here really quickly, trust me it'll be worth your time for this and the other systems. Let's see, first I mentioned high definition. We're all heard it, what does it really mean? Well, it means stuffing more lines of resolution into the same sized box as before. So before your TV was putting a relatively small number of lines onto the glass of your 32" screen, a high def TV can put more lines into that same space. More lines means a better picture, in simple terms. There are several formats that a true High Def TV can use. 480p is the bare minimum, and if you're snooty you wouldn't even consider 480p High Def, instead calling it ED or Enhanced Definition. (You may want to keep this in mind if you're shopping for a new Television, an ED set will definitely look much better than a vanilla TV, but isn't a true HD set, which is definitely what you want for the future, more than for right now.) 480p is the resolution that the Gamecube can output. This means that the Cube paints 480 lines of resolution onto your screen progressively. The other option from progressive is interlaced, noted by an i (as in 480i). A progressive scan picture looks better than an interlaced signal. Then I mentioned to capable television. What does that mean? Well, basically that means your television has to have component inputs. Component inputs are the most common way high definition signals are delivered to televisions today. DVD Players and all of our game systems will connect to TV's via component cables. The connectors themselves look very similar to the composite cables you are used to (the Yellow [video], Red and White [stereo audio]) but are capable of delivering a lot more data to a television. Finally, I mentioned using compatible software. What the heck does that mean? Well, with the correct cable, the Gamecube itself is able to output a High Definition signal, but the software itself has to be programmed to do so. The people that write the games have to put extra code into the games to support the High Definition signal (this is true for all the game consoles, and we'll get more into this discussion on a per machine basis). Ok, back to our Gamecube discussion...

So, all was great in the Nintendo world. The Gamecube was released to the world and was selling enough units. Nintendo was claiming a profit on the hardware itself (unlike Microsoft and Sony losing money on their consoles and hoping to make it up in software sales). Well after a few years, Nintendo noticed that a very small percentage of users were actually using the High Def Component cables. The bean counters crunched their numbers and actually decided to remove the capability from the Gamecube. So if you walk into a store today, and buy a new Gamecube, you cannot connect component cables to it and play games in 480p. So this leaves you with the decision to pick up one of a plentiful number of used Gamecubes, or buy a new one and play normal definition. I set out on my Gamecube quest fully planning on purchased the former, but in the end decided to just buy a new one. I'm personally out of component inputs on my television so I figured I'd rather have a guaranteed new one with a warranty.

Still, if you have an older system the vast majority of Gamecube software is High Def enabled. To check if a particular game is High Def, you can look on the back of the game box and see if it says "Progressive Scan" (see, that ties in nicely with the state of the state paragraph above! Look ma, I'm a writer!). So, how is the Gamecube regardless? Well, a whole lot of fun. Metroid Prime has some spectacular graphics and a very involving storyline. The choice of childrens games is unparalleled so if you have kids I would say the Gamecube is a no brainer. The other bonus for the Gamecube is the price: $99. With some quick scrounging around, you could still pick up the Holiday/Christmas 2004 Bundle, which is a Gamecube, 2 Controllers and Mario Double Dash (still $50 in the stores) for $99 (this is what I got). Really a spectacular deal. If you've got your heart set on playing games truly in high definition, if you hope to own dozens of exclusive adult oriented games or hope to play games over the Internet against other people, then take the pass on the Gamecube.


Sony PS2
The king of the current generation of consoles is the Sony Playstation2. The PS2 has lots of neat aspects, not the least of which is it's backwards compatibility with the PS1, the built in DVD Player functionality and huge game library (even excluding PS1 titles, the PS2 has just an avalanche of games compared to the XBox and GC). Much like the Gamecube, you need a special cable to connect the PS2 to component inputs to achieve your high definition signal. Again, software needs to be specifically programmed to support both the High Definition 480p format, as well as the 16:9 format that the PS2 can output as well (thus making a game fill the full screen on a widescreen television).

Unfortunately the support for High Def is somewhat lacking on the PS2. In spite of being the king of the mountain and having a huge number of software titles, the number of games supporting 480p or 16:9 is relatively small, about 50. Still, even games not programmed for 480p can look great on the PS2 and on your home theatre setup. Still, there are a ton of benefits to having a PS2 in your house. The games are plentiful and sold absolutely everywhere. I know around my neck of the woods they sell PS2 games even in grocery stores. You'll easily find hundreds of used games at most video game stores, most under $10 thus making it easy to take a flier on a game and get some excellent cheap entertainment. PS2 is capable of going online with an optional Broadbander adaptor. There is a smallish number of games that support online play, but once you find yourself competing against people from all around the world in your favorite game your gaming world will be forever changed.

What I propose as the best centerpiece for your Home Theatre is the XBox from Microsoft. The XBox is a full fledged PC in a fancy wrapper. Once again, an optional cable will be required to get component outputs for your high definition signal. Unlike the Gamecube and PS2 the XBox has broadband capabilities built right in via an ethernet port, and as an extra geeky bonus has a hard drive built into it as well. The hard drive is used as buffer space for the games, but also allows for some neat features such as ripping your audio cd's into MP3, and then using the MP3's in your video games to create your own custom soundtrack. Nifty.


Microsoft XBox
As we've seen now, the difference maker isn't really the hardware, since on the surface, all three systems are on par. What makes the difference is the software support for high definition, and this is where the XBox outclasses the competition. Every XBox games plays at least 480p (there are a handful of exceptions, but for the most part, if you pick up a game, it'll play High Def). In addition, the XBox is the only system with games that actually can output true High Def (remember, us snobs call 480p Enhanced Definition) of 720p and 1080i. That's right: resolutions with 720 lines, progressive and 1080 lines, interlaced. This makes for some seriously luscious pictures. In addition a large number of XBox games fully support 16:9 mode, including the Grand Theft Auto series, Halo2, Riddick and the recently released (and highly addictive) Mercenaries. 16:9 really enhances these titles, for example in Sega GT 2002 Racing, you'll wonder how you survived before seeing those cars creeping up on your side and passing you. It's like taking the blinders off and using your peripheral vision for the first time.

So, it's decision time. All three systems create pictures that can be truly described as stunning, and at least one deserves a place in any home theatre setup. Most people aren't hardcore enough to purchase multiple systems (Who'd be silly enough to do that?) so it's decision making time. I would really recommend the XBox as the one unit that would best show off your Home Theatre setup. All the games are in high definition, many support 16:9 and all output a Dolby Digital signal. About half the games released today are Live! enabled, meaning you can play online against opponents from all over the world. The PS2 is often chosen today just because there are so many of them. You're likely to know at least one person that owns a PS2, and that social network means you've got a built in source to borrow and try out games. However, the software support isn't really there to max out your home theatre. The Gamecube once again runs a distant third in this race. High Def owners are neglected by the big N. In spite of some great games for people of all ages, it's going to be hard to convince yourself that the Gamecube is your system of choice. Still, it can give you many hours of enjoyment and is a downright bargain.

by Matt Fuerst