You can be a home-movie buff and a fan of video Games the two are not incompatible and want to take advantage of a great quality image and immersive sound to fully enjoy your favorite movies and TV series like your video game sessions.
The specifics of video games, however, involve dwelling on certain points to choose a television or a video projector, a headset, a soundbar or a home theater system as well as HDMI cables and audio cables. Without forgetting all the accessories to optimize your set up and adapt it to your expectations.
Choosing the right TV for video games
After choosing the console, one of the screen is undoubtedly the most critical for a player. The resolution, the size of the image and the connections of the television set are the first series of criteria to be taken into account, depending in particular on the sources which will be connected to it. But another very important criterion comes into play for a player, especially an FPS (First Person Shooter) player: the input lag (display delay).
TV & video games: resolution and image size
The choice of resolution depends directly on the type of console connected to the TV. A 720p HD resolution TV is enough for Old Gen consoles (NES, Master System, Mega Drive, Neo Geo, SNES, Saturn, N64, PS One, Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Wii – non-exhaustive list.). We will move to 1080p HD TV (1920 x 1080 pixels) for HD consoles (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One). The latest generation consoles (Xbox One S, PS4 Pro) will give their full potential on a 4K UHD TV.
Résolutions SD, HD, Full HD et UHD 4K
It is important to choose a TV whose resolution is compatible with the highest output resolution that the video game console is capable of producing. The screen size depends mainly on the space you can allocate to the TV, but also on the distance you have. This last parameter is less critical with a 4K UHD or even 8K television than with an HD television: the 4K UHD definition makes it possible to watch television more closely, without distinguishing the pixels.
TV & video games: HDR
The most recent video game consoles (PS4 Pro and Xbox One S) support content in HDR ( High Dynamic Range see the guide All about HDR and Dolby Vision ). It is therefore essential to choose a 4K UHD TV compatible HDR to enjoy and benefit from images with dark areas as bright areas more detailed. Opponents lurking in the shadows will only be more visible.
Technology HDR
HDR technology makes it possible to obtain images on the screen, the color richness and subtlety of contrasts and nuances of color approaching the perception potential of the human eye. The image is much more realistic.
TV & video games: connectivity
Again, the type of console and video sources to connect to the TV can guide the choice of the latter. For the most recent UHD 4K compatible consoles, the HDMI 2.0 inputs are essential in order to take advantage of all the richness of content in Ultra High Definition.