Does Trainz require a more robust graphics card when playing on a big screen TV?

[JonMyrlennBailey]

I have just hooked my PC up to my Samsung SmartTV HD LED 1080p television. All else equal, it seems to be playing much slower than it did on my Samsung 20" LED PC monitor, 1600x900.

The frames stutter much more on the big screen than on the small monitor. In other words,
when the train is rolling along in Lineside View is jitters much more.

The N3V program, TS12, is prone to becoming unresponsive more on the big TV particularly when zooming out and navigating in Map View
and trying to zoom back in again on a particular point on the route.

Any reason why?

I am under the impression that big screens require big gaming card power possibly due to the great resolution or pixel count.

Is Trainz even compatible with big screen TVs?

If so, what is the best card for HDTV gaming performance?

On my monitor, I use a DVI-D cable as an interface. The television uses the popular HDMI interface.

My not-so-high-end graphics card has both types of cable attachment form factors.
My PC is Windows 7 64-bit.

 

[stationmistress]

I use a 26" Acoustics/Alba TV from Argos here in the UK. It is hooked up with HDMI and set on HD. Settings are 1080i with H 33KHz and V 60 Hz refresh. My graphics card is an NVidia 750Ti. Runs smooth for the majority of the time. An advantage I've found is the ability to have Picture-in-Picture and have TV whilst running a long route.

 

[pware]

An advantage I've found is the ability to have Picture-in-Picture and have TV whilst running a long route.

Some locos here in Australia, up in the Pilbera region where they run very long trains for very long distances, come with a DVD player in the cab, so you are not doing anything that is not realistic.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Some locos here in Australia, up in the Pilbera region where they run very long trains for very long distances, come with a DVD player in the cab, so you are not doing anything that is not realistic.

Somebody should be keeping their eyes on the track ahead instead of a DVD player so a wallaby doesn't get smashed, mate.
I wish Yanks, even gamers, had as much enthusiasm for rail transportation as do Aussies.

I have been getting into RC models lately to give Trainz a break and I am also finding out that Americans don't have
nearly the appreciation for true scale as do Aussies and Europeans. Perhaps the Asians have a little more scale enthusiasm too.

In America, young people, in the hobbies, mainly want things that go fast right out of the box and look like a
worn-down soap bar or a spaceship for styling be it helicopters, car, boats or other vehicles.

American youth applaud instant gratification vs mastery of craftsmanship, time and sweat.

Trainz-building in Surveyor or Content creation is quite a craft much like building 3D scale models from scratch.

 

[pware]

If a wallaby got onto the track ahead of one of those Pilbera ore trains and was either deaf to the horn, had a death wish or was just plain stupid (the most likely scenario), there would be absolutely nothing the crew could do to stop the train. In fact trying to stop suddenly could easily cause a lot damage to the train (even a derailment) so company policy would be to ignore it and watch the Kardashians instead.

 

[pware]

I wish Yanks, even gamers, had as much enthusiasm for rail transportation as do Aussies.

While I agree with the sentiment, the reality is not quite as good. Rail transport here has taken a back seat to road transport for many decades now. It was only 40 years ago that all the mainland state capitals were connected by a standard gauge rail line It has only been during the last few years (and especially over the last few months with a major Federal election coming up in July) that the rail infrastructure "promises" and the actual rail projects have started to appear. So perhaps things are starting to turn. In the area of general freight rail, we are well behind what I saw in the US on a visit in 2011.

 

[boleyd]

If your behind the USA you are approaching primitive.

The big TV has same amount of info as a 19" monitor just spread on a larger screen. The TV does the work of spreading the image/pixels across the bigger screen. The video card does not know you are using a larger monitor.

 

[grazlash]

It probably has more to do with the refresh rate of the tv, which is usually a lot slower than a monitor, than it has to do with the resolution. Using a dvi to hdmi adapter is also part of the issue and I doubt you would be doing full 1080hd either due to the type of adapter.
cheers,
Graeme.

 

[Pencil42]

1080p is 1920x1080, so you are running your TV at a higher resolution than your 1600x900 monitor - about 1/3 more pixels. So in that case, it's not surprising that the TV exhibits a bit more stutter.

 

[davies_mike57]

Try turning the computer PC card up to the 1920x1080 screen resolution (that's if the card supports that resolution).
The more pixels the slower the frame-rate will be.
You could also try adjusting the Trainz game settings by reducing the number of poly-counts of objects, texture passes, distance of objects, and lowering antialias mode.
Some computer cards an output VGA and TVs have a input VGA socket, so you could try the older video sync method by hooking up a VGA cable.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

My Samsung TV only has HDMI inputs, no VGA or DVI. My low-to-mid-grade graphics card has DVI-D, HDMI and some other cable attachment form factor I don't know. It could be that a much larger screen "amplifies" human perceived stutter. Certainly a high end card should exhibit much less stutter all else equal regardless of the size of the monitor. I could also check my TV picture settings to see if there is a gaming or PC mode. I am using a high speed HDMI cable. I am not using any cable connection adapter to convert from one form factor to another.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

It probably has more to do with the refresh rate of the tv, which is usually a lot slower than a monitor, than it has to do with the resolution. Using a dvi to hdmi adapter is also part of the issue and I doubt you would be doing full 1080hd either due to the type of adapter.
cheers,
Graeme.

30 fps is the standard television industry refresh rate

 

[LNERlover5]

30 fps is the standard television industry refresh rate

Film is typically recorded at either 24fps or 48fps. Television panels and generic monitors typically top out at a 60Hz refresh rate. Gaming specific monitors go beyond that, with ASUS providing a panel that refreshes at 240Hz.

Jack

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Film is typically recorded at either 24fps or 48fps. Television panels and generic monitors typically top out at a 60Hz refresh rate. Gaming specific monitors go beyond that, with ASUS providing a panel that refreshes at 240Hz.

Jack

My TV has a Game Mode which is buried deep in the Menu. It won't become available for a PC connected to any HDMI port on the back of the TV set. It is grayed out. It says this feature is for a gaming CONSOLE like an XBOX only. According to some online studies I made, Game Mode supposedly reduces gaming lag time but also makes the picture look crappy to boot.

TV lag may help contribute to gaming stutter. My TV supports up to 60 Hz depending upon the resolution setting of the input device (eg. PC).

I use a wireless mouse and keyboard too in front of the TV. The mouse pointer can lag sometimes too.