Steam's Big Picture goes beta today...

Bit annoying that you only get your choice of 1080p or 720p. Looks like crap on my monitor.
 
I thought their specific audience would be gamers who are often much more technically inclined than the average user. I agree that fixed resolutions is terrible, and ironic given that after years of people asking for something like this valve waits till now and releases it when we are going to see 4k TVs shipping within a year.
 
rudy said:
I thought their specific audience would be gamers who are often much more technically inclined than the average user. I agree that fixed resolutions is terrible, and ironic given that after years of people asking for something like this valve waits till now and releases it when we are going to see 4k TVs shipping within a year.
Click to expand...

But, how much will those first-gen 4K resolution TVs going to cost?

New technology takes time to be adopted, especially when their first generation product costs more than what is currently widely used in the market. For example, when the first 720p HDTV sets came onto the market, they were at around $2000 to $4000 depending on size and model. Now you can find them around $200 at the lowest in Walmart or Best Buy.

By allowing a fixed resolution of 720p and 1080p, they're at least catering to the majority of TV sets in consumers' homes right now. They will most likely add 4K support probably a year after Big Picture gets out of beta.

In this economy, and the state of mind of many consumers not knowing what's best to get for them at places like Best Buy, I don't think many people will be buying 4K UHDTVs (ultra-high definition) when they go on sale in a year or two and for the price they will carry. To a normal consumer, there is no perceptible difference between 720p and 1080p, and with 4K resolution, all they will probably care is that it has a larger number than 1080p and sounds cooler, but costs $1000 more than a 1080p HDTV.

Another issue is the varying difference in the so-called 4K standard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution

Standard is 3840x2160 resolution but other resolutions are going as high as 4096x2160. It'd be nice if manufacturers stick to one resolution to prevent consumer confusion before we see this arriving in UHDTV sets in a year or two.
 
4k isn't really UHD just like 720p isn't really HD... 7680 × 4320 should be the only UHD format and they should bother with UHD "levels" like it seems they have decided to (who exactly does that benefit...other than companies wanting to con people). They shouldn't bother pandering to crappy companies wanting sot stick labels on subpar goods. :D
 
DeathPrincess said:
4k isn't really UHD just like 720p isn't really HD... 7680 × 4320 should be the only UHD format and they should bother with UHD "levels" like it seems they have decided to (who exactly does that benefit...other than companies wanting to con people). They shouldn't bother pandering to crappy companies wanting sot stick labels on subpar goods. :D
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Very well said.
 
Looks too complicated.

I've always liked Steams minimalistic approach but I think they are getting too big for themselves. If they aren't careful they will end up like Microshaft.
 
Krenum said:
Looks too complicated.

I've always liked Steams minimalistic approach but I think they are getting too big for themselves. If they aren't careful they will end up like Microshaft.
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Lol what? Big picture mode is just an easier way for couch gamers to navigate the UI so they have something good working when they launch the Steam Box.
 
octoberasian said:
But, how much will those first-gen 4K resolution TVs going to cost?

New technology takes time to be adopted, especially when their first generation product costs more than what is currently widely used in the market. For example, when the first 720p HDTV sets came onto the market, they were at around $2000 to $4000 depending on size and model. Now you can find them around $200 at the lowest in Walmart or Best Buy.

By allowing a fixed resolution of 720p and 1080p, they're at least catering to the majority of TV sets in consumers' homes right now. They will most likely add 4K support probably a year after Big Picture gets out of beta.

In this economy, and the state of mind of many consumers not knowing what's best to get for them at places like Best Buy, I don't think many people will be buying 4K UHDTVs (ultra-high definition) when they go on sale in a year or two and for the price they will carry. To a normal consumer, there is no perceptible difference between 720p and 1080p, and with 4K resolution, all they will probably care is that it has a larger number than 1080p and sounds cooler, but costs $1000 more than a 1080p HDTV.

Another issue is the varying difference in the so-called 4K standard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution

Standard is 3840x2160 resolution but other resolutions are going as high as 4096x2160. It'd be nice if manufacturers stick to one resolution to prevent consumer confusion before we see this arriving in UHDTV sets in a year or two.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter how much they cost, what type of people hook their PC up to a TV? Like I said steam is by its very nature a platform that has a lot more tech savvy users, these tech savvy users very often do things like buy very expensive hard ware, and just as common, they try to make non standard hardware work to save money, or gain a better experience. There are a bunch of people of people on this forum sporting the Korean 2560x1440 monitors. Steam should have just built it with proper scaling in the first place.
 
The problem with this interface is still going to be an issue for the foreseeable future - too many games launch with a sub-menu that has to be clicked with a mouse.
Valve will have to campaign for this to either stop OR offer different direct executables that don't go through the sub launcher.
 
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