Xbox360 Resolution Question

[noobman]

OK, so here's the deal.

I've got HL2 and episode 1 for PC, but my gaming PC is old and I'm a cheap bastard.

So now I've got a 360 and I'm planning on getting Orange box for it. The only thing is that I still play my 360 on my old PC monitor (via VGA cables) which is a 19inch CRT at a res of 1280*1024

I hate letterboxing, so I emailed Valve, and they said that at a resolution of 1280*1024, the game would internally render at 1024*768, and the 360's upscaler chip would upscale the image to my set resolution.


So my question to you guys is this:
Should I trust that the 360 upscaler won't create any visual artifacts and run my system at 1280*1024, or do I avoid it altogether by matching the game engine's rendering resolution of 1024*768?

I figure that the higher res with an upscaler should, in theory, look better... but I've seen some upconverting DVD players in action that look HORRENDUS, and I know watching movies on a computer at a resolution closer to the video's res can make the picture look better,

Most games I've played so far letterbox and render at 1280*720 (Gears of War, F.E.A.R, Fight Night, ect).

 

[SecCom]

Don't forget that Gears didn't letterbox previously. They basically cropped off the sides of the image and fit it in full-screen. My roommate at the time they changed it groaned because he thought he was getting less image on his 19" screen. I pointed out that it was now true 720p resolution so it would be easier to clearly see.

Point being, they might change that in the future.

 

[Archaea]

ha...

who knows....just try it and see which resolution you like when the game arrives!