Big screen vs small screen

[R2DJ]

So let's say you have an Xbox 360. Would you

A) Play on a 21" SDTV that has perfect picture quality but no Dolby support.
B) Play on a 44" rear projection CRT TV but looks darker although widescreen and has Dolby Pro Logic.

Please only pick one of the two. Don't suggest getting a better TV because I don't have the money.

 

[FAST6191]

I know you said no alternatives but VGA cables can either be made:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/14/how-to-...a-vga-cable-fo/
or purchased for not that much cash (amazon has them listed for around £10 and even back when the first appeared they were under £30).
Monitors have been at 720p or better type resolutions for about 20 years now and 1080p for slightly less.

Back on topic as it were I assume the rear projection is dying (loss of brightness and/or contrast is a good sign of such things, they do worsen with age but for you to mention it says to me it is on the way out), go with it until you find it hard to play, the games, TV and dash should have options to increase contrast, colour saturation and so forth.

 

[JKR Firefox]

I had the same issue with my 52" CRT TV. The picture was OK but it always seemed too dark no matter what settings I had it on until one day it died.

Replaced it with a 40" LCD FS with 1080p support. Much better.

On Topic: I would use the 21" TV. At least the picture quality is good so you aren't missing so much of a game because of darkness issues. I had that issue on my CRT with Bioshock. It sucked.

 

[R2DJ]

I know you said no alternatives but VGA cables can either be made:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/14/how-to-...a-vga-cable-fo/
or purchased for not that much cash (amazon has them listed for around £10 and even back when the first appeared they were under £30).
Monitors have been at 720p or better type resolutions for about 20 years now and 1080p for slightly less.

Will it be really alright to play the 360 on a 17" standard Dell monitor (LCD) with 8ms response time? I went back to the 44" and tweaked it using the THX optimiser. Everything looks so much better, but not as good as the SDTV.

EDIT: Also, if VGA would be the best option, any suggestions on where I can get a VGA switch so I can plug in my PC and 360 cable without switching?

 

[legendofphil]

I really wouldn't advise a switch, I had one a while back for about a week.
The problem is they aren't that high quality (unless you pay a lot) and the signal starts to degrade even at low-ish resolutions.