Dreamcast VGA on a TV without VGA

[Hamburglar]

What is with these stupid companies releasing high def plasma's and NO VGA? It's the ONLY way to get 1080p from your XBox 360 and many people like hooking their PCs up through it.

Anyway, as you can obviously tell I am one of those VGA-less fools. I would kill to see what Dreamcast looks like on this TV. I tried a VGA to component adaptor which didn't work (just created scrambled graphics). I even went a bit nuttier and got a VGA to DVI dongle, then a DVI to HDMI cable and of course that didn't work.

I'd appreciate any input!

[durkada]

What is with these stupid companies releasing high def plasma's and NO VGA? It's the ONLY way to get 1080p from your XBox 360 and many people like hooking their PCs up through it.

Anyway, as you can obviously tell I am one of those VGA-less fools. I would kill to see what Dreamcast looks like on this TV. I tried a VGA to component adaptor which didn't work (just created scrambled graphics). I even went a bit nuttier and got a VGA to DVI dongle, then a DVI to HDMI cable and of course that didn't work.

I'd appreciate any input!

Most high end TVs do have a VGA input, but, otherwise, you're kinda fuqd.

For whatever reason, the VGA component cables, while working perfectly with PCs, never seems to function properly with Dreamcasts. I don't know why -- but would have to guess its a timing/sync issue.

Unfortunately, you're also going to be -- in most cases -- screwed going from VGA to DVI, unless the DVI accepts analog signals at the other end, and the cables/dongles you use also support the analog signal. What, you ask, is the Analog part of a DVD cable? You know how you have all those little pins? Those carry digital signals. The longer pins, of which there are four (I seem to remember) carry analog. So, your converter needs to support the analog pins, the cable leading from that to your TV needs to support those analog pins. And, as mentioned, your TV has to support the analog signal via DVI.

But, flat out, HDMI does not support analog in any form. So the moment you went from DVI to HDMI, beginning with an analog source, it got all fuqd. If all you have is component and HDMI... well, you're running out of options.

As far as the XBOX360, you can get a cable that outputs HDMI. Its not cheap (100 bucks, last time I saw one in a store).

[lordofduct]

I even went a bit nuttier and got a VGA to DVI dongle, then a DVI to HDMI cable and of course that didn't work.

This definitely wouldn't work. The VGA to DVI dongle just reroutes the pins to fit the analog side of the DVI cable (notice the plus sign looking pins on the DVI cable, that's most of the analog pins... hence the 3 kinds of DVI cables).

You'd need a true VGA to DVI converter... something that actually converts the analog signals to a digital signal. I have one here at the house, they are very expensive if you want any good quality (it also supports upscaling) mine brandnew costs roughly 500 USD.

Why wouldn't a high end plasma/LCD displays not have VGA... well it's cheaper to build. Composite, Component, S-Vid... they are all on the YUV colour analog scale, VGA is on the RGB colour analog scale. The analog to digital converter in the TV converts these to what can be used(needed in the TV as LCD and Plasma are digital only). A YUV scale ONLY converter is going to be smaller and cheaper to get for the TV... for it to do both you'd need a converter that supported both. Another plus side to a single scale converter is you can get more bang for your buck... there is a quality to these converters and the better the picture quality you get out of it scales with the cost of it.

So the manufacturer could get a converter that did YUV only very well for the same price they got a RGB/YUV converter that did the job much more poorly.

If you went with a big name brand (i.e. samsung, Sony) I'd be surprised it lacked VGA as those companies make the converters in house and it doesn't cost them much more to use the better converter. But if you bought an out of house brand like LG or Olevia) then they get their converters from companies like Samsung and Sony... and it costs them big bucks.



your options... well really... I have to say, go with S-video. To get any quality VGA converter it is going to cost you a lot of cash. Anything that is 'affordable' will also SUCK and be just as good as just going with the S-vid

unless you have a SHITTY converter in it already... but really the differences would still be pretty negligeable... especially seeing as VGA isn't supported in all DC games


oh and the XBOX360 supports 1080p out of its HDMI port (elite only) and out of the component port (accept when using the HD-DVD player, that I don't understand. It will do 1080p on games, but not on HD-DVD... BUT if you have the elite it will do 1080p for HD-DVDs on the HDMI port... whatever, I own an Elite, so I'm not complaining much).

[Mozgus]

Well crap. The HDTV I want only has one flaw, no VGA. This is almost a deal breaker for me. I have a tough choice to make I guess...

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/deta ... 093WHX/XAA

They've got this one at a Sears for $550 just 1 mile away. I was messing around with it today. I liked what I saw, but couldn't figure out why so many menu options were grayed out. I may go buy the thing tomorrow if I can't control myself.

[Amon]

What about TVs with dvi that support anolog? DVI-I and DVI-A? Would a vga to dvi adapter work in that case?

About the 360 hddvd player
Beyond resolution capabilities of the TV/Display, if/when the ITC resolution limiting technology for HD DVD is enforced, currently mandatory in 2013 and expected to be more common in 2010-2011 HD DVD releases, units using component and VGA cabling will no longer be allowed to display 1080p resolution for HD DVDs. Only those units and TVs that support HDMI with full HDCP specification will produce a viewable 1080p picture.

So in the end its more DRM crap that we have to put up with!!!!

[Mozgus]

What about TVs with dvi that support anolog? DVI-I and DVI-A? Would a vga to dvi adapter work in that case?

Yes it would, but are there even any HDTVs around that do analog DVI? Hell, I can't even find one that does digital DVI, because DVI almost immediately became HDMI in the TV industry. At least DVI is still serving us well in the PC world.

[opticledilusi0n]

Yes it would, but are there even any HDTVs around that do analog DVI? Hell, I can't even find one that does digital DVI, because DVI almost immediately became HDMI in the TV industry. At least DVI is still serving us well in the PC world.

hdmi is dvi with encryption

I stuck a dvi-hdmi adapter on my mac mini to work with my lg lcd and it works fine .

[racketboy]

Well crap. The HDTV I want only has one flaw, no VGA. This is almost a deal breaker for me. I have a tough choice to make I guess...

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/deta ... 093WHX/XAA

They've got this one at a Sears for $550 just 1 mile away. I was messing around with it today. I liked what I saw, but couldn't figure out why so many menu options were grayed out. I may go buy the thing tomorrow if I can't control myself.

Yeah, that's why I play my Dreamcast on my LCD in my home office instead of in my living room...

[opethfan]

Some TVs to 1080p over comp cables, but not all.
The reason why you can't do HD DVD over comp cables is because it's not encrypted (screw DRM).
DVI can be HDCP protected too (my TV only has a DVI port, and its HDCP).