DREAMCAST VGA QUESTIONS! come here for everything VGA w/ DC.

[CRTGAMER]

Some HDTVs and VGA LCD monitors may also not work due to the older lower resolution. Ideally if you can find a VGA CRT monitor to test the Dreamcast, a very good chance of the VGA signal working. I though Doodle329 has the VGA Cable, if it is the VGA Box, be sure to slide the switch on the box to VGA.

[nnorton44]

I purchased an LG HDTV (a 47LD520 to be exact) about a month ago. I have been looking forward to utilizing the VGA input on the back to play my Dreamcast. I got the Retro Bit VGA box and a 10' VGA cable yesterday. But alas, I'm getting the "No Signal" message when I try to use it. It looks like other people have had similar problems with LG TVs and I gather that there might be a work around by using a VGA/HDMI adapter or something. I should have done more research from the beginning I suppose. Any help would be appreciated!

Your TV probably does not know what to do with the 480P signal from the VGA box. I suggest you upscale that 480P VGA to something your TV can support such as 720P. To do this I used LinkStyle VGA PC to Component Ypbpr TV LCD Monitor AV Converter Splitter Box. On Amazon around $35, maybe cheaper Ebay.

[Doodle329]

Some HDTVs and VGA LCD monitors may also not work due to the older lower resolution. Ideally if you can find a VGA CRT monitor to test the Dreamcast, a very good chance of the VGA signal working. I though Doodle329 has the VGA Cable, if it is the VGA Box, be sure to slide the switch on the box to VGA.

It's "TV" and "PC", I think. I've switching it to both, although TV does nothing as I don't have composites in.

[Doodle329]

I bought an S-Video cable to make the best of it, and this television doesn't have an S-Video input either.


Balls.

[pakopako]

...get a new TV? (I have a perfectly reasonable suggestion for a 32" on Amazon that's about $200 new.)

[olibattman]

Hello! just made an account to see if i can get something explained, found racketboy and its forums after googling my problem.

First of all, i recently bought my dreamcast off of ebay, less than a month ago, I knew i would need a proper AV or VGA cable though, as it was being sold with an RF cable!

So i looked around on ebay and found this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0760351550

Ordered it, got the dreamcast, games, and the Box, everythign works fine, theres just some faint vertical lines going down the screen about half an inch to an inch apart... not very noticable but sometimes they stand out, and become noticable and distracting.

These lines never appear when usign the same monitor with my PC. It is a 19 inch dell LCD monitor, max resolution 1280 x 1024, the vga cable is the one supplied wit hthe monitor originally so i'm assuming it can't be the best when it comes to shielding.

Can anyone suggest what to do to get rid of these lines? I can't really test the vga box with any other monitor or tv right now but if i need to it can be arranged.

Thanks!

[Hobie-wan]

These lines never appear when usign the same monitor with my PC. It is a 19 inch dell LCD monitor, max resolution 1280 x 1024, the vga cable is the one supplied wit hthe monitor originally so i'm assuming it can't be the best when it comes to shielding.

Welcome!

LCD monitors have a native resolution. In your case it is 1280x1024 which is a 5:4 aspect ratio. VGA output from the DC is 640x480 which is a 4:3 aspect ratio. Since the resolutions is different than the monitor itself which is LCD, the image must be scaled. The aspect ratio also doesn't match, so it might be scaled differently in one direction than the other or it might just end up with black bars. If the monitor does a fair to good job of scaling the image, you'll end up with varying degrees of slightly blur. If it does a poor job of scaling, you can end up with ugly doubled pixels or possibly something like the lines you're seeing.

At least that's the most likely explanation.

[olibattman]

If the monitor does a fair to good job of scaling the image, you'll end up with varying degrees of slightly blur. If it does a poor job of scaling, you can end up with ugly doubled pixels or possibly something like the lines you're seeing.

At least that's the most likely explanation.

So a crap monitor is to blame?

[SpaceBooger]

If the monitor does a fair to good job of scaling the image, you'll end up with varying degrees of slightly blur. If it does a poor job of scaling, you can end up with ugly doubled pixels or possibly something like the lines you're seeing.

At least that's the most likely explanation.

So a crap monitor is to blame?

It doesn't necessarily mean it's crap.
I have a top of the line (for it's time) Plasma TV and have the same problem. Even if I change the aspect ratio on the TV to 4:3 the lines are still there. The problem is the monitor/TV uses minimal effort to scale lower resolutions.
I have been trying to find a way around this for a couple years... and I don't think there is anything we can do about it.

[CRTGAMER]

Agree with others, the LCD monitor scaling is the issue. This doesn't mean the monitor is bad, just not the idea hookup for the Dreamcast lower 640x480 resolution 4:3 screen. Try the Dreamcast VGA arrangement on a VGA CRT, inexpensive at Thrift Stores.

CRT doesn't have a native resolution so you don't get the same issue you get with LCDs. CRTs just display the content in the resolution it was intended to be viewed in. No up scaling required.

Maybe even pick one of the VGA CRTs and get the Dreamcast Lightgun capability.