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For me the Saturn is so much clearer and more vibrant than the Dreamcast on Scart RGB?

Not sure if my old third pary DC scart has had it...

Your obeservation is correct!

saturn 240p
dc 480i

but wait, please buy the VGA cable for the DC and you get vga 480p which will blow your socks off.

vga = kinda like a high res rgb

Then there are some games that have 240p modes like SFIII third strike. look on gamefaqs for the codes. compare and let us know what you think.

ive always been put off the vga box as not all games support it, i should try one out really they are cheap enough these days...

Be sure to get the VGA box that has the S-Video bypass for games that don't support VGA mode. Also your Monitor-HD VGA needs to display 640x480 resolution. Some HD VGA LCDs tend to skip that lower resolution.

http://www.racketboy.com/store/featured/dreamcast-vga-box-svideo-av.html

CRTGAMER wrote:Be sure to get the VGA box that has the S-Video bypass for games that don't support VGA mode. Also your Monitor-HD VGA needs to display 640x480 resolution. Some HD VGA LCDs tend to skip that lower resolution.

http://www.racketboy.com/store/featured/dreamcast-vga-box-svideo-av.html

So, with that being said. Is there a way to find out if a certain HD VGA LCD does not support the lower resolution of 480p? Or is the only way to find out is to just plug in the VGA and see if you get an error message of some sort saying that it doesnt support 480p?

Google the specs. All HDs will support 480p. But its not the 480p to check which is similar, you want to be sure the HD with VGA input supports 640x480 resolution. As an analogy, Win 98 defaults at 640x480 while WinXP defaults at 800x600. Because of that a lot of HDs don't support the lower 640x480 mode.

jimmy2x2x PM to CRT wrote:Ok, so what I'm gathering from your post is that all HD LCD TV's will support 480p? It's the HD LCD TV's that have VGA input that may not support 480p? Is that right?

I'm only asking because I'm sure in the future I will be wanting to upgrade my current HD LCD TV to another one and just want to be sure the "new" TV will be able to let me play my dreamcast on it like the "old" one.

Got your PM above, prefer to give my responses back here for all to see and add to.

All HDs will support 480p, even the ones with a VGA input. But the VGA input itself is not 480p, but has various resolutions for PC-Mac input. The VGA 640x480 setup is visually the same as 480p but it is entirely a different screen. The Dreamcast with Composite or S-Video only goes to 480i or with VGA box gives a signal of 640x480 resolution. The trick is as mentioned earlier is ensuring your VGA HD setup can support a native resolution of 640x480. Again 480p support is not the same thing for this confirmation.

As long as your TV has Composite or S-Video you can still play your Dreamcast. VGA box just ups the resolution for HDTVs that support it. However another point to consider is the slower screen draw time of some LCDs compared to Plasmas and CRTs. Read my LCD vs CRT signature link.

What is you HDTV make and entire model number? I'll try to help you find the specs.

CRTGAMER wrote:What is you HDTV make and entire model number? I'll try to help you find the specs.

Ahhhh...gotcha!

Well my current HD LCD TV does allow me to play my Dreamcast via VGA box. I was just asking for future reference when the time comes to replacing/upgrading the TV I would know what to look for.

I really appreciate the help though!

With the Saturn, I don't think it matters what output you use. The graphics will still be blocky and pixilated as all hell.