No Dreamcast on my HD TV... Fudgenuts! Update: it works!

[marurun]

Seems there are a number of HDTVs out these days which don't have VGA ports. Mine is one of them. I bought a VGA -> HDMI transcoder but my TV doesn't support 640 x 480 via HDMI.

So if you decide you want a Dreamcast on your TV with an affordable VGA -> HDMI transcoder box (not upscaler), make sure your TV can accept lower-resolution HDMI feeds.

I'm going to test this box to make sure it works with a laptop, and if it does, at least I know I can put it up for sale in my BST thread. Can't return it if it works but my TV doesn't support it.

Blah...

After more testing on HDMI 1, it works! The TV does the upscaling, but the converter itself does work, and for only $30!

[CD AGES]

What brand or model VGA -> HDMI transcoder are you using if I may ask?

Have you thought about VGA-Component? Your TV should be able to get a signal in this alternative setup.

[jay_red]

I remember a video with a guy using a vga to hdmi converter, but the box could output 720 and 1080 signals. He compared the dc in different resolutions. Maybe you can look for that kind of box?

[d123456]

but my TV doesn't support 640 x 480 via HDMI.

That doesn't sound right. 480p via hdmi should be standard on every tv.
Can you try with another system? ps3 or dvd or blu ry player to set it to 480p.
I can't imagine a tv that doesn't support it. Could the transcoder be off?
What kind of crap tv doesn not support 480p over hdmi?
If you play ps2 games that support 480p on your ps3, your ps3 will output pure 480p no matter what the original video settings of your ps3 are.

[marurun]

I've read in a couple places the possibility that the particular transcoder I'm using may do 59hz instead of 60hz, even though the manual clearly states 60hz. Also, I was not using the more flexible HDMI input. I need to try HDMI 1 on my TV since that has the broadest resolution support (it supports a range of PC resolutions and can act as a crisp external monitor over HDMI). I was initially using HDMI 2, which was apparently a mistake.

Seems HDMI 2 and 3 are rather dumb HDMI ports with limited resolution support.

[marurun]

There is hope on HDMI 1!

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Why make a TV like that? Why not use one chip for all the video decoding? It's not like you'll be using all 3 inputs at the same time. Strange design.

[d123456]

I've read in a couple places the possibility that the particular transcoder I'm using may do 59hz instead of 60hz, even though the manual clearly states 60hz. Also, I was not using the more flexible HDMI input. I need to try HDMI 1 on my TV since that has the broadest resolution support (it supports a range of PC resolutions and can act as a crisp external monitor over HDMI). I was initially using HDMI 2, which was apparently a mistake.

Seems HDMI 2 and 3 are rather dumb HDMI ports with limited resolution support.

Incredible. I would have never guessed that. Great to hear you got it going. So, how does it look?
On European tv's, the same thing is ussualy the case for the scart inputs. On alot of tv's only the scart 1 input accepts rgb and scart 2 and scart 3 do not support rgb at all. Beware of that.