Upscale Your Game Consoles Up To 1080p

Destructoid spin-off blog, NextLust alerted me to quite an affordable solution to upscaling your older consoles to resolutions up 1080p for your high-end TV. These type of devices have been around for a while, but the X2VGA 2 High Definition VGA Transcoder is at a price that most people can afford.

First of all, you might be wondering why you would need this… Well, as Danzuke writes,

“When you’re watching standard def (SD) stuff on your HD set, it’s being upconverted to HD so you can see it. That takes time (usually a few frames). But it can make playing old games difficult, since the video lags a little behind the audio. Newer HDTV’s are much better, but it’s still a case by case basis. Make sure to check into it before dropping the coin on a new TV.”

The X2VGA Transcoder will essentially take any component or VGA video signal and upscales it to the proper resolution for your HDTV. As the product’s page states it,

“The X2VGA 2 High Definition VGA Transcoder by Neoya is designed to work with any gaming console or video device that has a standard component video output, such as the Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii, GameCube, Xbox 360, and Xbox, etc. With the X2VGA 2TM and a standard VGA monitor, users can play their favorite games at 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p resolutions – over double that of a standard TV! The X2VGA 2TM makes games come alive, delivering the sharpest, most realistic visuals available.”

With all that marketing lingo, how can you go wrong? Well, there are a few drawbacks that probably are the reason for the lower price. There is only one component input and one VGA input. I suppose that if you have a suitable AV reciever, you could feed multiple devices though that first before upscaling, but that’s not the most practical setup.

Also, the device only outputs to VGA. I would have liked to see an HDMI and/or a Component output for TVs like mine that don’t have a VGA-in. This would have been the perfect addition to the Dreamcast VGA adapter for people that want their Dreamcast to be high-def via component or HDMI.

However, if the limitations of this device still fall within your requirements, the price is not bad at all…


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4 Comments

BrunchMonolith says:

This device doesn’t scale anything, all it does is convert a component signal into a VGA signal. If you put 720p in you get 720p out. Put 480p in you get 480p out. The marketing blurb says nothing about upscaling either. I know all this stuff because I actually have one.

HerbertKornfeld says:

I own one of these, and I have been mostly impressed with the quality of the video. I connect it to my Sony fw900 24 inch VGA Monitor, and the results are impressive. The quality of the build, however, leaves a lot to be desired. It is made of very cheap feeling plastic, and one of my buttons has been stuck since arrival. I have to fiddle with my power button every time I turn it off or on just to get it to work. Shipping is out of China, so I have been hesitant to send it back for repairs. For now, though, I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because when I can actually get the thing turned on, it works well. Caveat emptor.

Prashant J. says:

You’ve got it all wrong. This device takes a 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p signal and outputs it to VGA. That is its only purpose. It is primarily meant for people like me who find it more convenient or/and affordable to use a PC monitor. It does not do any upscaling. In fact, it does not even support 480i, but does have an “EasyView” feature that gives a very out of proportion interlaced image. This feature comes in handy when you need to go through a menu in order to switch from 480i to a progressive resolution.

elvis says:

This article needs a complete re-write. The original site got the facts completely wrong. God forbid someone should buy one of these expecting it to be an upscaler when it’s merely a YCrCb->RGB/VGA tanscoder, and nothing else.

These are great for plugging Component-output-only consoles into PC or high-res arcade monitors. But they don’t do anything more outstanding than that.

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