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

[ShinAkumaXX]

I use my DC-X disc. I bought it for playing imports on my dreamcast. It allows me to play any game on VGA. I'm sure you can find one on eBay cheap. I bought it for 30 bucks ten years ago. It's basically a boot up disc. I've been able to play all my games via my VGA box that otherwise would not play. And they look great. I love Bust-A-Move 4 via VGA on my plasma.

[SpaceBooger]

From all of the research and even member help, especially the long lost mozgus, we have determined that it is the way that newer TVs handle the signal from the DC that causes the vertical lines.
I agree that these adaptors (I have the same one) are hit or miss and may be cheaply made that I don't think thats the whole problem. I know that I am no expert nor are those who have helped me, but I have accepted the conclusions from multiple tests that we have completed.

Call BS, thats cool but thats all I got. Maybe you can take my findings and use them to help your research and possibly solving the issue. We would all appreciate it if you could call BS and have a better answer. Oh, by the way I'm not offended or even annoyed by the BS comment. I was disappointed on the reason BS was called though

[emurozii]

How much better is HDMI than VGA on a Dreamcast? Assuming it is better, that is.

[elmagicochrisg]

[SpaceBooger]

Not trying to beat a dead horse, but here is something I found on another site:

The Problem:

The TV seems to like the resolution just fine, it's just got the black bars on the sides. No big deal.

However, there is some kind of video artifact that is not fine. There are very narrow vertical stripes every three quarters of a centimeter or so across the whole image. They are very faint and are only visible with dark images on screen, such as the kinds of images displayed by Resident Evil: CV. This is present in all games, however, it's just more noticable in some than others.

The Answer:

the artifacting is the result of the image being scaled up to match the max vertical area of your LCD. Unless your screen is an exact multiple of 640x480 (unlikely) then as I said before the choices are black bars all around, or scaling. Unfortunately you probably don't have a choice for black bars and it looks like the scaling left evidence.

I did do some research and the TV I have a Panasonic Viera TH50PX600U does not adjust settings, but instead just stretches/multiplies to a resolution of 1366 x 768 causing the lines.
So I guess TV does matter, and this is evident throughout the net. Some newer TVs don't support the lower resolution of the DC giving a no signal. At least I am lucky that my TV accepts it even though its scaling leaves distortion.

[racketboy]

I'll have to experiment with this when I get my new TV (planning on a Panasonic Plasma)
But there's other variables too. I probably won't be going straight from the VGA to the TV.
I'll probably have a VGA-to-HDMI adapter and then feeding it to a Receiver that does upscalling. So there's multiple variables possible...

[pakopako]

How much better is HDMI than VGA on a Dreamcast? Assuming it is better, that is.

I would guess not at all. Both are digital output signals, but while HDMI cables might be able to support higher resolutions, the highest the Dreamcast can output is 480p. Any upscaling is done by your TV and not via the video cable.

I use my DC-X disc... It allows me to play any game on VGA... I've been able to play all my games via my VGA box that otherwise would not play.

EMUparadise's compatibility list would say otherwise. I use a patched Utopia CD, the Gameshark CDX Lite that came free in magazines, and the VGA-box toggle-trick to get games like Gunbird2 semi-working. If you can get NTSC Bangai-O or Plasma Sword (two games that don't even like ISO-patching) to work with a DC-X, that would be awesome.

[Hobie-wan]

Both are digital output signals

VGA is analog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vga

[CRTGAMER]

The Dreamcast does not put out 480p. Though similar, DC VGA 640x480 screen is a completely different screen. If a VGA port is available, better to stick with that, IF the HD will support 640x480 resolution. LCDs with the widescreen does stretch the image with some looking great, but most displaying the dreaded dot crawl in trying to upscale. Niode, a while back mentioned he has beautiful results with a Plasma.

[elmagicochrisg]