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

[CRTGAMER]

That's what I'll do. Get a vga box and go see if that does good enough for me. Really I'm just trying to get my Sony wega out of the house and plug up what i use on my hdtv. Plan on going the scart route with my saturn with a scart to hdmi convertor.

Cool. Thanks for the tips fellas. Never cared before so I'm just getting into the whole best picture possible for retro systems thing. And of course I'm late and missed the boat on the xrbg thing. I'm kind of behind on the newer hdtvs also. I knew alot when they first came out but skipped the 1080p generation until recently. Just didn't see a need if cable/satallite/OTA didn't broadcast in it.

I am guessing your WEGA is a 480i tube? Before you dispose that Sony, test out the upscaler as well as direct connections of retro consoles that require composite on your HDTV. At one time I was debating on an LED HDTV, took a Pacman PlugNPlay to Frys and saw first hand how bad the upscale "blur" was. Sticking to my WEGA HD CRT. Any consoles such as your Dreamcast that support SVideo are better off on the WEGA for the best Chroma Luma separation, though if you get that Dreamcast VGA to work on you flat screen it should be a better picture.

The HD LED/LCD TV has the best picture quality for HD signals, but upscale of 480i to 1080p has mixed results. I prefer the HD CRT WEGA for the best compromise of retro and modern systems; no upscale issues.

You will lose out on House Dead Lightgun support on your HD TV; try a VGA CRT monitor which supports the lightgun!

[stickem]

Yeah just 480i, kv24fs120. Light gun games have never interested me, so no loss there. I actually have a Toshiba hdcrt, one of those heavy ass widescreen lol. It's on its way out though, green tint no matter how you adjust it.

[stickem]

Well crap. Even though my hdtv has vga and says it accepts 480p it doesn't like the vga box. Everything in slow motion and 5 sec input lag and sometimes doesn't work at all. I verified it worked on a 15 year old pc monitor, looks good. Any cheap vga to hdmi convertor that work well?

[Tanooki]

Consider me interested in the answer too. I'd like to get something to take the DC off of RCA but unless I know for certain with stuff floating around $50 at least as a test is too much of a risk.

[Thierry Henry]

I've got a package coming in tomorrow.

I'll let you guys know how that VGA to HDMI converter performs.

[marurun]

I have a cheap one that's similar to that. There is some lag (converter plus TV plus upscaler in TV or converter), but it's not too bad for most games. My box just converts the VGA signal to HDMI but doesn't upscale. The TV has to do the upscaling.

[CRTGAMER]

Well crap. Even though my hdtv has vga and says it accepts 480p it doesn't like the vga box. Everything in slow motion and 5 sec input lag and sometimes doesn't work at all. I verified it worked on a 15 year old pc monitor, looks good. Any cheap vga to hdmi convertor that work well?

That is the problem with the fixed 1080p resolution of the HD LCD/LED; the upscale even with a decent conversion box not as good as the native resolution of the CRT. When possible keep the CRT and preferably an HD CRT 4:3 for support of all resolutions up to 1080i. Yes the Tube TVs are heavy and bulky, but do not have to be moved again once setup. The last generation CRT models the best with enhanced digital controls.

Consider me interested in the answer too. I'd like to get something to take the DC off of RCA but unless I know for certain with stuff floating around $50 at least as a test is too much of a risk.

Try SVideo on your Tube TV, a definite improvement over Composite. Though if a flat screen you probably do not have SVideo option.

Many newer LCDs and LEDs do not have a VGA input and a conversion to HDMI may degrade the video scaling or may not even work. In addition for the flat screen TVs that do have VGA, a chance the lower 640x480 resolution may not be supported. Best to test the store floor model with the video adapter if possible.

[Tanooki]

I do not and never will own a tube TV again sorry.

I just read up on a Hais Dreamcast VGA-RCA/Svideo box, anything special about that as it looks identical to the retrobit one.

That thing is the retrobit one, been around over 10 years now.

If you got that retrobit(etc) box, and got a HDMI<->VGA cable, then the RCA to the port in to the TV for the games that wno't work, wouldn't that be best as there's no signal converter in the middle reprocessing the data?

[marurun]

I do not and never will own a tube TV again sorry.

Saying this on a classic game forum is like begging the early Catholic Church to PLEASE just try you with heresy because blaspheming just feels SO good.

[Tanooki]

I'd expect nothing short of the Spanish Inquisition really, but it's the truth. Unless I could find a way to wire a system into my neo-geo cabinet I'm done with CRTs. They're big/heavy, blurry, and overall outside of the last I had (Sony Wega) fairly annoying to keep around. I just put the added effort into finding a modern TV that won't experience piss poor visual output and annoying display lag and I'm happy (other than no light gun stuff.)