Anyone here use a DC VGA box?

[lilmul123]

I'm thinking about getting a Dreamcast VGA Box for my HDTV, but since it only outputs 480p at max, I'm wondering if the graphics will be extremely superior to what I could get out of S-video on a CRT?

I'm deciding on buying a VGA box for $25, or a standard S-video for $7. I'm thinking the graphics will still be pretty blurry on my HDTV, but does anyone have any insight?

[war2thegrave]

If you can get a VGA box, than there's really no reason not to.

Some VGA boxes have an s-video jack built in anyway.

[lilmul123]

Yeah, I know, but I'm a little low on cash right now and if I find out that the graphics aren't significantly greater, it'd be like a waste of money to me.

[Ghaleon]

If you can get a VGA box, than there's really no reason not to.


You might want to make sure your HDTV supports a refresh of between 59.9 and 60.0 (or slightly higher) on VGA resolution input signals.

I just read a thread that got a little sidetracked (but with excellent and very relevant result) back in November: you can start at http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showpost.php?p=113504&postcount=22 or skip to the presumed resolution in the quoted-PM text at http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showpost.php?p=113581&postcount=48.

In any case, if I'm correctly interpreting what evildragon said in his PM, I would make sure that your TV can accept VGA resolution signals at a range of 59.9Hz to 60.0Hz (or higher), just to be safe: if it insists on very tight tolerances here, it might not work with the Dreamcast since you (presumably) can't alter the refresh rate on the VGA adapter.

[Youngie]

What I'm going to do is get a VGA box & hook it up to my CRT PC monitor.

[war2thegrave]

Yeah, I know, but I'm a little low on cash right now and if I find out that the graphics aren't significantly greater, it'd be like a waste of money to me.

What's your t.v.'s native resolution?

I remember the dreamcast looking decent on a 720P t.v. through VGA.
If the native resolution is 1080P, than it's gonna look like crap regardless
of which method you use to connect it.

[lilmul123]

It's 720p.

My Wii outputs 480p, but it only looks marginally better over 480i. Would I expect similar results?

[David J.]

I have a VGA box for my DC Hooked up to my Sharp 32' HDTV... I use it for my Xbox, DC, and PC.

[Benjamin]

Regardless of the resolution, you'll definitely notice enhanced color depth if nothing else. There's no reason to fear going with the best output method, knowing that ultimately you're still going to be looking at an "inferior" screen.

[Youngie]

In other words...go for it.

[kgenthe]

There will definitely be a huge upgrade from s-video, especially on the 60 fps games (Sonic Adventure 2 for example). I play my Dreamcast on a 17" CRT PC monitor with a VGA cable, it looks stunning. Sadly, my HDTV does not have a VGA input (lame) so I cannot comment on how it looks on a big screen, but the difference between 480i and 480p should be night and day. Additionally, the Dreamcast softens the picture on composite and s-video (to avoid jaggies). The VGA output is squeaky clean however, and looks stunning. Like Youngie said, go for it!

[TmEE]

difference between 480/576 i/p is not too big IMO... difference from using RGB(VGA) over S-vid is quite big though, colors look way better and there's less blurring.