The Joys of Dreamcast VGA

[ssbomberman]

You might also want to get a low grade HDTV like the Zenith 27 inch. It has a VGA HD input that supports DC, and GC games in progressive, etc. You can always just run your Xbox through HD component input on it to get 480p or 1080i.

I have the Naki box and it works great and lets you output via s-video as well, so you could run 3-D stuff in 480p and low-res through s-vid on the TV if you wanted (but what you should really do is just make a dedicated RGB setup for the DC because almost ever game works in RGB).

[Baron]

Thanks for the suggestions, ssbomberman, and believe me, I'd love to get an inexpensive HDTV like the ones you mentioned, but money is not on my side right now. I graduated from college into the worst job market in decades, so unfortunately things like a new TV will have to wait.

This VGA switchox will let me have both my PC (which I use daily) and my Dreamcast (which I'd like to use daily ) hooked up at the same time. This'll tide me over until I can get a nicer TV, for sure.

[ssbomberman]

Thanks for the suggestions, ssbomberman, and believe me, I'd love to get an inexpensive HDTV like the ones you mentioned, but money is not on my side right now. I graduated from college into the worst job market in decades, so unfortunately things like a new TV will have to wait.

This VGA switchox will let me have both my PC (which I use daily) and my Dreamcast (which I'd like to use daily ) hooked up at the same time. This'll tide me over until I can get a nicer TV, for sure.

Yeah, I'm truly sorry for you guys just getting out of college, I beat the slump by just a couple years...but it really sucks...are you going back to school? That seems to be the trick, stay in school as long as possible, milk the system if you can by being a TA or in an assistantship until you have the almighty Ph.D. and you can get a job no problem (atleast in education, anyway).

[GameHED]

Mr. GameHED: At one point I owned that VGA box, but it gives off nasty interference compared to the Sega VGA box I have, so I ditched it. Maybe I had a defective one, maybe not, but the picture quality was icky, so it went.

A friend of mine said he kept seeing lines across the screen with his. Was that the problem you got? He thought it was the DC itself. Damn Interact.

[Baron]

GameHED:

The interference was varied - sometimes there were lines across the screen, and sometimes there was a very fluid moving interference, kind of like floaters in your eye. I knew it was the VGA box itself, because the interference occurred with both the Dreamcast and PC VGA outputs.

And yes, it was the Interact "Performance" VGA box mentioned, with the pass-thru.



and ssbomberman - I'm actually four years your senior, heh, I just took my time going to school. And yes, staying in school as long as possible is a good idea right now. If only I'd known that two years ago, I would have maneuvered my way straight into a Master's program right from my BA. As it is, I'm workin' on it...

[Baron]

Well, my VGA switchbox from that company Matt linked to above arrived today via FedEx, and while it works just fine, the signal from my PC winds up at my monitor at a noticeably poorer quality than pre-switchbox. I was afraid of something like this - this text I'm typing has a ghosted-like outline around it. Anyone else out there use a setup like this willing to share their results?

Or rather, is this signal degradation an inherent, unavoidable by-product of using an A-B switchbox, or should I try buying some nice shielded, gold-pronged VGA cables and see if that helps?

[Mr.Sparkle]

*sniff*

I discovered today that my Performance box is busted. Both passthroughs work fine, but I don't get a signal on my monitor and the little orange light blinks instead of staying steady. The last time I saw it working was right before some bastard yanked the a/v cable out of a lcd projector.

Any of you hardware geeks have a suggestion on how I might go about fixing it?

[voltz]

you may want to switch monitors to make sure it's working properly. I've got 3 and one of them pulls this.

[Matt]

Well, my VGA switchbox from that company Matt linked to above arrived today via FedEx, and while it works just fine, the signal from my PC winds up at my monitor at a noticeably poorer quality than pre-switchbox. I was afraid of something like this - this text I'm typing has a ghosted-like outline around it. Anyone else out there use a setup like this willing to share their results?

Or rather, is this signal degradation an inherent, unavoidable by-product of using an A-B switchbox, or should I try buying some nice shielded, gold-pronged VGA cables and see if that helps?

I use a switchbox that's almost the same, and although the picture looks fine on my setup, I find that there's a very slight buzz in the sound (which I've also routed through the switcher).

Chances are, a more expensive switchbox would probably give better results, but using nice-quality VGA cables could help also. I found that linking too many extension cables together when running the signal through the switchbox gave me some ghosting in the image, like you've described. Mind you, the problem might just be caused by a cheap switch, so better cables could be a waste.

Sorry for the dud link, BTW - I didn't think there'd be that much of a problem

[Teddman]

I just wanted to add that the problems you had with the Performance VGA box must have meant you had a defective unit, Baron. If you get one that's working normally, there is no visible degradation or interference, at least to my eyes.

Your best solution may be to track down a Performance box in good working order.