no HDMI)best way to connect my 360?
no HDMI)best way to connect my 360?
Author
Discussion

bumrar

Original Poster:

178 posts

228 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
Ive got an xbox 360 (old one with no HDMI), and a new TV arrives on friday, which is HD. Will I get the best picture using the component cable supplied with the xbox or using a VGA (PC D-sub) connection to the TV? or another way?

the TV has the following connections:
3 x HDMI Connections
1 x S-Video Connection
1 x Component Video Connection
1 x Composite Video Connection
1 x SD/Multimedia Card Slot
1 x Headphone Socket
1 x Standard Scart Connection
1 x RGB Scart Connection
1 x PC D-Sub Connection
1 X CI Slot


Cheers

Neil_H

15,418 posts

280 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
I use component, no complaints here. You can use VGA but I think component is better quality.

Edited by Neil_H on Wednesday 9th July 13:12

Civpilot

6,257 posts

269 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
Neil_H said:
I use component, no complaints here. You can use VGA but I think component is better quality.

Edited by Neil_H on Wednesday 9th July 13:12
I had component, switched to VGA and noticed a definate improvement on my LCD TV.

Pentoman

4,835 posts

292 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
VGA is sharper but less colourful for me vs. component. Both official cables.

Also noticed that GTA in 720p seems to run better with less slowdown than in 1080i. Presumably that's because in 1080i it's processing the whole game at a higher resolution (even if it's only interlacing it to a similar quality to 720p).

bumrar

Original Poster:

178 posts

228 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
cheers, think I may give the VGA a try. cant wait to get it hooked up to this new TV (being delivered friday). Going from a 32" CRT to a 42" full HD biggrin

Jubal

930 posts

258 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
I have mine hooked up by VGA and it's awesome. For maximum HD goodness be sure that your TV supports the resolution. 1360×768 is what the xbox pumps out IIRC. The TV will just scale it to 1366x768 or whatever the TV's native resolution is if it doesn't support it.

vdubbin

2,175 posts

226 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
+1 for VGA. Much better res. (Though I'm back to component on the old 26" in the spare room at the moment frown )

Scockers

217 posts

253 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
+another 1 for VGA. I find it much better than component on 32" Sony LCD.

tim2100

6,288 posts

286 months

Wednesday 9th July 2008
quotequote all
+1 VGA

franv8

2,212 posts

267 months

Thursday 10th July 2008
quotequote all
I use VGA - 360 will put out all sorts of resolutions (look in set up) - so you can match the native resolution of your tv/monitor/projector - gives considerably sharper results.

Think the 360 goes up to full HD (1080) - can't be sure because my resoltion is 1200 X 800 or something...

:J:

2,593 posts

254 months

Thursday 10th July 2008
quotequote all
franv8 said:
I use VGA - 360 will put out all sorts of resolutions (look in set up) - so you can match the native resolution of your tv/monitor/projector - gives considerably sharper results.

Think the 360 goes up to full HD (1080) - can't be sure because my resoltion is 1200 X 800 or something...
480p
720p
1080i
1080p

I think ?

Riknos

4,701 posts

233 months

Thursday 10th July 2008
quotequote all
Pentoman said:
VGA is sharper but less colourful for me vs. component. Both official cables.

Also noticed that GTA in 720p seems to run better with less slowdown than in 1080i. Presumably that's because in 1080i it's processing the whole game at a higher resolution (even if it's only interlacing it to a similar quality to 720p).
720p will be better than 1080i, due to the fact it progressively scans in individual pixels, rather than interlacing them?

One of the 360 updates earlier this year enabled it to output at 1080p (Which older games wont have, obviously)
I use the componant which came with the 360, Also got a VGA connection but couldn't see any improvement? confused
I've heard you can only get a max of 720p out of the componant that comes with the 360, but I didn't notice any difference on the VGA?

qube_TA

8,405 posts

274 months

Thursday 10th July 2008
quotequote all
I found that with component there was ghosting on 1080x it was particularly bad on progressive scan so I switched to VGA at the same resolution and it's perfect.


Riknos

4,701 posts

233 months

Friday 11th July 2008
quotequote all
qube_TA said:
I found that with component there was ghosting on 1080x it was particularly bad on progressive scan so I switched to VGA at the same resolution and it's perfect.
Never had ghosting at 1080p. Been using it for about 7 months now. Maybe its because its all been on COD4 and no other game? hehe

sevros1981

718 posts

236 months

Monday 14th July 2008
quotequote all
I think I'm right in saying that using a VGA cable will output a computer signal, not a video signal so that the maximum output resolution will be something around 1200x1024. However, the processor with your LCD tv will prob rescale it to maximum size. The best way would be with HDMI, but failing that, getting the best resolution picture would be with your component which should output 1080i.

Joda Cast

31 posts

224 months

Monday 14th July 2008
quotequote all
Best picture quality I have found is with VGA. Set it up through the 360 Dashboard. You must make two things sure.

1. Check your new TVs manual for its native resolution. It might be 1366×768 or probably higher. Then make sure you set the VGA output to this resolution. If you set it higher your TV wont be able to display it and if you set it lower it will look blurry.

2. The black colour levels from VGA are different to those from component and can make the colours look muted or faded. Fix this in the VGA display options. There are three black Reference Levels to choose. Mine is set to Expanded. Try all three to see which gives you the best colour.

Also using VGA normally turns off TVs annoying picture processing and sharpening and can solve picture "lag" issues.

qube_TA

8,405 posts

274 months

Monday 14th July 2008
quotequote all
sevros1981 said:
I think I'm right in saying that using a VGA cable will output a computer signal, not a video signal so that the maximum output resolution will be something around 1200x1024. However, the processor with your LCD tv will prob rescale it to maximum size. The best way would be with HDMI, but failing that, getting the best resolution picture would be with your component which should output 1080i.
Not sure what a 'computer signal' is but VGA isn't digital & the resolution is the same. If you're using VGA on the 360 there's various resolution options (just as with component), the highest is something like (IIRC) 1125 lines which is higher than your TV screen can cope with but if you have a high-res computer monitor you can take advantage of it.