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[hadareud]

I'd really like to get some "HD Experience" out of the Xbox 360, and I figured the cheapest way of getting it is the VGA cable. But, I can't find one anywhere in Ealing (London)

Does anyone know where I can buy a VGA cable for the 360 in the UK? Seems it's nowhere in stock in the online stores either. It really doesn't matter to me if it's the official one or the Joytech one (unless somebody tells me that the Joytech is absolute shite that is).

please help me GAF!

 

[TTP]

I'm waiting for a VGA cable too. Placed a pre-order on Play.com ages ago.
A friend of mine orderd it (the official one) as far as from Lik-Sang.
Dunno about the Joytech ones, but stay away from Madcats.

 

[hadareud]

I think this is actually the poorest thing about the launch, that MS cannot even get accessories in sufficient numbers out - it's not like there's a huge amount of 360's out, so I don't understand how they cannot keep up with demand.

Probably low yields on the cable front

 

[TTP]

Indeed :/

 

[rusty_y2k2]

last i looked, gameseek.co.uk had stock.....

i got mine from there

 

[StoOgE]

while we are here, I have a 3LCD RP HDTV and wanted to know if this would look better than component cables.

The two downsides I've found is the monster cables VGA cable doenst come with digital audio cable (have to spend an extra 30) and my TV's VGA input is in the front (Im guessing for laptops ) Really dont want the cable running to the front of my TV, but if it looks a good deal better, I'll deal with it.

 

[rusty_y2k2]

i take that back.. they are now out of stock....

play seem to be delivering everyones peripherals though, so may be worth just ordering one off there and then when they get some more in you'll be sent one.

 

[StoOgE]

if you dont mind spending more money monstercable.com has some. Im sure they ship to Europe.

 

[EB Guy]

I have 4 of them at my store.....too bad I'm not in the UK

 

[Panic_Attack]

while we are here, I have a 3LCD RP HDTV and wanted to know if this would look better than component cables.

The two downsides I've found is the monster cables VGA cable doenst come with digital audio cable (have to spend an extra 30) and my TV's VGA input is in the front (Im guessing for laptops ) Really dont want the cable running to the front of my TV, but if it looks a good deal better, I'll deal with it.

$30??? Are you smoking crack? http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&style=

 

[StoOgE]

$30??? Are you smoking crack? http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&style=

the monster cable one is 30. I would buy theirs. Its nitrogen infused with fun shading or soemthing. What can I say, Im a sucker for their marketing

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

I got mine at best buy, but I don't know if you have them in the UK.

While I'm here, I thought I'd brag about my setup, and just how sweet it is.

I run my comp and 360 into the same monitor through a switcher which I can switch by double tapping scroll lock. I run the audio from my 360 to the line in on my computer. This all then feeds out to my speakers. This way I can play music right off my comp through the same speakers as the game by simply switching over to the computer on the monitor and firing up winamp. 3 seconds later I'm back in the game. It's awesome. If you don't have 5.1 on your comp (I don't know how this could be done with 5.1, although I'm sure theres a way), then I highly reccomend this setup. If your monitor has multiple inputs you won't even need the vga switcher.

Good luck finding one, they're quite awesome.

 

[Shogmaster]

while we are here, I have a 3LCD RP HDTV and wanted to know if this would look better than component cables.

VGA's real RGB > Component's Y-Pb-Pr.

 

[hadareud]

Cool, thanks for the tips. I'm gonna have another stroll down the local shops tomorrow, if I can't find one I'm gonna order from gameseek.co.uk and eat up the higher price of 19.99

edit: fuck, out of stock there too now

 

[snatches]

VGA's real RGB > Component's Y-Pb-Pr.

Hey Shog, that is a good link and includes an important fact most people overlook when considering this type of thing....what does your TV do when it gets the signal? Only a TV that takes the RGB signal and feeds it directly to the picture emitter (crt tube, lcd panel, etc.) is an advantage. If a TV does its processing in Y-Pb-Pr than the signal will be converted twice negating the advantages.

Do you know of a resource for finding out how your TV processes the picture or if it passes an RGB signal direct to the source? This info seems very tough to find and will definitely affect my upcoming TV purchase....

 

[Celeryface]

I picked mine up at GameStation in the MetroCentre (NewCastle) last week. It was 19.99.

 

[Shogmaster]

Hey Shog, that is a good link and includes an important fact most people overlook when considering this type of thing....what does your TV do when it gets the signal? Only a TV that takes the RGB signal and feeds it directly to the picture emitter (crt tube, lcd panel, etc.) is an advantage. If a TV does its processing in Y-Pb-Pr than the signal will be converted twice negating the advantages.

Do you know of a resource for finding out how your TV processes the picture or if it passes an RGB signal direct to the source? This info seems very tough to find and will definitely affect my upcoming TV purchase....

Good gravy, I know of no such resource. Yer just gonna have to drudge through the manufacturer's manuals I guess.

 

[HokieJoe]

Hmm, I walked right into my local BB and picked up a VGA cable. It was the last one though.

 

[Stryder]

I ordered one of these from Liksang.com, it was fairly cheap also at $20us shipped to Australia.

 

[joaomgcd]

On a related note, will the VGA cable always output at 60Hz? Won't that look horrible on a normal CRT Monitor?

 

[neptunes]

you think there will be VGA cables for the ps3 and the revoulution (heh)?

 

[BabyWookie]

I got mine at best buy, but I don't know if you have them in the UK.

While I'm here, I thought I'd brag about my setup, and just how sweet it is.

I run my comp and 360 into the same monitor through a switcher which I can switch by double tapping scroll lock. I run the audio from my 360 to the line in on my computer. This all then feeds out to my speakers. This way I can play music right off my comp through the same speakers as the game by simply switching over to the computer on the monitor and firing up winamp. 3 seconds later I'm back in the game. It's awesome. If you don't have 5.1 on your comp (I don't know how this could be done with 5.1, although I'm sure theres a way), then I highly reccomend this setup. If your monitor has multiple inputs you won't even need the vga switcher.

Good luck finding one, they're quite awesome.

My 24" 1080p capable LCD monitor has D-Sub, DVI, Component and Composite inputs.
Running the audio through the line-in on the soundcard does work good, though I eventually plan to get a set of speakers with optical inputs.

BTW, the VGA cables are a dime-a-dozen in these parts.

 

[Prine]

il' set some aside for you tomorow if we do have some Hader

And yes, i cant find a play&charge kit anywhere

 

[suikodan]

I got mine at best buy, but I don't know if you have them in the UK.

While I'm here, I thought I'd brag about my setup, and just how sweet it is.

I run my comp and 360 into the same monitor through a switcher which I can switch by double tapping scroll lock. I run the audio from my 360 to the line in on my computer. This all then feeds out to my speakers. This way I can play music right off my comp through the same speakers as the game by simply switching over to the computer on the monitor and firing up winamp. 3 seconds later I'm back in the game. It's awesome. If you don't have 5.1 on your comp (I don't know how this could be done with 5.1, although I'm sure theres a way), then I highly reccomend this setup. If your monitor has multiple inputs you won't even need the vga switcher.

Good luck finding one, they're quite awesome.

I have the same setup on my 17 inches LCD. I don't really mind having a small screen because I am the only person playing so I'm quite near the screen. Scroll Lock 2xTapping FTW :lol

 

[plik]

I have the same setup on my 17 inches LCD. I don't really mind having a small screen because I am the only person playing so I'm quite near the screen. Scroll Lock 2xTapping FTW :lol

are you able to do 720p? because i can't seem to get a non stretched 720p output on my 17" LCD (Acer with DVI and Dsub). for some reason the monitor decides to strech the signal to full screen so everything is tall and skinny. i can't figure out a way for it not to.

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

are you able to do 720p? because i can't seem to get a non stretched 720p output on my 17" LCD (Acer with DVI and Dsub). for some reason the monitor decides to strech the signal to full screen so everything is tall and skinny. i can't figure out a way for it not to.

If your monitor is 17", then it's probably 1024x768 native. You need to set the dashboard setting(in system) to your monitors native res. If you have it at 1280x720 then it will send out, literrally, a 1280x720 signal. your monitor will receive it and think it's full screen image, and so it'll stretch it to fit the screen. if you have it set to 1280x1024, that is a 5:4 image, not 4:3.

If you have it set to 1024x768, it should render internally at 720 and then scale to 1024x600, and output it with black bars on top and bottom.

 

[_Angelus_]

I run my comp and 360 into the same monitor through a switcher which I can switch by double tapping scroll lock.

I just bought this switch box you speak of,the KVM switch box,right? Boy does it ever save you the hassle of going back and forth between plugging the VGA cable betwen a PC and a 360.

I bought my VGA cable on Nov.23rd,a full month before I finally found an XBox 360. I didn't want to be stuck with no HD for th games so I figured buy this damn thing now and have no regrets later. I just knew they were going to be very hard to find,and now look,theyre pretty damn rare.

 

[plik]

If your monitor is 17", then it's probably 1024x768 native. You need to set the dashboard setting(in system) to your monitors native res. If you have it at 1280x720 then it will send out, literrally, a 1280x720 signal. your monitor will receive it and think it's full screen image, and so it'll stretch it to fit the screen. if you have it set to 1280x1024, that is a 5:4 image, not 4:3.

If you have it set to 1024x768, it should render internally at 720 and then scale to 1024x600, and output it with black bars on top and bottom.

thanks for the reply, but what if my monitors native res. is 1280X1024?

 

[KingJ2002]

i bought the vga cables at launch and im loving the clearity... i cant use 1080i on them for some reason but using my TV's native resolution "1360x768" i get a very nice picture.

no complaints from me... i think i get a picture that looks better than the screenshots developers put out.

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

thanks for the reply, but what if my monitors native res. is 1280X1024?

Then set it to 1280x1024 in the dashboard. For most games it will broadcast a letterbox 720p image. Some will broadcast a fullscreen 1280x1024 image(doa4, COD2, maybe some others).

PGR3, however, screws up in that res because it renders internally at 1024x600. You need to set it to 1024x768 regardless of your monitors res for it to look right (it's still a bit stretched, but not TOO bad)

 

[suikodan]

are you able to do 720p? because i can't seem to get a non stretched 720p output on my 17" LCD (Acer with DVI and Dsub). for some reason the monitor decides to strech the signal to full screen so everything is tall and skinny. i can't figure out a way for it not to.

I could with a VGA Box but now I am using a VGA cable that does 1280x1024 which is the native resolution of my screen. Nothing seems stretched so far...

 

[godofcookery]

has anyone tried Halo 2 or Pandora Tomorrow w/ the 360 VGA cable? I have a 4:3 monitor but i feel like its trying to display in 16:9, in other words the models look all thin.

 

[Shompola]

has anyone tried Halo 2 or Pandora Tomorrow w/ the 360 VGA cable? I have a 4:3 monitor but i feel like its trying to display in 16:9, in other words the models look all thin.

Stupid question but worth asking anyway... did you set the xbox 360 to 4:3 in the dashboard? is there such a setting?

 

[godofcookery]

Stupid question but worth asking anyway... did you set the xbox 360 to 4:3 in the dashboard? is there such a setting?

When using the VGA cable w/ my 4:3 17in monitor (the monitor part is probably irrelavant) i use 4:3 compatible resolutions. (640x480, 1024x768 or 1280x1024) those are the only options available to me.

 

[Raistlin]

while we are here, I have a 3LCD RP HDTV and wanted to know if this would look better than component cables.

If the TV inputs, cable, etc. are all implemented well, there shouldn't really be a difference.

If you know a store that would allow you to return a cable opened though ... you should give it a try and report your results.

 

[Tiger]

I've been using the VGA cable on my HDTV. It leaves me one more component input open on my tv for another gaming system and I think it might even look a touch better overall.


I noticed the VGA cable seemed to give me a more pure picture than the component cables. I think thats because many HDTV's turn off all picture enhancements while using the VGA input and that gives it that more pure monitor look. I like it.


I'm also lucky that my HDTV has a native resolution of 720p so I have my 360 set to that exact same resolution with the VGA cable.

 

[hadareud]

I managed to pick one up this morning. My local Game got a couple in this morning (10 if I'm not mistaken, could be wrong though), I think there were 2 left when I got there.

I went to a few other shops before, no one had it. I also had to go to 3 shops to get a copy of Kameo, because it was sold out in all the others.

MS really managed to piss a lot of people off (including retail) with this launch.
I can understand that there are problems getting enough consoles out - but peripherals and games? WTF MS, do something about it!

 

[Zaphod]

Just picked up the VGA cable today to hook up my 19" Mag CRT monitor that I paid $75 a few years back. OMFG even on this third rate monitor the games look great. Especially DOA4 because it renders at 1280x1024. For PGR3 I set the output to 1024x768 and then changed the monitor settings to squish it into widescreen. Fortunately the monitor remembers the setting for each input type so I only had to set it up once. The two weird things I noticed were that at 640x480 the output was interlaced, not really a problem since I got PGR to work at 1024x768 and at 1280x1024 and I had to stretch the width near the maximum and tweak the crap out of the pincushion to get a nice image. This monitor has always needed a lot of tweaking to get it right though so it may just be my monitor. Hooray! HD era for cheapskates.

 

[Mejilan]

My monitor (19" Dell LCD) displays at 1152 x 864. I bought a VGA cable months ago but never tried it. Would it work on my display? If so, at what resolution would X360 games run on?

I currently have my X360 running through my SD, flatscreen CRT TV with a 2.1 sound system.

Edit - Also, my computer is set up with 5.1 sound (my standard TV is not). Will that work as well? Would I need any special cables?

 

[Zaphod]

My monitor (19" Dell LCD) displays at 1152 x 864. I bought a VGA cable months ago but never tried it. Would it work on my display? If so, at what resolution would X360 games run on?

I'm not too sure but I'd just try and hook it up and see what happens, if does not work the monitor just won't display, it won't hurt it. My guess would be that if you chose 1024x768 you would just have some small black borders. As for the surround, what kind of inputs does your speaker system have? If it has an optical it should sound real nice. The VGA cables come with a RCA to 1/8 inch male adapter inside if you speakers have a 1/8" input.

 

[Mejilan]

I have a SB Audigy 2 ZS, I think. My 5.1 speakers came with 3 colored plugs, and I popped them into the like-colored ports on the SB card for my 5.1 sound.

 

[Zaphod]

Proprietary stuff makes my heads spin. I'm just using headphones right now because the monitor blocks my center and front right channels. I'd say that the audio may not worky so much, since it has three connections, oh well... Let us know how the monitor works.

 

[Mejilan]

Will do, thanks!