Xbox 360: HDMI vs VGA

[MattyD]

So what's the excuse for say LCDs, where the pixels are physically fixed? Is it just a legacy thing or what?

[sj33]

Not really an excuse. It's a throwback from CRT's, but these are the kind of things we should have been moving away from when moving to HD.

[Freddo]

It's not really a good excuse or anything but some sources may have artifacts at the extreme edges of the image, which would be annoying to see. Not at least offering a 0% overscan option though on a fixed pixel display is pretty stupid though imo, given that the majority of none-broadcast sources dont suffer from this.

[sj33]

Here are some test images by tiger dave http://www.tigerdave.com/test_patterns.htm. Load the image up on your 360 or PS3, and you'll see how much is 'cut'

Some sort of overscan compensation makes sense with 480p stuff usually designed for CRTs, but I never could understand why they have to be applied to HD resolutions.

[MattyD]

Well I fitted a VGA cable yesterday, set the Xbox to my TV's native res and I'm getting no overscan at all according to these test cards, so yay ^_^

[mackemansj1]

playing ratchet and clank at 1080i or 1080p 1:1 pixel mapped gives me alot of garbage on the bottom right of the screen. But switching to 720p gives me overscan and more jaggies than at 1080p ohhh what to do jaggies and overscan or a bit of garbage on the bottom right.

[MJ]

I've always been a fan of the 360's VGA output (official cable) with its 1:1 pixel mapping, but when I got a HDMI ready 360 I used that connection for a while before going back to VGA, due to needing the HDMI ports on the TV for other things. After months with VGA I changed to HDMI again and I can't quite make my mind up as to which I prefer. I think VGA produces a slightly better and brighter picture, but it's hard to tell without looking at them side-by-side. I can't quite seem to get the brightness quite right to cover all/most games with HDMI, but I'll stick with it for a while.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Think I will try it out next week. It can free up the HDMI socket for blu ray player for me.
Beside I don't use Dreamcast often anyway.

[sj33]

If the HDMI port on your TV supports 1:1 pixel mapping (usually labelled as something like 'Full Scan'), then use that. If there is also some kind of 'PC mode' on your TV, enable that also, and switch the colour settings on the 360 to 'Enhanced'. If your TV overscans when displaying a picture over HDMI, and has no 'Full Scan' mode of sorts, go with VGA.

Most new TV's (and pretty much all 1080p TVs) support 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI, usually having to be specifically enabled. This was all a bigger problem a few years ago (on most 720p/1080i TVs) because most TVs didn't support 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI.

All things being equal, there should be no significant difference between HDMI and VGA. However, TVs handle different inputs differently, so it doesn't always pan out that way in real life.

[Decider-VT]

VGA is my preferred connection but Dead Rising just looks atrocious- the screen constantly tears throughout the game, even during cutscenes.

[EvilBoris]

Capcom have sone weird glitch in their engine which makes games tear to death if you aren't running 720p. I don't think they have sorted that even in their new games

[Decider-VT]

Apparently DR only tears after downloading an update- Lost Planet 1/2 and SFIV all seem to be fine, though. Changing resolutions sounds like a decent temporary fix if there's a 1366x720 option lurking in the settings- thanks.

[ItsThere]

If the HDMI port on your TV supports 1:1 pixel mapping (usually labelled as something like 'Full Scan'), then use that. If there is also some kind of 'PC mode' on your TV, enable that also, and switch the colour settings on the 360 to 'Enhanced'. If your TV overscans when displaying a picture over HDMI, and has no 'Full Scan' mode of sorts, go with VGA.

Most new TV's (and pretty much all 1080p TVs) support 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI, usually having to be specifically enabled. This was all a bigger problem a few years ago (on most 720p/1080i TVs) because most TVs didn't support 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI.

All things being equal, there should be no significant difference between HDMI and VGA. However, TVs handle different inputs differently, so it doesn't always pan out that way in real life.

D'oh.

I didn't know this.

HDMI does look better now (I think).

[JazzFunk]

I've always been a fan of the 360's VGA output (official cable) with its 1:1 pixel mapping, but when I got a HDMI ready 360 I used that connection for a while before going back to VGA, due to needing the HDMI ports on the TV for other things. After months with VGA I changed to HDMI again and I can't quite make my mind up as to which I prefer. I think VGA produces a slightly better and brighter picture, but it's hard to tell without looking at them side-by-side. I can't quite seem to get the brightness quite right to cover all/most games with HDMI, but I'll stick with it for a while.

I err towards favouring the official VGA cable with my 360, it's a slightly softer picture that doesn't define edges quite as much as the HDMI, it has less "vulgarity of definition", if that makes sense. Most games don't really differ that much (especially as most 360 games are brash action titles) but something like GTAIV, the rawness of the HDMI seems to damage it a bit compared to VGA, I can't quite get it looking the way it did in the 'good old days'.

BUT, having ditched the 360+monitor setup I had, and having the 360 and all my other consoles hooked up to one telly, purely for the convenience/space factor, I think the difference isn't really too great, it's just *certain* games look better under VGA, it seems to be a tad more subtle...

It's just...wistful memories of GTAIV thru VGA, Liberty City looked so warm and luxuriously romantic with smoothly-defined and faced inhabitants, silky neon lights with the minimum of jaggles, and now it and they are all a bit...scraggy.

[SUMIRE]

Tried mine with the VGA after using HDMI for ages. I have to say, HDMI on my TV looks alot better, better blacks, less washed out than with VGA.