Dreamcast VGA Adaptor

[sj33]

Some questions about Dreamcast VGA adaptors -

1) Are the official ones better than the unofficial ones? It seems like a no-brainer to say they would be, but since they are harder to find and more expensive than unofficial ones, I'm kinda curious as to if it's worth the extra...

2) An advantage to some unofficial ones? Features the official one might not have, for example?

3 ) I guess my main worry with an unofficial adaptor is that it might just be converting the regular signal, as opposed to utilising the actual Dreamcast VGA mode. Obviously this would defeat the point... are there any adaptors known to do this?

[mid]

I guess my main worry with an unofficial adaptor is that it might just be converting the regular signal, as opposed to utilising the actual Dreamcast VGA mode. Obviously this would defeat the point... are there any adaptors known to do this?

I've not heard of any devices do that, no. Furthermore, I've not seen anything for other platforms (where upscaling is the only option) cost anywhere near as little as the ?13 DC VGA boxes, so I'd guess it's much simpler to just do things properly.

[Lyris]

Anything that converted a regular signal up to VGA would cost more anyway - considerably more - so you can't buy one of those devices by accident. The DC outputs VGA natively, so there'd be no point in manufacturers bothering.

[Leon Retro]

I recently bought a Hais vga-box from Kubrick- and it works perfectly( beautiful crisp clear image on my LCD)

I bought the Hais because it has a good reputation and it works with ntsc&pal. I really am amazed at how good the Dreamcast looks through VGA!

[phillai]

Does anyone make one so that it plays all DC games (even non-compatible ones?)

I'm after one...

Also did anyone make a DVI one for LCD monitors?

[charlesr]

Nope, if the game doesnt support vga, then it wont do it - for that you need a more expensive upscaler. And no to the dvi.

I've got one almost identical looking to the one on play-asia and it gives an absolutely superb picture.

[Kubrick]

Nope, if the game doesnt support vga, then it wont do it

Essentialy true, but there is a way to force some non-VGA games like PowerStone to display on a monitor regardless.

From GameFAQs:

1. Switch off the Dreamcast and monitor, and set the VGA box switch to the TV position. Turn the volume down on your speakers, to allow you to hear the Dreamcast's drive spinning.

2. Put in the game disk and turn on the Dreamcast.

3. Listen to the drive. You will hear it start spinning at slow speed to check the disk. After a couple of seconds you will hear the drive speed up. At this point, flip the VGA box switch to the VGA position.

4. Wait about 10 secs as the game continues to load. Turn the monitor back on, and hopefully the game will now be running in VGA mode.

NOTE: You can leave your monitor on the whole time if you like. It's just that some older VGA monitors go haywire whilst the VGA box is in TV position because there is no VGA signal present. Most newish digital monitors will quietly go into a standby mode when there's no VGA signal present, in which case you can just leave it on the whole time.

[charlesr]

Blimey didnt know that. Nice one.

[gamerade]

there is a version of the utopia boot disk that will force non-vga games to display on a vga monitor, tried it on a couple of my games, but i noticed significant slowdown on some
ie Gunbird2, gave up and went down the xrgb2+ road

[Valken]

Essentialy true, but there is a way to force some non-VGA games like PowerStone to display on a monitor regardless.

You don't need to force Powerstone to do VGA... it supports it without saying so on the box. Checked with NTSC-J and PAL versions just there to confirm.

[mid]

there is a version of the utopia boot disk that will force non-vga games to display on a vga monitor

Doesn't DC-X allow you to do the same? I don't think I've got any non-VGA compatible games, otherwise I'd test it for you.

[sj33]

Suppose it would be nice for PAL Skies of Arcadia, don't think that supports VGA.

[ExpertKing]

99% of Naomi conversions will support VGA.