Cheap monitor/telly to use with 360 HD cable

[JazzFunk]

Haven't got a lot of space so have been playing the 360 on a 10 year old 14" CRT telly via RGB. It's better than composite, most definitely, but I'm getting this increasingly frustrated feeling whenever I play games which I KNOW have a lot of onscreen detail and only display in W/S on my 14" telly (Dead Space, Dead Rising etc.) I'm missing out on a hell of a lot.

Basically, I want to buy a dirt cheap HDTV, or a widescreenesque monitor with inbuilt speakers (preferably), something smallish, about 14"-20", one that gives me actual HD on my 360, but doesn't have to be some kind of awesome 'just like life' home cinema-type experience.

I will JUST be using my 360 with whatever monitor/telly, so watching TV on it is not an issue. Like I said, doesn't have to be super-duper HD, I just want to see the missing detail! And preferably for less than £100, from someplace where I can walk out and get one tomoz.

OH, AND I HAVE TO MENTION THIS...:

A couple of months back, I managed to snag an official MS VGA AV cable for 95p(!) from Blockbusters. That is the cable I will be using to connect my 360 to whatever HD options that may be mentioned.

Is it a good lead?? Picture high quality, etc.?

(Christ, I know so little about things of this ilk...)

Any advice, as always, would be gratefully received.

[smouty]

If you are using VGA I think it would be very difficult to find a monitor or TV without this connection.
Think about size, resolution, brightness, panel type and speakers.
I recently bought a 22" Samsung TV which is pretty good for 360.
For £100 you're probably looking at a 19" LCD with only a VGA connection and a TN panel which is only just about OK.

[paul]

A couple of months back, I managed to snag an official MS VGA AV cable for 95p(!) from Blockbusters. That is the cable I will be using to connect my 360 to whatever HD options that may be mentioned.

Is it a good lead?? Picture high quality, etc.?

(Christ, I know so little about things of this ilk...)

Any advice, as always, would be gratefully received.

I have this lead as well, but I paid the ?20 odd quid it cost from Blockbusters. So you got a good deal there. I've used the cable and I thought the picture quality was great with it, but I have no idea how it compares to the HDMI cable.

The only downside is not being able to pay some xbox games running in 50hz like Jet Set Radio future....which is a bit of a bummer. But other than that, it is great.

I

[JazzFunk]

Thanks for the replies. I think 'just about OK' would be just about OK for now, until I have some more space. As long as I can decipher small text decently and feel some sense of solidity within the games (which happens 50/50 with RGB) then I'd be quite happy for now.

I'm going to have a mosey round Leeds city centre this aft, price things up.

@Paul, it was when Blockbuster were having that massive preowned sale in July - it was unboxed and I don't think they knew what to do with it (hence the ridiculously low price!)

[JazzFunk]

I ended up looking around for anything around the £100 mark (cheapest w/ inbuilt speakers new was £129 from PC World) so I ended up getting a barely-used 2nd hand 19" LCD monitor with speakers and VGA/DVI-D connections from CEX for £68.

I have to say, the picture is pretty damn awesome, and the thing'll do me nicely.

Now if anyone's got any pointers on DVI connections...

[smouty]

You can get a HDMI-DVI cable for about £5 but if you're happy with the VGA PQ why bother? You would still need separate audio cables (audio dongle required).

[JazzFunk]

^Yeah, I'm very happy with it, it's quite shocking (in a good way) how much better it looks - I wasn't expecting quite the hike in display, tbh.

But, being a curious soul, what would the HDMI-DVI output be like in comparison to the average HD display?

Are we talking a stunning leap in onscreen detail or do you need a larger bit of kit to notice differences in picture quality?

[smouty]

The difference is pretty subjective and to a large degree depends on your output device.
I personally can't tell the difference at 720p.

[abigsmurf]

The difference between digital (HDMI) and analogue (VGA) is largely dependent on the hardware (both in the source device and the receiving one). With good hardware the difference is small, with bad hardware, there can be quite a difference.

Generally VGA will produce a slightly softer picture.

[JazzFunk]

^Yeah, again, thanks for the advice. I'm kind of getting my head around all this 720/1080 stuff now.

Playing Ninja Gaiden 2 on it right now, looks futching stunning (though to be fair, it was damn nice through RGB, also). I'll always lol at legless ninjas crawling along the floor to attack, and I can see their stumps in greater detail now.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

I have a Hanns G HG191A 19 widescreen PC monitor that I use when there is something on tv that either me or the mrs wants to watch. It's a nice little monitor with built in speakers and for the price is worth it. I got mine second hand for under £40 but you can get them new for under £70.