Dreamcast VGA adapter - need help - looking to buy

[law56ker]

I want to purchase a VGA adapter for my dreamcast. I see that there are new wired VGA adapters without the box. I was wondering if these work as well as the boxed vga adapters.

New wired vga adapter

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SEGA-Dreamc ... 35c98f65be

Old Style

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-ADAPTER-SEG ... 564d9ba602

Any advice on which is the best or if they are equal. Also if someone has a Dreamcast VGA adapter at a reasonable price, please message me.

[Christuserloeser]

They're all pretty much the same in regards to the video quality I imagine. The (one and only) advantage of the VGA box is that there are additional S-Video and Composite Video (RCA) connections to hook up to your TV if a game doesn't support VGA. Although most games can be tricked into VGA mode by simply booting them without the cable plugged in.

I should be able to confirm my first statement tonite. I just received my order with the cable you linked to and I'll try it out in a free minute.

[law56ker]

Thank you I already have an s-video cable for my dreamcast, so if the cable works as well as the box I don't need the boxed version.

[|darc|]

Yep, they work just as well, just lack the other outputs.

[law56ker]

waiting for more advice

[DaMadFiddler]

The Goat Store had some in stock for a while (which they'd custom-ordered, including one that was a combination VGA/SD adapter), but it looks like they've sold through their initial order. Might be worthwhile to ask Goatdan when they plan to restock.

[|darc|]

Honestly though I'd get a Hanzo. They're a very nice custom made VGA box.
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... -generator





I don't have one of those though, I have a custom VGA box to which I soldered up a sync combiner circuit to make a special port that outputs 480p over RGB SCART, so you can get VGA-quality to a display that accepts 31KHz RGB SCART. I use this with an XRGB-mini Framemeister upscaler that supports this configuration to get 720p to my 51" Samsung Plasma display.

[Nico0020]

Just the thread I was looking for. I need to order myself another VGA adapter. It looked to beat cheapest for me to order one of the ebay cables,

That hanzo box looks pretty great. Although, regarding the scanline feature, is that something I would really only want to use on sprite based game like street fighter or other old school styles games?

[Christuserloeser]

I gotta be one of the few people on this planet who prefer their low res games without scanlines. I don't hate them per se but I prefer my games without scanlines.

[DaMadFiddler]

Faked scanlines often look bad. It's a bit different with a traditional CRT set, because that's how the set actually worked. and the scanlines helped hide the low-resolution source material by both softening the image and making it appear as though you were running into the limitations of the TV itself. When I was a kid, which is to say before emulators taught me otherwise, I used to think the reason edges were jaggy and that I couldn't make out more detail in games (particularly during the 16-bit era) was because TV just wasn't that clear. It didn't even occur to me that the system wasn't running at the TV's maximum resolution.

With displays that have a fixed pixel grid (such as flat panels), anything that doesn't output at the display's native resolution is going to look blurry and bad, since it has to upscale the image and determine approximate intermediate pixel values (or else run in a small box at the signal's native resolution, which would also be awkward).

Here's my preference when it comes to displays for pre-HD games:

sub-640x480 games (basically everything pre-Dreamcast):
1. connected to "normal" CRT TV via best means available (for most pre-HD TVs this is probably S-video)
2. if no CRT TV is available, a sharp filter (such as 2xSaI or HQ2X) is the second-best option, though this is generally only available through emulators.

640x480 games (Dreamcast through Wii):
1. connected to "normal" CRT TV via best means available (preferably component or VGA, if available)
2. connected to CRT-based HDTV via best means available (CRT-based HD sets--both direct-view and rear projection--tend to make sub-640x480 games look fuzzy and indistinct, but standard definition system--Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and Wii--actually look pretty good on these HDTVs)

However, pretty much any non-HD source is going to look like garbage on pretty much any flat-panel (or LCD-based rear projection) TV. And with people just GIVING away all of their CRT TVs right now, the only excuse for not getting one for your older systems is that you live in a broom closet.

[Nico0020]

Pulling this back up. I never got around to ordering another VGA adapter since moving, but with a few new DC games and Pier solar coming out I really need one. I see a lot of VERY cheap china manufactured ones on ebay. That would probably be the quickest to ship here too. I keep reading mixed reviews online of these cables are good or poor quality? Can anyone vouch for them? Also saw this brand which I have never seen before.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Tomee-Sega- ... 2ecf3a13c6

Anyone know anything about this one?