Dreamcast in VGA...

[gamevet]

Pick up a VGA-to-DVI cable. It's what I use for my PC and whatnot.

It's either HDMI or Component.

[Flygon]

What sort of TV nowadays does not have a VGA port?

Even my mothers supposadly non-HD CRT TV has a VGA port.

[gamevet]

What sort of TV nowadays does not have a VGA port?

Even my mothers supposadly non-HD CRT TV has a VGA port.

A 32" Sony Wega (4:3) that was built in 2004 ($1,000) and my second ($500) in 2005. Sure, both televisions support widescreen 1080i and 720p, but that is done through component and HDMI.

Most flat panel widescreen televisions didn't have a VGA port in 2005 either, unless they were under 32".

[j_factor]

They make VGA to component converters.

Although, it's weird that it would have HDMI and not DVI. I've seen old HDTV's with the opposite problem -- a DVI port and no HDMI. I always thought DVI was older.

[MN12BIRD]

Pick up a VGA-to-DVI cable. It's what I use for my PC and whatnot.

Those only work one way thats VGA to DVI not DVI to VGA! The thing you need to remember is these cables or adapters do NOT convert Digital DVI to Analog VGA but rather PC video cards DVI ports pass thru an analog signal. There is no converting going on in that cable and so his TV could not accept an analog signal thru a DVI port.

[tomaitheous]

They make VGA to component converters.

Although, it's weird that it would have HDMI and not DVI. I've seen old HDTV's with the opposite problem -- a DVI port and no HDMI. I always thought DVI was older.

It is, but HDMI has a copy protection flag as part of the spec. The large corporations have been pushing for this pretty hard in the US. On the device player side and TV manufacture side. An HD player device for movies and such, won't output HD through component. The 360 like some other players won't even upscale DVD movies to HD output on component cables - only HDMI. I mean, it's DVD. What are they protecting?

[evildragon]

DVI can handle the HDCP standard.

I used to have this Scientific Atlanta 3250HD cable box, that had a DVI port on it, but required either a DVI to HDMI adapter, or a DVI monitor that was HDCP capable...

[MN12BIRD]

That's true most DVI monitors are HDCP compliant. Main difference from DVI to HDMI is just sound right? Well even then DVI can do the sound too it's just not standard.

[retrospiel]

Try this VGA to HDMI converter: http://search.ebay.com/vga+audio+hdmi+converter+adapter

[gamevet]

It is, but HDMI has a copy protection flag as part of the spec. The large corporations have been pushing for this pretty hard in the US. On the device player side and TV manufacture side. An HD player device for movies and such, won't output HD through component. The 360 like some other players won't even upscale DVD movies to HD output on component cables - only HDMI. I mean, it's DVD. What are they protecting?

I watch HD-DVD movies in 720p using component cables. I play my 360 in 720p with component as well. 1080p, on the other hand, might have problems with Component, but I've heard it can be done.

Sony was the company pushing for 1080p Blu-Ray content to be HDMI only. Every HD television by Sony has started with HDMI and I've never seen a televion by Sony that had DVI.

I'll look at the PS3 manual to confirm if it does, or doesn't do 720p movies through the component cable.

*Edit* The PS3 will output 1080p through component, but to watch Blu-Ray in 1080p you'll need HDMI. You can watch Blu-Ray in 720p through component though.

[evildragon]

That's true most DVI monitors are HDCP compliant. Main difference from DVI to HDMI is just sound right? Well even then DVI can do the sound too it's just not standard.

Never seen DVI do sound. It's not in the pinout.

http://www.egerate.com/Temel_urun_gr...DVI_pinout.png

[David J.]

I think it was starting with the ATi Radeon HD 2XXX series they supported audio from HDMI, but they only have DVI hookups on most of the cards, so they use a DVI -> HDMI connector. HD2600 I think? Or was it the ATI HD 3XXX series? Oh well, who cares?

My ATi Radeon HD4670 1GB supports HDMI from a DVI -> HDMI connector, and its not only HDMI video, but 7.1 sound too. Hell, it even shows up as an audio device in Windows.

Now I can't use the HDMI audio, since my TV doesn't support HDMI audio... But that's OK for now, plus I use a 2.1 receiver, so no big loss here.

[MN12BIRD]

Yes the modern ATi cards all have audio in them and passes thru DVI. So does my Geforce 9600GT but you have to run a SPDIF cable from the sound card (or motherboard with onboard audio) to the video card. It passes that tru the DVI port and thus to HDMI if you use the adapter. I know its not standard to have audio in DVI but most video cards do it now.

[evildragon]

I have an ATI Radeon 2600XT but no sound via DVI..

All I see in my audio output settings is "Digital Out", which is my Macs optical audio ports on the back (tosslink)

[MN12BIRD]

Evildragon: I'm almost positive the HD2600 (and all AMD cards afterwords) had the audio decoder built into the GPU and can output SPDIF via the DVI port. You may need to install the ATi drivers for it or at least enable the feature. If it's a Mac perhaps they specifically took the feature out of the drivers?