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Looking for a good VGA converter--Suggestions?
yalborap
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Okay, so, I need a VGA converter. One of these guys: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-87-49-en-70-2707.html
For those who don't want to click the link, it's simple: You run composite or S-Video into one end, the other end goes into a computer monitor. Console game shows up on PC monitor. Shock, awe.
I need a good one. Any of you know of some nice ones, or have good experience with one, or something? Thanks in advance.
For those who don't want to click the link, it's simple: You run composite or S-Video into one end, the other end goes into a computer monitor. Console game shows up on PC monitor. Shock, awe.
I need a good one. Any of you know of some nice ones, or have good experience with one, or something? Thanks in advance.
yalborap on
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Edit: This or this.
Know of an actual seller of these products, by any chance? Depending on just how costly it is, it just might work.
Doesn't look like they have the VP-412 which is what I've used.
Ouch, definitely out of my price range then.
Anyone know of something in the 50-100-ish range?
Don't expect to get magically enhanced picture quality because the signal is now VGA. Most converters function as scan doublers and have to calculate (make up) the missing information.
I have tried various s-video/composite/SCART to VGA converters a few years ago - The picture quality most devices in the lower price segment produce equals ass: Blurry, 640x480 res at most, no gamma control (to dark or to bright), colors which "flow" into each other, noise and artifacts, picture geometry issues. I am still annoyed that I spend money on this shit.
My opinion: Don't bother.
If you want to go the cheap route, get an inexpensive TV-card without an HW decoder chip (Hauppauge WinTV line works best because its the most common one) and download the freeware application DScaler (if you are using Windows). Dscaler acts as viewing application which can also remove noise and artifacts and enhance the picture quality. The app can upscale the picture to the native res of your screen, of course.
It would be nice to know what do you want to connect exactly? Most current gen consoles (even the PS2) can output at least a "native" component signal which can be converted, without that much loss, to VGA. There are various third party cables/converters available for such a purpose.
My HDTV, mainly.
The issue is that I'm also going to be hooking older consoles that can do maybe S-Video at best to this, and 480i gets more than enough lag to screw me up. So the VGA adaptor is mainly there to reduce/remove lag, not improve quality at all.
Personally I have the feeling that the picture quality will even worse after converting it to VGA and then scaling it to the native res of your HDTV. (not including the conversion from analogue to digital within the TV)
If you decide to use a converter make sure your TV can scale a 4:3 source with correct aspect ratio. Its also recommended that you test if the VGA produces input lag, otherwise you won't win anything from using the converter.
Tried turning all that stuff off, there was still a blatant, obvious lag.
And I tried my laptop hooked up. I could only see the tiniest lag if I held the thing up next to the TV and mirrored the image, while I couldn't detect it when I tried playing some old games.
What model TV do you have? Does component or HDMI lag? Just curious. I've been having trouble with HDTV's lately.
My personal way to gauge input lag is easy. I just route sound from the source to both the TV and my surround sound receiver at the same time. If there is lag, it will sound from the receiver before it sounds out of the television. It's one good way to prove some people wrong with what the actual issue is, since so many people seem to be completely ignorant of it. Most people think I'm talking about refresh rate when I mention input lag :x
My Magnavox lagged on component and below, interestingly enough, but VGA and HDMI was flawless. The Wii in 480p lagged so little that it was perfectly playable. Anything in 480i? Forget it. My Sony Bravia doesn't lag noticeably at all, even on composite, but man, I do not like the picture I'm getting out of it at all. It has plenty of options, but everything I set it to ends up hurting my retinas.
Sorry to ramble on, but this is a huge issue for gamers and I don't know why it gets so little attention.
It's a Toshiba 32AV500U. Brand new. It lags on 480i quite bad(a good half a second), but doesn't lag at all at HD resolutions, and a good bit less at mere 480p.
Basically you have to look for a TV with Game or Entertainment mode. Most mid range or better TVs have an option to address the lag.
Yalborap, is the lag the same whether or not you have cableclear on? I'm curious if turning it and MPEG noise reduction off decreases the lag.
It didn't seem to help, no.