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Wii VGA Cable Finally a Reality

Death of RatsDeath of Rats Registered User regular
edited March 2008 in Games and Technology
Ever since the launch of the Wii I've had a hard time playing it. It wasn't anything to do with the games, but merely how terrible things looked on my Dell 2005fpw. But now, apparently, there's a solution.

I remember how excited everyone was when Nintendo announced that the Revolution would have a built in VGA port. I mean, a lot of us are college age, or just don't have enough room for a big ass TV. We're forced to use our monitors for gaming. But then the bad news started to roll in. We realized the Wii wouldn't have a VGA port. It wouldn't be HD. And it wouldn't even come with an s-video cable.

But along comes a chinese company with the VD-W2 Wii VGA cable.

Not only does it allow people to hook up the Wii to their VGA monitors, it also seems to have a higher display quality than the "component -> VGA box" solutions. Just check out what I mean.

Images behind Spoilers to protect H-scroll.
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I placed an order for a set today, and I'm posting this here to get the word out some. I mean, until searching today I had no idea this was out. I'll post some first hand experiences once I get my cables, but if anyone else is willing to take the risk, including shipping it ends up costing about $50. And they take orders from just about anywhere.

No I don't.
Death of Rats on

Posts

  • quovadis13quovadis13 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Old. I've had one for months now. Works pretty well too.

    quovadis13 on
  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.

    IceBurner on
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  • SamuraiRockSamuraiRock Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm very interested in a product like this (does one exist for Wii to DVI?) as my 22" widescreen monitor is easily the best display device I have. I'd love to be able to play Brawl on it too since it's the only widescreen display I have.

    Really all I need is the Brawl part, since this product exists.

    Australia :cry:

    SamuraiRock on
  • Sci-Fi WasabiSci-Fi Wasabi Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Keep in mind two things

    A.) VGA on most HDTV's eliminates input lag by up to somewhere around 95 to 99 percent.

    B.) VGA is incapable of transmitting interlaced material, so that vastly cuts down on the third party GC games you can play on the system. Only progressive scan enabled content will work.

    Sci-Fi Wasabi on
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  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    It's a nice piece, pretty hassle-free, and the cord is super long. Although, it's aggravating trying to play some GC games only to find it doesn't support progressive scan (fuck you Killer7), or those one or two Wii fuckshit games that also doesn't because they're absolutely retarded (fuck you Second Opinion).

    Although, there was a person in the tech forum that complained about his (probably defective) cable spazzing out and jacking up the picture. I'd hate to try to put out a return on this thing, being that the company is based in some overseas Asian territory.

    Zxerol on
  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Dunno if it's the cable or my monitor, but while it works for most games, it does not work with Trauma Center (the 2nd one). Gets very weird screen colors and lines and stuff.

    Dracil on
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  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Those comparison shots suck.

    AbsoluteZero on
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  • Death of RatsDeath of Rats Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Those aren't comparison shots. Those are just shots.

    Death of Rats on
    No I don't.
  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    <-- is very interested in these cables. Is there anywhere to buy them other than that website? (Preferably in the US).

    Mace1370 on
  • ArcticMonkeyArcticMonkey Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    ArcticMonkey on
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  • Kemal86Kemal86 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Question:

    I have a 42inch 1080P LCD HDTV. Would using VGA over Component increase the image quality? Maybe get rid of the jagged edges?

    Kemal86 on
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  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Another question: right now I'm playing my Wii on my Dell 2405. The monitor is great, but it doesn't scale the Wii properly... at all. It did the same thing with the 360 when I used component cables. Using the Xbox VGA cables took care of the problem, so I'm hoping these will too. Will they scale the Wii correctly on my monitor?

    Mace1370 on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Kemal86 wrote: »
    Question:

    I have a 42inch 1080P LCD HDTV. Would using VGA over Component increase the image quality? Maybe get rid of the jagged edges?

    Not a chance. Might reduce any input lag, but that's about it.

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • LordNibblerLordNibbler Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Gotta say...Brawl looks so fucking good on my LCD screen. So glad I got one.

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  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I found these on playasia:

    http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-zp-49-en-70-2jp6.html

    It looks like it is made by a different company (and hooks up to both the Wii and PS3). Some of the reviews are bad, but I suspect that may be because they were trying to use 480i. Are these worth getting?

    Mace1370 on
  • greeblegreeble Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Why is this a big surprise? The f'ing game cube had a vga cable. I had one, the damn thing was made from the cheapest super thin wires. I had to cut the cable open pull back the shielding and solder them back. Worked for a while but it broke again and I haven't bothered to try to repair it. I just hope these are better quality.

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  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    greeble wrote: »
    Why is this a big surprise? The f'ing game cube had a vga cable. I had one, the damn thing was made from the cheapest super thin wires. I had to cut the cable open pull back the shielding and solder them back. Worked for a while but it broke again and I haven't bothered to try to repair it. I just hope these are better quality.

    Heh, that's not the reason why the GCN cable was so shoddy. Remember that the GCN component cable has a custom bit on the GCN end that changes the signal. So basically any GCN VGA cable is the offical cable that has been hastily rewired with a VGA end.

    The actual cable by itself is high quality.

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Also, there's also the more expensive Neoya X2VGA2 box. The plus side of that is it works with anything with a component input I think, so you can use it for your other consoles.

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  • Death of RatsDeath of Rats Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Dracil wrote: »
    Also, there's also the more expensive Neoya X2VGA2 box. The plus side of that is it works with anything with a component input I think, so you can use it for your other consoles.

    This is, from the reviews I've read, suppose to give a better quality image than conversion boxes.

    Death of Rats on
    No I don't.
  • Dr Mario KartDr Mario Kart Games Dealer Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    How fast is this conversion? Is it quick enough that you wouldnt notice any lag on the video end?

    Dr Mario Kart on
  • Dark ShroudDark Shroud Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Kemal86 wrote: »
    Question:

    I have a 42inch 1080P LCD HDTV. Would using VGA over Component increase the image quality? Maybe get rid of the jagged edges?

    Just get a Wii component cable from monoprice.com. It's what I'm going to do now that I'm starting to actually play my Wii again.

    Dark Shroud on
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    How fast is this conversion? Is it quick enough that you wouldnt notice any lag on the video end?

    That would depend on the DSP. It's possible that it would be as fast as the component processor in your TV.

    Barrakketh on
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  • Dr Mario KartDr Mario Kart Games Dealer Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Side question: If a HDTV is lagging, that is because it doesnt display 480p natively and the lag is due to scaling time? Correct?

    Dr Mario Kart on
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Side question: If a HDTV is lagging, that is because it doesnt display 480p natively and the lag is due to scaling time? Correct?

    Or you're using 480i (or any other interlaced format, exceptions are made for some CRT HDTVs), or your TV is doing extra image processing/enhancement on the picture (good TVs should let you disable this). Inexpensive HDTVs may have cheap/slow scalers, so they are a likely culprit.

    Barrakketh on
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  • ArcticMonkeyArcticMonkey Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    How fast is this conversion? Is it quick enough that you wouldnt notice any lag on the video end?

    That would depend on the DSP. It's possible that it would be as fast as the component processor in your TV.

    Going from the fact that the cable does not support interlaced games I think it's same to assume nothing too fancy is going on, so lag should not be noticeable. For instance if the cable was introducing 3 frames of lag, it would have to include internal memory for 3 frames, however going from one colorspace to another can be done on a per pixel basis. So most likely it will only introduce a few pixels of lag.

    ArcticMonkey on
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  • Eggplant WizardEggplant Wizard Little Rock, ARRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    How fast is this conversion? Is it quick enough that you wouldnt notice any lag on the video end?

    That would depend on the DSP. It's possible that it would be as fast as the component processor in your TV.

    I think that using the term "DSP" is overstating the capabilities of this chip. If the Wii is anything like the Gamecube, and I suspect that it is, the video output port is digital. The cable contains a simple D/A converter chip that produces a VGA signal. It won't introduce any lag.

    Eggplant Wizard on
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  • SamphisSamphis Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Give me HDMI and I'd be VERY happy.

    Samphis on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    How fast is this conversion? Is it quick enough that you wouldnt notice any lag on the video end?

    That would depend on the DSP. It's possible that it would be as fast as the component processor in your TV.

    I think that using the term "DSP" is overstating the capabilities of this chip. If the Wii is anything like the Gamecube, and I suspect that it is, the video output port is digital. The cable contains a simple D/A converter chip that produces a VGA signal. It won't introduce any lag.

    The Wii's video output port is analog. The cable contains an analog converter that converts from YPbPr to RGB.

    If the Wii's video output port was digital (as the Gamecube's was) then you would need a DAC inside of any component video cables, too (as the Gamecube did), and there are no DACs inside Wii component cables (which is why, unlike for the Gamecube, you can find third-party ones for like $4).
    Samphis wrote: »
    Give me HDMI and I'd be VERY happy.

    I imagine the chips to convert YPbPr to RGB are a good deal less expensive than the ones to convert YPbPr to digital TMDS. Besides, even if it was HDMI, it would still only be outputting 480p, although I guess it would help clean up cable clutter.


    Anyway, I see no reason to buy this expensive cable unless the only way you can possibly get 480p is through a VGA connector.

    Daedalus on
  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Daedalus wrote: »
    Anyway, I see no reason to buy this expensive cable unless the only way you can possibly get 480p is through a VGA connector.

    I'm hoping it will scale correctly on my monitor. Right now when I use the Wii over component cables I get vertical stretching (my monitor is 16:10) no matter what scaling option I use with my monitor.

    Mace1370 on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Mace1370 wrote: »
    Daedalus wrote: »
    Anyway, I see no reason to buy this expensive cable unless the only way you can possibly get 480p is through a VGA connector.

    I'm hoping it will scale correctly on my monitor. Right now when I use the Wii over component cables I get vertical stretching (my monitor is 16:10) no matter what scaling option I use with my monitor.

    Well, test it from your PC before you blow $50. Can you scale a 640x480 VGA signal into 16x9 widescreen on your monitor?

    Daedalus on
  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Daedalus wrote: »
    Mace1370 wrote: »
    Daedalus wrote: »
    Anyway, I see no reason to buy this expensive cable unless the only way you can possibly get 480p is through a VGA connector.

    I'm hoping it will scale correctly on my monitor. Right now when I use the Wii over component cables I get vertical stretching (my monitor is 16:10) no matter what scaling option I use with my monitor.

    Well, test it from your PC before you blow $50. Can you scale a 640x480 VGA signal into 16x9 widescreen on your monitor?

    But the Wii doesn't output in 640x480 if you use the widescreen option, correct?

    At any rate, when I use the Xbox 360 VGA cable with my monitor everything is scaled properly (I get the horizontal black bars on the top and bottom of the screen). Conversely, the image is stretched when using the 360 component cables with my monitor.

    Mace1370 on
  • DeathPrawnDeathPrawn Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Daedalus wrote: »
    Anyway, I see no reason to buy this expensive cable unless the only way you can possibly get 480p is through a VGA connector.

    I'm in a college dorm room, so I don't have room for a bigass tube TV. I own a decent-sized LCD monitor, but don't have the budget for a flat-screen TV. Hence, this is the perfect solution for me. It has nothing to do with getting 480p so much as it does with getting a way to play my Wii at all.

    DeathPrawn on
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  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    It's a nice idea, but I'm not comfortable buying directly from a Chinese retailer. If one of the North American import stores picks it up, I'd think about it.

    Then again, it's at least half the price of a box which would allow video to VGA on multiple consoles, allowing me to forget about all that HDTV nonsense like I'd planned in the first place. If the difference in image quality is minimal, math tells me that's the better deal.

    IceBurner on
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  • MooTMooT Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Mace1370 wrote: »
    But the Wii doesn't output in 640x480 if you use the widescreen option, correct?

    I think it does, even in Widescreen.

    In fact, I'm fairly sure that instead of putting out a widescreen resolution, it's still a 4:3 resolution but with everything a bit different so it looks normal when you stretch it. I don't know why.

    All I know is my TV insists it's a 4:3 signal regardless of wether I put it to 16:9 or 480p. I can stretch it to fill the screen, but eventually it decides it knows better than I do and sets it back to letterbox mid game.

    It doesn't have this issue with the first Xbox over shitty ol' composite cables. It's strange.

    MooT on
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  • Mace1370Mace1370 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    MooT wrote: »
    Mace1370 wrote: »
    But the Wii doesn't output in 640x480 if you use the widescreen option, correct?

    I think it does, even in Widescreen.

    In fact, I'm fairly sure that instead of putting out a widescreen resolution, it's still a 4:3 resolution but with everything a bit different so it looks normal when you stretch it. I don't know why.

    All I know is my TV insists it's a 4:3 signal regardless of wether I put it to 16:9 or 480p. I can stretch it to fill the screen, but eventually it decides it knows better than I do and sets it back to letterbox mid game.

    It doesn't have this issue with the first Xbox over shitty ol' composite cables. It's strange.

    Crap, if that's the case then I think I am out of luck. I set my Xbox to 640x480 over my VGA cable and my monitor could correctly scale it, but not stretch it into widescreen. Oh well :(

    Is there any official confirmation on this?

    Mace1370 on
  • SamuraiRockSamuraiRock Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    So, how do I know if this cable in the OP or the one from Play-Asia are going to get me what I want? How do I know if my monitor is going to scale the image correctly? What's the worst case scenario if I just buy this cable - I get a poorly stretched image? I get a tiny 640x480 in the middle of my 1680x1050 monitor?

    SamuraiRock on
  • DracilDracil Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    All I can say is aside from the flashy color weirdness with Trauma Center: New Blood, the image seems to be stretched correctly on my Samsung 206BW as long as I don't accidentally press the auto-adjust button (which somehow decides to shift the screen half an inch to the left)

    Dracil on
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  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    So, how do I know if this cable in the OP or the one from Play-Asia are going to get me what I want? How do I know if my monitor is going to scale the image correctly? What's the worst case scenario if I just buy this cable - I get a poorly stretched image? I get a tiny 640x480 in the middle of my 1680x1050 monitor?

    You would likely have a 16:9 image stretched out to 16:10, which isn't that bad.

    Daedalus on
  • Eggplant WizardEggplant Wizard Little Rock, ARRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Daedalus wrote: »
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    IceBurner wrote: »
    How does the Wii manage VGA output over this cable? Y Pb Pr (AKA "component video") and VGA aren't the same and I don't see anything that might be doing the conversion.
    A Y Pb Pr to RGB DSP chip in the cable should take care of that. The Wii does not output VGA, a circuit in the cable converts it.

    How fast is this conversion? Is it quick enough that you wouldnt notice any lag on the video end?

    That would depend on the DSP. It's possible that it would be as fast as the component processor in your TV.

    I think that using the term "DSP" is overstating the capabilities of this chip. If the Wii is anything like the Gamecube, and I suspect that it is, the video output port is digital. The cable contains a simple D/A converter chip that produces a VGA signal. It won't introduce any lag.

    The Wii's video output port is analog. The cable contains an analog converter that converts from YPbPr to RGB.

    If the Wii's video output port was digital (as the Gamecube's was) then you would need a DAC inside of any component video cables, too (as the Gamecube did), and there are no DACs inside Wii component cables (which is why, unlike for the Gamecube, you can find third-party ones for like $4).

    Heh, woops. Assumption makes an ass of, well, pretty much just me.

    Eggplant Wizard on
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