Gaming How Xbox 360 will picture in my Analog CRT monitor

[test84]

Hi,
Just wanted to borrow a friend's friend's Xbox 360 mainly for MoH Airborn and since I dont have a TV nor LCD monitor, How bad it will get if I use the LCD to Analog CRT monitor adapter in order to play 360 on my CRT.

and also that 360 got RRoD several times already, Is there any caution to take in order to prevent it to get in RRoD again? (since i'm borrowing it, its so bad to return it with some RED lights, u know what i mean ...)

Thnx in advance.

 

[ZeWarrior]

Use the VGA Cable. Buy one it's cheap as hell.

 

[jimmy j]

Use the VGA Cable. Buy one it's cheap as hell.

That's what I did and I'm a very happy gamer.

To guard against the RRoD you should:

1. Place the 360 in a cool, open area of the room.
2. Don't put it on the carpet, put it on a flat, hard surface.
2. Keep the vents clear (don't put game boxes over them).
3. Give the back of the console room to breath and expel hot air.
4. Don't use a HiDef display as this puts more strain on the GPU.
5. Don't play for long durations. 1 hour's playtime followed by a 15 minute cooling period should be ok.
6. Send it back to m$ or (I can't believe I'm going to say this again) do the xclamp fix!

 

[test84]

thnx, but the adapter i was talking about is converting the output of VGA CABLE from LCD monitors to regualar AGP ones.

 

[ZeWarrior]

I don't see what you mean...^

 

[legendofphil]

thnx, but the adapter i was talking about is converting the output of VGA CABLE from LCD monitors to regualar AGP ones.

There is no output from a monitor, apart from model info, support res, etc.
On top of that VGA is VGA regardless of its source.

 

[wiki]

I second the vga suggestion. You'll get a surprisingly good image on your CRT monitor. VGA is better than component, but is obviously behind HDMI. You can purchase a cheap VGA from dealextreme: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3666

 

[Costello]

This is the cable you should have:
[title:image]

possibly your CRT monitor already has a VGA cable coming out of it (I had the same problem once)
but if you have the official VGA cable, this little adapter should've been included in the package:
[title: another large image]Gender changer:

 

[test84]

Costello got me right! thnx head[master].

two questions:

1)why that cable is made that way? i mean being Male where you need convert it everytime u need to plug it anywhere? what purpose they had in mind to design it that way?

2)I believe that 360 games are wide screen and my 17" CRT monitor is not, so i will have a much smaller picture and two big black ribbons in top and bottom of my monitor? (to maintain the wide screen into non-wide screen monitor)

3)no one talked about how much graphical downgrade i will have in order to play it on my CRT monitor, is it better to play it on my monitor or get a TV from a friend?

thnx ur all HRTHers.

 

[legendofphil]

1) Newer monitors don't have an inbuilt cable and as such they have a female port (I think, been awhile since I looked back there).

2) It depends on the game, Gears of War goes full screen, others have the black bars.

3) On a monitor you can usually get "HD" out of it, depending on the maximum res. For example my monitor has a native res of 1280x1024 so its HD as 720p is 1280x720.

 

[test84]

thnx for ur answer legendofphil,
1)i dont get it, newer monitors dont have data cables in-box? or that cable is meant for LCD monitors? (my friend told me its for LCD monitors and you have to have that adapter to convert it for your CRT)

2)how bad that two black bars are? how small pictre i'll have? is it going to be a 15" (i mean a 15" screen with two back bars = 17") ?

3)my monitor's highest resoloution is 1024x768, so you think getting a non-HD 21" is better (and is harder to move it from other part of town to my home) or get to my own CRT monitor?

4)another question, i found reviews for Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable Review is it the same cable? is there a non-HD one too? (i think he has what was in box of 360 and i doubt he bought a cable separately)

EDIT:
5)since 720p is 1280x1024 and my monitor is 1024x768, do i still get HD? or it will be 480p and scaled up?

 

[legendofphil]

1) The monitors come with the cable, its just not permanently attached, its separate. Plus if its got both DVI and VGA ports it will only come with a cheap DVI cable.

2) It depends on the game to if you get them or not. If it is in 16:9 you will have 2 ~1.25" black bars, one at the top and one at the bottom.

3) The larger the screen the better, but the monitor will be a higher res, its up to you which you choose.

4) Thats the cable you want, its just it is capable of 640x480 upto 1920x1080.

5) 720p is 1280x720. 1024x768 isn't quite HD but should produce a slightly better quality image than 480p. The image will likely be down scaled from the native res of the game to meet the required res of the monitor.

 

[test84]

1) even if they are not attached, they still should be Male, since graphic cards are Female jacks, still dont get it why xbox's cable is Male.

2)oh, that should give me a 14" display of game? : (

2-2) how come its full screen on a 4:3 television but it cant be full screen on my monitor which is also 4:3?

3)what would u chose?

4)thnx.

5)is it will be "bad"?

 

[legendofphil]

1) A male cable plugs directly into the female port on newer monitors/HDTV. You require a male to male vga cable if hooking up a video card to the montor. This cable is designed for people who have the newer monitor/HDTV. And a cheap adaptor exists to convert between male and female.

2) Bit bigger than 14"

2-2) it depends how the game deals with a monitor.

3) VGA should be better than cable you will be using for the TV, but if the monitor is old and crap it could be better on the TV.

5) Depends if your monitor is crap or not.

 

[test84]

2-2) how come its full screen on a 4:3 television but it cant be full screen on my monitor which is also 4:3?

I played 360 on my friend's normal 4:3 TV and all games were full screen so how come when i use monitor, it SHOULD be wide screen?
is there an option to enable 4:3 mode on VGA cable menu? (which is under System in dashboard i believe).

thnx, i came back like 4 times this day just to see ur answer!

 

[ZeWarrior]

If you enable widescreen it will only be 480p max since 720P or 1080P are both Widescreen resolutions.

 

[test84]

720p is 1280x1024 and is not widescreen.

I'll ask my question in another words, maybe i wasnt clear enough.

My question is that is it possible to use VGA cable and disable wide screen mode? since my friend played all his games on a regular 4:3 ratio normal TV and I dont see any reasons of not being able to disable wide screen in VGA cable mode.

 

[legendofphil]

It is down to the individual game to if it is fullscreen or widescreen in VGA mode.
And 720 is not 1280x1024 its 1280x720 hence 720p. I used 1280x1024 in my VGA example.

 

[ZeWarrior]

720p is 1280x1024 and is not widescreen.

I'll ask my question in another words, maybe i wasnt clear enough.

My question is that is it possible to use VGA cable and disable wide screen mode? since my friend played all his games on a regular 4:3 ratio normal TV and I dont see any reasons of not being able to disable wide screen in VGA cable mode.

Yes you can use it. And like the other guy said 1280x1024 is not 720P Where do you think the 720 came from? Somebodys ass?...

 

[test84]

legendofphil says that it depends on individual game to be able to disable widescreen on games on VGA mode but ZaWarriorReturns says i can change (probably means all games).

@legendofphil: My friend played *ALL* his games full screen on his 4:3 TV so why it should be not allow us to disable it in VGA mode? (he told me that you can disable wide screen in vga mode, is it right?)

EDIT:
as i found out, you can select Wide screen or normal mode on the dashboard, but the question is that whether all games will be in 4:3 or they will still act as it is in widescreen.

EDIT2:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/03/10/the-xbox...ox-360-annoyan/

seems that some games such as GRAW will go full screen but majority of games will have black bars.
(and some stretch! yay!)