Video quality of component out vs VGA out from GC/Wii
- Thread starter Capeta
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Wouldn't this be really hard to test?. From what I understood almost all vga cables come from a modified component or dsub with a chip on it I've never seen a straight genuine vga cable for GC/Wii. Sorry I couldn't be of help just wanted to point that out.
It wouldn't be a hard test at all you just need to have a display that can handle both VGA and component as well as the VGA and component cables. Since I don't have the GC component cables I can't do the test and I'm not going to buy the stupid cables just to do the test since I plan on buying a Wii and component cables for that anyway.
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If you have a small LCD (less than 26-inches), a VGA connection is likely to produce the sharpest image. But for medium to large sets, a component setup will often look better. 
On my Xbox 360 kiosk display (a 23" Samsung), the difference between component and VGA is striking. Whereas component offers access to the coveted 1,080 lines (interlaced of course), VGA is limited to 768 but offers more resolution options and higher pixel densities.
On my Xbox 360 kiosk display (a 23" Samsung), the difference between component and VGA is striking. Whereas component offers access to the coveted 1,080 lines (interlaced of course), VGA is limited to 768 but offers more resolution options and higher pixel densities.
I don't have a display that supports both (and it would depend on the circuitry of the device anyway), but gamecube vga cable versus component cable over a component to vga transcoder is a slight win for the vga cable. Both look good, but the vga cable is slightly crisper and the transcoder method distorts the aspect ratio a bit and can shift lines. Probably just a bandwidth limitation in the transcoder though.
I wasn't aware of any wii vga cables though.
Apparently the xbox 360 had incorrect vga output up until the most recent firmware update, which adds an option to correct it.
Additionally, I think a firmware update a while back enabled 1920x1080p over vga.
I think VGA and component are almost equivalent technologies, with VGA being based on RGB color space and component based on YUV color space.
Ok but I thought the VGA cable for GC was basically a transcoder converting component into VGA? Or is that incorrect?
Ok but I thought the VGA cable for GC was basically a transcoder converting component into VGA? Or is that incorrect?
The Gamecube's digital port natively outputs a digital RGB signal. The component cable then has a DAC chip that converts this to VGA or component, though I believe the vga conversion might be a trivial conversion. I don't know if that counts as transcoding, since transcoding typically involves converting from an analog source to another incompatible analog source. It's not converting component to vga at all though, just digital RGB into anything the chip is set up to output.
Either way, they're starting with a lossless digital signal and the analog run is only over the length of the cable. My component to vga transcoder means the analog signal goes through the 6 ft or so of (crappy quality) cable, then through the transcoder (with it's own internal bandwidth limitations), and then through another 6 ft of vga cable. I think the errors are related to the transcoder though, and not the cable length.
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Until the Spring Update, VGA was formatted more for HDTVs than PC displays; the former it seems had a more liberal interpretation of black.
[size=-2]A long-standing complaint of the VGA output on the Xbox 360 is its “washed out†picture quality, where colors on the screen would not appear as bright and vibrant as compared to running the console to the TV using component cables.
The culprit for this problem is the difference between how HDTV and PC displays interpret black levels. A correctly calibrated HDTV typically expects a black level to be at 7.5 IRE (with anything below that to be “blacker than blackâ€), while a PC display has its black set to zero. The Xbox 360, which is tweaked for televisions, has its IRE tuned for the HDTV norm of 7.5 IRE.[/size] – DailyTech
The culprit for this problem is the difference between how HDTV and PC displays interpret black levels. A correctly calibrated HDTV typically expects a black level to be at 7.5 IRE (with anything below that to be “blacker than blackâ€), while a PC display has its black set to zero. The Xbox 360, which is tweaked for televisions, has its IRE tuned for the HDTV norm of 7.5 IRE.[/size] – DailyTech
The 1080p upgrade made hi-def goodness available across the board -- component, HD VGA, and HDMI. I can see the display options for various connections, but not having a 1080p TV, I can't really say more than that.
Visually, HD VGA seems to have more in common with HDMI than component!
Until the Spring Update, VGA was formatted more for HDTVs than PC displays; the former it seems had a more liberal interpretation of black.
[size=-2]A long-standing complaint of the VGA output on the Xbox 360 is its “washed out†picture quality, where colors on the screen would not appear as bright and vibrant as compared to running the console to the TV using component cables.
The culprit for this problem is the difference between how HDTV and PC displays interpret black levels. A correctly calibrated HDTV typically expects a black level to be at 7.5 IRE (with anything below that to be “blacker than blackâ€), while a PC display has its black set to zero. The Xbox 360, which is tweaked for televisions, has its IRE tuned for the HDTV norm of 7.5 IRE.[/size] – DailyTech
The 1080p upgrade made hi-def goodness available across the board -- component, HD VGA, and HDMI. I can see the display options for various connections, but not having a 1080p TV, I can't really say more than that.
Visually, HD VGA seems to have more in common with HDMI than component!
Isn't HDMI RGB based too?
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Well, you're the home theatre expert ... you tell me! :smile2:
Seriously, this is an accurate description of what I am seeing when I unplug the component cable and plug-in the HD VGA cable:
[size=-2]
"The DVI interface uses a digital protocol in which the desired illumination of pixels is transmitted as binary data. When the display is driven at its native resolution, it will read each number and apply that brightness to the appropriate pixel. In this way, each pixel in the output buffer of the source device corresponds directly to one pixel in the display device, whereas with an analog signal the appearance of each pixel may be affected by its adjacent pixels as well as by electrical noise and other forms of analog distortion."[/size]– Wikipedia
With component, my TV has trouble with color gradients -- a liability in HD where scenes hinge on the subtleties of light and shadow. But VGA yields the type of precision you'd expect to find in a digital signal.
With component, every game has a unique calibration (and a few in-game adjustments to boot), so I'm constantly fiddling with the TV settings. But with VGA, one setting (the default in my case) seems to be optimal for everything.
Well, VGA typically has more bandwidth available to it. It also contains sync information whereas that information is assumed on component.
Finally, component requires electronics to decode the signal (it's sort of a compressed signal), whereas VGA can be displayed directly. Could be that the electronics in your display just aren't perfect with component.
Finally, component requires electronics to decode the signal (it's sort of a compressed signal), whereas VGA can be displayed directly. Could be that the electronics in your display just aren't perfect with component.
Until the Spring Update, VGA was formatted more for HDTVs than PC displays; the former it seems had a more liberal interpretation of black.
[size=-2]A long-standing complaint of the VGA output on the Xbox 360 is its “washed out†picture quality, where colors on the screen would not appear as bright and vibrant as compared to running the console to the TV using component cables.
The culprit for this problem is the difference between how HDTV and PC displays interpret black levels. A correctly calibrated HDTV typically expects a black level to be at 7.5 IRE (with anything below that to be “blacker than blackâ€), while a PC display has its black set to zero. The Xbox 360, which is tweaked for televisions, has its IRE tuned for the HDTV norm of 7.5 IRE.[/size] – DailyTech
The 1080p upgrade made hi-def goodness available across the board -- component, HD VGA, and HDMI. I can see the display options for various connections, but not having a 1080p TV, I can't really say more than that.
Visually, HD VGA seems to have more in common with HDMI than component!
The 360 still has problems outputting 1080p. I have a 24" CRT Monitor (FWD-900) and it has problems with 360's 1080 output. I believe there are others with this issue.
Could be a bandwidth limitation. Maybe of the cable, or maybe inside the 360 itself. The internal circuitry probably wasn't made to handle a 1080p signal.
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