Best wide LCD for Xbox 360? (very confused!)

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sanitystream

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Messages
144
Okay, I've been surfing this forum and others trying to get a handle on the best LCD widescreen monitor for use with my XBox 360 and my PC. All I've got for my trouble is a very tired and confused brain. It seemed like the Dell 2405 was a good choice, but now there's all this talk of colors washing out over the VGA cable and looking fuzzy over component since it doesn't appear to do true HD. (And I can confirm the Xbox 360 VGA cable washes out colors on my standard CRT monitor, so I know this is a very real issue).

Okay I think to myself, maybe I'll wait for the new Dell 2407WFP or 2007WFP to be released. But if they're like their bigger cousin, 3007WFP, then they'll only have one input connection (DVI), no internal video scaling circuitry, and no image controls, which makes it pretty useless for an Xbox 360 (or does it?)

(See this review of 3007WFP:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1907749,00.asp)


So where's that leave me? At this point it sounds like I don't want to be stuck using the Xbox 360 VGA cable, which means I need component inputs, but if the 2405's component is less than satisfactory, what's a gamer to do?

Any opinions appreciated!
 
I got a Dell W2600 the other day and its awesome...

I has 2 component inputs and DVI and VGA.

I use he component for the 360 and it looks really good. Very happy with it.
 
www.jr.com

Viewsonic N3250W
32" LCD TV with monitor capabilities as well.

999 and 200 dollar rebate to come to 799. I think this is without a doubt the best purchase as far as size/cost/capabilities!
 
But on the Dells, from reading this forum, don't support anything higher than 480p via the Component inputs and the VGA is washed out and jaggie-fied out the yang.

Check out the Westinghouse TVs, or Gateway's FPD2185W.
 
Just depends on who you are, some claim that VGA picture is better than the component...aside from the color washing out.
 
Xeon22 said:
Just depends on who you are, some claim that VGA picture is better than the component...aside from the color washing out.
Click to expand...


I've been experiencing the color wash out on the VGA cable and it sucks major big time. Everything seems dull and the shadows and colors don't pop.

Luckily on my CRT I can max out the color levels and pretty much compensate for it.

But that brings me back to my dilemma -- I need a good widescreen LCD monitor that can do 720p via component as well as plug into a PC via VGA. The Dell 2405 seemed perfect until I read it only does 480p. I've also read bad things about the Gateway on this forum, so I'm guessing such a beast doesn't exist??

It's only going to get worse as the new upcoming monitors ship only with DVI inputs (and nothing else, like the Dell 3007) for copy-protection of HDTV material. The lack of component will pretty much force us to go VGA cable with an Xbox 360 and that just isn't acceptable video quality.

Sigh.
 
sanitystream said:
I've been experiencing the color wash out on the VGA cable and it sucks major big time. Everything seems dull and the shadows and colors don't pop.

Luckily on my CRT I can max out the color levels and pretty much compensate for it.

But that brings me back to my dilemma -- I need a good widescreen LCD monitor that can do 720p via component as well as plug into a PC via VGA. The Dell 2405 seemed perfect until I read it only does 480p. I've also read bad things about the Gateway on this forum, so I'm guessing such a beast doesn't exist??

It's only going to get worse as the new upcoming monitors ship only with DVI inputs (and nothing else, like the Dell 3007) for copy-protection of HDTV material. The lack of component will pretty much force us to go VGA cable with an Xbox 360 and that just isn't acceptable video quality.

Sigh.
Click to expand...

Such a monitor does exist. The Samsung 244T is a widescreen PC monitor that does TV stuff very well. If I was willling to spend $1500, i would've bought it.
 
Gmeister said:
Such a monitor does exist. The Samsung 244T is a widescreen PC monitor that does TV stuff very well. If I was willling to spend $1500, i would've bought it.
Click to expand...


Yikes. Too rich for my blood! The point of getting an XBox 360 for me was to play games cheaper than getting a new PC all over again for $1500-$2000. These crazy expensive monitors are doing their best to dash that plan.
 
Tiny said:
www.Vdigi.com
;)
Click to expand...


Thanks, I just checked their website and it sounds very promising. Have you used the transcoder yourself with an Xbox 360?

EDIT: In fact, it looks so promising I think I'm just going to order one. There are other XBox 360 users on their forum who say it works fine for them -- takes a 720P component signal and turns it into a high-res VGA output. Perfect (well, provided it doesn't wash out colors the way Microsoft's own VGA cable does).

Thanks again Tiny.
 
sanitystream said:
Thanks, I just checked their website and it sounds very promising. Have you used the transcoder yourself with an Xbox 360?

EDIT: In fact, it looks so promising I think I'm just going to order one. There are other XBox 360 users on their forum who say it works fine for them -- takes a 720P component signal and turns it into a high-res VGA output. Perfect (well, provided it doesn't wash out colors the way Microsoft's own VGA cable does).

Thanks again Tiny.
Click to expand...
I own the vdigi transcoder and used for my reg Xbox. I've never tried it on the Xbox360, but I don't see the point. I'm going to try out the Monster VGA cables and see how they work on my 2005fpw. If I get the same problem as the MS cables (slightly watered down colors), then we know that it's an internal problem. Keep in mind if you use that transcoder, you're limited to the standard HDTV resolutions (ex 720p, 1080i) since you're using component.
 
I use a 2405 via component and it looks great. period.

Plug the 360 via component and your pc via vga and have fun. :D
 
Gmeister said:
I own the vdigi transcoder and used for my reg Xbox. I've never tried it on the Xbox360, but I don't see the point. I'm going to try out the Monster VGA cables and see how they work on my 2005fpw. If I get the same problem as the MS cables (slightly watered down colors), then we know that it's an internal problem. Keep in mind if you use that transcoder, you're limited to the standard HDTV resolutions (ex 720p, 1080i) since you're using component.
Click to expand...


I don't mind limiting the resolutions a bit if it means solving the washed out VGA problem. From all the messages I've been reading from people, I think it's an internal problem in the XBox 360, not a cable problem. The cable isn't doing anything except passing the signal along to a VGA connector for your PC monitor, nothing more. I think this is all about how the 360 internally handles color.

Theoretically, the vdigi transcoder would now allow me to buy a Dell 2405 and output 720p to it via the VGA connection and not have the colors washed out. (If only the 2405 handled 720p via components instead of doing it as 480p, this wouldn't be a problem).
 
sanitystream said:
thanks, any suggestions for a wide LCD monitor (not TV) as those tend to be cheaper?
Click to expand...

why not LCDtvs?

You can get a 27" that runs at the Xbox's native 1280x720 for less than $1000

maybe even a 32" with native resolution for less than $1000
 
sanitystream said:
(And I can confirm the Xbox 360 VGA cable washes out colors on my standard CRT monitor, so I know this is a very real issue).
Click to expand...

what other connectors and displays have you used with your Xbox 360?
 
sanitystream said:
I don't mind limiting the resolutions a bit if it means solving the washed out VGA problem. From all the messages I've been reading from people, I think it's an internal problem in the XBox 360, not a cable problem. The cable isn't doing anything except passing the signal along to a VGA connector for your PC monitor, nothing more. I think this is all about how the 360 internally handles color.

Theoretically, the vdigi transcoder would now allow me to buy a Dell 2405 and output 720p to it via the VGA connection and not have the colors washed out. (If only the 2405 handled 720p via components instead of doing it as 480p, this wouldn't be a problem).
Click to expand...
Well then, we need to let MS know so they release a patch to fix this problem.
 
needmorecarnitine said:
what other connectors and displays have you used with your Xbox 360?
Click to expand...


I've tried it two ways:

1) Xbox 360 to standard old televsion. Colors look great, everything is vibrant as it should be.

2) Xbox 360 to PC monitor (Dell CRT) via the VGA cable. This is where the problem lies. While the higher resolution is nice, the colors are very washed out and dull. There's a big difference between this and hooking it up to my TV, color-wise. Basically it sucks.
 
needmorecarnitine said:
why not LCDtvs?

You can get a 27" that runs at the Xbox's native 1280x720 for less than $1000

maybe even a 32" with native resolution for less than $1000
Click to expand...


Why not? Well, I don't have $1,000 :) and I want something that works well as a PC monitor too.
 
magoo said:
I use a 2405 via component and it looks great. period.

Plug the 360 via component and your pc via vga and have fun. :D
Click to expand...


Except there's a whole thread on this forum about how the 2405 doesn't do true HD and downscales the component 720p to 480p. That's not going to work for me, not for that kind of money.
 
sanitystream said:
Thanks, I just checked their website and it sounds very promising. Have you used the transcoder yourself with an Xbox 360?

EDIT: In fact, it looks so promising I think I'm just going to order one. There are other XBox 360 users on their forum who say it works fine for them -- takes a 720P component signal and turns it into a high-res VGA output. Perfect (well, provided it doesn't wash out colors the way Microsoft's own VGA cable does).

Thanks again Tiny.
Click to expand...


I used it for my Xbox, and was going to try it for the Xbox 360, but my 360 quit on me and is currently being repaired.

I read about all the washing out with the MS VGA cable so I went out and bought the MS VGA cable to test along side the Vdigi component-to-VGA transcoder to see if I could tell the difference on my monitor (Viewsonic 19" WS). But that was the day my Xbox360 quit on me.

Hopefully I will get it back Friday or Saturday.
 
I have my xbox360 hooked up via the VGA HD cables to my 2005fpw and it looks incredible.
 
The first day I hooked up my x360 was to my sisters 27" samsung hd crt and it looked perfect. Then I went to my acer lcd monitor and it definately looked washed out via vga,thought I was only one with problem. Now I have the 360 hooked to a 32" lcd through component and it looks badass. :)
 
Tiny said:
I used it for my Xbox, and was going to try it for the Xbox 360, but my 360 quit on me and is currently being repaired.

I read about all the washing out with the MS VGA cable so I went out and bought the MS VGA cable to test along side the Vdigi component-to-VGA transcoder to see if I could tell the difference on my monitor (Viewsonic 19" WS). But that was the day my Xbox360 quit on me.

Hopefully I will get it back Friday or Saturday.
Click to expand...


Well Tiny I'm *very* interested in hearing what you learn once you get your Xbox 360 back. Right now the Vdigi website is sold out of the VD-Z3s so I didn't order it.

My questions are:

What resolution does the VD-Z3 output to on a PC monitor? Since you have a widescreen monitor, that's not such a problem with 720p which is wide anyway. But I'm concerned that on my standard 4:3 aspect ratio monitor I'm going to get 1280x720 and the Xbox 360 will "squish" it all together. I hate that.

And definitely, a side by side comparison of the VD-Z3 color output and the Microsoft VGA cable color output would be awesome.

So it'd be much appreciated if you get a chance to check it out, I may just buy one (or not) based on what you learn.

thanks.
 
Xiro said:
I have my xbox360 hooked up via the VGA HD cables to my 2005fpw and it looks incredible.
Click to expand...


Well try hooking your Xbox 360 up to a standard television and you'll probably see what we're talking about when it comes to colors washing out. Chances are the TV will look a lot more vibrant than what you're getting now on the 2005fpw.

There's no question the 2005fpw via VGA cable will look razor sharp, the issue is color vibrancy. Until you've seen another non-VGA example, it's hard to know what you're missing.
 
Hey guys, I got my Monster VGA cables and optical cable yesterday (1-11-2006). I can definitely tell a difference from the Microsoft VGA cable. The colors are more vibrant, the image is sharper, and color accuracy is better. I also notice the audio is better via the monster optical cable. Seriously though, I really noticed an improvement with the Monster VGA cables. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.
 
Gmeister said:
Hey guys, I got my Monster VGA cables and optical cable yesterday (1-11-2006). I can definitely tell a difference from the Microsoft VGA cable. The colors are more vibrant, the image is sharper, and color accuracy is better. I also notice the audio is better via the monster optical cable. Seriously though, I really noticed an improvement with the Monster VGA cables. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.
Click to expand...


I'd definitely like to see any comparison pictures you can show us. I know a lot of people have wondered whether Monster's VGA is somehow better. thanks.
 
sanitystream said:
Except there's a whole thread on this forum about how the 2405 doesn't do true HD and downscales the component 720p to 480p. That's not going to work for me, not for that kind of money.
Click to expand...

This has been discussed ad nauseum. I don't have an Xbox360, but I do have an HD set top box. I assure you the 2405 supports HD at full res, at least my version does. It's significantly sharper than a DVD (480p). I can say this monitor is brilliant for HD. But there are a few people out there who are pretty adamant that theirs doesn't support it, so I dunno, could be different versions out there. I'm not complaining though.

Adrian
 
I have my X360 hooked up to a vanilla 17'' Dell LCD (not even Ultrasharp) through a VD-Z3 from www.vdigi.com, and it looks fantastic. I believe the X360 scaler scales the image to properly fit the 5:4 screen so that the image doesn't appear stretched out. The only game that has a slight problem with it is PGR3, which supposedly is originally rendered with some weird resolution and is upconverted to 720p; as a result, the cars appear a bit squished.

Overall though, it looks almost as fantastic as the other games I've tried on the monitor (PDZ, DOA4, NBA 2K6). Also, it's a bit darker than the other games, which I can't really fix since I have the monitor on maximum brightness and PGR3 has no in-game feature to adjust brightness like the others. It's a bit of a problem on some maps, but it's more than manageable until I get a widescreen display.

I apologize in advance for the following pictures, but they should give you a rough idea of what the 360 will look like at 720p through the VD-Z3. Here's a pic of the dashboard:

http://www21.brinkster.com/endlessness/100_0021.JPG

Here's DOA4, which looks great but is hard to photograph since it's so fast-moving:

http://www21.brinkster.com/endlessness/100_0027.JPG

Here's an example of the squishedness of PGR3:

http://www21.brinkster.com/endlessness/100_0029.JPG

Here's a pic of PGR3 in cockpit view, which looks great save for being a bit too dark:

http://www21.brinkster.com/endlessness/100_0031.JPG

Finally, here's a pic of PDZ, which also looks better than the pic shows:

http://www21.brinkster.com/endlessness/100_0033.JPG

On a whole, I recommend the VD-Z3 as an alternative to the VGA cables. The picture quality is fantastic on an inexpensive old Dell 17'' LCD, and it can be used for anything that has component inputs; I originally used the VD-Z3 for the original XBOX to use in 480p on a CRT.

EDIT: There's no color washout that I can notice with the VD-Z3. In addition, it outputs in 720p to the monitor, but I think the scaler in the 360 properly formats this to fit my normal aspect monitor.
 
asmielia said:
This has been discussed ad nauseum. I don't have an Xbox360, but I do have an HD set top box. I assure you the 2405 supports HD at full res, at least my version does. It's significantly sharper than a DVD (480p). I can say this monitor is brilliant for HD. But there are a few people out there who are pretty adamant that theirs doesn't support it, so I dunno, could be different versions out there. I'm not complaining though.

Adrian
Click to expand...

same here... I think if there is a limitation... it's with the xbox360... and not the 2405fpw. I think they need to read this thread for any disbelievers...

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1971&start=150

http://users.aber.ac.uk/abw3/Images/360/comparison.htm
 
WOOHOO!

Got my Xbox360 back from repair today! They replaced it instead of fixing it! They also gave me a new HDD "for my patience and being a loyal customer", so now I have two HDDs.

Bad news is, I am in a hotel 60 miles from my home and will be until late Saturday. Dumb work.

If you see my gamer tag (Ty71) online, that is my girlfriend playing it, as I asked her if she could put it thru the paces to see how well the new one works.

I will test the VGA and Vdigi this Saturday night or Sunday.

So to recap....YAY for MS, YAY for my girlfriend, Boooo to dumb work.
 
eternalvendetta -- thanks for the info. I can't view your pictures - I just get an error that says:

"HTTP1.1 STATUS 403 Remote Access to this object forbidden This file cannot be directly accessed from a remote site, but must be linked through the Brinkster Member's site. "


Anyway, very interesting about the aspect ratio. It seems to me 720p (1280x720) is output at widescreen 16:9 and therefore should looked "squeezed" on a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor. I too have 4:3 and this is one reason I've held back on getting a VD-Z3.

If you can make your pictures viewable, I'd love to see them. thanks.
 
sanitystream said:
eternalvendetta -- thanks for the info. I can't view your pictures - I just get an error that says:

"HTTP1.1 STATUS 403 Remote Access to this object forbidden This file cannot be directly accessed from a remote site, but must be linked through the Brinkster Member's site. "


Anyway, very interesting about the aspect ratio. It seems to me 720p (1280x720) is output at widescreen 16:9 and therefore should looked "squeezed" on a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor. I too have 4:3 and this is one reason I've held back on getting a VD-Z3.

If you can make your pictures viewable, I'd love to see them. thanks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought I might run into problems with the widescreen aspect ratio with my normal aspect ratio monitor, but the X360's scaler chip seems to resolve this perfectly.

Hrm, the pictures are working for me. Try copying and pasting the links into your browser. If that still doesn't work, I'll try photobucket or something.
 
Alright, here you go guys. These are pics from just the Monster Xbox 360 games. I don't own a digital camera so I had to acquaint myself with it before taking pics. Anyway, these are decent quality pics. Keep in mind that this is on a Dell 2005fpw, with contrast at 50, brightness 0, scaling on aspect, and Xbox video output res @ 1280x768.


Project Gotham Racing 3 pics




Dead or Alive 4 pics
 
dipsetrenegade said:
how do u set scaling on aspect?
btw
get a 2005fpw . with VGA cables for 360 it looks amazing
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if you're complementing the pics, but all my pics are on the 2005fpw. Anyway, the 2005fpw allows you to set the scaling in VGA mode. I just go to image settings -> scaling -> set to "aspect" mode.
 
dipsetrenegade said:
how do u set scaling on aspect?
btw
get a 2005fpw . with VGA cables for 360 it looks amazing
Click to expand...

I flirted with getting a 2005fpw and probably would've if I had gotten in on the ~$335 deal they ran a few months back. Now it's like $463 though, and at that price I'd rather wait until the Olevia LT26HVX drops to about $500 (26'' LCD TV). Plus there's the 2007fpw coming out soon supposedly with better specs and HDCP, so I'm in no great rush to upgrade.
 
Gmeister said:
Alright, here you go guys. These are pics from just the Monster Xbox 360 games.
Click to expand...

So in your opinion, how close do the Monster VGA cables bring the color to what it is over Component?

Could you write some more detailed impressions of the Monster cables?

Thanks,

Matt
 
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