I own a 61 inch Samsung 1080P DLP that plays my HD cable and DVD player (hooked with HDMI cable) beautifully! I recently purchased an XBOX 360 and an XBOX HD DVD player with VGA cables (the TV has VGA input), which I was told were the best for quality. After all the settings were put to the max, we found an amazing picture...BUT... ...the actual size of the image sent by the XBOX was slightly smaller than the 61 inch screen. In other words the picture did not FILL the entire HD display, leaving several inches of black space bordering the entire outer rim of the "rectangle". Huh??? We were told VGA was way better than HD/component cables for the XBOX, and they do look great...but we can't seem to get it to fit the whole screen! Any help or advice would be awesome, guys...as I am a total idiot when it comes to this stuff You also gotta wonder why XBOX 360 didn't offer an HDMI output... -SK
Were the black bars all the way around the image, L/R as well as top and bottom? Are all of the output settings on the 360 set for your type of set (16:9, 1080i, etc)? Are you able to configure any settings for the VGA input on the set? With that said, as far as I know some sets have trouble scaling the VGA input to match their screens. My set, an SXRD, has the same problem when my CPU is connected to the VGA port. No matter how you change the settings on the video card you can't get it to fit "just right". Now, we're talking about a console so there is no adjustment available on the output end. The VGA out of the 360 is analog, not digital. I have heard that it is for this reason that MS will not distribute an HDMI cable. You should do just as well with picture quality using component cables and the set may scale the image correctly to the screen.
I agree with ChiknLitl. If you're watching HD-DVD's just use component cables from the 360 to output 1080i to your DLP and just let the Samsung do the deinterlacing to 1080p. The only problem is when you play standard DVD's. The component connection will allow only 480p (progressive scan) but the VGA will allow a maximum of 1080p (upconverted). Also, when you say all settings put to max do you mean the 360's settings or the HDTV's settings? You usually need to go to the 360's display adjustment screen and set the VGA settings as close as possible to your HDTV's native resolution i.e. 1920 x 1080.
Sorry, I had no idea you could adjust the VGA settings on the 360 (Doh!). It certainly makes perfect sense that you should be able to. However, I am confused because here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360vgahdcable/ It says that the VGA cable supports res up to 1080p, but here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/xbox360/highdefdetails.htm it lists the max output res through VGA as 1360x768? How the heck does that work? Any thoughts on clearing up the confusion for me?
Alex McLain needs to edit his article. The last system software update enables 1920 x 1080 resolution over VGA.
Here's some information on the latest update from Major Nelson: I can't get the link to display properly but look it up in majornelson.com.
"Alex McLain needs to edit his article. The last system software update enables 1920 x 1080 resolution over VGA." We tried setting it to that output and while it looks nice it stull does not fit the entire 61 inch screen....the output size is roughly 56-57 inches.
No, VGA isn't better than Component Video. It is my understanding that the latest firmware upgrade for the 360 allows it to pass 1080p over component video. I know the Samsung 61" can except it via its Component Video connections. Whats to wonder? There is no need for HDMI on the 360. The games don't take advantage of deep-color bit depths (HDMI 1.3) and don't have copy-protection on their video output (like movies can have). Since Component Video can handle everything from 480i to 1080p its all the 360 needs. Ced
I switched to the component HD cable and it looks nice...fits the whole screen, but now get this: In ANY dark scene in a film or game there are a series of faint white lines that crawl up the screen, thus displaying SOME kind of interference. NOW what??? Is there any way to eliminate said interference?? And Why The F*** did the XBOX come out without an HDMI output?
