[Scratch2k]

I recently purchased a Z700 as an upgrade from my old Benq PB6100 and what an upgrade! I'm generally happy with the Z700, my only complaint would be that the contrast level is not high enough in a dark room (blacks look grey), but I understand this is a limitation of a pj in the price bracket.

I have a small problem when connecting my XBOX 360 up via VGA in that if I configure the 360 to output 1080p and use the VGA input on the Z700 the image looks sharp and clear on the static XBOX dashboard but as soon as any movement happens on screen the image darkens then brightens. If I try and play back a DVD, HD DVD or play a game the problem is compounded 100 times and they're all unwatchable. If I turn the res on the 360 down to 720p, it looks and works just fine.

The Sanyo rep has said (through the retailer):

Most native HD software (movies and games) have inbuilt ‘High Definition Content Protection’ (HDCP) to stop pirating. Unless the source device (in this case, the Xbox) and the display device (Z700) are connected digitally, and agree on an HDCP “handshake” , the content will behave exactly as the customer describes. This does not happen when the output is lower than 1080P as the pirates could therefore not make a copy in the highest resolution. The solution is to connect the two devices digitally (and get the HDCP handshake) rather than plugging into the analogue VGA input. In other words, he needs to connect the Xbox to the Z700 with an HDMI cable.

...while this sounds reasonable it can't be true, can it? I have had the same XBOX connected to a Dell 1080p monitor via VGA for months without a problem.

The 360 is capable of outputting 1080p via VGA, I know this is a violation of the HDCP standard but they had to enable it because the 360 did not originally come with a HDMI output. The proof is in the fact that I can get 1080p through the Dell monitor, so why doesn't it work on the Z700?

Why would a HDCP handshake need to be sent on an analog connection anyway?

Can anyone shine some light on this situation? Am I just going to be banging my head against a brick wall until I give in and buy an HDMI enabled 360? Is there some kind of workaround so I can watch 1080p content on the Z700 via VGA? Who should I be chasing for a resolution of this? Sanyo or Microsoft?

[Scratch2k]

I feel so alone.

[Scratch2k]

To continue this conversation with myself...I just got off the phone with the Sanyo rep and he explained that the Z700 was never designed to take/process a 1080p signal through VGA, a common problem in older panels/projectors but I wrongly assumed that more modern units would not suffer from this limitation.

The main reason I persisted with the VGA was because I already had a long enough VGA cable and the XBOX upscales SD DVD's via VGA (not not Component).

The solution is to use Component and let the projector upscale the SD DVD's, it just means I can't play back HD DVD's in their full res (over component), which kinda sucks, but that's what the standalone HD DVD player is for.

[sbr287]

Thanks for following up and posting the resolution. I have a similar issue in that my Sanyo will not display the output from an iMac (Intel Core Duo) at 1920 * 1080 through the VGA line - even though an Acer display takes the signal and displays it beautifully. Based on what you wroye, it is not worth trying to resolve the issue except by buying a miniDVI-HDMI adapter to get the signal from the iMac to the projector.