Xbox360 and VP30/ABT102

[donmonte]

Hello everybody,

What would be the best option here:
- Xbox360 480i into the ABT102 Game mode output 720p
- Xbox360 720p into ABT102 auto ?
- Xbox360 720p into display 720p?
I'm afraid the first option won't give me true Hi-Definition out of the box, and the second option will produce frame delays.
What do you recommend guys?

Regards

[ansallar]

morning donmonte ..

I believe that the ABT102 is most useful when processing standard interlaced NTSC/PAL signals and will actually have no effect on a HD (720p) signal from the xbox360 .. It might be helpfull to understand what is at the screen end of your VP30 ?

If its a HD display that is capable of 720p natively then this is the best option for your Xbox360 output.

[togad]

I've got a 360 going into a VP30/ABT102 at 720p and onto a Pioneer 504.

Auto on the VP30/ABT102 works fine for me - no discernible video lag (although I'm not as young as I once was!).

[gorman]

Unless you need it as a switcher, there's no point in processing the signal produced by a videogame console.

[Nic Rhodes]

Originally Posted by gorman

Unless you need it as a switcher, there's no point in processing the signal produced by a videogame console.

But isn't the whole point of the VP30/ABT102 is that is has a 'gamers' mode that allows high speed processing that bypasses the slower electronics in other kit?

[ailean]

Originally Posted by Nic Rhodes

But isn't the whole point of the VP30/ABT102 is that is has a 'gamers' mode that allows high speed processing that bypasses the slower electronics in other kit?

Only for the deinterlacing when fitted with the ABT102D.

i.e. if you have SD (480i/576i) consoles go via the VP30/ABT102D using game mode to upscale to your HD displays native res.

If you have HD (480p/576p/720p/768p/1080i/1080p) consoles go via the VP30 (ABT102D and game modes are bypassed for ANY HD input) if you need input switching or if your display doesn't have a native res supported by the HD console.

[Nic Rhodes]

But that is why the OP asked about

Xbox360 480i into the ABT102 Game mode output 720p?

in the first place!!

He realised there is a 'gamers' mode, he realises that this only works for interlaced signals and he wants to know whether this would be prefereable to the feed 720p direct to VP30 or display. It is a delay vs resolution question. The VP30/ABT102 has given gamers a new option.

[JaniH]

Originally Posted by Nic Rhodes

It is a delay vs resolution question.

Why should there exist any delay when using 720p output from 360?

[Nic Rhodes]

because other electronics is not always as good as we would like.

[donmonte]

Originally Posted by Nic Rhodes

But that is why the OP asked about

Xbox360 480i into the ABT102 Game mode output 720p?

in the first place!!

He realised there is a 'gamers' mode, he realises that this only works for interlaced signals and he wants to know whether this would be prefereable to the feed 720p direct to VP30 or display. It is a delay vs resolution question. The VP30/ABT102 has given gamers a new option.

Yes this is what i'm trying to find out. I remember when i fed my original xbox to the HD+ there was video lag no matter if the input was 480i or 480p.

Regards.

[ailean]

HD consoles don't scale games to HD they render them in HD, if you don't use the HD output you might as well sell it and go back to a SD console. It's like asking should I watch HDDVDs in HD or use the SVideo SD output and scale it up to HD with an external scaler.

The Game modes are a feature of the ABT102d SD Deinterlacer, they speed up SD Deinterlacing for SD games. When dealing with HD consoles or any source that is natively HD you're only using the Scaling and switching features of the VP30.

If your display is 720p then just feed it 720p from the console (going via the VP30 as a switch shouldn't make a differance) but if your display is a res not supported by the consoles rendering modes (not scaling) then either the VP30 or the Display will have to scale it and will add a delay. One may be faster then the other and one may be better looking then the other but chances are the Scaler will do it better.

[gorman]

Originally Posted by donmonte

Yes this is what i'm trying to find out. I remember when i fed my original xbox to the HD+ there was video lag no matter if the input was 480i or 480p.

Ok, but my point is... why do you want to feed X360 to a scaler? To use the scaler as a switch or for other reasons?

[donmonte]

I thought that maybe the ABT/102 game mode could clean up some of the jaggies that are present in some games. But i guess the jaggies come from the source and that nothing could be done about them.

Regards

[ailean]

You'd need some sort of anti-aliasing feature on the HD console to smooth out the edges, I would have thought that the Xbox 360 would do this anyway as it's based on PC and NV hardware.

There is a chance that rescaling the 720p output via the VP30 might smooth out some edges (say to a 768p Display) but this sort of processing will always add a delay (I think it's only around 1-2 frames, I vaguely remember Dale giving some better numbers on this in a thread here).

But you do need to make sure the Display isn't doing additional scaling as it'll add more delay.

Personally I've not even plugged my SD console back in since getting the ABT102d so the game modes etc haven't seen the light of day.