360 connectivity

[jim_is_ere]

Hi

Having just purchased a panasonic 32 inch HD ready TV in preperation for the 360's launch I was wondering if anyone knew what connectivity would get the best out of the Xbox 360.

I think the options are component and vga leads on launch. I have had a look at the TV specs and the PC signal is high density d-sub 15pin, it does mention that the PC signal is magnified or compressed for display so it may not be possible to show fine detail with suffient clarity!

So I am guessing the way to go for the 360 with a high def TV is component leads for true HD action
Can anyone clarify this for me?

cheers

Jim

 

[PioRow]

If you buy the £280 pack you'll get a component lead in the box, very good option for hi def.

But the vga lead has yet to be explored and explained in any detail by microsoft. By its nature the vga cable will have to output a set resolution. Where the actual console will allow you to set this resolution is yet to be seen. In an ideal worl it would allow you to output 768X1366 to match your lcd giving the best possible pocture. More likely it will output a 720X1280 picture and how that gets scaled on the vga port on your lcd is beyond me. It might not even scale on that vga port.

 

[neil c]

If you buy the £280 pack you'll get a component lead in the box, very good option for hi def.

But the vga lead has yet to be explored and explained in any detail by microsoft. By its nature the vga cable will have to output a set resolution. Where the actual console will allow you to set this resolution is yet to be seen. In an ideal worl it would allow you to output 768X1366 to match your lcd giving the best possible pocture. More likely it will output a 720X1280 picture and how that gets scaled on the vga port on your lcd is beyond me. It might not even scale on that vga port.

That all sounds wrong to me. What in the VGA cables nature means it has to output a single resolution? (I presume that is what you're implying, although I'm having diffculty understanding exactly what you're trying to say).

The Xbox 360 will output at 720p and 1080i in HD, and its the GPU that decides this, not the cable. There's absolutely no chance of a 1366 x 768 resolution, as its not in the HD spec.

 

[Member 55145]

i have a feeling the VGA cable will output 640x480 as per the VGA spec (It has to if its a VGA complian device) then will let you pick further resolutions afterwards, now what MS decide is upto them.

Now if they start letting people pick their own resolutions they will start running into compatability issues and frame rate issues no doubt, so id say 640x480 and if your lucky a few other common resolutions like 1024x768 or 1280 x 1024, or they may wish to only have 16:9 aspect (Other than 640x480 which has to be for compatability)

 

[PioRow]

Have faith, the vga cable doesnt come as standard, its a add on so theres no need to make it have standards.
640X480 would be a bit useless, that might be the starting resolution and then you work your way up from that.
Look at it this way, when you plug the scart socket in your going to have to scale down, games are made to run at 720p. Look at pc games, you can run them at numerous resolutions, the 360 is as powerfull as a PC, theres no reason why it cant run at different resolutions.
Developers will make games to a 16:9 format, 1366X768 is a 16:9 format. The 360 should be able to output at 1366X768.

TRUST ME, the VGA cable will be able to output at a native 1366X768.

 

[Member 55145]

i disagree on two points, 1 if they sell a VGA cable it MUST support 640x480 otherwise it isnt a VGA cable and they cant sell it as such.

2. yes PC's do output at different resolutions, but they have specs that can be upgraded etc, whereas consoles are normally pushed to run as fast as possible at a set resolution so changing that resolution will cause problems

 

[PioRow]

OK technically VGA has to be 640X480, but i think VGA is just the product name rather than any indication of its maximum resolution.

OK, so lets take PGR3, this can easily run at 720p, this is a 720X1280 pciture through component which your LCD/plasma/projector then scales to the screen size.
I believe that the vga cable will output 1366X768, I cant see it taking up that much more juice on the 360. My graphics card does 1280X1024 and its over 2 years old, the GPU in the 360 is a lot better and should be able to handle 1366X768.

 

[Member 55145]

point is that PGR3 is just 1 game, take PDZ that has been optomised to run at 25fps, if you change the resolution it will give a performance hit, esspecially if the GPU is not fully compatible with the resolution you want.

a pc will happily scale 640x480, 1024x768 etc etc as graphics cards and games are optimised for these resolutions, but if you start picking any old number you throw the math off, its much easier to divide by 2 than by 1.345 or 1.567. youll even find today that some games run slower at 640x480 than they do at higher resolutions purely for the fact the game hasnt been designed to run at that res

consoles are far more refined in their programming, pc's are more open. it may support any res you can throw at it but i wouldnt hold your breath

 

[nick501]

this is an interesting thread. What is it in the vga cable that determines resolution ?

I have a LCD which only accepts 'component' input through it's d sub connector (no component connector only hdmi, scart and composite)and i have orderd the M$ vga cable hoping that the 360 will think it's connected via component. my screens native res is 1280x720.

is my idea going to work?

(my screen is Tosh 27wl56)

 

[brain_stew]

A lot (well all it seems) of you are forgetting a very important point. The 360 has its own built in scaler, all games will be rendered at 720p (a couple at 1080i) and the 360's internal scaler will either upscale (e.g. to 1080i) or downscale according to the way the console is connected and the resolutions chosen in the 360 dash. This makes it very likley that a 1366 x 768 resolution will be supported by the VGA cable because it does not require any more "juice" from the console to do so, it would be upscaled by the 360's internal scaler to this resolution. The included scaler means that the VGA cable could support many resolutions, it just depends on which resolutions Microsoft allow.