Best Way To Play Dreamcast

[Adam Blue]

I'm wanting to be able to play my Dreamcast through VGA. I have the Pelican box and it works fine through my computer monitor and has for years. But, my HDTV displays invalid signal, so I'm guessing my TV is unable to display the default resolution the DC is set at without a converter.

I could get a converter, if that's a known solution, but they seem to be pricey. I've also heard it's possible to mod the VGA box. If that's true, I just need the instructions to that.

But is VGA the best way to go? Is there other ways to get the best picture quality out of the Dreamcast?

[theclaw]

Where in the world does one get an HDTV that won't display 640x480? Must be some bizarro bargain-basement model... *_*

[tomwaits]

Seems to me that it should work too.

Just a couple suggestions... I'm assuming the HDTV has a 15-pin input for PCs and you're connecting the VGA box there? Do you have a PC or laptop handy with 15-pin video output? Have you tried running a PC at 640x480 - 60Hz to see if it also gets the 'invalid signal'? (use the same video cable that you're connecting to the DC VGA box) Does the HDTV have a dipswitch, remote control button, or setup button that toggles to PC mode or something? What TV model? Maybe someone else here has the same TV...


VGA is definitely the best video quality for DC and worth the extra effort to make it work vs stepping down to s-video.

[Leo_A]

Where in the world does one get an HDTV that won't display 640x480? Must be some bizarro bargain-basement model... *_*

His television certainly can display that resolution. But the manufacturer probably never expected such a low resolution signal through the VGA input which is causing this issue.

It's no different then the many people that can't play things like PSOne games and Ico on their PS2's through component to their HDTV's. The HDTV wasn't designed with the expectation of recieving a low resolution signal through that input and something somewhere down the line makes it unable to be displayed.

[Adam Blue]

Yeah, what I gathered on the net is that it can't display that low of a resolution out of the box with newer TV's. My HDTV is an LG4230.

I hooked my netbook up to the VGA port on my TV and while 640 x 400 worked, 480 did show the invalid format text I get with the Dreamcast. Not sure what that means though, except that it's just the nature of my TV.

EDIT: That's actually 42LG30.