360 and vga to hdmi convertor

turtle3 · 30 Apr 2006 at 08:41

Just wondering if this is possible?? I have a sammy hdtv with a vga and HDMI input and want both my pc and 360 hooked up at the same time,, I did have my 360 hooked up component and PC via VGA but after trying and comparing vga to component on the 360 I cant go back again to component as the VGA quality is Amazing :eek:

. I am told that the sammy tv I have only supports pixel mapping through the vga,, so looks like im gonna have to keep the pc hooked up that way, but could a hdmi vga convertor be used with the 360 to get it in to the hdmi input??? Im getting fed up having to pull out the tv and swap vga cables every time i swap 360 to pc,,,,

thanks guys,, BTW i recommend everyone on component to try VGA, its made my 360 games look awesome

DaveyD · 30 Apr 2006 at 11:31

No, it wont work, as HDMI is a digital only connection, and VGA is analogue.

You're going to need some sort of VGA Switch I'm afraid.

Montario · 30 Apr 2006 at 12:06

i got the same kinda setup, pc outputs dvi from the graphics card, 360 goes into the vga, that way they're both in at the same time. Most cards have had dvi on em for a while i think, all you'd need is a dvi to hdmi cable, which wouldn't cost to much.

DaveyD · 30 Apr 2006 at 12:33

Montario said:
i got the same kinda setup, pc outputs dvi from the graphics card, 360 goes into the vga, that way they're both in at the same time. Most cards have had dvi on em for a while i think, all you'd need is a dvi to hdmi cable, which wouldn't cost to much.

True, as long as the graphics card will output DVI-D, then you'll be fine with the PC using the HDMI.

turtle3 · 30 Apr 2006 at 13:06

Montario said:
i got the same kinda setup, pc outputs dvi from the graphics card, 360 goes into the vga, that way they're both in at the same time. Most cards have had dvi on em for a while i think, all you'd need is a dvi to hdmi cable, which wouldn't cost to much.

Thanks ill look into that, my cards outputting dvi at the moment to my second 19'' monitor so ill just switch my second monitor over to vga and use the dvi output with a hdmi convertor for the hdmi input

One problem may be that my samsung LE26 doesnt support pixel mapping over the HDMI input (i think),, Im wondering if that will cause a problem displaying text on desktop??? some people say no pixel mapping causes a bad display??

UPDATE### just phoned up the local electronics shop in town and they want £100 for a dvi to hdmi cable :eek:

she said its because its gold plated,,lol unbelievable,, what kinda price should i be looking for,,

DaveyD · 30 Apr 2006 at 13:20

See what happens when you try it, and go for the optimum resolution that the HDMI wants to display.

turtle3 · 30 Apr 2006 at 13:27

Thanks found some for £9.99 all in so if it dont work its not that bad,,,

Just thinking, would a server switch box work?? I saw one the other week in a local shop?, its just a small grey box with two vga inputs on a switch (a and B) and one output,, I was thinking I could have the 360 and pc vga's going in, and the output going into the vga input on tv, then just flip the switch to change pc/360, it would save pulling out the tv and swapping cables,,, would this work or am I getting carried away now,,lol??

DaveyD · 30 Apr 2006 at 13:42

It would work, but if you buy a cheapo one, you've got the chance of it losing lots of quality through it compared to a reasonably expensive KVM switch for example.

turtle3 · 30 Apr 2006 at 13:47

Ahh i see, it was only £15 so wouldnt be too good would it, ill try the hdmi-dvi cable..

thanks

Montario · 30 Apr 2006 at 15:31

makes me chuckle that theres expensive ' premium ' cables, cos.. the signal is digital so theres no way a fancy cable can actually improve the image. My cable cost something like 10 quid and its perfect.

DaveyD · 1 May 2006 at 11:35

Montario said:
makes me chuckle that theres expensive ' premium ' cables, cos.. the signal is digital so theres no way a fancy cable can actually improve the image. My cable cost something like 10 quid and its perfect.

There has to be a good reason why you have the cables for £100. Though it is digital, there's probably still a bit of quality issues you can have... though I can't remember why

Boogle · 1 May 2006 at 15:52

DaveyD said:
There has to be a good reason why you have the cables for £100. Though it is digital, there's probably still a bit of quality issues you can have... though I can't remember why

DVI & HDMI using unshielded twisted pair cables, not coaxial as they should. This means their impedence (iirc) is poor. Digital AV when it first arrived was designed to offer supreme quality over massive cable lengths as long as the impedence is high (hence coax). The DVI & HDMI groups in their infinite wisdom went with twisted pair, this means after about 15 metres the signal strength drops below the minimum required and the image suddenly breaks up, and 20 metres the image is essentially gone. ECC can no longer recover the image. The image quality will be the same regardless of cable length until a certain point, at that point you'll usually find 'sparkles', it will get exponentially worse from that length onwards.

High quality cables allow for the cable to be longer before the image breaks down. You can get as high as ~50m with a very good quality cable.

Its a shame since low quality coax would be cheaper and offer greater distances.

You want high quality cable with component though, its an analogue signal from the 1960s.

turtle3 · 5 May 2006 at 09:02

Well I got the cable and picture is terrible

,,whatever resolution setting I use It doesnt fit my screen :confused:

also text looks blurred but I was kinda expecting this as theres no pixel mapping over hdmi input.,, Would I need to make a custom resolution??? if so what would it be cos I have no idea???

lol,, this thread started about 360 and hdmi and now its PC and hdmi,lol

thanks

DaveyD · 5 May 2006 at 10:43

turtle3 said:
Well I got the cable and picture is terrible ,,whatever resolution setting I use It doesnt fit my screen also text looks blurred but I was kinda expecting this as theres no pixel mapping over hdmi input.,, Would I need to make a custom resolution??? if so what would it be cos I have no idea???

lol,, this thread started about 360 and hdmi and now its PC and hdmi,lol

thanks

Find out the native resolution of the TV, try that if you havn't already.

turtle3 · 8 May 2006 at 07:29

The native resolution is 1360x768 and I use the resolution on VGA and it looks crystal clear and fits the screen perfect, when I use the HDMI lead and the same resolution windows boots up and the taskbar is just outside the screen as well as a few desktop items at the top,, In othe words it just dont fit :confused:

I tried all the other resolutions available eg, 1280x1024 1024x768 and they dont fit the screen either also text is a bit blurred at all resolutions??

Im thinking of giving up and trying the KVM switch option now, ive seen some fair priced ones £20 but they are Auto kvm's, i dont think an auto switch would work would it??

thanks for help,,,