Dell 2407wfp....HD?

1mm3 · 29 Apr 2007 at 16:35

benji182 said:
without meaning to hijack this thread, is it easy to just get a 360 and plug it into your dell 2407??

i've bought the 2407 after my old CRT blew up but i'm umming and ahhing about getting a 360.

i don't have a HD TV and was wondering if you can simply connect a 360 to the monitor. if so do you have to buy any special cables?

currently i'm just running the monitor from my PC via DVI-D.

Hi (someone please correct me if im wrong)

I'm almost certain all you need to do is buy a vga cable for your xbox 360 (original ms one is well recommended) and connect it to the monitor via analog (vga), then you simply go into the monitors menu and change the input signal from digital (dvi-pc) to analog (vga-xbox360), change the output resolution on your xbox to 1080 and your sorted. Saves you buying a hd-tv just for your 360

chaparral · 29 Apr 2007 at 19:39

benji182 said:
without meaning to hijack this thread, is it easy to just get a 360 and plug it into your dell 2407??

i've bought the 2407 after my old CRT blew up but i'm umming and ahhing about getting a 360.

i don't have a HD TV and was wondering if you can simply connect a 360 to the monitor. if so do you have to buy any special cables?

currently i'm just running the monitor from my PC via DVI-D.

Yes the xbox360 will work with the dell 24" monitor by using the MS HD component cable or MS VGA cable..

The MS HD component cable gives better colours then the MS VGA cable..

Flanno · 30 Apr 2007 at 00:19

Baddass said:
it's got the vertical resolution to support 720p content, but the screen doesnt have HDCP support, so playing HDCP encrypted sources (HD DVD players etc) won't work on it

An alternative is to buy Xbox 360 HD player, hook it up to your PC and install PowerDVD HD edition and AnyDVD. My mates done it on his panel which is a 19" Asus widescreen that lacks HDCP support. But it's a cheap way to get HD DVD playback and he didn't need to buy a 360 as well to do it or an expensive set top box. All done through usb I believe. If you already have a 360, as was already said below hook the 360 HD player up to it, and connect the 360 to your screen via the vga cable. You can playback 1080p if your screen supports it. HDCP compliance does not even enter into it. I think the VGA cable is superior in every aspect to the 2407 component cable (which I believe does not support HD playback anyway). You just need to turn down the sharpness setting to 30%.

james.miller · 30 Apr 2007 at 00:28

Flanno said:
An alternative is to buy Xbox 360 HD player, hook it up to your PC and install PowerDVD HD edition and AnyDVD. My mates done it on his panel which is a 19" Asus widescreen that lacks HDCP support. But it's a cheap way to get HD DVD playback and he didn't need to buy a 360 as well to do it or an expensive set top box. If you already have a 360, as was already said below hook the 360 HD player up to it, and connect the 360 to your screen via the vga cable. You can playback 1080p if you screen supports it. HDCP compliance does not even enter into it.

if your display is connected to your pc via vga, then you dont need anydvd either. powerdvd only cares about hdcp if your using a digital video connection. i know this because i have a 360hd drive and my pc is connected to my 1080p sony with vga. no problems

skanky · 30 Apr 2007 at 07:39

how can i (easily) tell if what i'm outputting to my 2407wfp is 720p or 1080i? is there a quick way of telling?

1mm3 · 30 Apr 2007 at 18:53

What are you outputting from? pc/xbox/other?

Flanno · 1 May 2007 at 17:02

james.miller said:
if your display is connected to your pc via vga, then you dont need anydvd either. powerdvd only cares about hdcp if your using a digital video connection. i know this because i have a 360hd drive and my pc is connected to my 1080p sony with vga. no problems

True...but it you have a 360hd connected directly to the pc and you lcd does not support hdcp you do need anyDVD. AnyDVD HD edition gets around the HDCP requirement

Sorry..I know this does not help the OP but it's a useful bit of info. I found out when setting up a 360hd on my mates VX2025.

Flanno · 1 May 2007 at 17:05

skanky said:
how can i (easily) tell if what i'm outputting to my 2407wfp is 720p or 1080i? is there a quick way of telling?

The OSD on the screen will tell you, although it really is telling you the final output, so say if the scalar upscaled a source from 720p to 1080p it would show 1080p. Never fear though, the 2407 definitely does 1080p via DVI.

james.miller · 1 May 2007 at 17:19

Flanno said:
True...but it you have a 360hd connected directly to the pc and you lcd does not support hdcp you do need anyDVD. AnyDVD HD edition gets around the HDCP requirement Sorry..I know this does not help the OP but it's a useful bit of info. I found out when setting up a 360hd on my mates VX2025.

not if its connected via vga - that was my point

hdcp doesnt apply at all to vga conections, at least for the immediate future

Flanno · 1 May 2007 at 17:29

yep I know...it's fantasic allright. but for those without an xbox 360 or those that don't want to buy a ps3 or expensive blueray or hd player, and especially those without a hdcp supported screen which is a lot of people, they could just get the cheap 360hd player for under 199€, and a copy of powerdvdhd/anydvdhd and rig it up via usb to their pc..a very cheap way to enjoy the hd movie experience without even owning a 360 or a hdcp compliant screen. A few of my mates have this done now. Is the 360hd player connectable via a vga cable by the way...just wondering.

LLBDTiberio · 1 May 2007 at 18:03

Just to sum up and know if I am correct in assuming the following:

-The 2407wfp supports a 1080p source trough DVI and component?
-I could, potentially, hook up a ps3/360/HD player up to this screen and get 1080 support?

This is really all that is putting me off from buying this screen, there are waaay too many conflicting reports, all I need is 1080i/p support for a bluray/hd player as I will be buying a console soon and want to enjoy the HD :cool:

Flanno · 1 May 2007 at 19:21

Yes...correct...1080p is supported through DVI,VGA and Component. However only the first 2 will allow you watch HDCP encrypted material by virtue of the fact the DVI connector supports HDCP and the VGA connector bypasses it (at least with the Xbox 360HD player). So you would hook your 360 in via VGA (and have your 360HD player connected to your 360 for 1080p playback), and your PS3 in via a HDMI to DVI cable. Same would go for any other HD player really. An A04 2407 will give you proper 1:1 scaling and proper 1080p. I am 100% sure of this. The thing to be wary of when buying a HD player (unless you are using the Xbox360 one or a PS3) is that the HD player may use a chip called an EDDID to detect your LCD's resolution and set the output accordingly. Some of the players on the market today incorrectly detect the 2407 as supporting 720p max. The 360 and PS3 players do not have this problem. So you need to try the player before you buy or just get a PS3 or 360HD player.

http://vissione.wordpress.com/2006/10/23/1080p-for-cheap-dell-2407wfp/

One other thing to note, is I don't believe the 2407 has an overscan feature, so some blueray movies may have blue or green noise around the edges. On LCD TV's you can turn on a level of overscan to effectively zoom the image and cut this out. Not a problem with A03 revision of the 2407 as the screen is stretched by 60 pixels top and bottom and you don't see this noise around the edges. But on the latest 2407 because it is 1:1 you will have slight borders top and bottom and so this noise around the edges may be visible. Doesn't bother some people. Said I would mention it as I remember people complaining about the green borders when playing BD movies on the 2407 Rev 04.

Regarding component, 1080p is also supported but only non-HDCP content (games). So the xbox360 for example with a recent dashboard update will allow you to use 1080p via component. I believe the quality of the component cables on the 2407 is not up to the standard of the vga connection though and definitely not as good as some component inputs on some LCD TV's I have seen. I would reserve the component input for the Wii

LLBDTiberio · 1 May 2007 at 20:51

Thx a lot Flanno, by getting a hdmi-dvi cable I can hook up my mates PS3 to the dell and watch full 1080P goodness, or use the component

Can then hook an optical cable up to my X-fi and we're all set.
Sounds like the A04 revision has solved all the things it should

Flanno · 1 May 2007 at 21:09

Hdmi to dvi cable is the way to go to watch 1080p on the PS3. In fact that is the only way you can watch blueray movies at 1080p on the 2407. Component won't do it because ps3 content (at least blue ray movies) are hdcp protected and the 2407 only supports hdcp via dvi.

Games..not so sure. It may be possible to run games at 1080p with component. It is with the xbox360. Regardless very few games on the PS3 if any (except VT3) are native 1080p but rather upscaled native 720p like on the 360 so there will be very little difference in quality. Also as I said earlier, the component inputs on the 2407 are not up to scratch.

So to answer your question - get a hdmi to dvi cable for your ps3 and your sorted. I don't think it matters if you get single link (limited to 1920x1200 which is what the 2407 does) or dual link (higher res again). There is very little difference if any between the really expensive ones and the cheap 10 quid ones too. So buy the cheapest.

Regarding sound, the PS3 has an optical output by the way, so you can plug a standard optical cable into a receiver or something like a logitech z5500 control pod.

Be aware there are some issues still with the a04. I think tearing happens when you first setup 1080p and you have to turn the screen off and on once. The component inputs as I said earlier have been reported as poor also with colour bleeding. Again, I just read this somewhere, so you will have to google. It still would not stop me buying a 2407 if I was using the dvi on it.

Also, if you ever use an Xbox360 on the 2407 via the vga input make sure to turn the sharpness on the screen down to 30% to get rid of any faint lines.

benji182 · 2 May 2007 at 21:15

1mm3 said:
Hi (someone please correct me if im wrong)

I'm almost certain all you need to do is buy a vga cable for your xbox 360 (original ms one is well recommended) and connect it to the monitor via analog (vga), then you simply go into the monitors menu and change the input signal from digital (dvi-pc) to analog (vga-xbox360), change the output resolution on your xbox to 1080 and your sorted. Saves you buying a hd-tv just for your 360

chaparral said:
Yes the xbox360 will work with the dell 24" monitor by using the MS HD component cable or MS VGA cable..

The MS HD component cable gives better colours then the MS VGA cable..

thanks guys, another question though. would the 360 elite with its HDMI cable be better for my dell 2407 or is it not worth the extra money (not that its out here yet). i'm just thinking for when my student loan comes in

Flanno · 3 May 2007 at 00:33

Seeing as the 2407 has no hdmi input there isn't much point in the new 360 unless you want it for the colour and/or bigger drive. I suppose you could buy a hdmi to dvi cable and hook up to the 360 elite to the 2407 that way. But no one knows how good it is since the 360 elite is not out yet.

For the 360 the vga input is the way to go. The poster you quoted above says the component input gives better colours. That was true in the past as the vga cable was accused of creating washed out colours. However things have improved since the 1080p dashboard update and the vga cable is the clear winner.

For the PS3 the hdmi to dvi cable is the way to go. You can even buy a cheap dvi splitter box and hook up your pc and ps3 via dvi.

FrankJH · 3 May 2007 at 09:27

Flanno said:
yep I know...it's fantasic allright. but for those without an xbox 360 or those that don't want to buy a ps3 or expensive blueray or hd player, and especially those without a hdcp supported screen which is a lot of people, they could just get the cheap 360hd player for under 199€, and a copy of powerdvdhd/anydvdhd and rig it up via usb to their pc..a very cheap way to enjoy the hd movie experience without even owning a 360 or a hdcp compliant screen. A few of my mates have this done now. Is the 360hd player connectable via a vga cable by the way...just wondering.

£60 for powerdvdhd
£130 for MS HD-DVD player

Then you have to have a decent graphics card and cpu not to mention setting up windows exactly how powerdvd wants it etc

Depending on how good your pc is already its still a pretty expensive option (when you can get standalone hd-dvd players for under £300)

I initially went the route you suggested (a few months ago)and it was a pain in the *** to be honest - powerdvd didnt always work, the drivers for the graphics card had to be the right version etc etc etc

If you are persistant enough and dont need the pc for anything else its worth considering (its also possible powerdvdhd has improved since Jan/Feb07) otherwise forget it and get a standalone player

Just my opinion, powerdvd constantly mucking up for no reason took all the pleasure away from watching an hd movie for me.

I now have a toshiba E1 hd-dvd player and the pleasure is back

Edit- also unless you have analogue connections you cant get upgraded sound out of the MS drive either (as it has no direct hdmi link) so thats also worth considering

KNiVES · 3 May 2007 at 18:33

MS VGA only gives something like 1300x600 on my 1680x1050 monitor through DVI which is a pain. Dell 204FP

Flanno · 3 May 2007 at 21:44

I know...it's a pity..with the 2407 you will get the 1920x1080 though (obviously)

Regarding PowerDVDHD..it has improved a lot..I got it working first time. Borrowed it from a mate so cost me nothing. And I don't think the MS HD player is an expensive option if you already have a decent pc or if you don't have an LCDTV or a PC LCD that is HDCP compliant which a lot are not.

So for me it made no sense to buy a settop box. I use my pc for gaming and everything else. Just waiting for the pioneer blueray drive to come out in june for 300 euro

Standalone HD players for 300...didn't know they had dropped already to that price online. In Ireland they are still something crazy like 900 euro in the shops so the XboxHD player for 179 euro is a no brainer if you have the gear to run it...which is really only a pc and some software.