Staples - 26" LCD TV/MONITOR 16ms/DVI £299

Sid_Harper

Godspeed wrote:

Just a quick pic with my bad quality cameraphone - Madagascar Hi-Def (1280x720) trailer on XBMC going into the LCD via RGB scart (Looks fantastic, can't wait to get a xbox VGA output sorted )

hey Godspeed - looks great.... I connected up my laptop (ATI Radeon mobility 9600 I think) via DVI but I can't get the full width 1:1 display up. If I put into 1024x768, fine. But 1280x1024 and it pans about in a 1024x768 window.

Was hoping to stream DVR-MS TV recording files off the MCE machine downstairs over the network and watch in the bedroom

No support for widescreen modes :mad:

Next step is to cart the MCE machine (it's only a little cube) upstairs and see if the FX5200 card in there can handle the panel's native res. To be honest, I want to use the laptop; need to see if Media player can be forced to squash a 16:9 movie into 4:3 - then (I know it's a silly solution) get the TV to stretch the 1024x768 DVI input to 16:9.

Have you folks managed to get native 1280x768 working via DVI or VGA?

NEWS: found you can change the pixel aspect ratio in Media Player to do the workaround above (not native res horizontally, but hey, who's going to notice the stretch being applied from 1024 to 1280 on a compressed movie stream anyway)

twe

damnit my idea did not work... got a nice green tinge.... is there anything that i could do? Like modify the hd pack? How exactly does the make it yourself cable work? i.e. different signal is outputted from the xbox....

also are you going to make yours? Think material wise it will cost about £10.... hope you good at soldering cos you can make mine for me!

Sid_Harper

Godspeed wrote:

i'm positive a transcoder is needed to get from component to VGA

Yes - VGA has separate horizontal and vertical sync signals as well as R, G and B plus a few other things (e.g. plug & play monitors will return data over the cable to tell the PC what they are too). Not just a wiring job.

Godspeed

I've been doing so much reading of articles and posts on forums concerning vga/component/rgb that i'm getting confused myself!

The basis of the homemade xbox vga lead is that it uses the RGB signal of the original cable which is easier to configure to vga. It requires using a RGB modified bios to work. Output was limited to 480 if i'm not mistaken though

I'm going to have a proper sit down and read up tonight.

Concerning the resolution problem i'm sure the defacto tool for getting the correct resolution is installing 'Powerstrip'

The other part of the equation is making sure windows is using the correct display driver for the lcd.

I'm lumping my main pc downstairs later so will report back


Cheers


G

twe

for me the best resolution when i connected it to my pc was 1024 X 768... when i did 1280 X 768 i could not read the text anymore, seemed a little squashed together.... this was via vga...

i have been reading a little more as well on what i bought... i found someone else saying in another thread at XB that you can do what i did..... going to ask him exactly how to get it working.... although at the moment i am getting that green tinge this is with the normal bios, not the vga bios..... so that might be the key... but need to look at which one to get, etc.... wish someone made it easier to understand!!

sertav

So, for 'normal' TV viewing what's the picture quality like?

Thanks

Sid_Harper

sertav wrote:

So, for 'normal' TV viewing what's the picture quality like?

It shows how poor normal TV quality really is!!! It's good, but when you put a DVD or a PC into it you quickly realise how good it could be!

Sid_Harper

Godspeed wrote:

Concerning the resolution problem i'm sure the defacto tool for getting the correct resolution is installing 'Powerstrip'

Thanks Godspeed for that info on Powerstrip... tap tap tap download install run - it allowed me to select that res.

BUT it wouldn't let me change to it :wall:

So having given up and de-installed it I found that the standard Windows display control would let me now pick 1280x768 :j

And it works a treat - though streaming wireless wasn't so great - a bit jerky, so I just need to stick a patch cable from the laptop to the wall (it's handy having CAT5 running everywhere ).

Watched a DivX on it and the picture is fantastic :T

Godspeed

Glad you got the res sorted Sid.

Concerning the VGA lead an easy guide is here - HERE

It appears that these phocus lcd's do 'sync on green' if you have a stable picture - which is a bonus but as explained in the article above the voltage for the 'sync' signal is not in the range expected by the monitor thus the green/grey problem.

twe

SUCCESS!!!




the vga bios loading up



the HD component pack by MS and component to vga connector connecting to the phocus 26" lcd tv



dead or alive 3 in high definition....




let me know if you need help with the setup that i did.....