I was wondering if any of our well oriented users can comment on this - I' ve read that VGA cable is the best analog connection - better than component (RCA at least) - is this true?

It' s the same shit.

That really depends. Technically component uses far less bandwidth whereas VGA is full-on RGBHV. However the way component works means that the picture quality isn' t reduced due to the reduced bandwidth (I can explain more if you wish). Most VGA monitors tend to be pretty good looking since they are built for computer displays. TV manufacturers can get away with a lot more flaws since people generally don' t have images like computer desktops and whatnot onscreen to exhibit those flaws.

I was purchasing a 20" analog TV about a year ago to hook up to my older game systems (Genesis, SNES, Saturn, TurboGrafx-16 CD, Neo Geo, and Sega Master System). Since I have all of those game systems mentioned hooked up in component video, I wanted the best image I could get. Many TVs didn' t do red very well even with through the component connection, so I took them back. A Sony one I tried had slight vertical lines across the screen where there were dithered graphics in the game due to uneven resolution and inability to properly handle 240p. I finally settled on a Sansui-made Toshiba TV which has brilliant reds and nice resolution and handles 240p perfectly.

So to answer your question, the component video connection itself is very good (as good as true RGB) just as long as you have a quality connection. But you may have better luck with VGA since those displays seem to be built to meet higher standards. If you are asking which is the best way to hook up your Xbox 360 to your LCD TV, then I' d probably go with the VGA since most LCD TVs have bizarre, non-HD native resolutions, and the VGA cable may allow your 360 to output in that bizarre resolution.

X360 looks better on component than VGA, that doesnt mean component is better (theyre the same shit) it just means that for some reason x360 doesnt maintain the same color integrity on VGA than component, though people say on some TVs VGA is fine.

It may look better on component than VGA on your TV, but that doesn' t mean it' s the case on every TV or monitor.

However VGA and Component are not the same. Component is " color difference" whereas VGA is pure color. Component sends out a black and white picture over the GREEN cable (hook up just the green and you' ll see... even to the composite jack). The Red cable sends out the difference between the red and the lumincance, likewise with the Blue cable. The display figures that everything else must be green, so it mathematically creates the green itself. VGA and Component are two different ways of sending the same image, but they do it in radically different ways.

Component is supposed to bring richer colours but VGA is known to have better black levels for LCDs. I have no problem with either.

I' ve gone through like 6 HDTVs this year, and currently have 3 in my home, they all look like shit on x360 VGA, even my Computer monitors which are CRTs look like shit w/ X360' s VGA, there was a huge thread on gamefaqs with dozens of people complaining about how shitty it looked on VGA, so for the most part its safe to say that you should not use VGA with your xbox360, unless you' re part of the 1% with a TV that looks fine through VGA w/ 360, or unless you have some kind of eye problem and are incapable of noticing that it looks bad on VGA.

I haven' t seen the Xbox360 in VGA so I can' t really comment. Maybe MS just sucks when it comes to VGA. Windows PCs have a much darker GAMMA than real computers. I blame MS. :)

So I guess there aren' t any specific advantages of one over the other , but component connection depends on your TV' s calculations on green right?

That would make it TV dependent.

Here;s a nice quote from AVS forums:

VGA shows more detail than component so you' d actually gain quality, however the colours will seem washed out in comparison. I' d say most games look better with VGA in spite of this, although games which use lots of colours like DOA4 and Kameo evidently look duller in VGA and you' re better off using component for them despite the clearer picture which VGA gives.

Neither input is flat-out better than the other, and they both have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the game being displayed. It often comes down to a matter of preference (and rigorous testing).

Anyway 360 wasn' t my main concern so it doesn' t matter.

I' ve got some questions for you Joe :)

Is 10-15m lenght of component cable affecting it' s quality?

How high is the contrast on CRT TV' s? I' m used to CRT TV' s and I' m getting a 1800:1 (in optimised settings and actual measurments) projector - will it be noticably worse?



How do you like your 360 Joe?

I usually don' t calculate length in meters. Use American descriptions, please. You don' t want cables that are too long but 10 or 15 feet shouldn' t cause much loss in signal quality.

I don' t know how high the contrast ratio is in CRTs. I' ve never had to worry about it (it also depends on the TV, of course). The projector will always be noticeably worse unless you can project in a completely dark environment. It will definitely be different. The AVS is a big place, find the projector forum in there and ask that there. They always have at least a few hundred thousand people online at once, it seems.

The 360 is cool and I am playing a lot of Dead Rising and Ridge Racer 6. MotoGP is really clunky because I think the programmers of part 3 had their kids program the 360 version. I wish I had something better to hook it through than the CRAPPY Pelican 8-way component video switcher (Called the Pro AV Selector or something like that). That thing is pure crap!

So anything longer than 15 feet (almost 5 m) would degrade signal?
Maybe I should get a well shielded and more expensive component if it' s to be 30 feet?

Shit I have to think hard where I' m going to place my projector.

I use 100% dark room for gaming (even on my CRT) so it' s not a problem.

Thanks for the info.

Put your projector above you and put the game systems near you so the cables won' t need to run so long. You could probably get away with 20 feet of cable if the quality was good. Are your game systems going to be in another house than your projector?

I think I' ll use that 20 feet cable (I' ve decided to place my projector in a different place) but I want my component cable to be hooked to receiver (and I have a 20$/m speaker cables - I don' t want them to be long).Also I think that Toslink cables are even worse when it comes to length , so my console needs to be close to receiver.

It sucks , cause this component cable will be really expensive (and when I get an HDMI DVD player the price wil probably go even higher).I guess it is worth it after all.

Thanks a lot for all the info.

(my consoles are in my garden while my projector is in my bathroom with screen in my friends house - this is the optimal video quality scenario from AVS forums )

Infact the distance of the PJ from the receiver is shorter , but it can' t go in a straight line across the room :)

It' s better to have the speaker cables long since they are actually amplified.

yeah but those bastards are pretty expensive (I have a big room) :)

I' ll just get a nice well shielded component cable.

I was trying to get a nice HD CRT TV , but they are terribly hard to get at this point (especially in Europe).You' re a lucky bastard!

I wish those SED TV' s were out sooner.1ms response time, CRT picture and flat like LCD' s (also 30% less power consumption than LCD).I' d love to at least read some reviews of them...

This HDTV thing has become a major mess - next gen DVD format WAR, people getting a nice HDTV just to realise that they won' t be able to watch movies through component (and then that they will be able to watch them this way till 2009), people deciding on LCD and now hearing about SED and so on.

It' s a fuckin M E S S

I got VGA,i heard some people who has changed between,some games is just to dark with component.

]Mr. Gangster[, unless you put your amp smack in the middle of the room, there will be long runs to some of the speakers. Just get some good 12 gauge shielded speaker wire and you' ll be OK. It' s really not that expensive. It doesn' t need to be phuggin' Monster Cable (who never list wire gauge on their product anyway). My point is that extremely low voltage signal wire like component will lose signal strength a lot sooner than amplified wire like speaker cable. No amount of shielding can prevent signal weakening over long runs.

I see...

I guess I' ll have to rethink this whole setup.Thanks for your time Joe

We have a 32" LCD and the VGA at 1360x786 for 360 looks much better than using component 720p. The VGA looks the same as component when you set it to 1280x720. I use the VGA adapter with my 2 ms monitor and it looks better than anything else I' ve seen.
I' ll see how it compares to the 60" on its way.

yeah but that' s probably because of upscalling to 768 via component , while vga cable can be set to 768 on Xbox (no TV upscalling this way).