Component cables and 480p

If it's an SD CRT it's a 480i set. Change the settings to 480i.

Simplest explanation would be that his TV doesn't accept 480p. I thought only an HD CRT could display 480p (because if it can do 1080i it has 540 lines of vertical resolution).

i thought there were EDTV (480p) crt's, but it sounds like this is a 480i set.... as it was stated above... if they can do 480p it wouldnt take much to do 540p (1080i), so crt kinda skipped the 480p generation

So the solution is to hit the HD-SD switch on the cable, which will force the 360 in to 480i mode.

i have a 27" sony CRT that i used to use for my 360 that has component inputs and it only accepts 480i

"Even though his CRT has component? I would have thought that having component would allow it to accept 480p...thoughts?"

Component does not equal 480p. Component equals 480i to 1080p with better color separation than s-video. There were plenty of SD CRTs with component inputs that only accepted 480i, mostly from 2000-2005.

I thought the same thing with my 61" SD CRT. I remember when I saw that the PS2 had a component cable that I could purchase. I was so psyched because my set had component inputs. In fact I was so retarded I psyched myself into believing that the picture had to look better because I used the cable even though the PS2 wasn't even outputting a 480i. And then when I got the XBOX and I saw the option to set HD resolutions I thought I was ahead of the game. And for a long time I just couldn't understand why setting to a HD resolution didn't look very different from a SD resolution. Finally after some years I called the Sony rep and inquired about the component input and why it went berserk when I sent 1080i to the set. Come to find out, the set couldn't even accept a 480p signal. When I inquired about what the purpose of the component port was if it couldn't accept an HD signal. The rep basically said that it was to improve the picture quality. I was so disappointed.

Component will absolutely provide a better picture even at 480i VS. Composite or S-video. Color reproduction is much more accurate.

and the white's are much crisper, or so I found

"and the white's are much crisper, or so I found"

Most TVs have different settings for component versus other inputs. You could make the whites look the same on any input, it's just at default the set you are referring to produced whites that were more pleasing on component.

"Component will absolutely provide a better picture even at 480i VS. Composite or S-video. Color reproduction is much more accurate."

Yeah, not really. Composite to s-video on a 480i CRT is a huge jump as far as color separation is concerned. S-video to component on a 480i CRT is a negligible improvement at best. The only difference is a minor horizontal color separation difference, but given that the vast majority of SD CRTs struggle to produce even 500 lines of horizontal resolution, the natural horizontal blurriness of the technology covers up any input format advantages.

When it comes to SD CRTs and picking a format to transmit video over, pick the format that is easiest to work with. Meaning, pick the one that all of your devices support, and that is easy for any external switching device to handle.

Just get the model number off the TV's backside and find the specs on the intertetz. Then you know for sure what's up.

Well I can tell you that if there was a difference between SD and component as far as 480i is concerned I couldn't see one darn difference.