[DJBeanPole]

Things are way too dark! I was playing a level on Mass Effect and had to stop playing because I couldn't see what I was doing. It only seems to be the outside of the screen.


I have a Samsung LN46A750 and its almost like you can cut out a large circle in the middle of the TV and the picture is bright and nice, but anything beyond this circle is dark... too dark.


I have the 360 set to expanded for VGA.


I guess my only other option is to change my TV's calibration settings (currently using ZeroG's calibration from the LNXXA750 calibration thread).


Any ideas? I'm using VGA because I want to upscale my DVDs, and is I had the 360 going through my receiver (RX-V665) with component it would upscale DVDs to 1080p but only play games at 1080i

 

[glum]

screenshot would be helpful. does component work ok?


ps - yeah 500 posts for me!

 

[elvisizer]

stop using the expanded setting, use standard. expanded is for computer monitors.

 

[Nickff]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DJBeanPole /forum/post/16826176


Things are way too dark! I was playing a level on Mass Effect and had to stop playing because I couldn't see what I was doing. It only seems to be the outside of the screen.


I have a Samsung LN46A750 and its almost like you can cut out a large circle in the middle of the TV and the picture is bright and nice, but anything beyond this circle is dark... too dark.


I have the 360 set to expanded for VGA.


I guess my only other option is to change my TV's calibration settings (currently using ZeroG's calibration from the LNXXA750 calibration thread).


Any ideas? I'm using VGA because I want to upscale my DVDs, and is I had the 360 going through my receiver (RX-V665) with component it would upscale DVDs to 1080p but only play games at 1080i

As much as you don't want to hear it... It is time to trade up to HDMI. I used to use the VGA cable with my 52xbr3, but ended up selling my 360 and buying an Elite. HDMI was a vast improvement. Colors were bright and the picture was sharp. Before, I could get bright colors with component but the picture was a bit fuzzy and with VGA the picture was sharp but color was lacking.

 

[DJBeanPole]

Wish I wouldn't have bought the VGA cable lol. Oh well it was like $4. I'll get a screenshot tomorrow since I'm at work right now. In fact I'll do some comparison shots in the various reference level modes w/ the VGA cable and then again with the component thru receiver.


It just comes down to two things:


1) Component through receiver: movies upscaled to 1080p, games in 1080i


2) Component direct to TV: games in 1080p, movies in 480p (I don't think the 360 upscales over component???)

 

[Nickff]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DJBeanPole /forum/post/16826465


Wish I wouldn't have bought the VGA cable lol. Oh well it was like $4. I'll get a screenshot tomorrow since I'm at work right now. In fact I'll do some comparison shots in the various reference level modes w/ the VGA cable and then again with the component thru receiver.


It just comes down to two things:


1) Component through receiver: movies upscaled to 1080p, games in 1080i


2) Component direct to TV: games in 1080p, movies in 480p (I don't think the 360 upscales over component???)

No, the 360 will not upscale via component. You will need vga or HDMI!

 

[DJBeanPole]

Argh!

 

[Cynn]

Try standard. Expanded crushes black in the extreme.

 

[A.C]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DJBeanPole /forum/post/16826465


Wish I wouldn't have bought the VGA cable lol. Oh well it was like $4.

This is (most probably) your answer right here. Cheap "ebay" VGA cables are notorious for being inferior to OEM cables. Nobody talks much about it anymore b/c HDMI is all the rage - but back in the day there were plenty of people in your situation. Replacing generic with OEM cables made the difference night & day.


But don't take my word for it. A quick search or two should substantiate.

 

[257Tony]



Quote:
Originally Posted by A.C /forum/post/16827636


This is (most probably) your answer right here. Cheap "ebay" VGA cables are notorious for being inferior to OEM cables. Nobody talks much about it anymore b/c HDMI is all the rage - but back in the day there were plenty of people in your situation. Replacing generic with OEM cables made the difference night & day.


But don't take my word for it. A quick search or two should substantiate.

Word. Find a used set of the official MS cables and you'll see an improvement. Of course try standard reference levels also and see if that helps, its all about what your TV is expecting to receive through the VGA port.


IMO VGA can look just as good as HDMI, and gives you the benefit of zero overscan.

 

[Foxbat121]

If your TV is calibrate to video standard on your VGA input, change you 360 settings to Standard instead of expanded. Otherwise, you get black crush. I know Samsung TVs let you set VGA to PC mode with zero overscan and using expanded range. So, you need to check settings on both sides. You want expanded if your TV is set to PC mode. You want standard if your TV is set or calibrated to video mode. Any mismatch will cause PQ issues.

 

[chiliDog]

Are you using a genuine MS cable? For $4 probably not. I had serious issues with VGA until based on tips from here I ponied up and bought the OEM cable an I can tell you it made a huge difference. It's beautiful!

 

[DJBeanPole]

Well I think I might be alright.


I'm not one to argue against OEM v. cheapo, but I'm beginning to think everything is ok.


When I was playing Mass Effect before it was somewhat bright outside and, although not usually a problem, I had trouble seeing anything on the screen. I came home from work this morning and it was raining and dark outside, so I set the reference level to standard and everything was vastly improved.


I'll poke around for the PC settings on the sammy and see what I can find. I'll take pics later if need be.

 

[chiliDog]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DJBeanPole /forum/post/16830413


I'm not one to argue against OEM v. cheapo, but I'm beginning to think everything is ok.

Good that it's better for you.


I'm not one to worry about cheapo cables either, who knows how many I have bought over the years that have performed perfectly... but I will tell you that his one time, if your going to continue to use VGA that the OEM is an absoulute must.

 

[LiquidSnake]

Contrary to popular belief (even here), there are third party VGA cables which function perfectly because they are identical to Microsoft's. You can spend $40 on Microsoft's cable if you want to. I won't fault you. But if you go to monoprice.com you can get the same damn cable, made by monoprice, for only $4. That is the way I would go.


If on the other hand you get the $20 cable from MadCatz, or Intec, then you will have problems. You can pretty easily tell which ones will be ****ed before you purchase them, provided you can see them. The ones that will give you problems are going to be very thin, easily half the thickness of Microsoft's cable. But again, having owned both Microsoft's and Monoprice's (and a couple others) I can tell you for a fact that OEM is not "the only way to go."


If you are not getting blurriness from your cable at the resolution that you desire, you are not going to solve any problems by not using VGA, or by switching to another cable. Blurriness or ghosting is really the only problem you will have with a crappy VGA cable. If you find that your games are "too dark" via VGA, you should do two things, calibrate your set first and bear in mind that using an HT DVD may not give you the ideal settings for your games, and also calibrate the game or games in question. A lot of 360 games today allow you to change the brightness/gamma level in the options screen, in fact I would say that most games allow you to do this now. Between those two you should be able to get the proper bright level that you need. You would be facing the same problem, if you were to use digital RGB, so just tame your set and use the game tweaks to get things to the proper level.

 

[chiliDog]

We will have to just disagree. Actually, I think I will order one of the $4 (actually $6.45) cables you say is the same and do some testing. Some of the user reviews on monoprice state that this cable is also crap and suggest getting the OEM, and there is a ghosting problem with that cable too??...

"Same old cheap 360 vga cable. Dont get it get this if you just want something cheap. I had the madcatz and this is the same. Ghosting. Blurriness. I have a discerning eye for video defects. I am now going to get official ms cable."

"The image is pretty good, but at max resolution I get ghosting. I cant seem to find any way to clear it up. I was sent a replacement cable and it does the exact same thing."

"this is by far the worst of the VGA cables i have tested... blurry image, ghosting, persistent vertical line... as with any bit of cable your mileage may vary"

"Its a trap! It looks nothing like the picture (so it cant be used as an HDMI aduio adapter), and it has bad ghosting issues, ESPECIALLY at anything above 1280x720. And dont even think about 1920x1080. Go get the official cable, I know I am. I understand its a ripoff, but for good image quality, it may be worth it, unfortunately."

"If I could give a 0 out of 10, thats what I would have given it. The cable produces a VERY blurry image at ANY resolution I chose to run. It also had tons of wavy interference lines. I thought it was too good to be true, a cable for $10 that retails for $50, was shipped to me for $15 in total. It turns out that I was right, it was in fact too good to be true. This cable is not worth $1. Went out and bought the Microsoft VGA cable before I wrote this review - the Microsoft cable is fantastic, and works PERFECTLY. Monoprice xbox360 cable bad. very bad."

Link


But, if you are correct, I will come back and say so.

I started with a Pelican cable that was just as thick as the MS one and it looked like crap with ghosting, blurrieness AND washed out colors.

 

[chrisherbert]

The MS cable is a safe bet. Unlike other 3rd party versions you KNOW you're getting quality when it's the official cable. I've heard that the Monster cable is also fine, but unless it costs less than the MS cable I wouldn't bother.


However, I think it's likely that the problem is either your TV's settings or the Xbox's settings. Crappy cables usually aren't going to give you a dark image, it'll just be slightly blurry with a double image, especially at higher resolutions.

 

[LiquidSnake]

I don't know what to attribute those testimonials to. Earlier builds, defects (it happens), or outside interference (user might not be aware of), but mine works as well as my Microsoft cable. I just wish that they were around earlier so I could have had two of theirs instead of the one. I witness firsthand how crappy Intec's and Mad Catz's cables were, with lots of help from friends, testing with their setup, etc. and they were very thin, likely not shielded, etc. I would say if you need another cable, definitely get monoprice's, mine works great and there are way more positive reviews on the product page than negative, and a lot of those were old testimonials (dunno if that means their production has changed). Every other cable I've purchased from monoprice has been top notch as well and they don't break your piggybank.


But still, dark images is not a problem that would be associated with your cable, OP should investigate all settings first because he would probably have this issue with component or anything else, HDMI, s-video, etc. In fact I remember before HDMI 360s debuted, many people reported having the opposite problem with VGA. The issue was actually not a problem with the cable but rather that some TVs do not handle VGA properly and give it TV level gammas, which caused the RGB levels to appear washed out on some HDTVs. When using the same cable on a computer monitor or with a professional HDTV display (the kind film & TV studios use) everything was perfect. I don't know how much of an issue this is but it does not sound like OP's problem.