Connecting the Xbox 360 to a monitor...

[Phoenix Dark]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting an Xbox 360 and connecting it to a computer monitor; I simply don't have the money or space to get a bigass HDTV, so using a monitor is the cheapest alternative. I've read about the VGA cable and how it words already:
http://hardware.teamxbox.com/reviews/xbox-360/40/Xbox-360-VGA-HD-AV-Cable/p1/

I've got a few questions though; this would be a huge purchase for me, so I want to make sure I have all the facts. First off, I was told by someone on another board that no monitors support 720p, so I wouldn't be able to play games in that resolution. Is that true? Shawn on GAF said 720p would be possible on the 360. The link I provided above has a graph of all the resolutions supported by the VGA/monitor set-up, but I'm not that computer savvy. Based on that graph, would I be able to play games in 720p?

Also, has anyone ever set up their Xbox 360 like this, and if so what were your experiences?

[Himu]

BUY A PS2.

[Ecrofirt]

Don't listen to whatever batshit fucking insane clownboat distinguished mentally-challenged fellows told you monitors couldn't do 720p.

What kind of monitor do you use? CRT? LCD? Give me the model, and I'll tell you exactly what your monitor will support.

Fucking morons over at GAF, I tells ya.

And YES, I use my 360 with a VGA cable exclusively.

[Phoenix Dark]

Don't listen to whatever batshit fucking insane clownboats told you monitors couldn't do 720p.

What kind of monitor do you use? CRT? LCD? Give me the model, and I'll tell you exactly what your monitor will support.

Fucking morons over at GAF, I tells ya.

Currently I have this monitor:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=319276

But since it's rather small for gaming, I'm going to buy a new one specifically for the 360. I'm looking for a monitor with built in speakers, and I found this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824254005

Would these monitors work?

[Ecrofirt]

Phoneix, the second monitor you linked to already disproved the mindless fuck that told you monitors couldn't do 720p.

720p is 1280x720

The second monitor you linked to is 1440x900, which, as I'm sure you can figure out, is GREATER than 720p.

As of right now, the 360's VGA cable only supports up to like 1366x768, so you'll have to pick an image size for the 360 to output, and have your monitor either scale it to fill the screen, OR you'll have to play with the 720p image in a black box. That all depends on exactly what your monitor will allow.

And if you use the 1024x768 monitor, you should be able to pick that output resolution from the 360's list of possible VGA resolutions, and it'll downscale the output to 1024x768.

Morons at GAF, I tells ya.

[Ecrofirt]

Phoenix, the second monitor you linked to already disproved the mindless fuck that told you monitors couldn't do 720p.

720p is 1280x720

The second monitor you linked to is 1440x900, which, as I'm sure you can figure out, is GREATER than 720p.

As of right now, the 360's VGA cable only supports up to like 1366x768, so you'll have to pick an image size for the 360 to output, and have your monitor either scale it to fill the screen, OR you'll have to play with the 720p image in a black box. That all depends on exactly what your monitor will allow.

And if you use the 1024x768 monitor, you should be able to pick that output resolution from the 360's list of possible VGA resolutions, and it'll downscale the output to 1024x768.

Morons at GAF, I tells ya.

[Phoenix Dark]

Phoneix, the second monitor you linked to already disproved the mindless fuck that told you monitors couldn't do 720p.

720p is 1280x720

The second monitor you linked to is 1440x900, which, as I'm sure you can figure out, is GREATER than 720p.

As of right now, the 360's VGA cable only supports up to like 1366x768, so you'll have to pick an image size for the 360 to output, and have your monitor either scale it to fill the screen, OR you'll have to play with the 720p image in a black box. That all depends on exactly what your monitor will allow.

And if you use the 1024x768 monitor, you should be able to pick that output resolution from the 360's list of possible VGA resolutions, and it'll downscale the output to 1024x768.

Morons at GAF, I tells ya.

Well that's good news.

When you say scale the screen, is that like stretching? If so, how would that look? Also what kind of monitor do you use, and how is the quality? I don't know if you have a cam or something, but pics would greatly help.

Thanks for the info man, I really appreciate it

[Ecrofirt]

If you set the 360 up to output anything other than 720p, it's going to have to either stretch the image out or shrink it down.

With your current monitor, it would have to shrink it down. Shrinking an image means you're going to lose pixel information, as there are physically less pixels in a 1024x768 (786,432 total) screen than in a 1280x720 (931,840 total) screen. I also can't comment on how all games would display the 1024x768 image. Some 260 games seem to stay in their 16:9 resolution, while others seem to change their resolution so that the entire screen is filled. What this means is that some games on your current monitor will be letterboxed (black bars), while others might fill the screen entirely.

With the monitor you're looking at getting, the native output resolution from the 360 (1280x720) will have to be stretched out if you want the image to fill your screen. This can either be done via the 360 menus (though they only allow up up to 1360x768 currently. This should change in the fall!), by your monitor's internal scaler, or by some combination of both. The other option on that monitor might be to play the game with a 720p image in the center of the screen with black bars around it entirely.

I use a CRT, so I just have it displaying a 720p image without problems. I'll try to post an idea of what output might look like at 720p, shrunk down, and also stretched up. I'll have that up in a few minutes

[Phoenix Dark]

If you set the 360 up to output anything other than 720p, it's going to have to either stretch the image out or shrink it down.

With your current monitor, it would have to shrink it down. Shrinking an image means you're going to lose pixel information, as there are physically less pixels in a 1024x768 (786,432 total) screen than in a 1280x720 (931,840 total) screen. I also can't comment on how all games would display the 1024x768 image. Some 260 games seem to stay in their 16:9 resolution, while others seem to change their resolution so that the entire screen is filled. What this means is that some games on your current monitor will be letterboxed (black bars), while others might fill the screen entirely.

With the monitor you're looking at getting, the native output resolution from the 360 (1280x720) will have to be stretched out if you want the image to fill your screen. This can either be done via the 360 menus (though they only allow up up to 1360x768 currently. This should change in the fall!), by your monitor's internal scaler, or by some combination of both. The other option on that monitor might be to play the game with a 720p image in the center of the screen with black bars around it entirely.

I use a CRT, so I just have it displaying a 720p image without problems. I'll try to post an idea of what output might look like at 720p, shrunk down, and also stretched up. I'll have that up in a few minutes

So it would stretch to 768 to fill up the entire screen? That shouldn't look bad right? I'd rather do that than have the black bars. Once again thanks for the info

[Ecrofirt]

Like I've tried saying, I can't tell you exactly how your monitor would display the image.

You can have it display a 1360x768 image, but that still won't completely fill your 1440x900 screen entirely. You might actually be better off having the 360 output 1280x768 (which is 16:10. The same screen ratio as your monitor), and having your monitor scale that up.

I'll have those pics up in a minute

[Ecrofirt]

Shrunk to 1024x576 - http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5189/testql4.jpg

720p original - http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2605/testsg0.jpg

Stretched out to 1440x900 - http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4705/testrk7.jpg

Note: The image I'm using was already saved as a jpeg, so it already had some compression artifacts. Your 360 should display a clearer image as these artifacts won't be presant in the framebuffer.

[G The Resurrected]

I gotta step in here and express my opinion about that monitor your looking at buying. Its not gonna be very bright, and since its native resolution is 1440x900 its gonna look a little funky. Lcds are fucking nasty at resizing at least in my opinion. Compared to a CRT usually Lcd loose the sharpness when you've got a signal that isnt using the native resolution. But it does have a good contrast ratio and response time.

I use VGA for some of my tvs cause VGA on the 360 looks better than the RGB. So its a good move on your part to get it hooked up to VGA.

I cant really suggest getting another monitor cause its really something you need to see in person before purchasing to be honest. Everyone has different eyes thats for sure.

Good luck pd

[Ecrofirt]

I gotta step in here and express my opinion about that monitor your looking at buying. Its not gonna be very bright, and since its native resolution is 1440x900 its gonna look a little funky. Lcds are fucking nasty at resizing at least in my opinion. Compared to a CRT usually Lcd loose the sharpness when you've got a signal that isnt using the native resolution. But it does have a good contrast ratio and response time.

I use VGA for some of my tvs cause VGA on the 360 looks better than the RGB. So its a good move on your part to get it hooked up to VGA.

I cant really suggest getting another monitor cause its really something you need to see in person before purchasing to be honest. Everyone has different eyes thats for sure.

Good luck pd

The problem with this, though, is that it's been confirmed that the Fall dashboard update will have new output resolutions for the 360 (all the way up to 1080p). With that in mind, I really wouldn't be surprised at all to see some of the more common widescreen LCD resolutions, which includes 1440x900.

[G The Resurrected]

No doubt they probably will support more monitor types i was just pointing out how it would be right now. With change always comes something good out of it. I just hope that 1080p is real cause i'll be happy if so.

[Phoenix Dark]

I gotta step in here and express my opinion about that monitor your looking at buying. Its not gonna be very bright, and since its native resolution is 1440x900 its gonna look a little funky. Lcds are fucking nasty at resizing at least in my opinion. Compared to a CRT usually Lcd loose the sharpness when you've got a signal that isnt using the native resolution. But it does have a good contrast ratio and response time.

I use VGA for some of my tvs cause VGA on the 360 looks better than the RGB. So its a good move on your part to get it hooked up to VGA.

I cant really suggest getting another monitor cause its really something you need to see in person before purchasing to be honest. Everyone has different eyes thats for sure.

Good luck pd

So it wouldn't be a problem then?

If that monitor isn't a good fit, I'm sure I can find another one.

The problem with this, though, is that it's been confirmed that the Fall dashboard update will have new output resolutions for the 360 (all the way up to 1080p). With that in mind, I really wouldn't be surprised at all to see some of the more common widescreen LCD resolutions, which includes 1440x900.