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the_insider

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 20, 2005
177
0
USA / UK
Hello all,
I recently bought a Vizio VC37L 37" HDTV, and today i bought a vga cord to take advantage of the HD. I have a few questions for all you HD geeks...

In the xbox menu i can choose from many different resolutions, my instinct was to choose the highest resolution (1920x1080). Is this the best resolution for my tv? Should i be using 1360x768, or another resolution? also what are reference levels? I have to choice between standard, intermediate, and expanded. which one of these should i pick?

Thanks for your help.
Francois
 

mrgreen4242

macrumors 601
Feb 10, 2004
4,377
9
Hello all,
I recently bought a Vizio VC37L 37" HDTV, and today i bought a vga cord to take advantage of the HD. I have a few questions for all you HD geeks...

In the xbox menu i can choose from many different resolutions, my instinct was to choose the highest resolution (1920x1080). Is this the best resolution for my tv? Should i be using 1360x768, or another resolution? also what are reference levels? I have to choice between standard, intermediate, and expanded. which one of these should i pick?

Thanks for your help.
Francois

You should use component for HD on the 360, unless they've fixed the image quality problems with VGA in a recent patch. That aside, you should use whatever the native resolution of your set is, probably 1360x768, but your manual should be able to give you a more definitive answer.

Not sure about the reference levels, I'd try them all and see what you like the best. If you can't tell a difference, stick with standard.
 

the_insider

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 20, 2005
177
0
USA / UK
thanks,

but are you sure the component cables will give off an HD picture? I also have the add on HDDVD player and i was told that VGA would be best.
 

BentwoodBlue

macrumors member
Aug 6, 2007
78
0
My understanding is component cables are only capable of 1080i, where the VGA cable can do 1080p.
Someone correct me if I am wrong.
 

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Jul 26, 2004
2,028
187
Burlington, VT
I found that VGA produced a much sharper image; works look better and there are less jaggies. But the downside is that VGA colors are more "faded" so you will have to turn of the saturation on the tv to offset this. I set the VGA to the exact resolution of my tv and it looks great.

I tried all the reference level settings I couldn't tell a difference but maybe you can.
 

Mackilroy

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2006
3,906
539
My understanding is component cables are only capable of 1080i, where the VGA cable can do 1080p.
Someone correct me if I am wrong.
You are indeed wrong. Component can display 1080p.

As for reference levels, I just use standard.
 

Markleshark

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2006
6,249
10
Carlisle, Up Norf!
You are indeed wrong. Component can display 1080p.

As for reference levels, I just use standard.

It can as long as your TV supports it of course. If your TV can only display up to 1080i I'd stick with 720p, looks a lot better in game.

On my HDTV I found the VGA cables to be very, very poor. I'll be sticking with the Component ones...
 

Mackilroy

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2006
3,906
539
Indeed, I only bothered with the VGA cables because my 20" monitor needs it to connect to the 360. On the TV I use HDMI. :)
 

mrgreen4242

macrumors 601
Feb 10, 2004
4,377
9
thanks,

but are you sure the component cables will give off an HD picture? I also have the add on HDDVD player and i was told that VGA would be best.

It'll ultimately depend on the TV but by and large the component cables produce a better image. There might be a slight sharpness increase with VGA but the color is so much better with component that there's no contest. It's not the cables or the technology but rather the way the 360 handles the video out processing.

My advice is to use the component cables your 360 came with, set the system 720p and standard reference colors and enjoy. Oh, and calibrate your TV using the DVE disc (the HDDVD version if there is one, which I think there is). Good calibration makes all the difference.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
^ Am I the only one using 1080i for component ?

Again it depends on your TV, 1080i looks better on my 42" than 720p
 

2nyRiggz

macrumors 603
Aug 20, 2005
6,161
76
Thank you Jah...I'm so Blessed
^ Am I the only one using 1080i for component ?

Again it depends on your TV, 1080i looks better on my 42" than 720p

You are not the only one...I am as well on my 32inch set and it looks just as good as using 720p.

I do have to lighten up the image on some games though because sometimes its too dark to play.

Op use the highest res your tv can output or just playing around with 1080i and 720p...which ever looks the best to you then use it.

Bless
 

Rapmastac1

macrumors 65816
Aug 5, 2006
1,120
47
In the Depths of the SLC!
As for the first question, the reference levels is just a "point" to which the Xbox says "Hey, this is BLACK". Each monitor has a different point, some say black is zero, some say black is 7 (out of 100). So it all depends on the type of monitor and how it is currently set up. I would follow the first and second recommendations. First go through all of them and find which one you like best. Choose one and watch a video and play a quick game, then do the same exact thing to the other setting.

If your like me, I couldn't really tell a difference, so I just left it at the second recommendation which was leave the setting at the default and adjusted my monitor to suit.

As for the VGA vs. Component issue. As of NOW the component cables can't fully put out 1080p very well. The VGA can and it looks very good. I bought my friend a VGA cable for his 360 (with lacking HDMI) and it looks really good, the colors are good too. If you didn't have a reference you would say that looked really good. But me on the other hand, I have the HDMI available. I have a GOLD HDMI to DVI-D cable and it looks amazing. I had to do a bit of modding to my Component out cables so I could have sound out, but that wasn't very major (saved myself the 60 bucks that the Microsoft HD Cable kit costs). Mine looks amazing (too bad they don't support 16:10 rez yet, as most monitors now support that). But I'm not complaining, colours are dark and rich (especially when compared to my friends VGA set up, and we both have the exact same monitors too, so it was a good way to compare, we wanna get some side by side vid comparos soon). I have an HP 19in Widescreen monitor (I'm upgrading to 22 with my Best Buy cards) and it's rez is 1280x1024, so I have to use a different rez on my 360 to match, which stretches the picture by just a bit, but it's hardly noticable.

Overall I would suggest getting the VGA hook up because you don't have to take the plastic off your component/av connections to have sound. But if you want max quality, I would definatly suggest an HDMI to DVI-D cable, if you have HDMI available.
 
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