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input xbox/wii/ps3 into cinema display

T

thebrain74

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 25, 2006
225
0
What kinds of converters/adaptors,etc do I need to input an xbox, wii, and ps3 into an apple cinema display? (links are always apreciated) to maintain the best quality picture. I am aware that there are several ways to do this.

a secondary question would be what is the easiest setup to switch between the three consoles?


thanks for your time and effort
 
You would need to find an adapter to DVI for each type of connection you are using, and then plug it in to your ACD; however, this will generally be somewhat difficult, and the image will be less than spectacular, seeing as the ACD is first off not a 16:9 aspect ratio and secondly it is not a standard TV resolution. Perhaps the best way to do it would be to get a device that allows you to watch TV on your Mac and then have that connected to your system. Overall, it's really not worth it over just buying a TV to use.
 
What I have found after doing a lot of research on game consoles and monitors, don't buy a monitor for a game console. Apple monitors in particular are no way adequate for a game system and you will be dissatisfied. Look at a monitor that has an HDMI like a Dell 2408. Still, the best choice is a small HDTV. They are fairly cheap, and they are meant to be gamed on.
 
if I do connect these various devices to the screen will I have problems with stretching or will the video just output to the correct shape and give me the necessary black bars?
thanks
 
TV tuner Needed

Hi Guys,

Connecting a game console to a monitor of any kind (ACD, Dell, HP) is impossible without a TV tuner (ACDs are not available with tuners).

The monitors have no way of decoding the signals coming from the console. A DVI adaptor, as suggested by another post, is useless. You will not get a picture. Consoles can only be used with TVs.

LCD Monitor (eg. Apple Cinema Display) = TV (Eg. Sony Bravia) MINUS TV Tuner.

This is why an ACD is worth $600 and an equivalent TV $900+... They may look the same but very different. Solution is to buy an external tuner. But this will be expensive and bulky, and its generic nature relative to your ACD or Dell Monitor will lead to a likely unsatisfactory result.

Buy a HD LCD TV mate, and use it as a Desktop monitor instead of the other way around :)

Cheers!
 
kiwi031 said:
Hi Guys,

Connecting a game console to a monitor of any kind (ACD, Dell, HP) is impossible without a TV tuner (ACDs are not available with tuners).

The monitors have no way of decoding the signals coming from the console. A DVI adaptor, as suggested by another post, is useless. You will not get a picture. Consoles can only be used with TVs.

LCD Monitor (eg. Apple Cinema Display) = TV (Eg. Sony Bravia) MINUS TV Tuner.

This is why an ACD is worth $600 and an equivalent TV $900+... They may look the same but very different. Solution is to buy an external tuner. But this will be expensive and bulky, and its generic nature relative to your ACD or Dell Monitor will lead to a likely unsatisfactory result.

Buy a HD LCD TV mate, and use it as a Desktop monitor instead of the other way around :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

This is not true. I own a Dell 2407 and i input my xbox into it, and it is definitely a monitor, not a TV.

Don't buy an LCD tv and use it as a monitor, the resolution is way too low to use as a monitor.

you should buy a dell ultrasharp line that has all the inputs you will need to connect everything simultaneously. i'm sure other manufacturers also make monitors with many inputs.
 
You dont need a tv tuner, there are no channels with a game console to flip through. You just need a component to DVI adapter, which is very expensive since all analog to digital converters are expensive. They will probably be around $200.

Youre going to be spending a lot of money to play consoles on an ACD, you need the cords and the converter.

If you have a 360 with HDMI then you can probably get a really cheap HDMI/DVI cable for around 7 bucks. I dont think the 360 requires HDCP for games through HDMI. The PS3 does require an HDCP monitor through HDMI with everything, and the ACD is so ancient that it doesnt have HDCP. Getting the 360 to work on the ACD is probably the only reasonable option, since the ACD does not have a VGA option like most monitors (component>VGA converters are MUCH cheaper, since its analog to analog).
 
since the ACD and the gaming looks like it just isn't going to happen (thanks for letting me know that the PS3 was all HDCP all the time, thats a handy little piece of info), I am looking at the DELL ULTRASHARP 2408WFP. It seems to be Dell's top-of-the-line 24incher. It has every port under the sun and some decent specks. Anyone know what panel it is, all I know is that I'm pretty sure it isn't IPS.

I will be using this screen for word processing/daily tasks (like the rotate feature for that), vector graphics, photo, and gaming as stated before. I don't do graphics professionally, so I would assume that the color representation in this monitor should be good enough, right?

thanks
 
thebrain74 said:
since the ACD and the gaming looks like it just isn't going to happen (thanks for letting me know that the PS3 was all HDCP all the time, thats a handy little piece of info), I am looking at the DELL ULTRASHARP 2408WFP. It seems to be Dell's top-of-the-line 24incher. It has every port under the sun and some decent specks. Anyone know what panel it is, all I know is that I'm pretty sure it isn't IPS.

I will be using this screen for word processing/daily tasks (like the rotate feature for that), vector graphics, photo, and gaming as stated before. I don't do graphics professionally, so I would assume that the color representation in this monitor should be good enough, right?

thanks
Click to expand...

These monitors are extremely good and thanks to all the ports they are much better value than the Cinema Displays. You won't be disappointed. The panel is S-PVA.
 
Forgive me for my ignorance, but S-PVA is the middle tier panel between the IPS and TN panels right. Its the panel that has the better response time than the IPS and better color and viewing angle than the TN right?

thanks for the help everyone
 
xbox 360 has an official vga cable for monitors and the wii wont look good on a monitor cause its not hd. ive seen the wii on hdtv and it looks horrible aswell.but if you want to hook the wii up you can get a converter box from xcm,they make a 1080p box for around 60$ in the usa i think. im getn it to hook my psp up to a monitor cause they dont make such a cable for psp to monitors only for psp to hdtv.

http://www.xcm.cc/xcm_1080p_vga_box.htm heres the link to the wii box and you could use it for 360,ps3,psp and i think the older systems,plus it comes with the cables already.
 
timestoby said:
xbox 360 has an official vga cable for monitors and the wii wont look good on a monitor cause its not hd. ive seen the wii on hdtv and it looks horrible aswell.but if you want to hook the wii up you can get a converter box from xcm,they make a 1080p box for around 60$ in the usa i think. im getn it to hook my psp up to a monitor cause they dont make such a cable for psp to monitors only for psp to hdtv.

http://www.xcm.cc/xcm_1080p_vga_box.htm heres the link to the wii box and you could use it for 360,ps3,psp and i think the older systems,plus it comes with the cables already.
Click to expand...

Wii supports component video, as does the Dell monitor. No need for any convertors.
 
for the 360, get the official VGA cable. For PS3, get the XCM VGA BOX, and well, sell the wii, it looks even worse HD.

Total price, about -$200, and you can easily swap between PS3 and 360 with the XCM BOX, as it has a VGA Input, aswell as ouput, and a built in switch
 
MattZani said:
for the 360, get the official VGA cable. For PS3, get the XCM VGA BOX, and well, sell the wii, it looks even worse HD.

Total price, about -$200, and you can easily swap between PS3 and 360 with the XCM BOX, as it has a VGA Input, aswell as ouput, and a built in switch
Click to expand...

Wow what on earth are you talking about? PS3 should connect directly to the monitor with HDMI, no picture quality loss then. Xbox 360, yeah, go with the VGA and don't sell the Wii, it has quality games so use a Component Video cable. That leaves a DVI port for your PC.

Is it really that hard for people to understand that games consoles no longer require conversion to connect to monitors or that many monitors now have a wealth of connections unlike the Apple Cinema Display?

If you buy the Dell monitor you will require no additional boxes or converters to get all of your consoles to display properly on it.
 
I forgot the Dell has HDMI, get a cheap HDMI cable online for less than 10 bucks (not the official one! or other retail rip offs), connect the 360 with component, then for the wii you can use RCA or component if you want to spend the extra money for 480p instead of 480i. But the Wii is probably going to look horrible on the Dell regardless of the cable you use, imagine using 640x480 on a 24" monitor.
 
to timestoby, will the XCM box work with the PS3 and the ACD since the PS3 outputs HDCP and the ACD doesn't have a HDCP?

Regarding the different consoles (and the wii comments) this is my monitor but my roommate has all three consoles and a *****@$$ small TV, can't be more than a 15'' tube tv. I thought that if I am getting a monitor anyway, it would be a nice thing to do to get one (and/or the appropriate convertors) so we could use it for gaming as well.
 
neiltc13 said:
Wow what on earth are you talking about? PS3 should connect directly to the monitor with HDMI, no picture quality loss then. Xbox 360, yeah, go with the VGA and don't sell the Wii, it has quality games so use a Component Video cable. That leaves a DVI port for your PC.

Is it really that hard for people to understand that games consoles no longer require conversion to connect to monitors or that many monitors now have a wealth of connections unlike the Apple Cinema Display?

If you buy the Dell monitor you will require no additional boxes or converters to get all of your consoles to display properly on it.
Click to expand...

Hmm, dont remember the ACD being HDCP Compliant, or having an HDMI and component input.

If you went for a dell, just plug them into theyre native inputs (360-VGA/HDMI PS3-HDMI Wii-Component) but of course, the question was about ACD's

And do you really think I dont know what I'm talking about?!? When the OP's question is part of my biggest past time!
 
ACD's are DVI only, that XCM thing is VGA. VGA is analog and is very similair to component while DVI is digital and is just HDMI with a different connector, so youd need a analog to digital converter to use it with the ACD, which costs a fortune.

(beware of DVI to component cables which seem too good to be true, they output to a component device from your computer's DVI port, they do not convert an analog signal into a digital one)
 
so what it looks like to me if someone was dead set on using a ACD and wii/xbox360/PS3 the options would be as follows. If I am wrong or if you have a better idea (which is a distinct possibility, feel free to correct me)


Xbox 360. I am working with a halo edition one, IDK if that makes a difference. But one can buy an HDMI cable for the xbox so I would reckon you could go HDMI>DVI>ACD

Wii---see below



PS3 this one is tricky because of the HDCP, the cheapest solution I could come up with (avoiding the $300+ upscaler converter boxes) would be:
composite>EyeTV Hybrid>thru Mac>Mac's DVI>ACD. True its a little bit of a hack job, but ya...
 
another option regarding the EyeTV Hybrid that would result in a better picture would to use the S-video input capability it has. Would work for all three I believe.
 
The only requirement of HDCP on PS3 is to play Blu Ray movies. If you don't have HDCP, these will run at 480p instead of whatever resolution you want. Connect the Xbox 360 and PS3 in exactly the same way, then you'll need some way of managing the audio.

However, you have to bear in mind that every time you convert things you lose picture quality, something which is going to be instantly noticeable on a display like the Apple CD. Another thing specific to gaming is that when you use a converter box you will get lag as it does its job. This can mean that your button presses are not in sync with the action on screen, rendering every game unplayable.

I have to say that the experience will be a million times better with a Dell display. You will be able to have ALL of your consoles connected at the same time, they won't need conversion and the computer can be connected too. Apple's displays also have an extremely high refresh rate, meaning you might encounter issues with ghosting in fast moving games.

In short, do not buy the ACD if you want to play games. It isn't designed for this.
 
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