Affordable solution for VGA inputs into a receiver?

[delux247]

Hey all,

I'm planning on purchasing an Onkyo 606 in the very near future, but do have one question about inputs.

I currently use a VGA cord to get 480P out of my Sega Dreamcast. My Sony SXRD has a VGA port, so it works out great. But now that I'm upgrading to a receiver, what do I do with my VGA? My composite, S-Video and HDMI ports on the 606 will already be filled up with other goodies in my home theater, leaving me with one extra component port. I already experimented with a VGA to Component cord, but it worked very poorly, leaving my screen filled with black bands while the Dreamcast was on. Obviously, the signal wasn't properly converted in the process.

I have seen transcoders available on the net that suit my needs, but they range anywhere from $100 for the cheapest solution and all the way up to $500, and that's a little overkill for getting my Dreamcast to play via component.

So my question is, does anybody know of a way to go from VGA to component without spending more than say, $50? Any help is much appreciated.

[aramis109]

Why would you do that at all? Just continue to plug the Dreamcast directly into the HDTV and run the audio to the receiver. No jumping from analog to digital, no mess with converters that probably won't work that well, and no extra cost. The ONLY negative is that you're running an extra cable to the TV, and personally I don't see that as a negative as I do that so that I can have different settings for the different inputs.

[delux247]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Why would you do that at all? Just continue to plug the Dreamcast directly into the HDTV and run the audio to the receiver. No jumping from analog to digital, no mess with converters that probably won't work that well, and no extra cost. The ONLY negative is that you're running an extra cable to the TV, and personally I don't see that as a negative as I do that so that I can have different settings for the different inputs.

I honestly didn't know I could do that. So I would still keep my TV remote around to manually change the TV input and use my receiver remote to change my audio input to just that of the Dreamcast? Or could the receiver remote do both? Sorry for the dumb questions, I'm still very new to receivers.

[delux247]

Bump... I know I'm an idiotic newb, but can someone explain to me how I would run just the audio to my receiver and still run the video directly to my TV? I didn't see a Receiver 101 type thread. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[jd213]

Just get a longer VGA cable or stereo audio cable, depending on whether you have your DC closer to the receiver or the TV. Or if the cables on the VGA box are hardwired (the ones on mine aren't but it's a custom box), get either a VGA or audio extension cable (male on one end and female on the other).

[kingofgrills]

Originally Posted by delux247

Hey all,

I'm planning on purchasing an Onkyo 606 in the very near future, but do have one question about inputs.

I currently use a VGA cord to get 480P out of my Sega Dreamcast. My Sony SXRD has a VGA port, so it works out great. But now that I'm upgrading to a receiver, what do I do with my VGA? My composite, S-Video and HDMI ports on the 606 will already be filled up with other goodies in my home theater, leaving me with one extra component port. I already experimented with a VGA to Component cord, but it worked very poorly, leaving my screen filled with black bands while the Dreamcast was on. Obviously, the signal wasn't properly converted in the process.

I have seen transcoders available on the net that suit my needs, but they range anywhere from $100 for the cheapest solution and all the way up to $500, and that's a little overkill for getting my Dreamcast to play via component.

So my question is, does anybody know of a way to go from VGA to component without spending more than say, $50? Any help is much appreciated.

There's no reason to change your current setup with the Dreamcast. I have my Dreamcast hooked up to my Sony SXRD via the VGA port, just as you do, and that won't change with a new receiver. Just keep that, and run your Dreamcast stereo cables to the audio inputs on your new receiver. Are you using a Dreamcast VGA box, which connects to the Dreamcast and by another VGA cable to the TV, or are you using a Dreamcast VGA cable, which goes directly from the Dreamcast to the box. If you're using a Dreamcast VGA box, then there are Stereo output jacks on it. Simply hook a cable between the stereo output and your new receiver input jacks, and you'll be set.

Why do you feel the need to change that? Any change through use of an adapter, or the Dreamcast S video cable will give you a worse picture. You'll just have to change video inputs manually when using Dreamcast, because the VGA cable won't go through the receiver for video switching. If you want to make it easier on yourself, get a Harmony remote which will do all the switching for you at the push of a button.

Don't change how you have the Dreamcast set up. You've got it right, even with a new receiver.

[delux247]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

There's no reason to change your current setup with the Dreamcast. I have my Dreamcast hooked up to my Sony SXRD via the VGA port, just as you do, and that won't change with a new receiver. Just keep that, and run your Dreamcast stereo cables to the audio inputs on your new receiver. Are you using a Dreamcast VGA box, which connects to the Dreamcast and by another VGA cable to the TV, or are you using a Dreamcast VGA cable, which goes directly from the Dreamcast to the box. If you're using a Dreamcast VGA box, then there are Stereo output jacks on it. Simply hook a cable between the stereo output and your new receiver input jacks, and you'll be set.

Why do you feel the need to change that? Any change through use of an adapter, or the Dreamcast S video cable will give you a worse picture. You'll just have to change video inputs manually when using Dreamcast, because the VGA cable won't go through the receiver for video switching. If you want to make it easier on yourself, get a Harmony remote which will do all the switching for you at the push of a button.

Don't change how you have the Dreamcast set up. You've got it right, even with a new receiver.

Thank you very much for answering my question. Dreamcast via VGA looks very impressive from a system made in 1999. Even better than PS2.

I'm really excited about picking up the 606. I'm renting a large room out while saving up for a house and don't want to wake up my roommates that I'm sharing a wall with when I get home late at night and I want to watch Blus, so I'll be getting a pair of very high end headphones in the meantime to cut down on noise and save space until I get that house.