In order to play GC on an HDtv with a nice quality, a digital cable must be used with supported progressive scan games. I would like to know the following: 1- As we know, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle doesn't support progressive scan. So what can I expect if I play it with composite on an HD tv? In comparison with a Dreamcast using VGA box, will the GCs SA2B graphics look worse than Sonic Adventure 2 DCs ones?
Composite on HDTV will look utter shit. Dreamcast through VGA will look much nicer, but bear in mind it's going to be putting out 640x480 (i.e. 480p) so your set's scaling might make a mess of it either way. VGA will definitely look nicest out of the two, in any case.
Look of SD picture on HD is more a matter of resolution & upscaling than signal source type. 480p over component or VGA 640*480 is the same thing at that resolution since component can easily handle that frequency without messing with the quality of picture. (however 720p/1080i/p is another question) If your tv's video processor can't upscale you component video signal nicely to it's native resolution you can bet that it will not be able to do much better from a VGA source of the same resolution. However some HDTV set perform very well when it's come to upscale low resolution signal. This is something to look for when buying a tv when you play with older console. So to answer your question, sonic might look awesome cause you tv do a good upscaling job, or it might be the worst thing your ever saw if you tv have a cheap video processor. Since GC & DC use the same resolution they will probably look the same. But I bet DC will be worst cause the VGA box already do some video upscan. So the picture will be processed at the end by two device. (1:VGA box 2:TV processor)
Actually, I am pretty sure the Dreamcast's VGA output was native - i.e. not upscaled/messed with by the VGA box. I seem to remember reading that the Dreamcast outputs a true VGA signal itself - thats why you can add a VGA port internally to a Dreamcast. I could be wrong though! ;-)
No. Upscaling a 480i signal (and composite at that) is much more likely to look shitty than an upscaled 480p signal. They may well both look awful - but at least the original signal in the latter case will be superior.
So basically, even if the GC SA2B graphics are little bit more tweaked and improved than DCs SA2, it mean the dreamcast display will look rather better right?
the GC feeds RAW video to the DAC chip located INSIDE the Digital Video cable. It's a comparison of Component and RGBHV(VGA), not a console's weakness.
It will look better than composite, but again - both may look awful. It's a case of trying it out and seeing what works on your set. Yeah, he's not actually talking about a GC component cable, though.
It really all depends on how your TV handles Component and VGA input In theory if both sources were 480p they should look the same (or at least very similar) but in reality it all depends on what processing you TV does to the different signals inputs. Component is far superior to Composite, even in 480i. Comparing 480i Component and 480p VGA is probably a much closer fight than you may think, and it will really come down to what processing your TV does to each signal type. Alot of people say VGA is superior to Component - often this is simply because most modern TV's dont do as much processing to a VGA signal as they do for Component signals (Most TV's are expecting a PC to be connected using VGA, so tend not to 'mess' with the signal as much -As it can make small text unreable with too much processing) But as I say, different TV's handle different input signals in different ways - im afraid the only real way to find out would be to try both and see how they look to you on your particular TV. :nod: Also just to add - Composite signals usually always look rubbish - it wouldnt be fair to compare both systems if one was being connected by Composite and the other by Component or VGA. To be a 'fair' comparison both systems would need to be connected by Composite cables. Also, since you seem so keen on picture quality I really wouldnt even consider Composite cables for any connection at all - unless you have no choice. P.S. Im not positive about this, and im not trying to encourage piracy or anything, but i know that the Gamecube Qoob Pro modchip has the ability to 'force' progressive scan mode on alot of gamecube games - I dont know if it works for Sonic Adventure 2 though. <EDIT> I have read online that NTSC Sonic Adventure 2: Battle supports progressive scan mode, or is that incorrect?
Thank you for all your replies everyone. About my TV, I guess it's a nice one, since it was bought two or threee months ago. It's an LG HDtv. I will try to post tomorrow a picture of it displaying my DC running through vga mode. It's not bad, but I preffered to use it on my previous LCD Samsung TV of 50cm.. anyways I was asking all these questions about SA2B, cause I was unsure weather buy it for the GC or not, since I already own SA2 for the Dreamcast.
