Dreamcast VGA recommendations...

[homerj]

Looking for decent, reasonably priced VGA cables for my Dreamcast. Prices seem to vary quite a bit so I'm hoping somebody here has some first hand experience with some of the mid range (~$25) cables.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I use a set of these now on my Dreamcast:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Tomee-HD-VGA-Cable-Dreamcast-Sega/dp/B00HPU96FI

 

And have it paired with one of these to allow me to use it on my HDTV since mine doesn't have a VGA or DVI input on it:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sewell-Hammerhead-Active-Converter-Compact/dp/B006LP0FXA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505847114&sr=8-1&keywords=sewell+vga+to+hdmi+converter

 

Been very happy with this setup and the converter will run off a standard USB charging cable, so I've actually got it connected to a USB port off the TV. That way it only powers up when the TV powers up.

[homerj]

Yeah I was leaning towards Tomee but I didn't know if there was something else better in that price range. Thanks.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Yeah I was leaning towards Tomee but I didn't know if there was something else better in that price range. Thanks.

 

There might be, but my local retro store around the corner happens to sell these and gave me a set to test. So I honestly can't complain since I didn't really have to pay for my cable. That said, I did try a set of Tomee s-video dreamcast cables, and that was a nightmare. Those cables as I read up on later and confirmed, tie composite to get chroma and don't filter it. So while the s-video is technically there and working, it looks like complete crap and I recall it might have still been in black n white on most games I tested. I then took the connector apart and redid the composite to the true chroma line out and it looked much better at that point!

 

So Tomee is a company I'm leary of, but the VGA cable works just fine! Only complaint if I had one is their use of the male RCAs for audio. They are assuming that your VGA and audio inputs will be close together. That isn't true in my case as I had to run the audio on extensions to my AV receiver and the VGA with an extension cable as well to get it to the converter to the TV. But that is a minor issue.

[homerj]

That was a concern of mine too but other cables in that price range have what appear to be similar length audio cables. Shouldn't be a problem for my tv but if I use an LCD monitor I would need external speakers anyway.

[+Cafeman]

Crossbow, how do the D.C. Games look on your flatscreen with that setup? In 4:3 or forced stretching? Any lag?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Crossbow, how do the D.C. Games look on your flatscreen with that setup? In 4:3 or forced stretching? Any lag?

 

They look really good. And my TV allows me to do 4:3 on all input types so it isn't stretched. I can tell you that the Sewell converter I'm using does upscale the VGA sources to 640x480 minimum, but it also can scale older graphic modes like 320x240..etc from old computers.

 

I haven't tested the lag honestly as I haven't an easy way to do to actual dual monitor test with a flatscreen and CRT at the same time. I can with my other consoles because I have multiple video outputs built onto them, but with the DC I haven't. But to answer your question, the lag is minimal as I don't seem to notice it?