XBox360 upgrade... Upconvert DVD's to HD
 

With the new XBox 360 upgrade from MS that is downloaded when you go on XBox Live, the system will now upconvert dvd's to your sets native resolution, either 720p or 1080i if your using a VGA cable and an HD set. Has anyone done this yet and seen a difference? I was thinking of going out and getting a VGA cable if it does indeed make a difference in picture quality.

From what I've read (from our own Flay) and seen online, it does make a difference.

I bought a cable but as it turns out I don't have VGA inputs on my TV. :(

Well that doesn't help me very much. :) How much was the VGA cable? Can anyone provide us with some screen shots or well described comparisons? NOw I'll need to find a VGA switch to have my computer and my 360 hooked up to my LCD....

Hmmm, now you have me wondering. it would be great if someone had first had experience in this topic. I think I may pick up a vga cable and see what it's like. How much do they run? It sucks this feature won't work with component cables. I guess I'll just have to swap between my computer and 360 on my lcd now. Do vga switches exist?

Do you have DVI or HDMI?

I have a VGA input on my projector (but no DVI/HDMI).
I was going to wait for the HD-DVD drive to be released before getting a 360...but this has me thinking.

The VGA cable is $39.99 most places The noticable difference is really the amount of jaggies that were present in most scenes before the update. Honestly, it's like night and day. Every little detail seems much cleaner and definitely sharper as well.

I'd love to do some comparitive screenshots, but I can't uninstall the update. TeamXbox had some shots posted on their forums. I'm willing to bet one of the game sites will do a comparison feature on it soon.

Is it just with a VGA cable, or just component cables as well?

I was watching Underworld: Evolution earlier, and I thought it looked incredible for a DVD.

Macrovision copy protection prevents any upscaling over component (and any other analog connection). So this, nor any DVDp, will upscale over component.

Flay,
Could you link me to the pictures? I'm having a hard time finding them on Team XBox website.

Any idea if the upconversion is better than the Oppo?

Oppo?

It's supposedly the best Region Free player.

Supposedly. Among <$200 models only.

Is VGA the best connection the 360 can muster? So, component and VGA are the options for HD?

Yes, only vga and component

As you know, it scored the best on Home Theater Secrets' Test of ALL DVD players. I'm not saying it is the best overall, but pegging it as only the best of the budget players isn't doing it justice. The Denons might be better subjectively (as opposed to the objective tests), but most players >$200 are not.

Very doubtful.

Hey everyone, I went out and picked up a VGA cable to see what the new picture on movies would look like. I set my resolution to 1280x720 to get a 720p pictures. However, when I go to settings, I get this message before I go in and change the resolution:

"You must connect an Xbox HD AV cable to configure HD settings"

From that message I get the impression that the XBox 360 isn't running in HD (720p) despite what my resolution settings are. Am I missing something? Maybe it's just me, but the 720p previews that you download seem a little hazy to me now with the VGA cable when they seemed a lot cleaner when I had component cables running. The movies look great, it seems as they look significantly better, but other thinks look somewhat worse. Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or am I missing something?

Thanks everyone for being such a huge help!

EDIT:: I just put in Ghost Recon. It definity looks somewhat hazy, no where near as crisp as it did with component. What gives?

alright I'm officially confused. When it comes to tv's and dvd players I'm pretty dumb. I just bought an Onkyo LsV 955 home theater system and all it has is component. Does this mean it wont upscale the dvd's? I don't really see the point of including component on dvd players if it doesnt upscale anything.

There are players that can defeat Macrovision to upscale over component. Clearly, the 360 isn't one of them.

Honestly, the OPPO is the best player to get in the market for an upscaling machine, unless you want to pay over $3,000 for a top of the line Denon. If your TV doesn't have DVI or HDMI, however, the OPPO won't work.

DVDs are stored in component video format. So component is generally the best output. Even if the player is not an upscaler or even progressive-scan capable, component is the best choice.

You'd only have to pay $600 for a Denon that, overall, is a better player than the Oppo, not $3k.

I wonder if the 360 just needs the HD cable hooked up and then the VGA cable will work. Shortsighted if true. Or could it be the VGA cable only works for DVDs? That actually seems less likely.

Well, while watching a DVD on the VGA with the new update, they look SIGNIFICANTLY better, however, the games, and everything else run on the XBox360 look worse (somewhat soft and a little hazey, not as crisp) with the VGA. When running the component cables, the games look a lot better, but movies not as good. It's kind of a pain in the ass to swap cables every time I want to watch a movie or play a game.

Microsoft continually ignoring HDMI is really pissing me off!

it's not going to happen with the 360. The system isn't made to output in HDMI as far as I know.

Why? Your complaint doesn't make any sense.