PC + 360 into one TFT?

[Davegod]

I'm using my TFT as a display for both my PC and 360. Everytime I play Xbox I have to unplug the PC DVI connector and plug in the 360 (which uses a HDMI-DVI converter), afterwards it's the same in reverse.

Sometimes I need to access the PC while I'm playing so I can be doing all that in the middle of a gaming session. Quite a nuisance and eventually damaging the TFT seems almost inevitable.

Is there any way I can have them both plugged in?

The monitor has 1xVGA plus 1xDVI port. I could probably put the PC in through DVI-VGA converter but I'm not sure if that can handle the hi-res, I'd lose some quality plus I dunno how the TFT would cope with both analogue and digital inputs active.

I looked into KVM but I gather I'd lose quality, plus those with DVI inputs seem expensive. I did find a reasonable HDMI switch, but they are designed for sending signal to a TV and apparently only support HD resolutions. A TV card for the PC seemed ideal but I can only find ones with SVGA inputs, not HDMI, and even those are too expensive to buy just as an experiment.

 

[smb]

buy the VGA cable for your XBOX 360 and plug it into the monitor vga. I really don't see much of a difference between the vga and hdmi connection from the 360.

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: smb
buy the VGA cable for your XBOX 360 and plug it into the monitor vga. I really don't see much of a difference between the vga and hdmi connection from the 360.

Seconded.

 

[Davegod]

Xbox site says it supports "Video outputs settings of 480p or 720p"

surely the difference between 1920x1080 & 1280x720 is noticable on a 22" TFT with 1680x1050 native res? 720p would need to upscale about a 1/3, 1080 would downscale 1/8.

wait.

I kept looking and now I'm confused. The official 360 site says this thing goes to 720p. But everywhere else has the same cut n paste description saying it goes to 1080p. Then there's a rant on amazon.com comments where the guy says some TV's will only do 720p via VGA, others will do 1080p, check your TV manual.

game shop around the corner. will report back after trying it since I'm sure you're all fascinated

 

[tatteredpotato]

The VGA cable has options for many "PC friendly" resolutions.

 

[CKDragon]

Yes, for a monitor (and most TVs) it undoubtedly will work in 1080p.

 

[Davegod]

yeah it works well :thumbsup: :beer:
MS product description :thumbsdown:

Sadly none of the resolutions available match the 1680x1050 native res of the TFT. I used 1280x768 for a quick test. It's definately not quite as good as before, but there's not that much in it (not as much as if it were a pc game). Definately outweighed by just being able to hit the "source" button on the monitor to switch between pc and console.

any suggestions for what xbox setting to use?
[options: 640×480, 848×480, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×768, 1280×1024, 1360×768, and 1920×1080]
also, I can set monitor to upscale to full screen or leave it original pixel size.



[edit: more interesting info here for folks searching[/l]

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: Davegod
any suggestions for what xbox setting to use?
[options: 640×480, 848×480, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×768, 1280×1024, 1360×768, and 1920×1080]
also, I can set monitor to upscale to full screen or leave it original pixel size.

What was it set to before when you were using DVI?

Honestly, unless one of us has the exact same monitor or a monitor with the exact same scaler, I don't think anyone is going to be able to tell you what resolution setting you should be using. I think that'll be entirely up to you to figure out which you like best.

 

[tdawg]

I have mine hooked up to a 20" dell via vga and just went with the 1360x768 res. No complaints here.

 

[smb]

I use 1280x720 on 22" Dell E228WFP, nearest native resolution without the monitor having to convert or scale the image.

 

[coldmeat]

I use 1280x1024 on my W2207. I have my pc connected through the DVI input and my Xbox through the VGA.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: tdawg
I have mine hooked up to a 20" dell via vga and just went with the 1360x768 res. No complaints here.

Same here. I have the same LCD, 2007WFP and the 360 with VGA cables looks freaking sweet.

 

[skillyho]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
I use 1280x1024 on my W2207. I have my pc connected through the DVI input and my Xbox through the VGA.

Same here.......I'm fine on my LG 19" but I didn't have that option on my Acer 20" b/c of the native res. conflict....

Edit: To the OP...Ever pondered hooking your PC up through VGA and leave the XBOX on DVI?!? I see a small text difference for DVI -> VGA in terms of monitor use, but that's about it. Games all look the same.