480p on the Dreamcast
Posted by Gill Figno. Filed under Retro. Tagged with Dreamcast, Tips.
Microsoft would like us to think of Xbox 360 as the worlds first high-definition console, but the Dreamcast was ahead of the game when it comes to High-Def support. A large majority of Sega Dreamcast games have 480p Support.
Just have a look at this list. Want to play Sonic Adventure in 480p? How about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2? Maybe a little Toy Commander? Well, there are a few ways to go about doing this.
The first method is simple: VGA. If your HD-TV supports the Dreamcast VGA cord, you’re set. If it doesn’t, you could always use a computer monitor to play on. That’s how I used to play most of my Dreamcast games…in the before time…
The second option still requires a VGA cord, but you’re also going to need what’s called a VGA to Component Transcoder. What a Transcoder does is convert a VGA signal to be displayed on on an Y-Pr-Pb HD-Video Cord, which is called a component cable. They are a little pricey, but if you want to play your Dreamcast in sweet, sweet 640×480 interlaced resolution on a HD-TV with no VGA input, that’s your best bet. It also may be possible to use a VGA to Component cable. Either way, a Dreamcast VGA Box is required.
The list above isn’t complete, however, since I can personally vouch for Dreamstudio working with the VGA cord. Maybe anyone with a VGA cord can help this site make a more complete list.
Help a Sega Nerd out, huh?
Comments on this article
There have been 2 responses to this article.
Great article!
I remember hooking my Dreamcast up to my PC monitor for the first time and playing PSO back in the day. I was blown away by the difference in resolution, even though it was only 480i to 480p. The difference was very noticeable.
Chris
Posted December 17th, 2006 at 11:54 am.
PSO is what I played on it mostly. I guess because it was easier to sit the keyboard on the desk then on the floor or in your lap. Pretty much every game looks a lot better excluding some 2D Fighters. Most of the sprites looked more jaggy. Street Fighter 3 has an interlaced mode though, and that looks great.
You’d think seeing Morrigan’s sprite in high-def on Capcom Vs. SNK would make Capcom finally make a new one after 12 years. No such luck. They could at least erase the huge black outline…
Gill Figno
Posted December 17th, 2006 at 6:45 pm.