Hardware XCM 1080p VGA box reviewed by Scorpei.com

bluebright

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Lol, to put it in your words (thank you gizoogle);
Some (-M-to-tha-izzost Wii games) games is indeed put out on higha resolizzles (EHDTV) n is thus understandable ta tha VGA bizzle gangsta. Some (which is mainly VC titles n NGC games) is not upscaled (are not stretched ta fit tha playa resolizzles but is simply output in tha lowa res. 576i version (at least in tha case of PAL) whiznich tha box does not understand.

What the hell is wrong with you, this is an English speaking forum.


...so, yeah, I'll get my box in the mail in about a day or two.
 

martin88

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The stretching problem is purely because my screen does not support 1280x720 properly. If I use that resolution in Windows I get the same stretching. On another screen I have however it works perfectly even 1080p/i mode (trust me, crystal clear and really great pictures
tongue.gif
).

When you are using your VGA cable (I think) the xbox360 also outputs 1280x720 your screen just supports that resolution (hence the black bars). However I do not own a 360 so I can't test this to make sure.
Not true. My monitor is just like yours, whatever picture it receives it will just stretch it to full screen. If I use this device my picture will be 1280*720 but stretched vertically to make it 1280*1024 just like in your PS3 screenshot in your review.

The point is, the Xbox 360 VGA cable allows you to OUTPUT a 1280*1024 picture WITH black bars on top and bottom so the picture's aspect ratio is intact. Not so with this device.
 

Scorpei

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Wow, well I have to say that that is quite the feature of the xbox (surprised really), that is indeed different from the XCM 1080p but it is made to put through the video (it doesn't change the resolution, it only outputs what it gets) which is what it does and indeed that means that for the xbox it might not be the best solution.
 

Darkforce

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Bump, so anyone know where the cheapest place to buy one of these is?

Play-Asia have them for $59.90 + $6.70 shipping? Does anyone have a $5 Play-Asia voucher they would like to donate? ^^;

Or does anyone know of anywhere cheaper?


BTW on this xcm site they have a couple of videos for download and on the benq monitor you can see small black bars at the top and bottom of the picture on the Wii, so it looks like it might be outputting a 16:9 image (!), does anyone know if this is the case?
 

Scorpei

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Well in the case of the Wii (only hardware I can remember being able to set the aspect ration in the menu) it depends on how you set the ratio. If you set it to 4:3 it outputs a 4:3 signal and 16:9 --> 16:9. PS3 doesn't have this feature as far as I know (never looked for it and can't remember having seen it) but regardless the box simply puts the resolution it gets over to the VGA connection.
 

Scorpei

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I assume this would work with other consoles that outputs via component cables like xbox 1 and ps2, right?
One can only assume, I don't have any other hardware that outputs via component so I can't test but anything that produces anything in the resolutions supported should work without problems.
 

coolbgdog

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I want to try one of these but one thing though does this support 480i? I have a kworld 1440 vga box and it works just like that 480i-1080i but on the wii some games either have bars on the side, top bottom or all sides and some games are fullscreen.
 

TaMs

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Any cheap place to get this? (europe) Or if anyone have play-asia vouchers to donate. Those ones what Darkforce was talking about
tongue.gif

And is there any difference between cheap and not so cheap component cables?

Ok it seems that no one has extra coupons :/
 

deathfisaro

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From my understanding of this tool, it takes outputs FROM console and make inputs TO monitors, so are the ports output-input only?
Or is it possible to hook up my PC with my HDTV?
Well perhaps I could buy a PC-TV cable for cheaper I guess.
 

Darkforce

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Any cheap place to get this? (europe) Or if anyone have play-asia vouchers to donate. Those ones what Darkforce was talking about
tongue.gif

And is there any difference between cheap and not so cheap component cables?

Ok it seems that no one has extra coupons :/
Well I looked around before I bought one and the cheapest place I could find was play-asia: XCM 1080p box
Add Magic POP Strawberry Crackling Candy [single pack] to bump the total to over $60, and use coupon code DE-ALT-AKB at checkout to lower the price by $10 to $50.39. Shipping was $6.90 for me.

It comes with good quality component cables for each console already so you don't need to worry about them!



deathfisaro - Yes this box is just for outputting a picture onto a monitor. If you want to output your PC to your TV, then it's a lot, lot easier. If you have a HD TV the odds are it will have a VGA or HDMI port. You should have a VGA connection on your computer already, so just hook up your VGA cbale to the TV. If you only have two DVI ports (as with recent graphics cards) you can buy a DVI to VGA adapter, or if you have a HDMI connection on your TV you could use a DVI to HDMI adapter. Most half decent graphics cards should also have component output, which will also do the trick. Just remember that this will only take the picture to your TV - to get sound you will need to buy a 3.5mm to phono cable (i.e. the red and white connectors) to take the sound from your PC to the TV.

smile.gif
 

TaMs

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Any cheap place to get this? (europe) Or if anyone have play-asia vouchers to donate. Those ones what Darkforce was talking about
tongue.gif

And is there any difference between cheap and not so cheap component cables?

Ok it seems that no one has extra coupons :/

Well I looked around before I bought one and the cheapest place I could find was play-asia: XCM 1080p box
Add Magic POP Strawberry Crackling Candy [single pack] to bump the total to over $60, and use coupon code DE-ALT-AKB at checkout to lower the price by $10 to $50.39. Shipping was $6.90 for me.

It comes with good quality component cables for each console already so you don't need to worry about them!



deathfisaro - Yes this box is just for outputting a picture onto a monitor. If you want to output your PC to your TV, then it's a lot, lot easier. If you have a HD TV the odds are it will have a VGA or HDMI port. You should have a VGA connection on your computer already, so just hook up your VGA cbale to the TV. If you only have two DVI ports (as with recent graphics cards) you can buy a DVI to VGA adapter, or if you have a HDMI connection on your TV you could use a DVI to HDMI adapter. Most half decent graphics cards should also have component output, which will also do the trick. Just remember that this will only take the picture to your TV - to get sound you will need to buy a 3.5mm to phono cable (i.e. the red and white connectors) to take the sound from your PC to the TV.

smile.gif

Ok thanks.
I didn't really think when i asked about those component cables. I saw that the cables were with ít. just random blackout.
biggrin.gif
 

ghosthk

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OH, The IC on XCM box should be LMH 1251, good.

But where is the buffer op-amp?
like this
If there is no buffer, the output may be overloaded.
e.g. 0.7V output with 75 ohm loading, by ohm's law, the current should be 9.3mA
BUT the designed output current is only 3mA!

And I don't understand why XCM team use the cheap switch instead of the IC input.
http://cache.national.com/ds/LM/LMH1251.pdf
 
A

alucard_xs

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well nice review but, I'm still hesitating between this product and this one :

http://www.x2vga.com/

Especially that the x2vga 2 is compatible with older console such the Playstation 2 ?
wink.gif
 

jorgamund

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well nice review but, I'm still hesitating between this product and this one :

http://www.x2vga.com/

Especially that the x2vga 2 is compatible with older console such the Playstation 2 ?Â
wink.gif

The problem is that you will only be able to play 480p pS2 games with the x2vga. (for example, there aren't any square-enix which supports 480p. [I'm not sure if it's just the case of pal games].) So, in the end, it might be the same to buy this box or the other one.
 

Darkforce

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I think what alucard_xs was refering to was that the X2VGA 2 does have 480i support:

'the X2VGA 2 provides a simplified display of 480i with the exceptional 480i EasyView feature.'

However the 480i support sounds rather sloppy and it would suggest that it's only really good enough to use as a simple method of viewing the menu in the consoles so you can change their settings to 480p/720p etc... (instead of having to connect it upto another TV like with the XCM 1080p):

'every time you want to change a setting, the X2VGA+ has a 480i EasyView feature that produces a stretched out ugly 480i image on your monitor so you can tend to your dashboard.' (from a review of the X2VGA+ I found but you get the idea)

So limited 480i support aside it's pretty much the same as the xcm 1080p.

smile.gif
 

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