VGA box worth purchasing?

[Harsky]

I found the CRT monitor that used to belong to my very first PC purchased in 2001 and I figured it would be good as a spare monitor for gaming but that would mean purchasing a VGA box. Is it worth purchasing or should I just save up for an HDTV?

 

[FAST6191]

360 leads aside I have only really used a standard box. They are not brilliant most of the time but definitely worth the £30.
They also enable a good TV license dodge when the time comes.

 

[T-hug]

lol I never thought of using my monitor to dodge the TV license.. is that REALLY possible? The vans detect your TV and not the signal? If so I'm buying a bigger monitor lol.
I bought VGA cables for my 360 and it looks way better than on my SDTV, hoping to go HD for Xmas!

@Harsky I'd save for the HDTV personally..

 

[shaunj66]

No need to buy a VGA box for your 360. Just get a set of VGA cables and you're good to go! I use my Widescreen 22" LCD to play my 360 on and it looks insanely ace! Picked up the cable for a measly £4 on eBay inc delivery! Great quality and it works fine!

Needed to get a RCA to 3.5 jack adaptor too though...

 

[crafton48]

lol I never thought of using my monitor to dodge the TV license.. is that REALLY possible? The vans detect your TV and not the signal? If so I'm buying a bigger monitor lol.
I bought VGA cables for my 360 and it looks way better than on my SDTV, hoping to go HD for Xmas!

@Harsky I'd save for the HDTV personally..


I think that the whole van detector thing is a load of BS, they just send a warning to every house that hasn't got a license. I lived in a house for a year with no TV and they still kept giving me the warnings.
Anyway something from their website:
QUOTEWe have a range of detection tools at our disposal in our vans. Some aspects of the equipment have been developed in such secrecy that engineers working on specific detection methods work in isolation - so not even they know how the other detection methods work. This gives us the best chance of catching licence evaders.

Whatca reckon?

 

[FAST6191]

It may not be the case in a few years time ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/03/pc_tax/ ) but yeah
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/index.jsp
"You need a TV Licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top boxes, video or DVD recorders, computers or mobile phones to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.". (I assume as it is being shown = live which could possibly drop you in it for stuff like live football and I would say drop the TV capture card if you have one).

I find it hard to see how usenet and DVD rentals count towards that let alone a VGA box.
You will still have to deal with the 400,000 threatening letters they send as it practically unthinkable to not have a TV apparently (I got multiple letters a month when I did not have a TV 2 years ago, of course I did not give any details which probably did not help).

I think it is probably safe to call bull shirt on the black vans/helicopter theory (I find it quite hard to reason with physics how such a thing would work (TVs receive/decode only so there should be no transmission).
As I understand it most people are caught because they have one on display through a window which then leads to warrant/court order or they are foolish enough to allow inspectors in.
This site may prove of some use as well:
http://www.marmalade.net/lime/

*turns on Faraday cage.

Also I seem to recall Scorpei reviewed one of these boxes a few months back.

 

[Bowser128]

Your standard Composite VGA box provides a barely tolerable picture quality, but for £30 it's an adequate stop-gap solution. It is by no means a replacement for a HDTV, or even an SDTV for that matter. If at all possible you should go for a VGA cable designed for whatever console you are using (360, Dreamcast) or for more general use a decent Component VGA box will do the job perfectly well.

 

[Harsky]

Yeah, I'm planning on just using it for the 360 which in hindsight, I should just get the VGA cable for it in the first place.

 

[lookout]

don't get VGA box reason it just pure~rubbish!

save up for an HDTV is the best thing to do...

 

[Relys]

I thought about getting this for like screenshots and shit.