Pure Evil - Back!!!

[Evil Avatar]

Good Morning! (And since I didn't see you: Happy Thanksgiving!)

The Avatar family just got home from a great family vacation. We spent two days at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure with some members of Mrs. Avatar's family who I haven't seen since they were knee high to Jiminy Cricket.

It was a fantastic time while we were there, but our Mapquest directions actually sent us in a big circle that cost us about an hour and a half of drive time on Tuesday night and then on the way home on Friday we spent about three hours locked in bumper to bumper traffic.

While I was out, my Xbox 360 VGA cable did arrive (and since little Miss Avatar stays up until 3:00 AM every night) I was able to try it out last night. It is pretty amazing. The cable gives you the choice to run your dashboard in a bunch of standard PC game resolutions. From 640x480 all the way up to 1360 x 768. Movies run at 640x480 resolution and they look great running on your monitor.

I have a little bit older Mag Innovision 19" monitor and I did find that the colors were not quite as "bright" as running the games on my little 15" Toshiba TV. (a great little TV that is perfect for console gaming and only ran about $200.00.) I suspect if you have a better quality monitor than mine, you will not notice the very slight wash out of colors that I get. Investing in another monitor may be next on my list.

Update: According to the menu system on my computer monitor, I'm running my Xbox 360 titles in 1024x768 resolution (The same as my 360 Dashboard). I'm not sure if the are really in that resolution or if they are running in one of the HDTV resolutions. They certainly look like they are running in that resolution.

I hope you had a Happy Holiday!

[bapenguin]

Glad your vacation was good. It's amazing how hectic some things get during the holidays, today and tomorrow is just for relaxing for me...and working on some reviews. :)

[KarmaGhost]

I bet that sucker would look sweet on the new 2005FPW I'm git'in' this Xmas! Whooo!

[Klade]

I dropped Mapquest a while ago. These days I use maps.google.com

I've been using it consistently for about 4 or 5 months now and in that time I've only had one problem and that was because I didn't enter a zip code.

[ween]

does your monitor have speakers attached to it? if not, how do the hear the sound coming from the xbox. finally a related question, does anyone know if you can attach a usb headset to the 360 to get sound. thanks.

[Everlost_MI]

Glad to hear the vacation was a blast but it sucks that Mapquest steered you wrong. The sad thing is that AAA uses Mapquest, at least in my area, instead of the kick ass TripTickets they used to give out for directions.

[Evil Avatar]

does your monitor have speakers attached to it? if not, how do the hear the sound coming from the xbox. finally a related question, does anyone know if you can attach a usb headset to the 360 to get sound. thanks.

The VGA cable has a left and right audio cables. I hooked it up to the 5.1 surround speakers I purchased for my Xbox.

[Gaz]

ween, the VGA cable has a pair of red and white audio RCA connectors on it as well as the VGA connector. You just hook them up to your speakers or whatever. As with all the cables (I believe, I'm only going on the pictures that I've seen), there is an optical out located on the cable too.

I would like to know what end type the cable has though, because I may well invest in a VGA cable and I don't like the idea of having to purchase a dongle to flip the endings over after I've bought it, I like to have everything I need in advance. Oh, and as well finding a dongle is bleeding hard.

EDIT: Looks like someone got there before me, heh.

[Evil Avatar]

I would like to know what end type the cable has though, because I may well invest in a VGA cable and I don't like the idea of having to purchase a dongle to flip the endings over after I've bought it, I like to have everything I need in advance. Oh, and as well finding a dongle is bleeding hard.

It comes with the sex-change dongle. ;)

[amusedtoe]

I had never had a problem with Mapquest until this past summer. I was going to a job interview to an area I'd never been, left so I had an hour buffer to find where I was supposed to be. Turns out that Mapquest put that address in the middle of an intersection where that address number doesn't even exist, and was way past where I'd needed to be. Needless to say it cost me the interview.

[kathode]

Always double check mapquest against Google Maps (and Yahoo Maps too sometimes). And vice versa. Helps to be sure.

[Taco]

Mapquest, and maybe google, only estimates where the addresses are based on the length of the road and the amount of addresses. You can't really trust it to get that grandular. Not sure whether Google, Yahoo and others do the same thing.

[TheHulk]

I've always used Yahoo maps and never had a problem. Probably try Google next time. Glad you had a good trip also.

[Felonous]

The beta of yahoo's map upgrade finally competes with map.google.com:

http://maps.yahoo.com/beta/index.php#

They have even went open source on it so that 3rd parties can customize the map like you can on google.

[Roman]

Are you stuck running at 60hz on the monitor, or can you change refresh rates?

[Maskatron]

On long trips I use Microsoft's Streets and Trips on my laptop, with a $50 usb GPS thingee I bought on eBay. Works like a charm.

[fitbabits]

Welcome back, Avatar family. And I'm glad y'all had a relaxing time in the house of Mouse.

I think I own the same monitor as you - a 19" MAG Innovision. I got it earlier this year for about $100, which was a bargain.

I'm desperate for an HDTV for Christmas, but I think my hints are falling on deaf ears. :(

[Evil Avatar]

Welcome back, Avatar family. And I'm glad y'all had a relaxing time in the house of Mouse.

I think I own the same monitor as you - a 19" MAG Innovision. I got it earlier this year for about $100, which was a bargain.

I'm desperate for an HDTV for Christmas, but I think my hints are falling on deaf ears. :(

I got the same deal almost two years ago. $150.00 with a $50.00 rebate. (Which I did remember to mail in for a change.)

I played around with the color settings for a while and I got it looking better (Halo 1 looks awesome, Kong looks washed out.), but I still think a newer monitor might be the solution.

Now, I just need to decide if I want to spend the $200 - $250.00.

[makkura]

i'm thinking of getting the vga adapter for my projector, willl i see a huge difference from component ? i have a benq pb 6100 projector.

[amusedtoe]

Are you stuck running at 60hz on the monitor, or can you change refresh rates?

Nope, it's a Compaq monitor from probably somewhere around '97 (MV520 if that should happen to mean anything to ya). Kind of matches my IBM keyboard that originally came with my old 486 since that's out of place with the Thermaltake case and Razer mouse. :D

[Busted_Astromech]

I have a VGA cable hooked up to a ViewSonic G90f. Looks really nice, but I'm also not confident of my screen resolution.

PGR3, Kameo, and PD0 all display and widescreen so I think they're running in straight-up 720p. However Call of Duty 2 is fullscreen so I think it runs with your Dashboard resolution. Maybe because it's simultaneously developed with the PC it runs at PC resolution on VGA cables?

We had a guy here the other day from Infinity Ward, it'd be great if I could hear that.

Oh, and I'm pretty certain the Live Arcade games are running at the Dashboard resolution--Geometry Wars being my test, I believe it's running at stock 1280x1024.

Oh, and the ViewSonic G90f is around the price range you're looking at Evil--I bought it specifically for the 360, and the best features are the color. Playing Far Cry on it (I got it two weeks ago and was anxious to test it out) was astounding, the greens and blues were excellent. Of course this is from the LCD screen my laptop has, so of course contrast was much improved, but still the color is definitely the highpoint of this monitor, and from what I've seen so far, it's something I'd recommend if you're looking around. It also displays up to 1920x1440, so it should hopefully be able to do 1080p if the PS3 does get around to supporting it (and being released).

[Evil Avatar]

Oh, and the ViewSonic G90f is around the price range you're looking at Evil--I bought it specifically for the 360, and the best features are the color. Playing Far Cry on it (I got it two weeks ago and was anxious to test it out) was astounding, the greens and blues were excellent. Of course this is from the LCD screen my laptop has, so of course contrast was much improved, but still the color is definitely the highpoint of this monitor, and from what I've seen so far, it's something I'd recommend if you're looking around. It also displays up to 1920x1440, so it should hopefully be able to do 1080p if the PS3 does get around to supporting it (and being released).

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm really tempted by your choice. I do wish I could find it in Black. Heh. :)

[Pureboy]

Dude. I'm off to Disney on Monday.

Is it that hard to take the 5 North to the 10 East?

[BleedTheFreak]

The VGA cable has a left and right audio cables. I hooked it up to the 5.1 surround speakers I purchased for my Xbox.

I'm hoping this will look good on my ViewSonic 21" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116229) and I'll plug the Red/White into my PC's 5.1 speakers, though I'm not sure how that will work, since there are 4 jacks on the back of the sub woofer, but only 2 on the VGA cables. I've already got a switch in place, so I can toggle between 360 and PC with the press of a button, but I won't have sound with my PC until I crawl under the desk and plug it back in. *sigh*

[Gaz]

It comes with the sex-change dongle. ;)

You are aware that I now officially love you. I'm going to buy a VGA cable come December 2nd and play my games in all their high-definition glory. Now comes the issue of how I don't have any audio equiptment with RCA connectors... Erk.

[Kagger]

How was the new Space Mountain Evil? I've never been to California, but I've been to Walt Disney World 2.5 times. Yes, .5. My mom was pregnant, didn't know it, and ended up riding Space Mountain. Explains a lot when you think about it...

[bapenguin]

You are aware that I now officially love you. I'm going to buy a VGA cable come December 2nd and play my games in all their high-definition glory. Now comes the issue of how I don't have any audio equiptment with RCA connectors... Erk.

You can get an RCA to 1/8" stereo mini plug adapter at radio shack for like $2.50. Then just hook it up to the line in or microphone jack on your pc.

[Busted_Astromech]

Mine's in black, Evil--just search for "G90fB".

Bunch of prices here. (http://www.epinions.com/Viewsonic_G90fb_19___18__Viewable__CRT_Monitor__CR T_Monitors_G90FB_2/display_~latest_prices/pp_~1/sort_~avg_rating/sort_dir_~des/sec_~wtb#awtb)

Bought mine from PCNation, got it the same day I got the "product shipped" email.

And Gaz, you don't even need to worry about that--the VGA cable comes with both a sex changer for the VGA and a 1/8" stereo adapter for the RCA--they covered all their bases with this one.

Edit: Hmm. Well now I guess there's no sense gushing about my monitor, seeing as the formerly lush picture is now nothing more than a black screen faintly illuminated by the trio of flashing red lights coming from my Xbox 360. The "hardware failure" problem started last night when I (gasp!) hit the power button in a game of Call of Duty 2 single player--as if it shorted something out. Silly me for believing a non-physical power switch would be able to damage the system due to sudden power out. And now I'm getting a box from Microsoft to send it in for repairs, whoopee! At least they're paying for overnight shipping.

[Evil Avatar]

Mine's in black, Evil--just search for "G90fB".

Bunch of prices here. (http://www.epinions.com/Viewsonic_G90fb_19___18__Viewable__CRT_Monitor__CR T_Monitors_G90FB_2/display_~latest_prices/pp_~1/sort_~avg_rating/sort_dir_~des/sec_~wtb#awtb)

Bought mine from PCNation, got it the same day I got the "product shipped" email.

And Gaz, you don't even need to worry about that--the VGA cable comes with both a sex changer for the VGA and a 1/8" stereo adapter for the RCA--they covered all their bases with this one.

Did you try this monitor with the Xbox 360 VGA cable? You had said you tried it with the Xbox VGA cable, but I'm just looking for a little clarification before I drop $250.00. :)

[Evil Avatar]

How was the new Space Mountain Evil? I've never been to California, but I've been to Walt Disney World 2.5 times. Yes, .5. My mom was pregnant, didn't know it, and ended up riding Space Mountain. Explains a lot when you think about it...

It didn't seem much different. In fact, I don't think it was as good. It is the same coaster on the inside, they just changed the lighting so that the track is even harder to see than it was before, but I always liked the asteroids rolling across the ceiling in the old coaster.

Now, they just have like these white dots all over everything in a rotating pattern that does a great job of hiding the track, but seems kind of bland compared to the old ride.

[Evil Avatar]

Dude. I'm off to Disney on Monday.

Is it that hard to take the 5 North to the 10 East?

It was coming home the day after Thanksgiving. The 60E and the 10E were both packed bumper to bumper from where the 91E hits the 60 until about 20 miles past where the 60 meets the 10. It took something like 3 hours to go those 20 miles.

[Busted_Astromech]

Sorry: to clarify, it was the 360 cable; I've simply taken to calling it the "Xbox" rather than "360" as I haven't owned the first Xbox.