Game Consoles on Your Monitor?

steddyj asks: "With the release of the Gamecube and X-Box, along with the slew of games for said consoles, I've been contemplating whether or not to buy one, and keep running into one major roadblock: the TV in my room is on top of the hutch of my desk. This is not only the only place I have room for it, but also the best place for viewing. But, at a mere 13", having the screen 4 feet away and 3 feet above eye level makes gaming all but impossible without standing. However, my computer monitor is considerably larger and, of course, in a much better position for viewing the details needed to play modern games along with the occasional productive stuff." I know that the X-Box supposedly supports VGA out, but do you need an adapter for it? There were adapters available for Dreamcasts to output to VGA, and I'm not quite sure whether such things were relased for the PS2 or the Gamecube. Has anyone used such adaptors, if so, how have your experiences been?

"I remember a time when monitors used to include composite inputs, and my grandfather had his Nintendo (that's the original *8-bit* system) hooked up to his. But alas, those days are long gone. Does anyone else know of any hack or device that will allow me to hook a game console to my monitor? Barring this, I cannot justify the $300 for a system I can't enjoy, and I want to play Obi-Wan and Starfighter!"

Comments

VGA-out is much more than scan conversion

[The 14 year old]

Sure you could do scan conversion from NTSC to VGA, but the Xbox is capable of 1920x1080 (HDTV), so there would need to be a special output adapter that connects to the back of the console to take full advantage of what your monitor can handle. I have searched the 'net endlessly to no avail for an xbox vga-out "adapter". I read somewhere that because microsoft wants to keep people from thinking that the xbox is exactly like a computer, they will have no vga-out option, no keyboard, no mouse, and no web browsing (note: broadband and web browsing ARE two different things.) I think this is a serious waste of the capabilities of the Xbox, and i really hope that third parties will release keyboards/mice/vga adapters/web browsing software for the Xbox.