Dreamcast-Talk.com

So I've had this thought on my mind and I wanted to ask for your own thoughts on this subject. My question is...

If Sega was perhaps more active to marketing (during the consoles life) the DC's ability to dispaly an ultra sharp 640x480 image via a VGA device, would it had given the DC more of an upper hand in the console market or even a shot at staying in the game longer than it did.

When I mean active I mean things like...
- Releasing the official VGA box to other territories outside of Japan.
- Enforcing all developers to make their games VGA compatible.
- Mentioning the VGA device in all game manuals much like how the DC Jump pak was always refered as "considerably enhancing the gameplay experience".
- Having DC Store Kiosks house some sort of a screen or monitor crt that displayed at 480p as oppose to having a tiny 10' tube tv with composite display (this applies to U.S. DC kiosks)
- displaying their games in 480p at major events like E3, TGS and more importantly at all DC touring events that were goin on across the USA.

If Sega went with such examples provided, Would the Dreamcast perhaps had been more appealing to the genral consumer or was the tech behind it a bit ahead of its time for Sega to expose to the general public? I personally find VGA on the DC to be utterly essential and something that is perhaps taken for granted even by todays standards (its the only system of its generation to display 480p thru VGA and one of 2 console ever to display ED HD thru VGA).

Please chime in with your thoughts while I give all my VGA accessories a big hug!

Well it likely would have helped to some extent, but keep in mind that the VGA box is much more relevant today than 10 years ago. People didn't have TV's with VGA ports; if you wanted to play in VGA, you would've had to play at your monitor. Personally, I much prefer a TV.

yeah I think it would have possibly gone over the heads of the main population to be honest. Back then everything was still Scart and RF. If you had a CRT with VGA in it was pretty rare because back then pc monitors were large, ungainly and downright ugly!! Its only really taken off in the last 5 years or so with the advent of HD and HD flat screen tvs so that now tvs in the UK at least have VGA ports as standard.

I didn't even know that the original xbox could do 480p via component until last year so it just goes to show how ahead of the times that generation was in terms of consumer awareness/readiness

This is an interesting question. Like what is already said, back in 2000/2001, utilizing VGA pretty much meant using a monitor bar none. I think it would have made a lot of sense to use monitors for sharper pictures in the kiosks though, and maybe some good old fashioned Sega attack ads when the PS2 was coming out, to highlight the crystal clear picture quality, would have been good - of course people would have seen these ads on their TVs XD

afaik, the official sega VGA box was "released", it was just licensed for third parties to distribute with their branding, just as the official sega arcade stick came to the US branded as the agetec arcade stick. And plenty of games in the US advertised they were compatible with the VGA cable/box on the back of US packaging - of course, lots didn't, many of which worked with in VGA anyway...

afaik, the official sega VGA box was "released", it was just licensed for third parties to distribute with their branding, just as the official sega arcade stick came to the US branded as the agetec arcade stick. And plenty of games in the US advertised they were compatible with the VGA cable/box on the back of US packaging - of course, lots didn't, many of which worked with in VGA anyway...

We had this conversation before in your "random DC questions thread" and it was concluded that the official VGA box never saw release outside of asia. I think pcwzrd said it best, the vga box was mucch like the official light gun... sega didn't release either and just let 3rd party manufacture fill the void with their own designs of each accessory. Additionally, the expensive price tag on these sega VGA boxes on the net further add to the argument that sega (or agetec) did not release the VGA box in the US or EU.

Going back to 1999, I went inside an electrical store to enquire about a tv with a VGA input. The assistant told me they did have one in stock but, having looked me up and down, rather rudely pointed out that "you wouldn't be able to afford it mate". At the time I was working a minimum wage job and was up to my eyeballs in debt.......so I guess he was right !

I pestered him to allow me to look at it and eventually the manager came down and called me over. I thought he was going to forcibly eject me from the shop but instead he showed me this huge tv with VGA capability. I think it was a Loewe model ? Anyway the price was over £2000 !!

I told him I'd be back, but instead I scoured the free Ads page in the local paper until one day I eventually found a secondhand Hitachi Tv with a VGA socket. I took my DC along with me and plugged it in just to test it.....and it worked ! It was an ancient, two tonne heavy CRT but it was exactly what I wanted. Cost me £250 and lasted until last year when it finally gave up the ghost. In some ways it was better than a flat screen HDTV as it did both VGA and light guns.

I agree with what most people have already said. As a feature it is actually more relevant to most people now than it ever was back then. But it still amazes me how many people stuck with the RF rather than getting S-video, composite or rGB Scart.

I agree its probably more relevent now with TV's readily available with the VGA inputs, but the dreamcast's ability to out put VGA video did not go un-noticed in '99, at least by me.

One of the first things i bought for my DC was the VGA box and i probably had my DC hooked up to a monitor more than i had it hooked up to a tv back in the day.

Loewe, you said it all there...

Loewe is Philips. Same shit, only with a better design and a much higher price tag...

Philips was the king of CRT, but they suck in the LCD department. Philips has the most horrible image processing I have ever seen. Even their high rank models have serious combing issues...

Their first LCDs were good though. They costed roughly 4500 euro -which is more than their high end models now- but produced the most beautiful image. Now it's just cheap parts and mass production. A shame really...

Well tbh I never saw a Loewe tv before or since that day. If I'd have known how shit they were back then I'd have told him so and where to stuff it lol. I'm actually looking to buy a tv atm so I'll remember to cross Loewe off my list. Anyway I'll be looking for value rather than luxury.

So I guess that's a question I have to ask: Which present day tv would give the best picture for the Dreamcast via VGA ? Is it necessary to spend a lot or are there cheaper makes/models we should look out for that would be acceptable ?

I think that the Panasonic Viera Plasma tv´s are very good!
Some models are very cheap!