Tomee HD VGA Cable for Dreamcast

Not sure why I waited so long to fully utilize the still great DC, but I'm very glad I did. The output through this cable is amazing, it easily beats out PS2, Xbox and Wii running component in terms of graphic cababilities, and from an older system no less. Coming from an S-video cable, which my new TV doesn't have, and most don't anymore, this is an astounding upgrade, you have't seen what the system is capable of until you've seen it running in full 640x480, doesn't sound technically great, but I assure you, it's a huge difference. I was slightly hesitant since it's an all in one instead of the normal box converter, but I wanted it simpler and it's well worth the price in terms of performance and ease of use, I only had to buy a Y-splitter since my TV only has a 3.5 audio jack for use with a VGA input.

A bit disappointed by this cable. The picture clarity is great, however the colors/brightness flicker. No amount of manual adjusting fixed this. Also, the RCA cables were not sending stereo sound through my 3.5mm adapter. The Dreamcast works perfectly fine with a 3rd party S-Video cable. Might try the Retrobit cable next to see if the quality is better.

A great alternative to a VGA box. Allows you to play (almost) all DC games in glorious 480p. The picture is so crisp and defined! It makes the games I already enjoy 10 times better. Try playing Shenmue, Phantasy Star Online, or Jet Set Radio with this bad boy and you'll immediately see what I'm talking about. But of course, any game looks amazing in VGA. The clarity is really stunning if you sit back and think about when the DC was released and what was commercially available at the time. That being said I have 2 problem with this cable. 1) The plastic casing around the metal connector that you plug into the back of the Dreamcast is pretty cheap. Mine actually broke and won't stay clasped together so I just ended up taping it. It doesn't effect the ability of the cable and most likely an isolated incident, but it still sucks. 2) Why on Earth does it have RCA for audio out? Almost every single monitor that accepts VGA uses a single 3.5mm jack for audio. It would be nice if they would have gone the extra mile and installed a 3.5mm instead of RCA. Luckily I have all the things I need to convert RCA to 3.5mm, but if I didn't I imagine I would be rather upset.

If you take a peek at some of my other Amazon reviews it's obvious that I'm a huge fan of the Sega Dreamcast. It was the last console I believed in and felt was truly special, an experience that couldn't be replicated by Nintendo or Sony at the time on their respective machines; not for me at least. Maybe I was disappointed in Sega after their initial success with the Sega Genesis. As a company Sega was a witty and wildly eccentric, but ultimately unpredictable. They were the Mad Hatter of the video game kingdom and lacked focus, at least for a significant amount of time, always jumping from one thing to another in the blink of an eye. To say I was disappointed in Sega after the Saturn would be a massive understatement, so when they unveiled the Dreamcast, it was like seeing a blazing phoenix rising from the ashes of defeat reborn, even if it would ultimately be their last volley into the home video game console market. I never lost faith in the Dreamcast, even as far more powerful hardware because it was magical to me. Sega, for all their failures had somehow been able to capture lightning in a bottle and sell it for a modest price. It helps that the Dreamcast was ahead of its time and well designed with its online functionality, virtual memory units, or its ability to output a razor sharp VGA signal if you had the right stuff to connect it to a computer display. This is a key feature that in my opinion helps give the system a solid pair of running legs long after its unfortunate demise because even in the age of high definition, the Sega Dreamcast looks darn good and you no longer need a rare and potentially expensive VGA box to finally see it for yourself. I have a similar bundled cable that I purchased on Amazon, but it wasn't perfect. The VGA lacked thumb screws of the sides to help secure it to my television after it was connected and had a distinct homemade feel, something that never sat to well with me at the end of the day, even though it's a solid device. These VGA cables from Tomee are definitely a huge improvement with a quality fit and finish that blew away what I had and really surprised me, especially for a non-first party, or officially licensed product. Another thing that I liked about these is that it's coupled with a set of RCA cables for sound, and helps reduce the clutter and previous mess of wires I had to wrestle with every time I wanted to play my Sega Dreamcast. To sum it up folks, if you still have your Dreamcast, whether it's still hooked up to your television, ready for action at a moment's notice or retired somewhere in a bedroom closet, buy these cables now, knock the dust off and take your favorite Dreamcast games for a spin down memory lane with a fresh coat of sparkling paint. If you've only previously used an R.F. adapter, composite and even s-video cables you'll either be happy and pleasantly surprised or blown away. I know that I definitely was. I can't imagine these cables lasting to long, like the Sega Dreamcast, nothing that is ever truly does.

Let me say right from the start that this is the *cleanest* option for anyone wanting VGA quality from their Dreamcast. The color matches the standard white Dreamcast and there is no clunky box to clutter things up. Of course beauty only goes so far, if the cable doesn't work it's still useless, so does it work? Yes and no... here's where things get a bit muddled. The best way I can describe this cable is finicky. The packaging for this cable states that it supports a resolution up to 640x480 which is the maximum that the Dreamcast can output. However that bit of info had a sticker placed over it that read 720x480 instead of 640x480, which I found odd. Now I have a Sceptre E32 HDTV that has VGA input and supports 640x480@60Hz, I know this because I had my PC plugged into it and it operates fine. However when I plugged this cable in, the TV displays "NOT SUPPORT" and no picture is displayed. I found this strange since I know the Dreamcast's resolution is supported by the TV. I then hooked the cable up to my ILO Monitor with diagnostic capabilities, and found that the cable first tries to send a 720x480 signal before the standard 640x480, and that's enough to make my TV give up before the "standard" Dreamcast signal is received. I suspect this is what's happening with some other TV's as well based on some other comments here on Amazon. A computer monitor can and should adjust to this, but some TV's will not. So before purchasing this cable for use on a TV, it would be a good idea to check and see what modes your TV can support and if it can auto-adjust. Also regarding sound, this cable uses RCA red+white cables for audio and NOT the 3.5mm mini-jack connector that most PC monitors and TV's will be expecting. You will need this adapter to be able to receive audio: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J1H4VI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 In summary, these cables work well with a bit of extra work involved. I'm still glad I bought them, but I did need to do some fussing to get it to work. If you are wanting to play Dreamcast on your HDTV, I would suggest a standard VGA Box that can send a standard signal. One other note is that these cables are rather short, don't expect them to reach very far back behind your TV. and if you have an audio receiver separate from your TV, you will probably need extension cables for the audio connectors. If you are looking to use your Dreamcast with your PC monitor and space is at a premium, these cables should be fine, but get the audio adapter listed above for sound. PROS: - Clean look, color matches Dreamcast white - No breakout-box, reduces clutter - Solid construction CONS: - Short length of cables - Non-standard signal handshake reduces HDTV compatibility - RCA audio instead of 3.5mm mini-jack requires adapter in most common set-ups. FINAL: Best for PC Monitors, HDTV's might want to look elsewhere

The games that this cable works with look amazing. That said, NSTC/legit games seem to work fine, but PAL/burned/homebrew/emulator games that have weird refresh rates or resolutions are super hit or miss. I have to unhook this and use my regular A/V cable to play about half my games now. Wish I had just bought an actual VGA box.

Great cable! I have mine hooked up to 19 inch LCD monitor, and a pair of Logitech desktop speakers. The screen quality is probably the best that the Dreamcast is able to provide, and it does look really good. I even tried this with an IPS display, and it looked spectacular. The only downside is the audio outputs. The VGA port hooks up straight to the VGA port on your TV or monitor, and the audio outputs go to the audio inputs near the VGA port on your display. Wait, your display doesn't have audio inputs there? Don't feel bad, neither does 99% of anyone else's displays. Here's what I did. First, I purchased this handy adapter: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EG1S5N8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Then, I bough a standard pair of Logitech 2.0 speakers with a sound woofer and was good to go. I thought that the stereo sound would've been lost due to the adapter, but full stereo comes through and it actually sounds great. I have a computer monitor and desktop speakers dedicated to my Dreamcast, and I don't regret it one bit! In regards to compatibility, I have tried this cable with three games: Street Fighter Alpha 3, Mortal Kombat Gold, and Gauntlet Legends. All three look gorgeous on an LCD display and I don't think I can ever go back to a standard TV with the Dreamcast. Although I've only tried it with three games, it seems like a simple enough concept so it should work with all your games. It really does look great. So, hopefully this review helps those that are confused about what to do with the audio. Just route the Dreamcast's audio to desktop speakers using the adapter I mentioned. If you're trying to get audio to go through to your TV, I am not sure how to accomplish that as none of my HDTV's have VGA ports. But if you can find a cheap LCD monitor and some desktop speakers along with the appropriate audio Y connector, you'll be good to go!

A one star rating is too high for this piece of rubbish. Purchased this Tomee cable from Amazon and eagerly awaited its arrival (as I live in New Zealand this took several weeks). I've been wanting to use my Dreamcast in all its VGA glory for a while now and this cable seemed to be a good option - how wrong I was. Upon arrival and un-boxing the cable looked good however that was until I plugged it in to the VGA port on my LCD TV. I had picture, which was not as good as I expected it to be but it was certainly vibrant, however the worst part was NO sound. No matter what I did, re-routing to alternate speakers, headphones, different audio profiles etc I could not get sound to work. This unfortunately was not the worst feature of this cable... When I tried to remove the cable from the VGA port so I could return to Amazon as defective, the two screws which screw the cable into the VGA port in my TV were unable to be removed. I had only tightened them finger tight but due to the ridiculous two piece design of the Tomee cable's screws they had threaded themselves permanently into my TV's VGA port. After an hour of delicately trying to remove the cable's screws, which just span and span when I turned them I had no choice but to resort to force and break the cables VGA connector to remove it piece by piece. This of course meant I was unable to return the cable as it was now damaged. As for the cables screws, they are still lodged in my TV making my VGA port unusable. It will be impossible to remove them without damaging my TV. As for the Tomee VGA cable itself, it was thrown into my fire place and burned until it died. Avoid this piece of junk like the plague. Invest in a better quality VGA Dreamcast product instead. If only the official Sega VGA box wasn't so ludicrously expensive I would have purchased that instead. Looks like I will be sticking with S-Video (which to be honest is actually better than VGA for Dreamcast as the VGA images I saw looked to highlight the many imperfections of Dreamcast games which lesser quality video signals seem to hide).