POUND HD Link Cable for Sega Dreamcast - HDMI Cable Converts Native VGA Signal for HD Video Quality and Accurate Colors On 4K TV with Dreamcast

I have an old Samsung LCD TV with VGA, but it refuses to recognize the slightly non-standard VGA output the Dreamcast produces. It wasn't until recently that I found an cheap VGA to HDMI upscaler that worked for me: HDE VGA w/Audio to HDMI Video Scaler Converter Box with Power Adapter VGA to HDMI Adapter However, like most upscalers, it needs an external power source, and since my entertainment setup needs to be baby-proofed with all of the wires hidden, it meant either leaving the upscaler on all the time (wasting electricity) or leaving it exposed in some way. I chose the former and hated it. This cable solved my problem. Yes, if I get up close, I can see visually that without the upscaling, the signal is slightly softer. But I already sit far enough away that I have to use a controller extension cable, so it's not noticeable. I love that this cable allowed me to clean up my wiring and stop wasting power. My only complaints: 1. The cable happens to be long enough for me, but I still would have preferred to be able to supply my own HDMI cable. If that box had been shifted just a few inches over, it would have landed right in the middle of the hole I had to route the wires through, and I would have had to get an HDMI extender. 2. The Dreamcast side plug fits in more sung into the console than an official AV cable, or even my old 3rd-party VGA box. I know some collectors are worried about that, as it may end up over-stressing the AV port. Like any of these kind of converters, I'm sure more could be done to improve signal quality, tweak color balance, etc, but for my money my games looked great. Also, a lot of people are quick to point out that this cable "isn't a 100% solution" as some games don't support VGA mode. There are exactly 16 games that can't be made to work, and 279 that can. So it's a 94.5% solution. Games that don't work with VGA: Air Force Delta Bangai-O Ceasars Palace 2000: Millennium Gold Edition ECW Anarchy Rulz ECW Hardcore Revolution Iron Aces Jojo's Bizarre Adventure The King of Fighters '99 Evolution The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999 Last Blade II Heart of a Samarai MTV Sports: Skateboarding Featuring Andy McDonald Plasma Sword Psychic Force 2012 Ring, The: Terror's Realm Soul Fighter WWF Attitude

This cable is a great solution for getting the best image quality from your Dreamcast on a modern TV! Like any true Dreamcast fan, we all know VGA is the best possible image quality, and I have a VGA box that I love, but my 55" Sony 4k does not have a VGA input like most modern TV's. There are HDMI converters out there that can be hit or miss in my experience, and you can spend a small fortune chasing the best image quality. this cable is great because it just works! No converters, no extra power, just plug it in and go. This only works for VGA compatible games, this is obvious and stated in the ad. There are not many games not VGA compatible so you are most likely not even going to find it an issue in most cases. The image is displayed correctly on my TV in the center and the proper aspect ratio, but there have been reports that it is shifted on some peoples TVs. Because this does not upscale, and just sends the 640x480 VGA signal, some TVs just dont know how to handle that over HDMI, and you may be one of the unlucky ones with such a TV. This is not the fault of the cable and it does exactly what it is advertised to do. I saw another review mention sound issues, this is NOT the case with me, playing Jet Grind Radio all the music sounded great and exactly how it should. As long as your TV works with this cable, you cannot beat the price and the image quality is great, any DC fan that uses a modern TV should try this out and see if it works for you!

Quality with a catch.. It's a fine product for what it is. Be advised, any games that do not support vga output will not work with this cable. While it scales nicely and cleabs up the signal a bit its a tad bit darker than it should be. It's a great short term solution but there are better but more expensive and time consuming methods out there.

UPDATE: After talking to the seller, I was able to exchange this for another one and this one actually works. The green background noise is no longer present. I did compare this with a dreamcast vga cable and they were both very similar (other than vga looking much sharper). The reason why I'm not using the Dreamcast vga cable is because my 4K tv doesn't support VGA. So, I would have to use an adapter. After comparing the vga cable to this hdmi cable, I can finally recommend this cable to everyone. I will say that if the screen shifts to the right when using the cable, this can be fixed by turning the Dreamcast on first before turning on the tv, but this hasn't bothered me at all when using this cable. I will keep my original review in case if anyone sees this. I have updated the star rating because of not only the cable, but for the customer service provided that was provided to me. I recommend this cable if you can't use a vga cable for whatever reason. ORIGINAL REVIEW: (2 out of 5 Stars) This is why I don't recommend this product: While it does work, it gives me two problems. 1) The screen shifts to the right side and it looks awkward. Sometimes after messing with the tv or the cable it will display it correctly. 2) There is lots of background noise when in use. You can tell the difference because it has a slight green color. If you look closely, you can see it in the background of the games. I tried it with composite cables to see if there was any background noise and it wasn't there. While it makes the dreamcast very convenient to hook up, you're better off getting a VGA adapter for your dreamcast for better visuals.

What your getting is a cable that converts the RGB Signal from the Dreamcast’s VGA out to HDMI at a 480p resolution. Now to clear up some misconceptions. With a VERY few exceptions any television that has an HDMI port must be able to accept a 480p signal that’s the bare minimum. Those TV’s that are the very few exceptions, must be why you see people complaining about incompatibility issues on TV’s in certain reviews. I have two Samsung television sets one is a 4K TV while the other one’s highest resolution is 1080p both work and accept the cable just fine. A very few select DC games were not VGA compatible and thus will not work with this cable. You can find list of the games that aren’t VGA compatible online. There is a workaround with a boot disc to varying degrees of success. As someone who owns a DC VGA box I think the image is still really good on the HDMI cable but as for which one is better the VGA box is SLIGHTLY better in terms of color and sharpness but for the convience and affordability I would go with the HDMI link cable by Pound. When being displayed on your HDTV at first everything is stretched to fill the TV’s display but simply changing the aspect ratio to 4:3 in your TV’s settings solves the problem. I will say that there really should be a 4:3 switch on the device itself or if the image was set to 4:3 to begin with. Hopefully in a future revision there will be such a feature. Not a big issue just a minor inconvenience. From what I understand there are ways to capture footage but it’s a bit of a hassle and something I cannot personally comment on. The Elgato from what I’ve been told does not 640X480 resolution so this cable will not work. Overall I think this was a great and affordable solution to play DC games on your HD televison. If pound is reading this I do hope you put a 4:3 switch in a future revision but overall I am very happy with this product.

This cable works great and well designed. This cable utilized the RGB connections on the console. The same connections the VGA cable uses. You get a great picture. For the price, it's well worth it. There are other more invasive options to get a picture and the correct aspect ratio, but for convenience, this is great. Not all games support VGA mode and it'll require you do use VGA hacks to get the games to work. The games that don't support this mode is very small, but there is a work around. This isn't the fault of the cable.

Update#2 The Mcable does in fact make the VGA box/pound cable set up also look amazing on a tv. I only included POUND TECH examples with the cheapest option of the Mcable in this review as photos. But imagine one ore two more layers of crispness and clarity with the gaming edition. But that costs 100 dollars right now. UPDATE# I just tried this with and MCable gaming edition. And it made the picture fit on my 4k TV screen with minimal stretch. And it looks amazing. And yeah it works even better with and VGA box set up do to that contrast difference. Ill be including pictures. I even tested it with the cheaper Mcables I had that were from 3 years ago and it boosts the picture as well. Here are some pictures for reference. Marseille 6' HDMI Cable 4K/UHD Video Processor You must research what you are buying. This is a VGA to HDMI cable. This means there are some games that wont work on it without a hack like a codebreaker disc. Compared to a pure VGA set up like I already have, it has slightly less contrast but thats about it. Its the same crisp image without needing multiple boxes or converters. If you have sound that sounds off, you need to change your TV sound mode from what you have it on to something like theater or sports. It might have some issues with Upscalers or capture devices due to the fact the VGA signal is 640x480. This signal issue also is why the screen might end up on the right side of a tv screen, not an issue as the full screen is still presented just on the right side of the TV. Its the limitations of the system. There are workaround for this, but only pro reviewers should need them. This is a solid device especially if you just want to play the games on modern TVs with good quality. Just make sure you check the list of games that dont support VGA.

This cable is Awesome!!! I can't believe all the negative reviews on it. The picture is crystal clear and sharp and the colors pop with no lag when playing games (I tried it with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Spiderman. It basically is taking the best connection possible that the Dreamcast was/is capable of (which is VGA) and converting it to HDMI so you can play it on your modern day HDTV using just one cable (no converter box required). Its true you can't play the entire Dreamcast Library using this cable but anyone who knows anything about the Dreamcast should know that not every Dreamcast game supports VGA (most seem to but not all). I personally haven't tried Codebreaker to see if it could force the non VGA games to work but it might as I know it can be done if using an actually VGA cable (with some of the non supported games). The cable is also really long and seems to be made very well as far as the quality goes. Also I noticed people who said the cable made the picture uneven.... while this did happen to me... I noticed it can be fixed if you turn your Dreamcast system on before you turn on your TV. Overall I am VERY satisfied with this cable (I even purchased a 2nd one) and I Highly Recommend it to anyone looking to hook up their Sega Dreamcast system to a modern day HDTV without having to spend a lot or having to buy multiple items just to get a good picture. At $30 this cable brings new Life to your Dreamcast on your HDTV... buy it while you can because like the Original Xbox version.... it may be gone (at least at the price that it was).

Ma Dreamcast n'affichait aucune image avec un convertisseur péritel vers HDMI... Cette adaptateur a résolu mon problème le son et l'image s'affiche correctement maintenant !

画質も申し分ないし、遅延がないのでスムーズに遊べます。でも、出来ないソフトがいくつかあるのでやりたいゲームがある時は注意した方がいいです。サクラ大戦、サクラ大戦2は出来ませんでした。

If you cannot connect your Dreamcast via VGA then this is the easiest way to connect to a flat screen TV. It does not upscale and also defaults to a full screen mode. However, after a while I didn't even notice. Quick and convenient way to play Dreamcast on a modern TV.

Everyone in the DC scene knows that VGA is the number one option to connect a DC if you have the option. If that isn't the case like in my living room setup. Then this HDMI solution is your second best option. Just plug and play those awesome DC games on my Plasma and Projector!

Lots of people complained about these failing but I guess time will tell on how that pans out. So for the time being I'm happy with the purchase.