I can tell you one thing: If your monitor struggles, then converters and capture cards will struggle even more...

better get a VGA Card with DVI and use a DVI to HDMI Adapter.
As long you have PCI Slots you can get a cheap solution.
Like a Radeon 7000 PCI.

I've been wondering the same thing.

I currently use a VGA to S-video converter then feed that into my Elgato to capture DOS VGA stuff. it actually works half decent but I was thinking VGA to HDMI may give me better results, I split the video though so I have one VGA out going to my converter/capture device and one VGA out going to my monitor I play on.

using a card with DVI isnt always an option for me because I want to use exact era hardware many times. there's no DVI connectors on Tseng et4000 cards and such.

Yes exactly the case for me too. I'm talking about 286-era machines with only ISA slots, and there are no ISA video cards with DVI outputs.

Good point about the converters being less tolerant than the monitors. Just strange because some monitors are ok, others aren't. I guess given the low price the only option is to get one and try it out!

soviet conscript wrote:

but I was thinking VGA to HDMI may give me better results, I split the video though so I have one VGA out going to my converter/capture device and one VGA out going to my monitor I play on.

Got to be careful what device you really want.

A converter, simply converts. So under DOS you will get 720 x 400 @ 70 Hz. You typical HDMI capture card won't know what to do with this.

Better is a scaler, but they cost a lot more and some aren't fast enough for smooth frames.

My LCD monitor also struggles with V2 SLI at 512 x 386, which runs at a higher refresh rate than 60 and can't be lowered. I have to "wake up" the LCD after a minute or so. Another model handles it better.

Changing the graphics card can help sometimes, so it's worth trying. But some games are just tricky games to capture.

If money is no limit, get a capture card from Epiphan, they capture anything 😀

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Got to be careful what device you really want. […]
Show full quote

soviet conscript wrote:

but I was thinking VGA to HDMI may give me better results, I split the video though so I have one VGA out going to my converter/capture device and one VGA out going to my monitor I play on.

Got to be careful what device you really want.

A converter, simply converts. So under DOS you will get 720 x 400 @ 70 Hz. You typical HDMI capture card won't know what to do with this.

Better is a scaler, but they cost a lot more and some aren't fast enough for smooth frames.

My LCD monitor also struggles with V2 SLI at 512 x 386, which runs at a higher refresh rate than 60 and can't be lowered. I have to "wake up" the LCD after a minute or so. Another model handles it better.

Changing the graphics card can help sometimes, so it's worth trying. But some games are just tricky games to capture.

If money is no limit, get a capture card from Epiphan, they capture anything 😀

Is converting to something lesser like S-video different because so far using my cheapo Avermedia VGA to S-video/composite converter and then running the S-video to the Elgato has captured every DOS game I've thrown at it. Granted the quality is degraded pretty noticeably it does work. This converter also has a port to output 15 pin RGB out but i've never tried it as I lack the cables. I'd have to get a 15 pin RGB to SCART cable and then a RGB SCART to HDMI converter to test it.

I started my YouTubing with S-Video captures 😁

I used graphics cards that had S-Video out, that gave me the best image, but on older machines I used a VGA to S-Video converter like yours.

It has a VGA passthrough, but that would reduce the image quality, so I would just play on the capture computer using the preview window.

Well just for the record, I purchased one of these (photo below) as it didn't say anything about supported resolutions in the listing, but it did say it can operate without the USB power (presumably if the HDMI connector provides power - I guess you'd need it if you were using a DVI adapter.) The manual that comes with it says that it supports up to 1920x1080@60Hz, but then proceeds to list a bunch of discrete resolutions it supports, the lowest of which is 640x480@60/72/75/85Hz.

According to another monitor of mine, my Trident TVGA8900 outputs a 640x400@70Hz signal for both DOS text mode and Commander Keen 4, while it outputs 720x400@70Hz for Monster Bash. Neither of these modes are compatible with the HDMI converter, when connected to two different screens (one via HDMI and one with a DVI adapter.) Both those monitors correctly display the image when using their own VGA inputs (except one monitor which will never display Commander Keen for some reason.)

With the adapter, the monitor flicks on for a moment whenever the video mode changes, but then immediately goes back into power saving mode.

The converter was only AU$10 so worth the experiment, but I think it's safe to say that unless it specifically lists a retro screen resolution, it won't work.