[VIDEO GUIDE] How To Enable HD

[whufclee]

If you get yourself an xbox HD cable (component) you can be using XBMC in 720p HD. Honestly once you've tried it you'll wonder how you ever coped before on the old fuzzy picture!

I'm afraid this video doesn't do it justice as I had to use my phone but I'll most likely update the video when I get the correct PC cables

[sealeysonic]

thanks for this...ive subscribed to your channel.

[RoyalX]

@whufclee
Is there a difference on enable HD in MS dash or in XBMC settings?
Or even with the Config Live of X3?

I have done it in MS dash and/or X3 Config Live once and I left the settings as it is in XBMC.
So I did not enable 480P and 720P in XBMC.

[whufclee]

Sorry I can't help with the config live X3 as I've never had a modchip but if you enable in MS dash I'm pretty sure you still have to enable 720p within the XBMC settings if you want XBMC to show in HD. Sorry my xbox knowledge is a bit rusty at the moment and I've got a hangover, hopefully someone else can give a more detailed explanation!

[Ash123]

I followed your guide but I've run into problems.

First, I got the component cable from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hellfire-Trad ... 1e7d97306d

The first thing I noticed when booting up was the screen looked mostly green. It looks like it's not outputting the red signal. Is this a faulty cable?

Next I went into enigma and changed from PAL to NTSC then rebooted, In XBMC I now could enable 480p and 720p but when I rebooted again it when back to the previous setting, i.e. PAL. When I go to settings/system/video output the options were all grayed out as before. I booted into enigma again and it's back to PAL. I changed it to NTSC and did it all again and the same thing happened, it's gone back to PAL again.

[Heimdall]

Your Xbox is softmodded, and you haven't bypassed the virtual eeprom.

Read the Wiki article: Enable HD Video On A Softmodded Xbox
It explains exactly what you need to do.

As for the green screen, it could be lots of things. It may be that you have plugged the green component output into the standard composite input on your TV, but get HD enabled first and see what happens.

[Ash123]

Thanks Heimdall I'll have another go. Yes I did try it on a soft-modded box. I have another xbox with an executer2 chip and I got the green screen with that one too. I'll double check the sockets and I'll come back you later.

[Ash123]

OK First off the green screen. I had the red pin mixed up with the other red one that goes in the sound socket, doh! Colour OK now.

As for HD mode, I've got it working but something went wrong along the way. First off I created the text file and called it eeprom_off.bin and transfered to the E: Root drive on the XBOX. Booted into Enigmah and switched to NTSC. Booted to XBMC and it came up NTSC-M. I then deleted the eeprom_off.bin file.

I thought I had the Krayzie 1.1.1 softmod but I discovered I don't have a (E:\Apps\Extras dir. The only thing in that Apps folder is DVD2XBOX and the XBpartitioner program so I didn't know how to disable the virtual eeprom. Basically I went into Avalaunch, then Hexen Tools and selected Enable HD from the menu. After a few different screens I was in UnleashX and clicked on enable HD and then booted to XBMC and then enabled 720p mode. It's now in HD but when I boot my xbox it goes to UnleashX dashboard. It seems Evox and Avalaunch have disappeared from the E:\Dash folder. Another thing when I boot up the xbox the black screen looks washed out like a fuzzy grey tone. When I'm in XBMC the skin looks fine but I've noticed the playback of video looks washed out like the contrast has been lowered. All the settings are correct, so not sure why that's happened.

I don't think I'll bother doing this to the other xbox

[Heimdall]

The boot screen may appear to have lower contrast because your Xbox is now booting in NTSC mode, and NTSC has lower contrast than PAL. Don't worry, once it finishes booting and starts outputting real HD then it should be fine....

You only have Krayzie Extras if A: you installed it manually, or B: you used HeXEn to install / update your softmod. The standard Krayzie installer doesn't install Extras, because it's too large to fit in the gamesave.

I'm struggling to understand how you have HeXEn tools but not Krayzie Extras..... All I can presume is that you have used HeXEn to update your softmod at some point, and have then manually changed and deleted stuff (i.e. installing Avalaunch), then tried to use HeXEn tools.

You do know how to disable the virtual eeprom - you used eeprom_off.bin to do just that. You only need Krayzie Extras to update the virtual eeprom.

If you have updated the softmod with HeXEn, even if you have replaced the dash with Avalaunch then you can update the softmod by simply running UnleashX (E:\Dash\UnleashX\UnleashX.xbe), then go to Xbox Admin - HeXEn Tools, then select "Enable HD video modes" and follow the instructions.

Nothing you have described should have removed the backup dashboards from E:\Dash\, so if they are missing then you must have done something else that you forgot to describe... but I now realise that when you talk about Avalaunch you almost certainly mean UnleashX!

The question is, when you boot the Xbox normally, and run XBMC, what does it say the video mode is? Then, if you boot with HeXEn and use the File manager to run XBMC, what does it say the video mode is?

Try running HeXEn option 2.3.7 - Remove unwanted eeprom copies, then repeat, and see if the video looks any better, or if the video mode changes when running with a normal boot then with a HeXEn boot.

Enabling HD on your chipped Xbox is easier, because you don't have to worry about the virtual eeprom - you just run Enigmah, then run XBMC and change the settings

[Ash123]

Yes I have used your Hexen disk at some point but I'm still not sure what softmod I used originally. It may have been Krayzie 1.1.1. I think I spoke to you in the xboxscene forum about this a few months back and you suggested I let Hexen do a rebuild of the softmod so it's up to date and secure. But yes the E:\Dash folder is now empty. Both Evox and Avalaunch have gone and they were there before I attempted this. The xbox is booting to Unleash at the moment and I don't quite know where the dir for that is. It's not in the dash folder. I'll have to reinstall the other dashboards manually.

Sorry, when I said I didn't know how to disable the eeprom I meant I didn't know how to update the eeprom. Step 6 on that guide you posted as I didn't have the extras dir. So that's when I went into Hexen Tools.

As for XBMC, yes it's now running in 720p mode 1280X720. The skin is much sharper but the video doesn't look as good, as I said it seems duller than before. I'll do what you suggested with the Hexen disc and get back to you. Thanks.

[Heimdall]

If your Xbox is running Krayzie 1.1.1 then your booting dash is E:\Dashboard\default.xbe

To be honest, I'd suggest that you use HeXEn to reinstall your softmod, then you are at least starting from a known baseline. It won't install Avalaunch, but it will restore Evox, plus it will give you the tools to redo the HD switch.

[Ash123]

OK Heimdall , so first of all I figured out the washed out look of the screen. I needed to adjust the screen settings for this channel (component) via the TV menu. Now it looks OK. I reinstalled the dashboards back in the dash folder via Hexen so now it boots to EvoX but before I attempted this HD enable procedure I had it booting to XBMC. I had the x2config.ini file in the root E: drive and it's still there but not booting to XBMC. how do I get it to boot to XBMC again? This is what I have it currently set at

dash1Name = f:Apps\XBMC\default.xbe
dash2Name = e:Dash\EvolutionX\evoxdash.xbe
dash3Name = e:Dash\default.xbe
dash4Name = c:xboxdash.xbe

XBOX is now running in 720p but I'm getting the low memory message at the top of the screen, saying free space 4MB. I assume it's because the video is now being upscaled and playing at a higher resolution. Is there any tweaking I can do to free up more memory?

[Heimdall]

If your Xbox is softmodded then it doesn't use x2config.ini.

Run XBMC and see which BIOS it says your Xbox has. Until we know how it is modded then you might continue to struggle....

In passing, you shouldn't have your booting dash on F, in case your mod goes badly wrong. Booting dash on E is far safer.

[Ash123]

It says 5101 Retail and modchip lookup is disabled.

[Heimdall]

That looks like a softmod.