[Accessories] Xbox HDMI Cable

[Dom DXecutioner]

Hello Everyone! Happy and blessed New Year to all!

Now that the greeting is out of the way, I though I'd share information regarding an HDMI cable for the original Xbox that I happen to come across Amazon. I've been wanting an HDMI cable for sometime since the monitor I'll be using does not have any other inputs other than HDMI, VGA, and Display-Port.

I ended up ordering two of them, and thus far - given that I wasn't expecting much - I'm content with the outcome. I've been able to do basic testing by running the MS Dashboard, UnleashX, XBMC, Games (Prince of Persia: T2T, Battlefield 2: MC, & Burnout Revenge), and a couple of Emulators (Snes9Xbox [Good], NeoGenPlusX [Video not centered - probably settings issue on my end]).

The next thing would be to compare the quality between the Monster Gamelink Component Cable and this HDMI cable. I don't think I'll be doing that any time soon, but for the time being, it serves my purpose. For the time being I could not really tell any major differences between the component and HDMI cable quality. Admittedly, I'm not good at this type of things.

Monster Gamelink 400X XBOX Component Cable


In any case, the cable is $20, which may or may not be ok for some. Below are the pics and Amazon link for this cable. I must say, I was very impressed with the packaging.











Hopefully someone else can also benefit from this info. I know I have.

[Geeba]

Amazing really!

Great find Dom

[GoTeamScotch]

Very cool! I'm going to grab one myself and do some comparison. I have the same monster cables and a component to HDMI converter. Once it arrives I'll do some tests and put it through my capture card and share the results.

From what it sounds like, this could be a great alternative to spending $60 on monster cables plus another $20 on a converter. Those cheap $7 component cables suck so I'm glad to see these hit the market.

[Dom DXecutioner]

@Geeba

It was purely coincidental; I figure I’d start working on some XBMC stuff but wanted the Xbox near my computer and be able to connect it to the 27” monitor, which only has digital inputs.

I considered making an HDMI cable myself until I realized this is waaaay outside my abilities. So I searched for one and got lucky.

@GoTeamScotch

This would be awesome if you can manage some comparisons. And yes, I’d rather pay $20 as oppose to $60, even if it’s not perfect, so long as it does not take away too much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Crazyxelite]

Its to expensive to get it here in UK could someone send one to me please? I pay

[Elurin]

What is the sound like, is it 5.1?

[GoTeamScotch]

I got mine in the mail and have been playing around with them for a few hours. I must say my first impressions are that I'm overall pretty impressed. I compared the quality of the Pound cable versus 1st party Xbox component cables (aka "xbox cables") and kept switching back and forth and I really couldn't tell much of a difference at all. I used MX Unleashed as my test game because it's one of few that supports 1080i. With the Pound cable, the image is sharp, I don't see a added delay/latency, and the colors look fine. No complaints with audio. I'm not sure if it has 5.1 DTS/AAC sound pass-through yet. Wasn't able to test that tonight.

I tried hooking up the 1st party Xbox cables to my TV using component and then using a component to HDMI converter from Monoprice. I bought this specific converter over others so that I could retain 5.1 audio over HDMI. All in all, the difference between everything is negligible from what I've seen. As far as getting an HDMI signal from an Xbox, this is a great means of doing that. Those cheap $7 cables on ebay are garbage and break really easily. This cable feels fairly solid and nice. Just as with any 3rd party cable, it doesn't have that "click" effect when you plug it into the Xbox's video port.

I had trouble with my capture device tonight so I'll have to revisit that soon. I wasn't able to get it to record at a high enough quality to show the difference between the two cables. I went ahead and recorded my TV with my cellphone in the meantime, here is that video for those interested: https://youtu.be/cbjNmD1cW2s. It's not very scientific (don't forget the quality drop YouTube adds) but it should at least show that there's not a big quality difference present. I'll try to pull the capture card I use on my work PC and get some better footage soon.

[Nextelhalo]

Same thing here the quality is great with no noticeable difference from MS cables. I have seen a few times where the screen goes completely blank for a 1-2 seconds and then comes back on but I'm still trying to rule out the xbox (1.4 Trusty running Xmugen) vs the cables.

[xman]

No complaints with my HDMI setup/

This is the third time I have cleaned the wife's machine out since I wired in the converter.

Nothing like having the choice of HDMI cable lengths and availability.

I ended up doing 6 of these conversions and none have proven unreliable.

Couldn't be happier. One of the best mods I did...

[Elurin]

How are you getting the signal with that mod? can't see any cable going in the converter?

[xman]

How are you getting the signal with that mod? can't see any cable going in the converter?

Do I detect some doubt?

I started on this mod according to my PC photo folders in mid 2015..

The whole idea of the mod was to....

One..... to get rid of the mess of multiple, ( hard to easierly get), cables....
Two..... to enable Xboxes to still be useful on TVs that no longer had component ports
Three....condense the machine to just one cheap, easy to get, available in any length HDMI cable, ( or three for external sound)
My first test sample October 2015


Picking a suitable location inside the Xbox...

Solderside of the motherboard showing how wires were run. I did this multiple ways using different points to pick up the required 5vDC to run convertor as well as the required component and sound.
Different Xbox models allowed for different points on the board to get these so there are a number of following pictures to show these.
Also different model Xboxes had holes in different locations to get the wires from one side of the board to the other.
















Should be enough info there on how to do this mod the way I intended for it to be, not just a mess outside the Xbox at a premium cost.
Bit pissed actually someone has copied this and claimed it as there own so I'll rain on there parade..

The converter boxes are between $20-30 depending on supplier.
Use the same brand as I did and you will have absolutely no issues even if you use them as a external plug in.

Good to see nothing has changed on the Xbox scene with pirates traveling from one site to another taking credit for others hard work.

Glad to help those that follow this mod done the way it was intended..... my help enabling others to do it a no money profit to me way.

[Elurin]

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That is very nice, I prefer Internal mods to external ones.

Do you notice an improvement of quality over the standard component cables? I have the official MS component cable but on a 4K TV when you are close up you can see some very minor disturbances, but you have to be sitting about 30CM from the screen to be able to detect them.

I would assume that by reducing the length of the analog signal to the absolute minimum the output on the HDMI cable must almost be the same as if it would come from a digital signal?

I was actually thinking about doing something similar to what you have done, but externally. In the end I ordered a HD cable from N64 Freak, he has added 5.1 audio over the HDMI cable, which I could not have done with just a component cable and a converter from China

[xman]

.

That is very nice, I prefer Internal mods to external ones.

Do you notice an improvement of quality over the standard component cables? I have the official MS component cable but on a 4K TV when you are close up you can see some very minor disturbances, but you have to be sitting about 30CM from the screen to be able to detect them.

You are never going to get a better signal than what the Xbox actually puts out. You can convert it to whatever but it can't be made better than the actual source supplying the signal so if you change it to HDMI, it is still 720p that has been converted to HDMI. That is it. You can upscale the 720p to 1080 but you still have only 720 lines of data and the other lines are simulated which isn't really necessary because your TV will do this anyway.

I would assume that by reducing the length of the analog signal to the absolute minimum the output on the HDMI cable must almost be the same as if it would come from a digital signal?

What makes the difference is having the component cables and the converter inside the Xbox's Faraday cage .
No way of getting interference that way, it is all shielded like everything inside the Xbox's metal grounded cage ( Faraday cage)
You put that converter outside of that cage, (outside the Xbox), noise can enter and you may see that on your screen.

I was actually thinking about doing something similar to what you have done, but externally. In the end I ordered a HD cable from N64 Freak, he has added 5.1 audio over the HDMI cable, which I could not have done with just a component cable and a converter from China

If it is the best sound output you want available from the Xbox you would be tapping directly into the Xbox's Optical terminals on the same solder points I connect the internal converter to and most importantly you MUST tell the Xbox to output 5.1 sound.

Unless you tell the Xbox to output 5.1 you are only ever going to get stereo out of it no matter what cables you are using.

You can use a converter but this is only simulated 5.1, not true 5.1.

Absolutely no interference using the optical 5.1 output signal coming directly from the Xbox's mother board itself.

You are correct, you can't get 5.1 audio using just a HDMI cable when using this internal converter, you use an optical cable as well for that. The HDMI cable goes to the TV and the optical cable goes to your required 5.1 decoder.

Then you have the best video and sound you will get from your Xbox

[Elurin]

Solderside of the motherboard showing how wires were run. I did this multiple ways using different points to pick up the required 5vDC to run convertor as well as the required component and sound.

I am thinking of doing a similar mod. However is there any reason not to leach the 5vDC from the HDD power molex?

[GoTeamScotch]

Solderside of the motherboard showing how wires were run. I did this multiple ways using different points to pick up the required 5vDC to run convertor as well as the required component and sound.

I am thinking of doing a similar mod. However is there any reason not to leach the 5vDC from the HDD power molex?

As long as you can do it in a way that doesn't leave the 5v wire damaged it *should* be ok. If it were me though, I'd connect a wire to the underside of the motherboard like xman suggested. Unsheathing the wire or trying to cut it and reconnect leaves you open to possibly making mistakes and that's a pretty crucial wire. The connection could potentially be less secure than before.

[GoTeamScotch]

Metal Jesus put out a video review of this cable. Worth a watch for those that are considering getting one.

[scroeffie]

i know this toppic is old but iam looking for the porta converter in this toppic any one has a link for me thanks

[xboxfuntimes]

where are you located, most any converters work. i scored one with SPDIF digital audio. so thats cool. XMAN YOU CUT A HOLE IN A RUBY XCM.... i love you

[RichardDol]

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