Connecting the XBox to a Monitor? 21
purple asks: "I'm looking to find a way to connect my new XBox to a computer monitor. I understand that the XBox has HDTV out, with up to 1900 lines of resolution. Since I have a standard television, but a large high quality monitor, I wanted to figure out how to do this. There were "VGA Adapters" for the Dreamcast, but as I understand it, they were only available because the Dreamcast had explicit internal support to output VGA; the adapter itself had very little electronics in it. My question is, 1, can the XBox itself output a VGA signal? and 2, is there a standard HDTV->VGA adapter that I can purchase, perhaps from an AV store."
Not sure (Score:1)
some products to check out... (Score:4, Informative)
if you want high def, expect to pay upwards of $2000 USD. check this guy [extron.com] out from www.extron.com. extron makes all sorts of very nice broadcast quality conversion equipment, if you have the pockets deep enough to afford it.
my suggestion? wait till MS releases the $40 vga box
Why asking slashdot? (Score:1)
No go. (Score:2, Informative)
Microsoft yanked the higher resolution support from the TRC ages ago because games would bog at the higher resolutions; console programmers are too used to working with a single target.
At the most, what you might get right now would be post-render antialiased stretch of the game screen, but most HDTV class televisions and PC TV display cards will do this for you anyway.
WinTvHD (Score:1)
Re:WinTvHD (Score:2, Informative)
From the Horse's Mouth: NO (Score:5, Informative)
The 1020i signal (the 1900x1020 max resolution XBox is capable of) would likely pose a much greater challenge since you would need scan-converter circuitry, and thus a buffer.
Finally, don't forget you still need the HDTV adaptor add-on [amazon.com] just to get the HDTV signal out of the XBox.
Re:From the Horse's Mouth: NO (Score:2, Informative)
KD-CTCA2 [keydigital.com]
Re:From the Horse's Mouth: NO (Score:1)
What I would do... (Score:3, Informative)
1. Open it up.
2. Trace back from the video out connector to the nearest IC(s).
3. Write down all of the info for those ICs.
4. Find the manufacturer (on the web or elsewise).
5. Bother them (ie, email or phone) until they either:
a) Gave me specs
b) Sold me the specs
Typically, if you dig deep enough on the web, you can find specs for just about ANY IC you care to name, unless it is made ultra custom for the system at hand. So do your web searching first.
One of those chips is doing the conversion from a digital video signal (RGB, HSYNC, VSYNC) to composite. It may be that with the specs, you could find out which pins have the digital signal coming in, then with an o-scope, figure out the p2p voltage level, and see if you need to do any kind of conversion, etc to run it into a monitor. It could also be that the chip is connected directly to the video buffer, and only outputs composite - but IC manufacturers rarely do this - typically they will cram as many functions on one IC as they can, unless it is custom (which in this case, it could be). If it is a standard video chip, then maybe the VGA or digital RGB output pins are merely disconnected (or hey, they might be connected to a header somewhere for that "future" upgrade)...
Of course, I am the kind of person who likes the smell of melting solder, so take my opinion however you wish...
Re:What I would do... (Score:1)
Re:What I would do... (Score:2)
If you are careful, and rehearse what you are planning to do, and take a lot of precautions (such as a 15 watt soldering iron with a very small tip, SMT solder, a magnifing glass lamp, and LOTS of patience) - what I suggest is very possible.
But you have to be willing. I am certain someone out there will be in short time.
Besides - if you screw up, just clean up the board and take it back for an exchange under warantee, right (personally, I really wouldn't give a f--k - who are you hurting, really? Best Buy and Microsoft? Cry me a river!)?
Re:What I would do... (Score:1)
Risks (Score:2)
Most stores here in the states employ idiots. Others employ people just making money, don't care about the return, let the manufacturer handle it. Most of the time the store will simply look in the box to make sure all the parts are there, and that there isn't any major damage. They won't take the thing apart.
Interesting that they do a thorough inspection in Japan - I wonder if that is because of major hacking on new stuff, causing a lot of returns, or what...?
Re:Risks (Score:1)
Get an HDTV Tuner Card (Score:1)