Xbox Hookup, What do I need?

C

claygast

n00b
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Messages
35
Ok guys, my TV in my room burned out a few months ago and so I moved my Xbox into the living room. It was ok there for a while because I never played it much. I have sense picked up playing Halo 2 online and its pissing my family off that I'm hogging the TV.

My question is, what do I need to be able to hook up my Xbox and my cable tv up to my computer? I'm leaning towards the ATI TV Wonder series, but am open to other suggestions.

I have an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum, so I'd also like to hook my Xbox up via digital audio (optical laser), so if anyone has any experience in this and can re-enforce or counter my desire to do so, I'd appreciate it.
 
Like, do you just want to use a computer monitor for your Xbox? If that;s the case, just google for Xbox VGA adapters. You will definitely find some stuff. Be careful-you get what you pay for, but you should spend no more than 50-60 bucks.
 
If you get the Hauppauge, u will need to use DScaler with it since those cards are hardware encoders so there will be a 2 seconds lag if you do not use DScaler.
 
IDversusEGO said:
www.x2vga.com is the best adapter. the transcoders will offer way better image quality than running it through your PC.
Click to expand...

You could buy a PVR-150 for that price. So not only could he play Xbox on his monitor, he could also record tv shows. Much better investment IMO :)
 
the quality comaprison is not even close. depends on waht you are goign for. the quality of the x2vga is HDTV levels. It takes advantage of the higher resolutions of the monitor. A 150 will give more function though. so here is how I see it...

x2vga - easier to use (plug and play), higher quality, built in video passthrough so you don't have to swap cables to use PC.

PVR-150 - lower quality, runs through software, allows you to record TV if you want.

let me know if I missed something. And I still wish someone would explain to me the advantage of hookin a console up through the PC. I see none myself.
 
MasterShredder said:
You could buy a PVR-150 for that price. So not only could he play Xbox on his monitor, he could also record tv shows. Much better investment IMO :)
Click to expand...
You don't know how wrong you are. The x2ga supports the use of a moniter for a progressive display while the PVR150 is limited to 480i for the AV inputs, HUGE difference in quality and this is just for starters.

If your doing anything with an Xbox and a PC then you'll want to use a x2vga period.
 
IDversusEGO said:
see, the all-knowing Crim agrees with me... ;)
Click to expand...
LMAO, I just wish they made others for my Gamecube and PS2 (in those cases you have to use a soft encoding card like one of ATI's cards).
 
That's what it is! I saw the X2VGA about 1 1/2-2 years ago in a magazine, and heard it worked wonders!
 
claygast, just saw your edit and the x2vga also has digital audio output (toslink)
 
Ok I went to the x2vga site and saw this:

Supported Video Modes 480i*, 480p, 720p, 1080i

I have a NEC Multisync Fe791sb, which has 1600x1200 resolution. How does that translate as far as the mentioned video modes?

And so you say that thing has an optical out port so I can hook it up into my SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum?

And about switching between Xbox and computer, is it done through a program on the OS or is it done witha switch on the x2vga?
 
1080i - HDTV image; 1,080 vertical lines by 1,920 horizontal pixels wide, displayed in interlaced format.

480i - SDTV image; 480 lines by 720 pixels wide, displayed in interlaced format.

480p - Digital TV image 480 vertical lines by 720 horizontal pixels displayed in progressive format. It also may be a 16:9 image that is 852x480.

720p - HDTV image; 720 vertical lines by 1,280 horizontal pixels wide, displayed in progressive format.


The best of those would be 720p, that is until 1080p TVs start showing up soon. :D
 
and the audio goes to your speakers. The xbox has no need to go to the PC at all. Just makes things more compilcated. If you are using PC speakers with digital inputs, there are splitters for even Toslink. Just don't leave both devices on at the same time.

Or you could try running the audio through the PC.
 
Well as you know, I have the SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. I have the Creative Inspire 7.1 speaker system, so how would I need to hook it up, because I guess I'm on analog connections.

My idea was just to do optical out into my face plate, but I don't know how the sound would work then, if it would just play it whenever the Xbox was on or if I could disable it in the Creative control settings.
 
I don't know if running it through the PC would throw the audio and video out of synch or not. but you could run it in through the SPDIF input. Theoretically it would play though the PC spekaers.
 
I got myself an all in wonder awhile back, it's hard to beat. But I guess if you don't need the whole thing, you gots bunches of options (but the ATI has a remote!)
 
kubalaTF said:
I got myself an all in wonder awhile back, it's hard to beat. But I guess if you don't need the whole thing, you gots bunches of options (but the ATI has a remote!)
Click to expand...
Do ATI TV wonders work without any latency between the console and screen?
 
claygast said:
Do ATI TV wonders work without any latency between the console and screen?
Click to expand...
Yes but the software and drviers are terrible and it would have an inferior image to the X2vga.

So your speakers are all analog and the XBobx works just like Soundstorm and sends out a DD5.1 signal over optical, so you'll want to use the optical in on your front box and tell the Audigy to decode it and pass it along to the speakers, there should be very little delay between the audio and the video but if there is you can always just use an analog method from the Xbox directly into your speakers or something like these to handle any audio methods: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=83-103-401&depa=0
 
CrimandEvil said:
Yes but the software and drviers are terrible and it would have an inferior image to the X2vga.

So your speakers are all analog and the XBobx works just like Soundstorm and sends out a DD5.1 signal over optical, so you'll want to use the optical in on your front box and tell the Audigy to decode it and pass it along to the speakers, there should be very little delay between the audio and the video but if there is you can always just use an analog method from the Xbox directly into your speakers or something like these to handle any audio methods: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=83-103-401&depa=0
Click to expand...

And how do I 'tell' my PC to play the optical input over the speakers? Will it just do it automatically once it recieves a signal?
 
in a nutshell. it can upscale to 1280x1024. Do PIP & has a remote.
as for audio, you have to manage that somehow else.
 
up until 7 months ago i used to use the tv port on me gfx card for xbox gaming on my monitor. then i got X2VGA+ and damn it is the best thing i ever did. halo2 burnout 3 play much better and look much nicer as well.
 
I got a friend's X2vga, and i've got it hooked up to the computer and to the monitor at same time. I see little 'ghost' images that are a little offset. It's hard to explain. Has anyone else seen this on X2VGAs?
 
Never noticed this on my projector setup and I have a 114" screen I am projecting onto.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top