thats cool, looks a little confusing though good luck!

its all done now, i'll post pics in a few days, after i've taken a break from playin san andreas with it

Hi

I have looked at the schematics for makeing all these diffrent connections.
What i dont understand are why i need use diffrent GND points for the diffrent
sound and video connections. From what i have read on the net x-box only have one common ground. So whats the poing of connection to all these diffrent GND points.

/Regards Thrud

shielding. you surround the positice wire with the gnd one, to prevent any sort of interference.

Are you sure? Everything that I've read leads me to believe that PS2 doesn't naturally output VGA (especially the fact that there are VGA adaptors for the PS2)

i think i speak for us all when i say, thats orgasmic!!!!

Nice

I just finished modding my Advanced A/V pack - I added a set of 3 dip switches on the box for video mode switching, a VGA connection, and a headphone jack. All fits nicely in the original box, and I still have room for component and digital coax if I wanted it. Don't think I could get away with an RF modulator in the box, though... a little too cramped for that. Managed to do it all without adding wires to the box - just forced some common grounding and used left over wires for the switches and the missing green wire. I've seen no video quality loss from this. (1080i looks fuzzy, but I don't think my monitor formally supports that resolution anyway) If anyone wants pictures of the resulting A/V box let me know and I'll post 'em.

Just a little heads up for anyone looking at putting a VGA connection on their box - if you connect switches 2 and 3 in the diagram and use the VGA iND-BiOS 5001 you can use any component resolution on your monitor (480p, 720p, and 1080i!). Don't know if the same is true for the Pixel8 or TATX VGA bioses, but that doesn't matter much anyway - the VGA iND-BiOS has better compatability - LBA48, IGR, and customizing the flubber and such. Took me forever to find that there was an iND VGA bios, so I thought I'd throw a line for anyone building with this guide.

Took some pics of my modded AV Pack. Crappy quality 'cause I'm an unsteady shot and I was too close with the camera (didn't feel like using zoom).

alright guys, i am kinda a newb at this, and i have some questions.

How would i go about adding composite video to the hd av pack, i got (breakout box)? Kinda like jameson42's. Adding inputs to the box. It looks like he didnt open the connector up?

Ive read some, and i want to wire the composite jack right into the connector comming out of the box. (One that plugs into xbox) Not wiring straight to motherboard.

Do i have to open of the connector, and solder onto that, or does it already have the wires attached?

Also, do i need a switch? Or do any mods to the connector?

Thanks

Actually, I did open the connector coming from the breakout box to the xbox... had to in order to get some of the wires I needed to the box. If you're adding composite to the HD pack you'll definitely need to open up the box and the connecter from it. You're going to have to add a set of switches (HD uses 2 + 3 from the diagram, composite is only active with 1 or 1+2) ... so you need one wire for each switch, and 1 for composite. They all share the same ground.

I suggest reading more of this thread.

alright i think i got it, wire up pin 23 and 21 from the connector. To the composite jack.

Then i will ground Mode 2. Pins 11 and 12 (connecting 11 and 12 with a short cable in the connector would work right?)

then set up a switch. One end. Has Mode 1 and the other has mode 3.

Mode 2 is grounded so when i flick the switch one way it will be mode 1+2, and the other would be 2+3.

Does that seem about right?

Also, one more question. Did you shove the wires in the cable then wire it outside the other end, then into the connector? I want a clean finish.

Thanks!

That'll work. What I did to "get wires through" was take advantage of xbox's common ground. I stole some of the ground wires, used them for my own purposes. Basically you can disconnect the ground wires for everything in the box except for one, then force everything in the box to use that one wire for grounding... then you can use those leftover wires for whatever you want. I did this with 4 of the wires - stole the wires for the grounds for the s-video and L + R audio to use for switches 1,2,3 and the blue positive... then forced the S-video and L+R audio to use the ground from the optical audio port.

Jameson42 i just wanted to ask u that i have normal vga cable made from a standard xbox AV cable.What modifications should i make to my vga cable,so that it displays all the hi-def modes in my msdashboard.i,m using ind-5001 vga bios.Could u plz explain in detail i,m kinda new to the scene.

thanks

Gladly

first of all, it's a good idea to patch your MS Dashboard for 480p... (I actually haven't done that yet 'cause I use avalaunch for everything - it allows you to enable HDTV resolutions in it's settings)

Second, you'll need to change what is grounded together in your A/V connector - instead of connecting pins 9 + 10 together, connect 11 + 12. 13 + 14 should already be connected for you. This is the same as having switches 2 + 3 on in JaredC01's diagram. (when in doubt I always reference back to that) This will enable HDTV mode for you. You can then use the MS dashboard or Avalaunch to enable 720p and/or 1080i... if you really want to you can even turn on widescreen... you'll just have to adjust the vertical size on your monitor whenever you play a widescreen game. I fooled around with this a little myself but decided to just wait until I get a widescreen HDTV to play anything in widescreen.

ok, ive read this topic for about 10 pages but i just dont understand it. im new to all this hi-def, s-video stuff. im used to plugging in 2 av plugs and im away.
but now that i bought an hi-def tv i want the absolute best picture i can get with the xbox. im not entirely sure how to do this though.

jameson42, you seem to know what you are doing, you seem experienced, may you help me with my problem. you will probably answer it so easily but im lost.

in my tv i have, 1 s-video input, i have the green and blue inputs also aswell as the standard white, yellow and red av inputs.

ok, i know what i want now, ive read that RGB and S-Video produce the best pictures.
so im thinking of doing both S-Video and RGB or should i just stick with one or the other, also doing these mods can i also do the Hi-Def mod and get even better quality picture?

ok so S-video or RGB it is. and maybe somehow do a hi-def mod if it makes the picture better.

thanks for putting up with all this, hope it makes sense

eminvil_12,

If you want to connect your xbox to an HD-TV, the easiest thing to do is to get the Hi-def A/V pack that MS offers. That has the Y, Pb, Pr (Green, Blue, Red, respectively) video connections that HD uses (this will give you the best video quality on your tv), as well as optical and Red/White Stereo audio connections. The optical audio connection is useful if you'll be hooking your box up to a Dolby 5.1 surround setup.


RGB is different than the HD green-blue-red, but pretty much the same quality. S-Video is lower quality, and then composite (yellow connector) is below that. For future reference, the Y-Pb-Pr is also referred to as Component video.

If you see the need to build connections for your TV yourself, then follow JaredC01's guide at the beginning of this thread, using just the Y, Pb, Pr connections, along with whatever audio connections you'd like. You'll need to enable HDTV mode in your custom-made A/V pack (switches 2+3 in Jared's guide)

Hope I answered your questions well enough

jameson42

thanks for your reply, heaps of help. just to clear up a few things.

all i need to do is follow jaredC01's tut for the Y, Pb, and Pr ones, the red, blue, green colours.

then all i need to do is put in switches 1 and 2, the switch them both "ON" if i want HDtv and both "off" if i want to use my normal av cables.

also with this hi-def mod, will my xbox still need the av cables in when using the hi def? if so is there anyway i can permanently make my xbox think there is a av cable in it so i dont have to put both in.

once again thanks for your help, its great.

eminvil_12

yes, follow the tut for the Y,Pb, and Pr (and some form of audio connection).

You'll need switches 2+3 - set them both to "ON" for HDTV, and "OFF" when you use your normal av cable. DO NOT keep your normal AV cable plugged in - this essentially turns on switch 1, which will not allow HDTV to work. You will not need the normal AV cable unless you want to use normal A/V - in which case you need to turn off switches 2+3.

ok sweet, thanks so much for your help jameson42. that clears all my questions up. ill be doing this mod tomorrow for sure. once again thanks

eminvil_12

actually one last question, do for example: $35 rca cable better than $10 rca cable??

jameson42

Thanks alot for the reply and just one more request,if u can could u post a rough diagram for the normal vga to hi-def vga would really help.Hope i,m not asking for too much.Once again thanks for the reply.


thank U

I don't think I quite understand what your problem is, babla... just disconnect the wire you have connecting pins 9 + 10, and use it to connect pins 11 + 12 instead (this is all on the xbox side of the cable, not the vga side)... basically, in the connector that connects to the xbox, you should have what looks like this:



(I modified L33's diagram slightly...)

Jameson42

Thanks man for being so nice.Great help cheers

are the switchs needed

Switches are necessary if you ever wish to switch between video modes, otherwise you can just hardwire a video mode.

Just a quick question is it nessecary to use ind-vga bios for hi-def with a vga cable ? or the other 2 bioses namely pixel8,s and tatx will also do the job?

thanks

Yes, assuming they're compatible with your version of Xbox. Most people just use the ind-bios vga because it's the most recent bios that supports vga, and has features the older ones don't have. I personally would recommend it just based on the fact that it's newer and probably more stable.

I highly recommend using the iND-BiOS for VGA output. I've tried both of the other VGA bioses, and they're big and featureless. iND actually supports things like in game reset, large hard drives, and startup logo and flubber customization. The 256K size and compatibility with 1.0-1.5 xboxes is a definite plus. Using up 512K or 1MB on my modchip for a featureless bios is rather undesirable for me. Although I praise the work put into VGA output by PiXel8 and others, I think the iND VGA caters more to the needs of all VGA users.

Isn't it also true that the iND-BIOS with VGA is the only one that also outputs VGA over standard component cables? This very helpful for me, as my monitor has seperate RGBHV BNC connectors in addition to a D-sub normal monitor connection. I bought a third party component cable and three phono-to-BNC adapters for much less than an Xbox cable and a VGa extension to hack together. Of course your monitor has to support sync-on-green; mine does, which is nice.

For me this was a big deal, as I was expecting to have to get out the soldering iron, but I tried the iND-VGA BIOS and it worked. But not on Top Spin tennis, which goes green after the intro. And the N64 emu I treid did the same after loading a game. Let's hope this isnt an unsurmountable problem.

I'm not sure if the other VGA bioses support VGA output in HD mode or not... I never thought to try it until I tried the iND-BiOS. I would think the other bioses would work roughly the same when it comes to VGA output.

This may have been asked previously in the thread, but I couldnt see where at the time, so I will ask now.

Asuming I just wanted to "lock" the Xbox into normal AV output (so I could boot the Xbox up without needing the AV cable plugged in) Would I just join pins 9 & 10 together?

Or is there more to it than that?

Cheers

That'll work, Devilman. Some bioses have support in them to not have an A/V pack, too (no soldering or wiring involved). I know iND-BiOS does, not sure what else.




EDIT: I noticed an error with a previous post of mine... iND-BiOS VGA is compatible only with 1.0-1.3 xboxes, not 1.4 or 1.5. Sorry for the mix up.

Jameson42

Sorry man for wasting ur time and asking stupid questions I,m really greatful for the previous help .Hopefully this is my last question about this topic.The problem is that some people say to have hd mode on ur monitor is only by making a vga cable with xbox component cable.But my vga cable is made from a retail xbox A/V cable.And i don,t have a Component cable,so is it possible to have hd mode with a normal xbox A/V cable converted into a vga cable?

Thanks alot in advace................

Don't worry about the questions. Gives me something to do when I'm bored at work (like now). It doesn't matter what you make your VGA cable from, as long as you wire it correctly. The connectors on the MS HD cables don't have any magical properties or anything. I built my Hi-Def VGA connection with an advanced A/V pack (the MS S-Video cable), but it would have come out the same had i used my normal A/V cable instead. Probably just wouldn't have looked as pretty (I like my A/V breakout box).

Sorry if I seem to get frustrated with you - I'm not. Just the annoying part of my personality seeping through. I wish you all the best in your xbox endeavors and I am happy to help - we were all newbs once.

Edit: The cables that people have referred to with component and VGA are actually pre-made cables you can purchase that convert a component connection to a VGA connection - they're normally only used for projectors. Using a VGA-bios, you can use one of these connected to a MS HD pack to get vga output on a sync-on-green monitor. Nothing special in the cables, they just connect the red, green, and blue signals from component video to the red, green, and blue signals for VGA... they don't do any conversion of data that is generally necessary (which a VGA bios will do). RGB and Component video are not directly compatible - the signals are a little off.

Anyone know if it be possible to use the optical out from an old ps2? I have no idea what type it uses, but it has a similar 3 pin design. I've got an old broken ps2 lying around and if I can actually make it useful somehow, it'd be cool.

Thanks.

ok this might be a stupid question but i have googled it and found no results.
which is the positive and negative on a rca head?
i included this pic, if someone can draw on it etc thatd be good.

is the outside metal bit the negative, or the inside? thanks



also do i have to do these bits i circled for the hi def. or do i just solder to the 6 points on the mobo?

The outside is the ground.

No, you don't need the VGA connector if you're not adding a VGA connection to your xbox.

thanks mate

Wow... Been a while since I've checked up on this thread... I actually have a PDF file made with all of the single packs... Standard A/V, Advanced A/V, High Def A/V, and VGA A/V, all on seperate pages, and easy to understand. I'll post it when I get off of work.

hey jared good too see you back but i have a problem, ok here i go.

i followed the hi-def part of the tut
the y, pr an pb or something.

heres what i did.

i soldered al the wires on and connected to the rca outputs like your supposed to. they are all right im sure, ive checked heaps of times.

these are the problems im having
the normal av plug is working fine and displays it normally.

when av plug is in and switchs are off these are the effects
-even when i have hdtv switched off on the xbox (switch 2 and 3) it still is displayed on my tv when i flick over to dvd mode.
- the picture is black and white, or it may have a small tinge of blue or green in it.


when i have the switches turned on the picture is bright pink. i have tried a few things and wil include a few pictures

i have included picyures as i thought it would be easier to explain.

the first ten pics are of the xbox with hi-def enabled.
the 4 last pics are with it disabled.

also sometimes the xbox just resets itself when i play around with the rca plugs

heres the pics

The Link Doesnt Work BTW

Try it without your A/V cable plugged in (I assume you're using it for audio), and your switches on for Hi-Def mode. (if you've got the switches on and the a/v cable plugged in, that's essentially turning on switches 1, 2, and 3 - which is RGB mode, not Hi-Def mode.

Let me know what happens.

hi jameson42

i took the cable out and im getting picture but its still white, and has green for some parts. not what it supposed to be. so i take out the cable for the blue connection and the picture is still the same, meaning i have 2 cables same picture.
now i took out the red cable, so now the only cable still in is the green one. now the picture shows up but its black and white. do you think it could be my connections?

thanks

if you have msn add me
eminvil_12@hotmail.com
as ive been in this topic asking questions etc for a while.

damn, cant edit. anyway here are the pictures with the av cable out and all the 3 hi-def cables in.
this is the picture i get. only some is green.




its looks blue but it is green

also another question. if i cant plug the av cable into the tv (stock one) then how do i get sound?
do i also have to do a audio mod aswell, for the right and left speakers?
thanks and sorry for all my posts

You have 2 options for sound. Either add audio connections to the back of the box, or modify your A/V cable so it doesn't connect pins 9+10. If you go with this option, you'll probably want to add switch #1 to your xbox so you can enable normal video if you want to.

Something's wrong with your Pb and/or Pr connections - that's why the picture shows up white. The way Hi-def connections work is this: the green supplies the luminance (brightness, greyscale) of the picture. The red and blue provide the difference that those colors are from the max brightness of the picture. So, if red and blue aren't working, you'll just get a greyscale picture for the most part. Make sure they're connected to the right spots, and that they're nice and secure.

thanks dude, i rewired the whole fkin thing and im getting picture now how its supposed to be.
is there any way to enable hi-def mode or something?
because the picture looks exactly the same.?
is there an option i must select

ps: now i have to fkin add audio out put so i have to pull my xbox apart again GGRRRRR

or if i make pin 9+10 not connect will the av cable still work normally without hi def mode on. because io have a tv which isnt hi def?

Now that your hi-def connection is working, you need to actually enable at least one hi-def display mode in your MS dashboard. (i.e. 480p, 720p, and/or 1080i)... You'll probably just want to enable every mode that your HDTV supports. When you run games they will run in the highest mode that they support that you have enabled.

Right now, your xbox is outputting in 480i, which is the same as is outputted with the normal A/V cord that comes with the xbox. (Called composite video). Enabling the hi-def video modes will not keep composite video from working.

If you remove the connections from pins 9+10 on your standard cable, you will have to add a switch to reconnect them when you want normal video again. (switch 1 on Jared's diagram) When you want normal video, turn switch 1 on and 2+3 off, and the opposite when you want HD. When you switch to normal video (composite), your xbox will automatically output in 480i, because that is the highest that composite supports. When you switch back to HD, whichever modes you enabled before will be used again.

I hope this was helpful for you.

this was extremely helpful for me, and i must say. thankyou for putting up with me, as i have asked so much questions and had a few problems.
i am thinking of doing what you said about putting in switch 1 so i can easily switch between modes.

ok its been half an hour since i wrote the above and have managed to install switch 1.
my problem now is : how do i remove the connections from pin 9 + 10? do i open the video cable? is so how? i tried jamming a srewdriver in there but didnt want to break it.

thankyou

PS: how do i enable hi-def mode on the m$ dashboard as there are no options for it, thankyou. i will look again maybe i missed something.

First thing's first, to enable hi-def video modes:

while your hi-def video connection is hooked up, in the MS Dash, Go to settings, then video. There should be options on your screen now for video mode, 480P, 720P, and 1080I. You only get access to these options when you use the hi-def video connections.

In order to disconnect pins 9+10 from each other, you have to open the part of the cable that connects to the xbox. If you look around where the plastic meets the metal, there are 4 holes (2 on each side). These holes match metal tabs within the plastic. If you force the plastic away from the metal in these spots while pulling it down the cord, you should be able to pull the sleave off. (I actually cut mine off... which you can do if it proves to difficult to remove it otherwise - cut in a straight line down the back and you can even put it back on, and glue the edges together or whatever.) Once you've done this you have to remove the metal shielding. Actually, I just remembered that these same directions are in the tutorial for making a VGA cable... you might want to take a quick look at that.

I need to make only rgb scart cable, but that i can stil use original xbox cable! Can i make rgb scart cable without switches (simply solder to motherboard),but that i can stil use original xbox cable?????

Thanx!!!