MadCatz's Xbox 360 HDMI Conversion Kit up for pre-order
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 19th 2007 6:10PM
posted Dec 19th 2007 6:10PM
Well, what have we here? No, seriously, what is this thing? Considering the absolute dearth of information given on GameStop's pre-order page, we're left to surmise that the Xbox 360 HDMI Conversion Kit exists (er, will exist) simply to allow those who purchased their Xbox 360 before the days of built-in HDMI to utilize one of the dusty HDMI sockets on their TV / receiver. Granted, we're sure hoping there's more to this thing than that, or else we're left wondering who's desperate enough to drop $89.99 to free up a single component input.Update: Turns out this thing does indeed support 1080p, and it'll come with "free" HDMI and optical audio cables, too. Check out the PDF here. Thanks, PerfectVirus!
[Thanks, David]
I was waiting for something like this to come out. As soon as I turned on the 360, I noticed a huge difference. The picture is awesome. The black color is really bright and deep. I have a samsung 40' 1080p full-hd. Just to let everyone know what's up, HDMI has a HUGE difference over component. I have a DVD player with HDMI up converter and component. I tested both and HDMI won. I also have Direct TVHD same test, HDMI won. Now 360 same test and HDMI won. Why do you think companies spend so much money on HDMI. If you want to watch movies in HD. Buy Blue-Ray. HD-DVD is weak. Bad: Price.
Wayne - did you bought this MadCatz conversion kit or you just hot x360 with HDMI?
Doesn't look like it will fit if you use the intercooler on the 360. Can anyone confirm?
I brought the MadCatz conversion kit.
gonna get this 4sure.
How do you know it's going to "play 4sure"?
my 360 is a POS, red ring of death and got it replaced. Keeping my finger cross this thing won't die on me.
The fan is like a jet engine!
Do us a favour and buy a PS3, then you can stop pissing and moaning.
Why provide an optical out if HDMI handles sound as well? Am I missing something?
I'd assume if you don't have HDMI, but do have DVI.
if you want to send the sound directly to your sound-box instead of sending it to the tv then to the sound-box
Ah, ok. My receiver has HDMI so I just use the one cable. Good to know though!
If you were going to send to your stereo, you could still send the HDMI assuming your receiver is newish enough and has room for it, or you have an HDMI switch connected. The main point of the optical audio is that HDMI sound (for those who love sound) sucks. It is just regular sound, nothing special. Optical can carry full surround, 7.1, where HDMI cannot. The best thing you can get to make HDMI sound right over a stereo is an upconverting HDMI receiver, but it sounds about as good as an upconverting DVD player looks.
@ afms: Do you always make stuff up? None of what you just said about optical vs hdmi makes the slightest sense.
Some TVs won't pass dolby 5.1/7.1 from hdmi through the optical out on the tv itself. My TV for example (Sharp LC-37gp1u 1080p) supports 5.1 audio out through the optical out from any other source, however, if my xbox360 is hooked up via HDMI, then only stereo sound is outputted through the TV's optical out, however, if I go directly from the optical on my 360's hdmi cable, I do get dolby 5.1.
@amfs, what bullshit are you talking about lower quality audio on HDMI?
It might free up an audio input too if that makes your $89.99 feel any better.
I'd love to see an Xbox with all the addons plugged in. Would look ridiculous.
HD drive, extra cooling pack, this, etc. Not really an all in one.
/love xboxs though.
The HD fits well into the look and you don't need a cooler, just leave your 360 somewhere cool with airflow...
Does this actually change the output of the 360 or just convert the signal with no increase in quality or bandwidth? I went in search of this when I got my TV with HDMI and was surprised that it didn't exist yet. I was told it didn't exist because its simply not possible to get true quality HDMI output from a 360 made before they built it in.
My guess with this is simply an onboard switch that takes the vga resolution output at 1920x1080 and converts it to hdmi like a dvi to vga switch. So essentially you're getting a true 1080p signal, just in essence an analog to digital conversion.
Unless this is externally powered, there won't be any digital signal processing. And it doesn't look like its externally powered.
Supposedly, in the somewhat near future, in order to play DRM content (read: any video on Xbox Live) you'll need to play it through HDMI. That's what this is for.
The problem is this won't help. It is still being output from the 360 through component, so it will still have the limitation.
What you said isn't true in the first place, MS will never force you to use HDMI for it's video service, that would be suicide for the 360.
but HDMI is digital. Components is analog. Are they actually doing a conversion?
Hmm, this is actually a slightly tempting offer for me. My 360 doesn't have HDMI and I've been considering a swap to get the output for my new TV. If the price was brought down I could really see this being taken into consideration by myself.
Being the owner of a Sony Bravia XBR, it's the only way to get some 1080p out of my 360. Sony decided to cockblock ME for some reason.
But seriously 90 frakin' bucks? what is it with HDMI related peripherals (i.e.cables) and robing people?
You can't get 1080p with VGA on your TV? That must suck. But the reason that HDMI is so expensive is for the same reason that a painting that costs $40 will never sell but if it costs $2000 it will sell in an instant. A high price gives the illusion of quality.
Yeah, but that doesn't work all the time.
There were plenty of electronics in the past that were failures because of their absurdly high prices.
This is so unbelievably pointless! It won't improve video quality at all, component is basically the same as HDMI, I bet 99% of people couldn't tell the difference. AS for the DRM content, this won't work either, the HD-DVD addon doesn't use it, which is (if I remember correctly) basically illegal but MS found some way round it, either way, if the future is HD-DVD and the high level DRM software is used, this won't help at all.
While I agree this may be pointless because all its doing is up converting a component signal, I think you are completely off your chump if you think component and HDMI are basically the same! HUGE difference! You may need a new TV respectfully.
Well I can see some use for it. My cable box is hooked up through component which would be a hassle to change the cables back and forth every time I want to do the other thing. At the current price point it's a little bit ridiculous, but $30-$40 would be a little bit more appetizing.
Its not useless at all. There are many HDTVs out there that can't get 1080p over component or VGA but do support it via HDMI. Using this lead, you can now get a full 1080p image if your set only accepts it over HDMI.
For those with HDTVs that can accept 1080p over VGA or component, yeah its a complete waste.
"wondering who's desperate enough to drop $89.99 to free up a single component input"
The same people who drop over $100 on a single premium monster cable at the big box stores.
Are you saying I got ripped off??
yes, definitely got ripped off.
Haha, it was a joke. I do have monster cables, but I got an employee discount. Didn't pay more than 15 dollars for them. :)
This is somewhat old news, there is already a product like this out there, and yes I have it. It is the XCM HDMI converter. It works great. I need this to have HDMI because my component slots are already taken up by other items. I did not notice any difference between this and Component (why would there be any difference) it is not upconverting or anything. Just for those that need the HDMI input. you can get it is the usual places like divineo.
Yes.
For what its worth, there is a big difference between Component and VGA: you can do 1080p over VGA. Wonder if this guy will support 1080p.
You can most certainly do component over 1080p. Not all TVs accept it yet, but it's perfectly possible.
Here is a link to a pdf describing it further:
http://images.madcatz.com/sales_sheets/4744MCB-SS.pdf
For less or about the same price as this HDMI conversion, one could easily buy a switch box for component video and gain a few extra input jacks.
howcome i get 1080p output with my component cable...? is it not really 1080p? i baught the core edition, and then got a 3rdparty component cable recently, and there is an option for 1080p output in the dashboard.
If your TV supports it - and it looks like it - you're getting 1080p. It's just that there are quite a few TVs that don't accept 1080p over component for some reason (maybe technical, maybe political). I personally use 1080p over component as well.
There's no way the picture will look better with this addon if your TV can already accept 1080p over component.
If this takes the component out and converts it to HDMI, then this isn't really worth it...
If this takes the VGA out and converts it to HDMI, then it is worth it (if your TV doesn't have VGA in)
For those who don't know: the VGA output of the XBOX 360 is way, Way, WAY better quality than component out... if you haven't seen it on VGA, you have not seen it's full graphic potential
Too bad it doesn't support 16:10 aspect ratio.
Not true. I have tried both on a 50inch Sharp Aquos 1080P set and there isn't a difference. The difference is that most Tvs can't except 1080p over Component and therefore it comes in as 1080i or 720p. But if your TV does support 1080p over component then it looks the same.
I agree - I have seen a BIG difference on both my Samsung 50" DLP (720p) and my Epson 1080 projector. VGA is much sharper and more defined than component. I have read comparisons online that show that VGA is extremely close to HDMI from an Elite, in fact the difference indistinguishable to most.
I know some of you disagree that there's a difference, and I can only assume that's because your displays, for whatever reason, has much better component processors or something. For me it was an obvious difference, and I would suggest anyone who has a VGA input on their display to give it a try.
This MadCatz adapter, IMO, has to be a VGA to HDMI converter or something. I just don't think the plug on the back of a standard 360 outputs a digital signal. I would definitely wait for some image quality reviews before buying this thing.
BONUS! Includes HDMI & Optical Cables
• Convenient right-out-of-the-box
• Everything included inside – just plug and play
So in other words for about the same price as your average HDMI cable from Monster you get:
- a converter
- an HDMI cable
- an optical audio cable
Sure you can purchase HDMI cables cheap on line, but walk into a bestbuy and about the only thing on the self is premium Monster cables.
Pfft for an extra £10 you can get the Joytech Component switch
The xbox 360 will do a max of 1080i over component.. If you want 1080p on the older 360 VGA was the only option, and MANY HD sets do not support 1080p very well over VGA. So Yes there might be a reason to get this..
I must have a unique 360 then as mine supports 1080p over component...
1080i max is ONLY for HD-DVD addon. Not for dashboard or games.
Aw sorry, looking up info it appears that yes after one of the updates it supports 1080p over both VGA and component however some TVs might still have an issue with the frequency it uses as it is an analog signal.
WTF! you are getting the HDMI, Optical cables and the converter for 89.99. HDMI you get for around $20 a good one like 9ft, the optical like $10 the converter runs you like $50. I say this is a deal if it works like the real HDMI on the new 360's, so why complain people.
The interesting question will be whether it uses the Component output of the 360 or the VGA output - will it be subject to the upconversion limitations of the component output? The only people who really need this are those whose component inputs do not take 1080p but whose HDMI do. (sadly my projector falls into this category but I already bought a new HDMI 360)
I'll just hope that my launch unit goes blooey soon, so i can send it in and receive an HDMI-equipped console.
I haven't seen a post yet that's been accurate.
This is only worth it IF...
Your TV is 1080P, over HDMI.
Your TV does not do 1080P over component.
Your TV does not have VGA or sucks over VGA. Many TV's do not allow any settings of color/processing/etc when on VGA.
Then, you can get 1080P over HDMI, and have your processing/color etc settings active.
This is NOT as good as a real xbox with HDMI as it will be converting from analog to digital in this kit, then sending it to the TV digital, instead of digital > digital.
Assuming that this kit has a decent A/D converter/scaler it won't hurt to use it on a TV that can take 1080p over component or a good vga just to get the xbox into HDMI, for example if you use a switch/receiver and only want to run one cable of HDMI to the TV. That would be a rather limited scenario.
So yeah. Basically, it's worthless and you should stop worrying about "needing" HDMI or even really 1080P via the xbox as none of the games are, and the HD DVD addon is OK but the audio support is terrible compared to a set top player which you should be using instead anyways if you are this picky about your connection.
That is all. :)
Well, to clarify somewhat. The 360 currently supports 1080p over component for the 360 dashboard and for games. Only for those 2. The HD-DVD player is limited to 1080i over component. Regular DVD movies - played through the 360's internal drive - are not up-converted at all - they play at native 480p over component.
All of these are intentionally restricted by Microsoft because of legal issues which pertain to component video. These do not apply to HDMI and VGA, which will both support 1080p across the board for all applications. Component cables are perfectly capable of carrying full 1080p signals, but these capabilities have intentionally been restricted by Microsoft for the 360 hardware, when playing back copyrighted material.
This HDMI converter should theoretically get around those restrictions - assuming it uses the digital VGA signal and converts that to HDMI, there should be no issue. So we should be able to enjoy 1080p HD-DVD and up-converted standard DVDs on our 1080p TV's.
I don't know if it's worth $89, but it's pretty f*****g good!
I really hate it when people post wrong information; it happens all too often and usually because someone is just regurgatating something someone else said (irl or online). The 360 can/DOES (if you want it to) output a 1080P signal over component video, including video from it's optional HD-DVD drive! While the souce may, or may not, actually be 1080P (such as the fact that MOST of the games are not rendered at 1080P, but 1080i or 720P... and in some cases even lower), the signal is not a problem. Already pointed out is the fact that not all televisions support 1080P over component (which was actually a fairly recent improvement, as some older "HD" sets not only couldn't do 1080P, but couldn't even do 720P... as my first 55" Samsung had two component connections, one that supported 1080i and 480P, the other supporting only 480P and 480i... yes, very very sad, but that's what you get when you're an "early adopter".) I think I'm done ranting for now... I don't usually even post... I just want more individuals out there to do their own research (I could give a crap if you listen to me, if you're willing to look it up for yourself... in which you'll just find that I'm right anyway lol). Thanks for your time =)
My question is will DVDs be upconverted with this? If so it'd be worth it to me so I can ditch my upconverting DVD player. But I'm so desperate to ditch it that I've thought about connecting my pc with hdmi and my xbox with vga (my tv is only 1080i).
Sorry but this isn't HDMI, its component crammed into HDMI cable, component doesn't carry audio where as HDMI does, that's the only reason to upgrade. This device has separate audio (just like component), this isn't HDMI.
I have the original premium Xbox. I also have the HD DVD addon.
Because i don't have HDMI i can't do 1080p or and upscaling.
Will this allow me too?