MadCatz Xbox 360 HDMI Conversion kit now officially available
By Nilay Patel 
posted Feb 13th 2008 7:37PM
posted Feb 13th 2008 7:37PM
No, it won't get you "true" HDMI, but older 360 owners looking to get rid of those clunky component cables might want to take note: that MadCatz HDMI Conversion Kit is now official. The $90 adapter comes with cables and supports HDMI 1.3, 1080p, Dolby Digital and DTS -- but there's no telling what the VGA-to-HDMI signal conversion will do to your image quality, so you're probably better off doing the eBay shuffle and getting a new 360 with HDMI built-in.
This is has been on sale for about two weeks at my best buy and we sell if for 70 bucks
"No, it won't get you "true" HDMI..."
At this point, you might as well stop describing it.
i got it since i work at best buy i got it basically half price
only reason i really wanted it is since my tv wont do 1080p over component or vga so it was my only option
but over component i had a lot of signal noise as well so the image is much clearer colors are better and 1080p cant be beat so i say its worth it
til my 360 dies again and i get a new one with hdmi oh darn
This cable dosen't do 1080p over HDMI. It does 1080i over HDMI. It just takes what normally would have been the component input and converts it to HDMI.
I have had no good products from madcatz, they always seem to break, or have serious quality problems.
Brian, stop skipping English class.
@Smithers:
The Xbox can output 1080p over component. (Except for DVDs and HD-DVDs)
And what's the point? 1080p doesn't look much different from 768p/720p (average for VGA) or 1080i (most HDTVs will do this on component).
Waste of money. Stupid product. Just use the VGA cable.
Of course, I'm on a newer XBox, and I do have HDMI, but I don't even use it. I output 1080p via VGA cable (I would do lower, but my monitor does a crappy job of zooming a 768p image).
For a long time, though, even before my current XBox, I used the component and VGA at 720p on my older HDTV and they looked great.
This has been available in Long Island City at Best Buy for about a month now.
Yeah there are already reviews and stuff, not worth paying $90 just so you can "output" hdmi.
Pointless.
It's been out for two weeks at my local best buy, and it was under 50 bucks. Wonder if it was a mistake on their part?
"-- but there's no telling what the VGA-to-HDMI signal conversion will do to your image quality, so you're probably better off doing the eBay shuffle and getting a new 360 with HDMI built-in."
REMARKABLE...
You were able to introduce and discourage further interest in a product within 10 sentences !!!
I might have just typed:
"It won't get you true HDMI but it will let you cut down the amount of cables you connect to the TV with. Buyer beware"
The first word of the title was enough to scare me away. I will never buy another MadCatz product.
umm i think best buy is slipping up but i just got that madcatz hdmi converter like 2 weeks ago?!
Here's my first and only question that I need answered to know if I want to buy this product... will this enable me to UPCONVERT dvd's to 720p/1080i/1080p via the HDMI, because you can't do that via component, however you can certainly do it via HDMI.
Assuming it uses the VGA connection then it will since the Xbox will upconvert through HDMI, or VGA.
You CAN upconvert to 1080p (or less) with the VGA cable. That's only $30 and works a lot better than this piece of junk.
I've got one and no it doesn't
This doesn't convert the VGA to HDMI, it converts Component to HDMI. DVD's and HD-DVDs come thru at 480p. its worthless.
My tv does 1080p over component just fine. (Samsung DLP).
What? No legal disclaimer?
I saw this at Best Buy on the shelf as an "Open Item" which told me all I needed to know.
Hahaha.. I think this item is pointless. Best Buy has had it out for a couple of weeks now though, this article is quite late.
What HDMI 1.3 support would this have? What features that differentiate HDMI 1.3 from HDMI 1.1 could this support? Not deep color. Not uncompressed multichannel audio. Not A/V sync enhancement. Not the device control channel.
Seems like they're playing fast and loose to up their specs. Like calling a 12 mbit device USB 2.0 when most people consider 2.0 to mean high-speed.
Anyone who pays $90 for this must really love throwing their money away.
But I can picture unscrupulous salesmen trying to push this thing so they can add on one of the retail stores' $90 HDMI cables (of which $80 is mark-up/margin).
"But you want HDMI because it's SOOOO much better than component!"
Yeah, right. If you get right up to the screen and look close, you'll see that THAT pixel is slightly more crisp than it was over component.
Give it a rest. You have no idea what kind of setup requirements others have. I have an HDMI matrix router from monoprice that connects all my equipment to two different rooms. Do you have any idea how problematic it is logistically to run five analog cables (Y, Cr, Cb, Stereo L, Stereo R) vs. one digital cable? You just assume everyone is like you in your dorm room using a 17" computer monitor. News-flash, we're not all you. Many TVs for example won't display VGA at it's native res. A lot of them will only do XGA resolution on the XGA input. Also, many TVs have crappy built-in scalers. It's vastly superior to have the 360 render the graphics at 1080p so the TV does no scaling. And as many here have mentioned, very few 1080p sets will accept a 1080p60 signal via component. It only accepts 1080p from HDMI. This device would allow them to run at 60fps instead of 30. And the fact that it is 1.3 HDMI spec is very important. Many TVs and audio components will not pass through 5.1 encoded audio unless the source is also HDMI. Even though 1.0-1.2 allows for this, it doesn't always work out that way. 1.3 ensures bitstream 5.1 will be recognized.
And if that's not enough reason, some people have grounding or EFI issues in their environment. Running long analog cables can in some instances result in noise within the picture. It's not as rare as you think. Converting it to digital at the source and running a digital interconnect eliminates this problem.
Just having audio and video on one cable could be reason enough. So stop bashing HDMI like you're a Circuit City salesman circa 2005 spreading FUD in order to unload all the 720p sets that have component inputs only.
...and you tell me I'm making assumptions?
I'm not in college. I'm in my late 30s. I do not live in a dorm.
I use a 24" LCD that handles component, DVI, VGA and other, lesser connections, and a 50" HDTV that has a few more connections.
I used to run three component cables via a nice, inexpensive splitter/selector and a few lengths of cable run through my walls... It's not impossible or difficult.
I have no problem with HDMI. I rather like it. I just don't see it as NECESSARY when you have other options available to you. I don't see it as a QUANTUM LEAP in video technology when the XBox 360 is perfectly capable of displaying 1080p via RGB/VGA and Component, and most HDTVs have decent enough scalers to handle component at 1080i, and RGB at 1080p.
On top of that, all this device does is convert an RGB signal into a (cheap) non-genuine HDMI connection. it's not true HDMI, and at the cost of this device, if you need HDMI you might as well sell your non-zephyr/falcon XBox 360 and spend the extra cash to get a new model with true HDMI instead of this half-assed connection.
And if you haven't noticed, big box stores DO sell their HDMI cables at an extreme mark-up. I know. I used to push them myself. My last HDMI cable cost me around $5 from monoprice. When I worked at Best Buy, I routinely sold HDMI cables to people for $90 to $125 by telling them it was "superior"-- I hated doing it, but it was my job-- and I know damn well that an HDMI cable can be no more superior from one model to the next. They're all digital. They either work or they don't. Digital is ALL or NOTHING. So asking $100 more for an HDMI cable than the actual cost of the cable is pretty unscrupulous, and THAT is what I was referring to before you became the obtuse lecturer and tried to put me in my place.
Next time you deign to lecture me about your boffo setup, please refrain from assuming I'm some wide-eyed college kid. I've done enough home theater installs over the past fifteen years to make your head spin. I don't need you telling me what's what, thanks.
My brother bought this from gamestop.com about 3 weeks ago. The picture looks a little better, but he's had problems with the audio crackling. I've read this instance happening to others as well in forums. Its a piece of garbage if you ask me!
For whatever price they ask for this thing, I'd rather keep my bulky component cables thank you very much!
I wish MadCatz would just stop already. If people would realize how shitty their products are and STOP BUYING them, they would fade away.
$90 to eliminate four cables? What a waste of cash. And from the responses, it sounds like a garbage product (big surprise there.)
It seems to me that the Madcatz product development is so very slow that by the time they release the accessory the non hdmi 360 console is obselete. Pointless product indeed cc
This could be helpful for long cable runs, as HDMI does not suffer nearly as much loss over distance as VGA I believe.
"ZeroCorpse @ Feb 13th 2008 9:13PM
And what's the point?"
I have my 360 hooked up to my lcd. But- in my theater I have my PS3, DVD and cable box connected to my projector (through my receiver). If I wanted to have my 360 downstairs, I would MUCH rather buy this adapter than a long component cable and run the cable and have multiple inputs on the projector.
That's one potential point.
And my point is that for the cost of this item, plus what you could get for selling your 360 used on eBay, you could afford a new model XBox 360 with HDMI built in... And that would be true HDMI, not this half-assed rip-off conversion crap.
This is a rip-off because of the price, the limitations, and the cheap build quality.
But by all means, you give Mad Catz your $90 and then enjoy your fake HDMI. I'd rather have the real thing, and no warranty-voiding connections from an unlicensed third-party device on my $400 console.
Mad Catz does not make good stuff. They're cheap. This will suck. Mark my words.
Well if you read my comment, you would have seen that I have no intentions of buying this. Just because it's made by a crappy company and is overpriced doesn't mean that the technology isn't valid. If someone makes a better quality piece and prices it right, I think that the technology has a market.
ugh... just go buy a vga cable if you dont have hdmi...
SOme of you have no idea what you are talking about. I have a brand spankin new Panasonic 1080p plasma and it will NOT display 1080p through component, only through HDMI. Since I have an older version of the 360 I do not have a hdmi output.
Since the 360 does in fact send out a 1080p signal through component, but many tvs will not recognize the signal through component, this thing is a god send to me. I have been looking for any type of review that discusses signal loss, but once again I see none anywhere.
If it is converting the 1080p signal from component to HDMI with little to no loss of video quality (I see no reason to assume there would be any loss), it will give me true 1080p on my television to make up for microsoft being stupid and not putting HDMI on the first consolses.
It has nothing to do with cleaning up cables, though I would love to do that as well, it is a matter of running a 1080p signal. It seems a little pricey to me, but if you look up component to hdmi converters online you are going to be looking at around $250. I watch blurays in my PS3 anyways so I don't care about the loss of HD audio with this.
Some of you need to realize that there is more to the world than what you have sitting in front of you. I have a $2000 TV that doesn't display 1080p through component, I would like to be able to run all of my stuff in 1080p, not just my PS3 and my cable.
I'm not interested that much in video, ince my TV's max. resolution is 1080i anyways, and I'm not upgrading soon.
What I've just upgraded, however, is my Home Theater, so it now decodes lossless HD audio signals.
Seeing how this is HDMI 1.3, I was wondering if it does bitstream Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MA.
Could someone confirm this, please? It's a deal-breaker for me. The difference in buying this or buying a standalone HD DVD player that can output HD audio for mi audio system to decode.
Thanks in advance!
I'm not interested that much in video, ince my TV's max. resolution is 1080i anyways, and I'm not upgrading soon.
What I've just upgraded, however, is my Home Theater, so it now decodes lossless HD audio signals.
Seeing how this is HDMI 1.3, I was wondering if it does bitstream Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD-MA.
Could someone confirm this, please? It's a deal-breaker for me. The difference in buying this or buying a standalone HD DVD player that can output HD audio for mi audio system to decode.
Thanks in advance!