X2VGA 2 is out now.

[HEEGZ]

Here's the link:

http://www.x2vga.com

Not sure if I'm gonna get one or not, it's awfully tempting though at $65 and free shipping.

[maxqubit]

Very tempting cause of sveral reasons besides vga-xbox

You can hook up a console AND a pc to 1 monitor and use this as a vga switch. I was looking for something like this.

Only f*cking prob is the PAL xbox i have. !%@#$%&$#&* MS for disabling HD on those.

I know they are workarounds but it IS completely BS of MS to have had such a stupid idea!!!!!

[HEEGZ]

Actually it's not free shipping, it's a free shipping upgrade to express mail. I went ahead and ordered one and with shipping altogether it was $80.95 US. It should be here next week sometime.

[maxqubit]

Although low on cash i ordered it too. If it does what it seems to offer i will be happy. Connecting PC, Xbox and 360 and using 1 tft monitor.

Still have to 'solve' the sound connections (i don't like (un)plugging every time, etc.).
Still have to see what it makes of my 1024x768 tft monitor (esp the 720p 360 games, will it even work/show?)
Still have to make my PAL xbox spit out HD 480p/740p

Anyway, a lot of ifs, but who knows ... it might work.

[Newleafman]

I think i will put the money I save towards a 360 instead. it has VGA output, my monitor is not using the VGA input right now. I'm sure OFPE will be playable on 360 soon..I hope anyway.

[HEEGZ]

Don't hold your breath. It would be nice, but I don't think there are enough people playing it to justify the time for Microsoft to do it. We haven't been able to get a word one way or the other so I'm not optimistic. I enjoy Flashpoint enough on LIVE to justify keeping my Xbox and not trading it in towards the 360. Which is about the best complement I can give a game.

http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/firefoxlover.gif

[maxqubit]

Newleavman.

I have a 360 with VGA cable.

GRAW looks good on a monitor (1024x768) but, some/most(?) backwardcompatible games DON'T works with the VGA cable. SOunds stupid, but it is really true. I think it could be PAL related too.

Anyway, OFPE becoming BC'd is a big IF, and will it run with this VGA cable ... for me as PAL gamer another big IF:(:(

Another thought is how to connect 360 AND pc to the same monitor (as in my setup) ... you need some kind of vga switch, or be prepared to reconnect everytime you play.

The X2VGA2 can work as a kind of VGA switch. That could be very nice too.

...

So, imho this VGA ability of the 360 won't solve all your (an mine) OFPE troubles.

[Newleafman]

I have my monitor hooked up by DVI input, which leaves the vga input available.
I'm going to await feedback from you guys on the X2vga, to see how you like it. I hope it works well for you, its a bit of money to spend.
I've been tempted by the idea before, but i often wonder why it is not more mainstream. I mean afterall, the Xbox is a PC.

[Berghoff]

Hmm how do you connect sound without a TV? :P

[maxqubit]

Well for me it's probably going to be the pc audio in

(I would like to have some kind of headphone amp, so you could plug in the audio into that and have the sound from headphones)

[HEEGZ]

Honestly I don't quite know how it all works. I'm expecting to spend about an hour or so getting it all set up how I want it when it arrives. I will make sure to post what I think of it all once it arrives, since people are interested.

[maxqubit]

Ok, i received it today (The Netherlands). Very fast so top!

The unit is smaller than i thought it would be about as big as your average modem/router/switch. It has no manual, paper says you can dl it but link doesn't work (yet?). For dip switches i think you can fall back on the older manuals.

Because of Europe i have PAL systems so you are f*cked by MS because they disable the HD settings. There are ways around. 1 way is a modded xbox of which i have 1:)

Hooking up the cables it pretty straightforward.

I allready had sw to switch to NTSC, and on booting the xbox i had no signal on my 1024x768 15" TFT. But after some lucky pressing of buttons i had a very bad signal of the dashboard. THIS IS NORMAL!:) The dashboard now showed (because of the component cable!) the 480p/720p options. I enabled 480p, rebooted, my XBMC dashboard (it is a modded xbox remember) showed up crystal clear:):) ... yes, i got a good feeling. Now of course the BIG question ...

OFP:E ... ?

Well it ran, looked sharp, more bright and stable than before. Just great. Remember you are still looking at only 640x480 resolution ... but my biggest surprise was that i suddenly saw a little butterfly doing its rounds. Believe me, how sweet, i have given 4 months of my spare time to OFPE and i have never seen a butterfly ... of course i saw insects (at least i think that's what they are) and i heard them but now ... a real butterfly. I knew this was due to the 480p setting.

Of course you can't compare 480p with hires ofp but otoh OFPE is much more lively, now with 480p also more beautiful, you easily forgive the jaggies which are there because of the upscaling.

So yes the unit works and for OFPE addicts it is a sound investment (other Xbox games will also benefit)

Now my regular/non-modded PAL xbox doesn't work. I have to softmod (or hardmod) it. I'm trying the softmod which bring me on a journey into the deep of the internet:)

The 360 of course works BUT for 360 you have also the VGA cable. In my case (1024x768) the VGA cable is a better option because 720p (dft 360 setting) is shown deformed on my screen, nice, clear but deformed it is 1280x720 mapped to 1024x768. So a no-go here

---

After hopefully having softmodded the legit xbox i will hook this up to the X2VGA2, together with my PC. The modded xbox (btw this one is banned hahaha) goes back to the telly to serve mainly as XBMC divx player. The 360 will go back to the tv.

This situation will stay until OFPE becomes backward compatible, then i can get rid of the xbox and use the 360 as OFPE player.

If ArmA sees the light i will see again. perhaps i make the move to ArmA, perhaps they both stay, i don't know yet.

My best option would be a native 360 version of ofp(e)/arma ... we will be talking 2007/8 here. I'm not waiting for that.

OFPE/480P here we come:)

[Newleafman]

I wonder how it would look on my 1440x900 19" screen. probabley deformed, as you say. 1024x768 looks streched. What is the highest resolution setting? I believe it is 1024x768. A differrent unit on Ebay has settings of, 50Hz mode resolution:720X576, 60Hz mode resolution:720X480. I don't even have these options in Control panel. looks like I'm screwed. Like you, 360, down the road thought. there is no must have game yet, GRAW yes..but not over $600 Canadian yes. I bet there is a price drop when PS3 is released. Plus it will be that much older, with the bugs worked out.
Oh well, hi-res, I'll play the PC version with all the mods. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

[maxqubit]

After an outing with 360/GRAW (which i will keep playing with friends on XBL) i'm back to OFP:E on X2VGA 2 meaning 480p

So i have to say ... OFPE ... Man, this is a superior game. What a joy to be back and fly heli's (even only for transport), what fascinations to be the gunner in a Abrams. Well, you'll understand what point i'm trying to make here. OFP:E is just a one of a kind title.

I would like to say again (if Placebo doesn't mind;) that a console version of ArmA (pc has priority, i know) really should make it to 360 in 2007. With 720p (1280x720 resolution AND higher viewdistance over OFPE) that game will certainly rock.

[DBR_ONIX]

Hmm how do you connect sound without a TV? :P
With the right cables http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/tounge2.gif
You get phono adapters to normal stereo cables and an female-to-felmale phono adapter to let you connect it staight to the xbox cable, and the stereo plug could go into your PCs line-in..
Though that switcher thing should handle sound.. Not sure if it does though..

One thing that kinda confuses me, I didn't realise the Xbox could output both progressive and interlaced video... Seems kinda impossible.. I don't remeber seeing any options to change it..
- Ben

[maxqubit]

One thing that kinda confuses me, I didn't realise the Xbox could output both progressive and interlaced video... Seems kinda impossible.. I don't remeber seeing any options to change it..
- Ben
NTSC box supports it

... but ...

PAL box you have to (soft)mod the damned thing and fake it is a NTSC box!!!! (which i did) ... MS is pretty lame for this idea!!!!

[Grimnirsson]

It seems that there is a VGA box available that is able to get a PAL xbox working on a monitor without modding it. I didn't try it out, but I'm interested - anybody having any experience with that tool?

VGA Box for PAL Xbox (http://www.digital-x.de/KNOWHOW/XBOX/xbox_dx_vga_box/xbox_dx_vga_box.htm#9999)

Grim

[deanosbeano]

hmm i just use this and plug the yellow video lead off xbox and and sound to backk of speaker system, they about Ł25 nowmaybe less

here (http://www.cec.co.uk/product_detail.asp?productCode=566)

[Newleafman]

I picked up the Vdigi transcoder, it is bloody awesome.Vdigi (http://www.vdigi.com/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=67&Itemid=28)

[maxqubit]

Some info on enabling 480P on PAL Xbox and X2VGA2 to run OFP:E on a pc monitor in true VGA (640x480 progressive):


I will make it short and attach some files and url's

1. X2VGA2 does the job. It's ok for me and not too expensive and still comes with Xbox component cable. No probs in buying it online using Paypal with my creditcard ... http://www.x2vga.com/

2. For PAL xbox you HAVE TO (soft)mod it to at least enable 480p.
- You need a xbox component cable (comes with X2VGA so that's handy)
- You need original SplinterCell Game (or MechAssault)
- You need a ActionReplay memcard or have access to a modded Xbox
- You need hacked game save(s) to hack your Xbox (attached by me)

Good thing is that if you want ONLY to enable 480p/720p (the NTSC modes) it is not really considered a hack so no risk in being banned from XBL. My advice is to ONLY softmod it for enabling progressive modes (480p/720p) ...

check following link for NTSC softmod: http://www.xboxworld.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=28489

I attach the Splintercell game saves and send also MechAssault game saves (otherwise you have to find the in the underground Internet, the same is true for full softmod described here: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/311710 (not for the layman;)

You need some way to get this SplinterCell game save onto a memorycard. (E.g. use ActionReplay, or use a modded xbox box of a friend or something, like ftp game save to modded xbox, copy this game save onto memcard, use this memcard on unmodded xbox ... well just figure it out what fits you)

I'm sure you can figure it out with the info above. As said it is a bit 'do it yourself' because it is in fact a hack (stupid but well we are f*cked by M$ on this one)

---

Now, if you performed all this your xbox works the same as before, you can still play PAL, only thing is that in the xbox menu you will find an option to enable 480P (BUT COMPONENT CABLE HAS TO BE CONNECTED!)

That leaves us with the sound ... the component cable which comes with X2VGA2 has 2 audio output jacks. I put them in my professional audio card on my pc (so yes, i have to put on my pc also) but the audio output jacks also could go into your hifi (aux) ... otherwise you have to improvise because th X2VGA has NO(!) audio inputs/headphone (it would have been nice though)

---

Some other answers:

- X2VGA has female connectors so you have to plug in a male connector coming from you vga monitor (i think this is standard stuff)

- Not possible to output to 2 monitors at the same time. There is only 1 vga out (to a monitor)

- For X2VGA2 just order it at their site. It worked fine for me

- 360 and ArmA ... are you kidding!!! HAhahahahaha i would give 1 kidney for this to happen:):) Anyway, 360 and 360VGA cable is excellent!!!!! Except one thing, old backwardcompatible xbox games do NOT run (except Halo1/2). This is again kind of stupid of M$ ... but for you and me no prob because OFP:E isn't even backwardcompatible so it won't run at all on 360. To make it more clear (or confusing) ... If OFP:E would be made backwardcompatible on 360 it probably wouldn't run when used in combination with 360VGA cable.

So, i hope it helps you to get things going. It is a bit of a pain, but if it works OFP:E looks at its best. And ArmA is still 4 months away so why not enjoy OFPE at it's max performance.

Good luck,

Max Qubit


Edit: Obviously the so called attached files are NOT in this post:)

[maxqubit]

Newleavman.

I have a 360 with VGA cable.

GRAW looks good on a monitor (1024x768) but, some/most(?) backwardcompatible games DON'T works with the VGA cable. SOunds stupid, but it is really true. I think it could be PAL related too.

Anyway, OFPE becoming BC'd is a big IF, and will it run with this VGA cable ... for me as PAL gamer another big IF:(:(

Another thought is how to connect 360 AND pc to the same monitor (as in my setup) ... you need some kind of vga switch, or be prepared to reconnect everytime you play.

The X2VGA2 can work as a kind of VGA switch. That could be very nice too.

...

So, imho this VGA ability of the 360 won't solve all your (an mine) OFPE troubles.
I see now that OFP:E is PAL-60 enabled, like Halo2 ... so IF OFP:E becomes backward compatible (and a new batch of 20 games is coming so fingers crossed) this PAL-60 feature will at least allow 360 gamers to play it over VGA cable onto a pc monitor.

(non PAL-60 games like GR series and most other pal games won't play using VGA cable ... sounds stupid but it is a fact ... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914378)