The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Consoles => Topic started by: crashwg on April 28, 2012, 01:31:59 am
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It's only been 3+ years in the making.
A long time ago in ah... this galaxy, I decided to make a VGA cable for my modded XBOX with Frosty's VGA patched bios. I had read back then that some monitors support "sync on green" which meant a dumb cable where all I would have to do is wire this to that and it would work. Well, it did, just not on any monitors that I owned at the time and as a matter of fact I still don't own one that does. The cable worked fine on my brother in law's monitor but that did me no good.
Fast forward to this week. To be honest I don't know what made me think of it but it was on my mind so I decided to fix it for use with monitors that don't support "SOG." So I ordered a 5 pack of LM1881 "sync separator chips" on ebay. Figuring they'd have the capacitors and resistors I need at Radio Shack I waited for them to arrive. Needless to say, RS didn't have everything I needed. They did have the capacitors but not the resistors (even in the $10 multi-pack) so I got some of those on ebay.
The resistors arrived today so I've spent it getting this thing up and running. First it was just a mess of wires and junk to make sure it would work as expected. Then I went out and got a project box and breadboard (also from radshak) and did it right. It's the first time I've ever put together a circuit and even though it's a simple one and all the "ee" was done for me I'm still pretty proud of myself.
XBOX cable: already had
VGA connector: scrounged of old video card
Sync Separator: 1.49 (five pack costing 7.44 shipped)
Capacitors: 1.89
Breadboard: 1.10 (two pack costing 2.19)
Enclosure: 2.69
Resistor: 0.035 (100 pack 3.58)
Audio Jack: 3.19 (I bought this 3+ years ago, listed is the current price.)
Total: $10.39 (not including whatever it would cost for a XBOX video cable or a VGA connector)
Granted if you add in the cost of the excess parts like the other 4 LM1881 chips or 99 resistors the total comes to $20.98 but I have a pretty good start on making 4 more cables if I want to in the future.
I'm planing on putting this in a XBOX powered bartop at some point in time by the way. Don't hold your breath though. If the time it took to finish this is any indication it will be another few years before that gets done. Anyway, here's the pictures.
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sell it to me for $15.95 :cheers:
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The answers to the questions that would have been asked had I not answered them are:
You need a modded XBOX to use this. Specifically you need a VGA patched BIOS. Personally I used M8+ so I went ahead and used FrostyTheSnowman's M8plus VGA Patcher.
I used the schematic attached below. I've had it forever so I'm not sure where it originally came from. Google image search brings up a few pages that display it so unfortunately I can't give credit to whomever created it.
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sell it to me for $15.95 :cheers:
Fat chance ;)
A few years back some companies (divineo is where I saw them) used to sell this cable under the name Frozen VGA cable or something to that effect. I want to say it was between $20 and $30. It was unclear to me as to whether it had the LM1881 in it so I asked them. I don't remember the response word for word but I recall the unhelpfulness and unwillingness to try and help find out which is why I didn't buy one.
If I ever were to sell one of these I imagine my price would be a bit more than that. It's a lot of work for an amateur such as myself.
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Does this look better than just buying a third party VGA adapter? My understanding is that you can't go any higher than 720 on an Xbox so it doesn't really matter what you use.
:dunno
I have two xboxes hooked to my TV. One Component the other Scart (CVBS). These look identical to the TV. Fast forward to the Kworld 1440 which is an external component to VGA at 720, marginal difference. So I do not think VGA would be any huge difference, except for the benefit of direct connection to the VGA monitor. I would love a VGA cable, but I do not know if my Xecuter 2 would support the VGA mod.
Nice job on the VGA adapter and thanks for sharing the info crashwg. :applaud:
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xecuter lineup is fine also they were top of the foodchain for multiple reason's :cheers:
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I just googled it and there is talk about using a component to VGA cable. I have one of these laying around somewhere, and I will try it out.
Do I need any special app to get this working or should it just work out of the box?
I have seen a Frosty's app somewhere on disc too.
I need a maid. :lol
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I just googled it and there is talk about using a component to VGA cable. I have one of these laying around somewhere, and I will try it out.
Do I need any special app to get this working or should it just work out of the box?
I have seen a Frosty's app somewhere on disc too.
I need a maid. :lol
According to mrtim13x's posting and FrostyTheSnowman's response on THIS PAGE (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=553930&st=250&p=4068914&#entry4068914), it will work if you monitor supports sync on green and you use either a VGA BIOS or his (frosty's) VGA softmod.
Not knowing your personal experience with XBOX modding and whatnot I just want to reiterate that this will require softmodding or hardmodding the console.
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Well, I'm in need of some money and figure that I have the knowledge and most of the parts to build another in the future so I'm going to attempt to sell this one. Here's my BST posting: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=121057.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=121057.0)
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I'm looking to buy a Xbox VGA cable. I'm not sure if my monitor supports sync-on-green.
Anyone know where to get a good cable? PS: I don't want a converter box that will scale or post-process the image. I'm looking for a native solution that does not add any lag to the signal.
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Looks like n64freak may be working on something
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/xbox-vga-bios-modification-help-needed.61635/ (http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/xbox-vga-bios-modification-help-needed.61635/)
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X2vga sitting in the parts pile. $250. LMK!
:lol
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Starting a project if anyone wants to get involved with me. Currently my first gen Xbox hardmod will be display on my acer monitor. I have all the electronic components/parts ready and I will share when I am done.
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This will take some time since I am doing this alone. I have printed the monitor service guide and trying to understand how the Xbox video connecter Pinout will go with which wires.