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[Master-Chief]

Ok, I was wondering if there was anyway to hardwire a Female VGA port in the back of my Xbox to hook up a VGA Monitor to it for crisp picture. I saw a couple people that had it in the back of their Xbox and I was wondering how it worked. You just plug a monitor in the back and it works?  

I am pretty good at soldering so wiring shouldn't be a problem (unless it's too much, then its not worth it).  

[Foe-hammer]

Yes you can install a vga port in your xbox, but if you don't know what your doing, and cannot find a tut on it, don't mess with it.  Also, if you manage to do this, you'll have to flash half of your 1 meg chip with the vga bios to get full color; or else all colors will be green.

[catgut]

Here comes the broken record:  

http://www.x2vga.com

[Master-Chief]

Ok, I don't want to buy an X2VGA. That's the whole point of me hardwiring it. So there aren't ANY diagrams at all?  

Also, I have a Xenium, so BIOS space shouldn't be an issue.

[Master-Chief]

Anyone else?  

[Foe-hammer]

There is no need to hard wire a vga port in your xbox to get vga.  The easiest way to do it is buy a ms hd pack, buy a BNC to VGA cable and along with it three BNC to rca adapters, hook the cable up to the 3 rca video jacks on the ms hd pack, flash half of your chip with the vga bios, and there you go.

[Master-Chief]

QUOTE (DarkLegion @ Aug 17 2004, 09:17 AM)

Why don't you do a search instead of expecting everyone to hold your hand? There are several diagrams around with instructions and pinouts,and if you can't figure it out from that you have a lot to learn before trying something like this.

I did search.  

[thecowsays]

jared has an awsome diagram of how to wire up whatever you want
HERE

[Master-Chief]

QUOTE (thecowsays @ Aug 17 2004, 04:58 PM)

jared has an awsome diagram of how to wire up whatever you want HERE

I have seen that, but it is really confusing how they have all those wires wired to other things and all those switches. Why can't they have just a single VGA port and MVIP Port and show which point is supposed to go to which point.  

[catgut]

QUOTE (Master-Chief @ Aug 18 2004, 05:49 AM)

I have seen that, but it is really confusing how they have all those wires wired to other things and all those switches. Why can't they have just a single VGA port and MVIP Port and show which point is supposed to go to which point.

Here's your specific VGA info, MC:

QUOTE

You must first ground pins 11 - 12 and 13 - 14, and enable 480p in the dashboard. Then you remove the ground between 11 - 12, and ground pins 9 - 10, so that you have pins 9 - 10, and 13 - 14 grounded (VGA Mode). You must also have a VGA bios installed.

and also

QUOTE

unless your monitor/projector supports SOG (sync on green), then you absolutely MUST have the LM1881N chip to separate the sync signals, otherwise you will have no picture period.

So, let's review:

-open your xbox

-remove motherboard to access back side of AV pin matrix

-solder to specific motherboard points

-make sure that you put switches at the appropriate points so you can switch back to regular composite/svideo modes

-install a sync separator chip (LM1881N)

-modify your BIOS.

Or:

Buy an x2vga.

[Master-Chief]

QUOTE (catgut @ Aug 18 2004, 08:34 AM)

Here's your specific VGA info, MC: and also So, let's review: -open your xbox -remove motherboard to access back side of AV pin matrix -solder to specific motherboard points -make sure that you put switches at the appropriate points so you can switch back to regular composite/svideo modes -install a sync separator chip (LM1881N) -modify your BIOS. Or: Buy an x2vga.

I understand now. Thank's for clearing that up for me man!  

[farbird]

so meaning a softmodded xbox cannot have a hardwire female vga port?

[EvilWays]

If your on-board BIOS chip is only 256KB (v1.2+ mobos?) then this isn't an option since the VGA BIOS is 512KB. Plus, I don't know what affect(s) a softmod would have with a debug BIOS (which is what the VGA BIOS is built around), if at all any.

MOST IMPORTANTLY...the VGA BIOS will only work (AFAIK) v1.0 and v1.1 mobos. Unless someone manages to get code for the PiXeL8 or TATX VGA BIOSes and can get them to work on the later version mobos, then the first two versions of the mobo are the only ones that the "true" VGA  mod will work with.

BTW, X2VGA is a transcoder (and one of the best developed based on word-of-mouth) and not a "true" VGA adapter. The X2VGA uses the Component Video signals (which are @ 15kHz) and ups the frequency to VGA standards (31kHz).

I was working on a project that would make it so that there would be no need for a SoG-capable monitor by tapping into true H/V-sync signals being passed between the encoder chip and the xGPU chip; however, that project is on hold because of the post-graduation/unemployment chaos going on with me right now and not having a working mobo to work with (and photograph for a tutorial).

[DarkLegion]

QUOTE

BTW, X2VGA is a transcoder (and one of the best developed based on word-of-mouth) and not a "true" VGA adapter. The X2VGA uses the Component Video signals (which are @ 15kHz) and ups the frequency to VGA standards (31kHz).

You are wrong here,the x2vga uses the progressive component signals(31khz) rather than 15khz signals although I believe it does some cheap upscanning for the dashboard which can't display in progressive for some odd reason.You could actually build a component to rgb converter pretty easily and cheaply as the sync is the main issue here which is already in 31khz and just needs to be stripped off green.The colour difference to rgb conversion is a pretty simple circuit...not as easy as hacking off the main board and using a vga bios but simple,cheap and far more compatable since it will work with ALL xboxes and it will work with any game that works in 480P and no hex editing hacks will be needed.It will probably work fine in higher res progressive modes too such as 1080i(or whatever particular number it is).I have the circuit on me,but I can't seem to find an attachment option on here so do a google for it,there are a couple of circuits around.The one I have uses MC34182 opamps ,and a slew of resistors...proto board is your friend here.This solution is basically what the x2vga does but without the extra features and thus extra cost

[EvilWays]

What I was working on (and am still planning to) was to tap the H/V-sync signals off of the video encoder and pass them through the VGA header. The signals would be passed through a 74HC14 Schmitt Trigger to terminate the singal with a 75 ohm load (for monitor safety reasons) and would require wiring six wires to the chip (two inputs, two outputs, Vcc (1.5VDC supplied from the encoder chip in this case) and ground. According to Oliver Schwartz and his article on Xbox-Linux website, this should alleviate the discoloration (I haven't tested this so I can't verify). This also alleviates the need for SoG ready monitors otherwise needed.