Post by: miklos on January 06, 2004, 08:23:00 AM
I have spoken several times with MadCatz, and they told me, that because of many problems this product is not being manufactured any more.
I have bought on ebay a no name HD cable (without optical out) for about US$10 (with shipping to Toronto) and I have also bought the MS HD pack. The picture quality is very similar on them (the HD pack is somewhat better) - and both are way way way better then the Madcatz Ultra AV pack.
Miklos
PS: My experiences are about the HD - component video - quality. I have not tried the Svideo quality of the Madcatz kit.
Post by: aut0psy on January 06, 2004, 09:23:00 AM
So the MS Advanced AV Pack doesn't support component does it? Is there ANOTHER pack called the HD pack?
Post by: aut0psy on January 07, 2004, 07:51:00 AM
At first I was a bit scared when I couldn't get it to broadcast in 5.1DD, however this error was on my part as I wasn't aware of having to load the MS DASH to enable it, once I did this there was no problem afterwards.
Other than that everything else seems to be perfectly fine. However I do notice that when I enable all HD resolutions that the text seems to be jagged and not as clear, I don't know if this is due to the fact that these are NON-HD games and I should only enable these settings when playing a HD supported game?
I don't assume this is an issue with the Madcatz kit however, more of an issue of game support, please correct me if I am wrong?
Post by: miklos on January 07, 2004, 08:44:00 AM
I did not realize myself either, that the Madcatz pack was no good for a long time, as I had nothing to compare it to.
I just had a suspicion, when I read about the excellent picture quality of the Xbox in HD, that the quality I was getting may not be that excellent - and therefore I may have a problem (also, I got better picture quality with Svideo via the MS pack then via component from the Madcatz pack).
That is when I bought the HD pack from MS - and I immediately saw the HUGE difference in picture quality. Suddenly everything became sharp and clean - and higher resolutions ( 720p and 1080i) which were quite bad with the Madcatz pack became a marvel! (And seemingly you also see it: as the Madcatz pack should in theory be always equal or better to the composite video cable which came with your Xbox)
And as I said: the techsupport guys at Madcatz also confirmed that the Ultra AV pack is not very good (they have exchanged my first unit for another similarly bad one...)
But: if you see it just by itself - without being able to compare it, it may look ok. Also: I have a large screen ( 84") which shows differences in picture quality even more off...
And yes, the MS Advanced pack is for Svideo and the HD pack for component video. Both support 5.1 audio.
And a final comment: pretty much all games are HD compatible - only a few (old) games are not.
Miklos
Post by: aut0psy on January 07, 2004, 09:09:00 AM
I was testing it with NFS Underground and NHL 2K4 last night, both do not support even 480p. In game seemed fine however.
Post by: homeslice on January 07, 2004, 09:30:00 AM
Post by: aut0psy on January 08, 2004, 04:15:00 AM
.BTW Who are you homeslice?
Post by: ChrisF on January 08, 2004, 06:08:00 AM
As far as the Madcatz unit, I've read a lot of posts from people that have purchased and tried the unit. I've never seen a single one that wasn't totally dissatisfied with it. IMO, not worth even trying. Buy either the MS or Monster packs appropriate for your television (component for HDTV compatible). If it works for you and you are happy that's all that matters but I'd advise swapping it out since there really isn't much cost savings vs. the MS pack.