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[Annabelle]

Here's a self wiring diagram for digital coax and digital optical output.


I'm no electrical engineer, but it looks like it says to "bridge the VCC and the Ground using a 100nF capacitor".  

Is that correct? Wouldn't that just cause a short in the lines?

Maybe it means to use two 100nF capacitors.
One on the VCC line, before it goes into the Optical Port,
and One on the Ground Line, just as it comes out of the Optical Port, and before it goes to the Coaxial Port?

I'm confused ~ any advice would be most appreciated.  

[Annabelle]

Thanks for the confirmation!

I just poped open one of my Xbox 360 Cables that has a Optical Digital Out Port on it,
and sure enough, it looks like there's a little baby capacitor thing on it!
It is making the VCC to Ground connection, right before it gets to the Optical Digital Out Port.

Man, that's weird.
I wonder why they put one there, and how it works.  

I'll add that capacitor, in the place it says to in that picture, on my Custom PCB Diagram.
I'm designing a custom back panel thing for my custom xbox 360 case.
It will have every possible Audio and Video Output on it.
Here's a rough draft of it:



At this point, the positioning of the stuff is subject to change.
I'll refine it as I build the case, so I can ensure that everything will fit properly, first-hand.
I also have to take into consideration that there needs to be enough room for a human being to be able to get all of the stuff into the case; ie: I wanna make the installation process as easy as possible.

I have two Fat 360's to work with. One with HDMI, and One Without.
This way I can make sure that my case, and the cable that connects the A/V OUT Port to the A/V In Passthrough Port, will support both kinds of mobo.
The AV Out Port on hdmi-enabled XBOX 360's are a little bit higher than the other mobos.
I'll also make sure my passthrough cable will not block the HDMI Port at all.

I haven't yet decided on the method I wanna use to switch between AV Outputs.
I'm thinking of putting some kind of selector switch (that when pressed repeatedly will cycle through each output's Cable IDs) on the front panel somewhere, sort of how some home stereos handle source switching, and have some leds that will backlight the name of the output currently selected, or something.

It's gonna be a while before I start to look into what switching method to use.
First, I have to build the case itself, so I'll be able to see where I have room to mount such a thing up front.
Ideally, I wanna make it idiot proof, so people can't accidentally activate the wrong combination of Cable IDs.
I also want to make sure it looks nice, and pick a good place that is easy to get to,
but not be in a place where you can press them by accident when you are trying to do something else,
like inserting or removing memory cards or Front Panel USB Devices,
or using other buttons, like Eject, Power or Sync.

I'll finally get my sheets of aluminum in tomorrow evening, and start building the prototype.