Xbox to DVI or VGA?

January 26, 2009 8:31 PM

I have an Acer AL2216 W computer monitor with VGA and DVI inputs. I'm thinking about getting an Xbox for things like halo 2 and 3. Is there a way I can feed the xbox video into my monitor and the audio into my computer's speakers (LogiTech LS21)? What would it cost? Such as converting it from a standard video and audio format that you'd plug into your tv to a DVI and 3.5mm female connector. Or HDMI to VGA or DVI and Audio to 3.5mm?
posted by BoldStepDesign to technology (11 answers total)

XBox has VGA out. You need this cable. For sound, buy a RCA to headphone jack adapter and you're good to go.
posted by reformedjerk at 8:40 PM on January 26, 2009

What reformedjerk said. Also, at least here in Japan, the official VGA cable for Xbox 360 comes with a RCA to 3.5 mm jack adapter right inside the box, so you might not even need to buy one separately.
posted by doctorpiorno at 9:26 PM on January 26, 2009

Your monitor's native resolution is 1680x1050, a resolution the Xbox360 does not support, so it's going to have to upscale whatever image you feed it. You'll want to set the Xbox to either 1280x768, which has the same aspect ratio (16:10) or 1280x1024, which will give you more pixels to scale up and probably a better picture, quality-wise. I recommend trying both and sticking with whichever looks better to you.
posted by bizwank at 11:42 PM on January 26, 2009

As of the NXE-update, Xbox 360 does support 1680x1050 although you will get black bars.
posted by rpn at 1:00 AM on January 27, 2009

OP is asking about the original Xbox, not the 360, so that cable won't work.

If you have a component-out cable for the Xbox, definitely go with the X2VGA box. That's the best there is (though I haven't tried it personally).

If you only have the standard RGB composite cable or S-Video, go with the Geniatech V2VPro. I use it for my Gamecube on an LCD monitor and the picture is really nice (though not perfect, since it's analog converting to analog). I haven't tested widescreen with the V2VPro though so you're on your own with that. Definitely buy it on eBay or Amazon's marketplace, though, because you can get it for half of what Amazon sells it for on the main page.
posted by relucent at 6:26 AM on January 27, 2009

OP is asking about the original Xbox, not the 360, so that cable won't work.

Im pretty sure its a 360. He mentioned playing Halo 3 on it. There's no Halo 3 for the original xbox.

3. Is there a way I can feed the xbox video into my monitor and the audio into my computer's speakers (LogiTech LS21)?

I do this. The Microsoft VGA cable is 40 dollars, but if you buy a third party one from pelican or whomever its more like 15 dollars. I plug this right into my monitor. My speakers have a line in, so I have a RCA to minijack converter that plugs into the speakers. If your speakers dont have a line in then you just have to get a female to female minijack connector. All in all the cables cost me about 25 dollars.

Sharing a monitor can be pretty annoying as there's a lot of cable swapping. Im planning on putting a KVM switch in there.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:59 AM on January 27, 2009

My mistake, I read it as halo 1 and 2... Definitely a good move on Microsoft's part to include VGA support for the 360!
posted by relucent at 8:16 AM on January 27, 2009

It's def 360. What about playing the audio in my computer's speakers?
posted by BoldStepDesign at 9:47 AM on January 27, 2009

The VGA cable has 2 rca cables with sound. Just get an adapter from RCA to minijack. Plug your speakers in there. You can get these at any radio shack.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:14 AM on January 27, 2009

Purchase this adapter and possibly this and you should be able to plug your minijack-equipped computer speakers into it. I'll vouch that monoprice rocks, especially for the price. Get a VGA cable here if you need another one. They also have VGA switches if you need to switch from PC to XBOX and don't want to swap cables each time.

This will only work for Analog Stereo. If you want surround sound you need a Dolby decoder & surround system.
posted by ijoyner at 10:49 AM on January 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

@ ijoyner

My Acer has a built in switch to switch from DVI input to VGA.
posted by BoldStepDesign at 8:12 PM on February 1, 2009