How do you get the xbox to look good on LCD ???

hi again

I am in the UK and have a PAL xbox. and,,,, I got the cable today!

(after sending a rather abusive email to them!)

It's the propper MS one and you can just tell it's quality when you get it out of the box. the plug that connects to the back of the xbox even has a kinda support built into it so it doesn't bend downwards under the weight of the cable (which is is very heavy and about half an inch thick!)

Anyway so how well does it work?

Very well! just from looking at the start up screen you can see it is sharper. my LCD tells you in the corner of the screen when it detects the input signal has changed and it says the start up screen is 480i. But load up a game, and because games are made in different standards of high def it tells you what quality the different games are.

Eg, Pro Evo Soccer 5 is 480i but put Half life 2 in and it goes up to 576i which looks even sharper.

DVD playback also now looks better but is 480i and my DVD player does 576i so I'll still use that one.

WHAT I STILL DON'T KNOW IS........Everybody on here talks about switching the xbox to HD mode on the main menu.
Even with the HD AV pack connected i still get no such option so I have a feeling this may be only on NTSC xbox's.
I don't know if this matters anyway because my TV tells me it is getting the 480i and 576i signals so it must be working, that and the fact i can see the image is a lot better than with the scart cable.

maybe 720p is available to the lucky NTSC gamers only, or perhaps I just haven't tried a 720p game yet?

the only downside with a widescreen tv is that even though you can set your xbox to 16:9 mode, not all games support it so sometimes you have to make the choice between.

a) accurate screen image but with black bars on the sides
b) Fill your screen with the game but get a stretched picture, and this kinda messes with the resolution and things don't look so sharp, also it is really obvious when the game has something circle on the screen such as a rev counter in a racing game, or the croshair on half life, as these will now look very squashed.

i think that though i am now getting a much sharper picture with my LCD, for games a standard shape tv is probably best. i hope that wih widescreens becoming standard that all xbox 360 and PS3 games will support widescreen.

 

thanks for the information. hope you enjoy your xbox now.

cheers