Re: XBox DVD Question...

["Ian Lowe" <ian@xxxxxxx>]

I'm largely replying again for the sake of the archives, but I got it
sorted
perfectly: thanks for the heads up Phil :-)

Knowing that the Advanced AV pack was nothing special, really just a
connector, I went and found a pin-out for the xbox AV connector. (at the
bottom of this email , for future reference)

I took my supplied Xbox cable, cut away the plastic around the plug, and
opened with a narrow bladed screwdriver. I desoldered the existing cables,
leaving the small insert, very like an RS232 D plug, with solder buckets:
it's a little small, but easily solderable.
I used a generic Phono-Phono lead and an old S-video lead, chopped an end
off of each and tinned the ends. Connect the S-video lead to pins 20 22
(for
Chrominance) and 17 19 (for luminance)

I found a howto for fitting an internal SPDIF socket that pointed out that
the Xbox puts out a TTL level spdif stream: it should work with most
things,
but not standard.. adding a 100nf capacitor and a 330R resistor in series
with the spdif datastream, and a 100R resistor to ground, like so:

Pin 6 (data) -----(100nf)------<330R>---------- to spdif

Pin 5 (gnd) -------------<100R>-----------/

makes the xbox sppdif output conform to the standard.

My xbox lead came with a jumper from pin 9 to pin 10, and when I hooked it
up, I correctly got S-Video output (nice and sharp) and SPDIF audio.. *but*
the Xbox still showed me only the "dolby surround" option...

I opened the connector up again, and rummaged: turns out you need to
connect
pin 11 to ground as well (the xbox seems to use these lines to detect what
sort of AV pack you have attached)

with a wee wire in place from ground to pin 11, the X-box correctly detects
the "av pack (ahem ;) )" and offers the option of enabling DD5.1
and DTS.
Hey presto, super whizzy amazing Dolby Digital and DTS DVD playback, with a
stunning S-Video picture to match...

...and it's not even modded yet ;)

Ian.



PIN DEFINITIONS:
Pin Signal Name Direction Comment
1 DCOUT OUT The output of this pin provides a current-limited DC power
supply for active AV Pack circuitry.
2 LINE OUT (R) OUT This pin outputs line-level Right channel linear
audio.
3 LINE OUT (L) OUT This pin outputs line-level Left channel linear
audio.
4 GND - This ground is provided for connection to the Right channel
audio cable shield.
5 GND - This ground is provided for connection to the Left channel
audio cable shield.
6 SPDIF OUT This pin is the SP-DIF logic-level output.
7 HSYNC (???) OUT Horizontal Sync Signal used for VGA output mode
8 VSYNC (???) OUT Vertical Sync Signal used for VGA output mode
9 MODE1 IN Video output mode select pin 1
10 GND - This pin provides a convenient grounding point for the MODE1
input if needed.
11 MODE2 - Video output mode select pin 2
12 GND - This pin provides a convenient grounding point for the MODE2
inputs if needed.
13 MODE3 - Video output mode select pin 3
14 GND - This pin provides a convenient grounding point for the MODE3
inputs if needed.
15 STATUS OUT SCART Status Pin
16 GND - Ground connection for pin 18 (Pb)
17 GND - Ground connection for pin 19 (C/Pr)
18 Pb
B  OUT This pin outputs the Pb component signal in HDTV mode, and the
BLUE component signal in RGB SCART mode.
19 C
Pr
R  OUT This pin outputs the Chroma signal in SDTV mode, and the Pr
component signal in HDTV mode, and the RED component signal in RGB SCART
mode.
20 GND - Ground connection for pin 22 (Y)
21 GND - Ground connection for pin 23 (CVBS)
22 Y
G  OUT This pin outputs the Luma signal in both SDTV and HDTV modes,
and the GREEN component signal in RGB SCART mode.
23 CVBS OUT This pin is dedicated to the Composite Video Out (CVBS) in
SDTV mode. In HDTV mode, this pin is not used.
24 DCRETURN - This pin is specifically designated to carry the DC
return current.

AVIP connector pin out:
______________________
_ 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2_
23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 3 1