xbox improved video modes

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Having been mightily impressed, - and having similarly impressed
several
members of my family who are now intending to go out & buy up old
XBOXes
for me to mod for them - I got curious about seeing if I could improve
the video output at all, and what the latest state of play is...



Up to now I've been using the standard AV cable, so I've been getting
just composite video & stereo audio, that's been working just fine...



I also have what I believe to be an "enhanced" AV cable... - it
has an
optical output about 8 inches from the XBOX end, and it has a SCART plug
fitted instead of the 3 phonos. - I'm not sure if it's a genuine MS part
though, since I can't see any branding on it, so it may be a 3rd-party
one.  The SCART lead is fairly fully wired: pins: 2,4,6,8,16,18,20 (even
row), and 5,7,9,11,13,15 (odd row) are wired, as is a ground connection,
and there are also 3 small caps fitted on pins 7,11, & 15.
Unfortunately, when I use this AV cable, I get no video signal on my
monitor (I do get audio through the SCART into the monitor though).  -
Part of the trouble is, I don't know what signal(s) I am (or should be)
getting from this cable - other than I know I'm not getting composite
video. - It's thus a little tricky to troubleshoot... - I've obviously
"experimented" with all the options I can find in the display
device
config menus (I'm using an LG Flatron M228WD which has a couple of SCART
sockets.) Also, I've tried using all the available SCART ports on the
display, in case there is a fixed mapping of signals to sockets... -
i.e. RGB is fixed on SCART 2 or something, - since I can't find anything
in the menu's to change signal to port assignments...) - thus far,
nothing has helped...



I additionally don't know if I need to change any settings on the
XBOX... - or if certain settings are only enabled when an advanced cable
is attached - I have the conundrum that when I use the standard cable,
the XBOX video settings all appear to be disabled, but with the other
cable in, I can't get an image, so I can't see if those settings have
become accessible...



So, after all that waffle, - a couple of questions....



What's the best signal format and video resolution I should be able to
get out of an XBOX *without* changing it from PAL to NTSC - and do I
have to set anything on the Xbox itself to enable it? - i.e. what should
I set the input on the display to? - RGB? - YUV? Etc....



Is it still the case, that beyond the answer to the above question,
further video modes are supported, but *only* by switching to NTSC? -
and if so, what is currently the easiest method to make that switch?



Thanks all.



Paul G.









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