Using Computer Monitor to Play Xbox 360 Games

• 

  Davo1111 on 19/03/2015 - 19:36

  -1

  Just fyi, VGA will downscale to 480p, which is standard definition… so it will look like shit.

  You can buy a DVI switch, but im not sure what you do about sound.

  You could buy an extra DVI cable, and keep it at the front of the TV, then manually swap the plugs without having to reach behind the tv.

  Another option is to put the money towards a new monitor with more inputs.

  • 

    watty on 19/03/2015 - 20:03

    Yeah 480p isn't ideal i agree. The tv is always being used by my family so I never get the chance to play a few games :(

    • 

      Davo1111 on 19/03/2015 - 20:04

      +1

      Just buy a DVI "extenstion" cable and keep the female plug towards the front of the tv. That way you can just swap it around on those rare occasions you get to play games.

      • 

        watty on 19/03/2015 - 20:11

        That's a pretty good idea! But my xbox is already ready to go plugged into the tv and so is everything else, the only issue is availability.

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  pinchies on 19/03/2015 - 19:49

  What sort of speakers do you have on your monitor desk? Another option for sound would be to use an XBOX headset.

  • 

    watty on 19/03/2015 - 20:03

    I own swan m10's which aren't beast speakers but does the job well :)

• 

  ripper253 on 19/03/2015 - 19:57

  +2

  I can confirm that hooking up an Xbox 360 this way is a pretty good way to go, although I did notice that the colours weren't as deep as when running via HDMI->DVI into the same monitor.

  The games will be in HD if you have a monitor capable of supporting such a resolution (pretty much any monitor will support upwards of the minimum you need of 1280x720) as the scaling the Xbox 360 does is pretty high quality and spot on for every resolution I tried, although I usually run it at 1920x1080 into a cheap BenQ monitor I picked up at officeworks.

  Aspect ratio shouldn't be an issue either as long as you run the Xbox 360 at the native resolution of the screen (I used to run it to a 1680x1050 Dell monitor and the Xbox 360 added black bars on the top and bottom of the image as it was a 16:10 monitor)

  Sound quality of course depends on how you plan to run it to your speakers/headphones, personally I ran the sound into the line in of my usual amplifier and had no issues with it, functionality or quality wise.

  • 

    watty on 19/03/2015 - 20:09

    I might have to find a cheapish monitor then as vga 480p is not ideal (I'm so accustomed to the retina and ultrasharps anything below is irritating lol).

    I could switch the dvi slot out for the xbox when I'm using it then plug the pc back in once i'm done gaming - just it's a bit of a hassle and I'm pretty sure that isn't good for the slot.

    Since I am using vga on my dell, I'm not sure it will reach hd (even though my monitor is capable of it - Dell U2412M).

    • 

      ripper253 on 20/03/2015 - 11:49

      +2

      That monitor will surely support HD output using a VGA cable and I can recommend using your Xbox 360 in this way.

      Basically the issue of image quality seems to of gotten confused, Xbox 360 games can run in a myriad of resolutions, but the majority (such as Halo 4 and Gears of War) are all 1280x720 or 720p, there's a chip in the Xbox 360 called a hardware scaler (called Xenos internally by microsoft and game developers) which will take the output of the game and scale it to fit on whatever the Xbox 360 is outputting to, which can include your monitor with it's maximum resolution of 1920x1200, the games won't be running in the resolution, but the image itself shouldn't look stretched out or squashed or anything like that, thanks to this chip, it also ensures that the games will look as they are intended regardless of the type of screen you output them to (with the help of some analog and digital encoding stuff)

      Basically, the bottom line is that the Xbox 360 will (pretty much) never have a game running much beyond 1280x720, some popular games are even lower quality than this, but the VGA cable won't be the culprit in anything regarding resolution.

      VGA is a HD quality connection standard, it's a very old one that was initially limited to 640x480 or 480p, but this hasn't been the case for over two decades now, the maximum resolution VGA tends to support is 2048x1536 which is well beyond the resolution of most Xbox 360 games and indeed the monitor you will be displaying it on, but you have a very high quality monitor and I assure you that if switching out HDMI cables or getting a DVI switch (plus whatever you'd be doing for the sound) is too much of a hassle, you won't be disappointed by the VGA cable for the xbox 360.

      A word of warning with the VGA cable though, it has compatibility issues with some original xbox games for PAL (Australia, N.Z. and the U.K.) consoles, but if you weren't planning to play those then you'll be fine.

      • 

        watty on 20/03/2015 - 19:43

        Thanks for the detailed explanation! I plan to play mostly halo, naruto and gundam games on the xbox. Might just grab the cable hikaru78 suggested below, seems like the easiest problem solver for me.

• 

  IceCreamBandit on 19/03/2015 - 19:57

  A possible solution is to get a new monitor with HDMI input and a headphone jack, and a set of PC speakers that take an aux input.

  I have the same set up with my PS3. 1 monitor that connects to my desktop and the PS3, the PS3 audio goes through HDMI into the monitor and through to my PC speakers that accept an aux input. That one 1 monitor and 1 set of speakers support both PC and console.

  This is expensive, especially if you need a new set of speakers too, but if you're happy to game with headphones on your 360 that is an alternative.

  • 

    watty on 19/03/2015 - 20:14

    Nice set up! I was hoping to only spend a few bucks on cables to address my new setup but getting a cheap monitor might not be a bad idea. I love gaming with headphones but using speakers is fine as well for me (I already one).

• 

  [Deactivated] on 19/03/2015 - 20:41

  +1

  How about a DVI switch? Such as this one (may be cheaper ones available) http://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/2-port-dvi-switch-box.ht…

  That way you can switch between the two sources for the one port without having to physically change cables. Not ideal I know, but it's either that or a new monitor/TV if you want the higher resolutions.

  • 

    watty on 19/03/2015 - 20:57

    Wow! That's a very good idea :)

    Paying the extra $30 ($10 vga adapter cable) to get better quality is worth it in my opinion (dvi over vga). Have you personally used these boxes before?

    In terms of audio would I need to buy this if I was to use the dvi box? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/161624175494?_trksid=p2060353.m14…

    Thanks!

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 19/03/2015 - 23:30

      +1

      I've used them at work before when testing display wall sources, the better ones can switch almost instantly when you press the cycling button. Some even have numbered buttons for each source, and some have remote controls so you can do it without even touching the box.

      For the audio, that would be a bit different. Do you have an external sound system or using the monitor speakers? If you have an external sound system, most of the midrange ones will allow multiple inputs and the option to cycle through them.

      • 

        watty on 20/03/2015 - 19:37

        I have monitor speakers (Swan m10). Thanks for the dvi box suggestion, will look further into that :)

• 

  hikaru78 on 20/03/2015 - 09:11

  +3

  Ummm 720p and 1080p supported just fine

  http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/Xbox360/Accessories/CablesNetworki…

  I use one on an old plasma at 720p all the time

  • 

    watty on 20/03/2015 - 19:38

    Thanks mate! Problem solved :D

  • 

    watty on 20/03/2015 - 19:51

    Probably a stupid question to ask but just wanted to know should I take the risk and buy a non-xbox branded one for $7 on ebay or stick with the official one from microsoft for $40? Both with free postage. Thanks again!

• 

  pointless martyr on 20/03/2015 - 10:47

  -1

  Just grab a cheap tele off gumtree

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  MadMaxBargainRoad on 20/03/2015 - 10:58

  You cannot buy a generic cable and expect 1080p output. I used to hook my XBOX up to a Samsung monitor, tried a few generic cables and they all topped at 720p. Forked out $15 or so for a used Microsoft cable and 1080p works just fine. Colour depth is slightly worse than HDMI but overall it's alright.

  FYI, you also need a Y cable if you use a computer speaker as the MS cable doesn't offer 3.5mm jack.

  • 

    tonyjzx on 21/03/2015 - 19:16

    thats not my experience or most people's experiences

    hdmi 1.4+ should allow ANY cable marked as such to run FHD on an FHD monitor

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  Noblejoker on 20/03/2015 - 11:06

  if spending $$ Just look for a tv rather than a monitor
  Check OZB deals - Dick has 32" HD around $200 on sale regularly
  Or try Gumtree etc