Xbox360 -> Apple Cinema Display

TomDunne

Has anyone here successfully connected the 360 to a current gen Apple monitor? I've got a 360 VGA cable and I'm trying to find out what sort of adapter/converter I need to get it into the Apple's DVI input. The stuff I've read about this is a little vague, whether I can just use an intermediate cable or if I need some kind of signal converter, etc. Rather than play guess-and-check with my Best Buy card, I'd figure I'd ask around and see if anyone has already done it. Thanks in advance

monkeyboy_garth

DVI to VGA converters are really easy to find. A lot of monitors with dvi outputs come with a converter too. I have my 360 hooked up to a Samsung 22 inch via a dvi/vga converter. I have the dvi cord running out of the monitor and the converter on the end of that - then I just plug the vga cable from the 360 into the other end of the converter. I think I did it that way because the converter is female to female (I think - I'm not at home so I can't check). Anyway, it should work fine - no problems!

hawken

apple sell a vga to dvi thing exactly for this purpose, they ship with all mac mini's, and should have come with your apple monitor. Otherwise they are about $15 from the apple store.

TomDunne

I can't find anything like what you're talking about, Hawken. It looks like everything on the store goes the other way: DVI -> VGA. Since the Apple monitors are all digital (DVI-D), I am thinking it might need some sort of analog/digital converter

Keg

verm: All dvi are digital, DVI = Digital Visual Interface. You just need a dvi-d to vga adapter. If you got the official microsoft vga adapter then that has a gender bender if it's needed.

hawken

I ran a vga cable from a (now dead) 360 into an apple vga to dvi convertor into the back of a tv that only accepted dvi worked fine.

the convertor looks like this:



you cable from the display is male right? otherwise you'll need an afore mentioned gender bender

flaagan

$15 for a vga/dvi adapter? Guess you gotta pay to get that shiny bevel.

Most video cards come with vga/dvi adapters as an accessory. You could probably get one for free from someone who's recently purchased a newer video card.

PfhorRunner

There is a slight problem with using the DVI-VGA adapters that come with graphics cards, and thats the 4 pins surrounding the wider, flat pin to one side. (If you look at the DVI adapter, you'll see). A lot of times, DVI ports on TVs, Monitors, or pretty much any display don't have these extra 4 pins, only the graphics card does.

So yes, it is correct to say it is hard to find a VGA to DVI, rather than DVI to VGA, speaking from source, outward.

Xbox (source) -> VGA Cable -> DVI adapter -> DVI port -> Monitor
Computer (source) -> DVI port -> VGA adapter -> VGA cable -> Monitor

The adapters are not the same.

EDIT: after some research- since its DVI-D, and you're going from VGA (R G to DVI-D (Y, Cb, Cr), there are problems that arise with scan rates, and possible HDCP support. While you may get it to work, you might have some tearing when things move too fast.

At any rate, doing much adaption or conversion would cause such poor image quality, there would be no point in having an apple cinema display...

BTW guys, those of you who used a converter for your DVI connections and used a VGA cable that are reading this post and being like "BS!", your monitor most likely has a DVI-I port, which is capable of this without much image quality reduction.

DVI-D is digital only. DVI-I has additional pins to support analogue video, and can support a VGA connection with the use of an adapter.