Can the original Xbox use CSYNC?

[Rock Man]

So my friend bought some RGB SCART cables for his Xbox and decided to bring them over. I fired up the Xbox version of Spider-Man 2 and was blown away in SCART! I had gotten so used to it looking like total crap in Component video, but using RGB the graphics are more focused, there are a lot less jaggies with little or no pixelation. Now I want a dual Xbox set-up, one for my Component games while the other plays my 240p titles like Spidey 2. I realize the Xbox also has a VGA adapter, is it any good? Should I look for a VGA adapter or stick with SCART RGB. If I take the SCART route, raw sync would be ideal. Anyone know if the Xbox can use raw CSYNC?

I noticed even though SCART looked near-perfect for Spider-Man 2. There was some ghosting and the colors was extra dark. If I can get a CSYNC lead it will no doubt fix that, if Xbox can even do such an output.

[RGB32E]

The Xbox 1 cannot output 240p. Only 480i and above...

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:xboxav

SCART output mode from the Xbox is RGBCv... no composite sync output...

The best 480i RGB output was from the last revision of the Xbox (XCalibre DAC/encoder). v1.6. I picked up a v1.6 system recently but haven't tested it out yet. I have the official SCART cables as well!

[Rock Man]

The Xbox 1 cannot output 240p. Only 480i and above...

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:xboxav

SCART output mode from the Xbox is RGBCv... no composite sync output...

The best 480i RGB output was from the last revision of the Xbox (XCalibre DAC/encoder). v1.6. I picked up a v1.6 system recently but haven't tested it out yet. I have the official SCART cables as well!

Damn! No CSYNC support again? Xbox/PS2 phail. -_-* Guess that just leaves the normal RGB SCART leads and VGA then, which can't even do RGBHV. Ah well anything is better than playing Spidey in Component.

[Ed Oscuro]

Somehow I think the term "component video" is being brutally murdered here.

The component cables for the XBox are a semi-valuable item (I also have the "Advanced AV Pack," which holds S-Video cables and for some reason a brick with female plugs, including S-Video) and should do a good bit to help the Xbox experience along. I dunno what they do, mine are still sealed, LOL.

[Rock Man]

Somehow I think the term "component video" is being brutally murdered here.

The component cables for the XBox are a semi-valuable item (I also have the "Advanced AV Pack," which holds S-Video cables and for some reason a brick with female plugs, including S-Video) and should do a good bit to help the Xbox experience along. I dunno what they do, mine are still sealed, LOL.

Used to own that exact AV Pack, came with the power brick too, gave it to a friend upon upgrading to Component. The S-Video on the Xbox was looking niiiiice. Either way, as good as the Component cables for the Xbox are, they don't make every thing look spectacular. Some games wind up looking terrible due to too much processing (Spider-Man 2, Sega GT). Although, when I play these two in RGB the quality is excellent. They come in a little dark but there's almost zero distortion! Now of course, in cases like DOA Ultimate and Shenmue Component looks way better but SCART has it's own unique X-factor. I'm willing to bet I'll get similar quality out from VGA as well.

P.S. Component Video sounds cool dammit. :p

[Ed Oscuro]

So your TV is processing the signal? That doesn't seem to be something the component cables are responsible for.

[Rock Man]

Doubt it's the TV, said games look hideous on my friends TV as well. Just tried out KOF compilation, another game that looks better in RGB compared to Component. It's clear in some instances SCART's got the edge.

[Fudoh]

A 15khz interlaced output like Scart can never have the Edge over a native 31khz output when seen on a LCD or plasma set. Are we talking games that can only output in 15khz ?

[Rock Man]

I believe these games can do both... the output choices for these titles are 480i (SCART/Component AV Pack) and 480p (Component AV Pack). I don't know but I think Spider-Man 2 operated at a lower resolution, you know how we had that discussion before about PS2 games that output natively in 240p but are deinterlaced and upped to 480i? Being common displays can't do 240p, well what if it's the same case here. Spidey 2 on XBOX is just a port of it's PS2/GC counterpart. More than likely it's a better version but still it had to be translated from the PS2.

I wouldn't doubt these games would look better than SCART using the XBOX VGA Adapter since it raises the signal to 31 kilohertz. But Component, no. Not on mines or my friends display. Now I will admit, Comp probably looked better on my 480p TV since that's a tube model. Then again it's been such a long time ago. However on this display I know what I saw. Component is sorely lacking on aformentioned games whereas SCART looks slightly better. Now does this mean SCART 15 KHz doesn't have weaknesses? Of course not hence why the greater hertz level is typically what's preferred. But I know what I saw and I'm telling you this time SCART wins (on these two televisions).

Regarding RGB SCART, the weaknesses I've witnessed are, well for one there's too much ghosting. Grows annoying after a while and the picture comes in too dark, however, the latter problem can be easily improved by raising the lighting on the XRGB-3, which leaves just the one problem, ghosting. If the Xbox could just use pure sync I wouldn't have to worry about it. None the less the output on Spider-Man in SCART appears to preserve every thing. Nothing is broken up.

Component on the other hand is a massive dissapointment for this game. Oh man there are jaggies literally every where, all the polygon models are inconsistant with eachother because of bad surfaces they're far too rigid. Sure the lighting gets a nice boost and ghosting is... well gone, but that's useless if the stuff you're looking at looks like crumbled up garbage. As stated SCART has it's problems but for this game on our display it's the lesser of the two evils. KOF 2K3 (XBOX) in RGB the foreground sprites look better, less pixelated more focused. The BG maybe more appealing in Component... I didn't really notice anything significant in Component.

It's only these two games really, I decided to fire up DOA Ultimate and Halo and THEN Component started winning. No doubt those games are built for 480p from the ground up. I'm not entirely sure Spidey 2 is native to 480i, pretty sure KOF 2003 isn't either. Just look at the resolution of the NeoGeo version to confirm it's true output.

EDIT: One more thing, Fudoh. You said 15 KHz out can never look better than 31. But we've discussed before 31 KHz sucks for some Dreamcast 2D games. Just look at Street Fighter 3 series. In VGA mode it looks like pixelated hell, SCART RGB it looks pure. Last I heard SF3 was a 240p title, there's no denying it is superior in 15 KHz RGB.

[Endymion]

EDIT: One more thing, Fudoh. You said 15 KHz out can never look better than 31. But we've discussed before 31 KHz sucks for some Dreamcast 2D games. Just look at Street Fighter 3 series. In VGA mode it looks like pixelated hell, SCART RGB it looks pure. Last I heard SF3 was a 240p title, there's no denying it is superior in 15 KHz RGB.

Your mistake is presuming that because the game looks better in a mode that uses 15KHz that it has this better appearance due to 15KHz. That's just not the case. The sync rate has nothing at all to do with why the game is blocky in one mode and not in the other.

[BuckoA51]

Remember interlace = extra lag on pretty much anything but a CRT.

Xbox 1 VGA cable gives exactly the same picture quality as component in my tests.

I'm willing to bet your problems are down to how the TV processes component video. It's ugly on a lot of TV's.

Your obsession with raw sync cables is getting silly, they only make a difference in some circumstances.

[Rock Man]

Remember interlace = extra lag on pretty much anything but a CRT.

Xbox 1 VGA cable gives exactly the same picture quality as component in my tests.

I'm willing to bet your problems are down to how the TV processes component video. It's ugly on a lot of TV's.

Your obsession with raw sync cables is getting silly, they only make a difference in some circumstances.

You're right I am pretty obsessive. You were the one who told me raw sync is better when possible so I took it to heart. But none of that matters in this topic since the XBOX can't even do CSYNC. Either way results are results, even if my TV is to blame for this rubbish quality doesn't change the fact it looks more acceptable in SCART for said games. Think I'll be using a dual XBOX set-up from now on. I know Component looks best on most XBOX games plus some of my games do use 720p, but for things like KOF and Spidey on this display? Gonna use a SCART capable XBOX. Appreciate the info about the VGA adapter for XBOX I'll hold off on it.

[BuckoA51]

have you tried Xbox component->XRGB3 B1->VGA->TV?

[Rock Man]

Yes, it looks even worse.