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View Full Version : MadCatz & Monster Cables Sound FIX



netmazk
12-25-2001, 06:22 PM
DISCLAIMER: These modifications may and probably WILL void your warranty for your XBox and/or A/V kit. Perform these modifications at YOUR OWN RISK! I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU CAUSE TO YOUR XBOX, AV KIT, OTHER ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT OR BLOWING UP YOUR HOUSE.

Now, from reading these boards I realized I'm not the only one who had problems with Dolby Digital sound on 3rd party A/V adapters. I recently purchased the MadCatz Ultra A/V kit before x-mas as I knew i was getting a new dolby digital receiver & 2 nice floor speakers for xmas. Turns out, the "Ultra" A/V kit wasn't so Ultra... dolby digital didn't work correctly. I collected info and was eventually able to fix the adapter because I was so anxious to hear it in digital, and was not able to get a replacement on xmas day :) .

The REAL Problem: MadCatz and Monster Cables shipped
defective (incorrectly wired) cables where the xbox would not
be able to detect it as a cable supporting dolby digital/dts output.

The "Quick-n-dirty solution":



Pin diagram looking at the AV cable connector (on the cable, not the connector on the XBox)
_________________1_1_1_
_/1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 \_
| |
| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 |
| 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 |
-----------------------------

(I apologize for the pin diagram, but its the best i could do.)

Simply connect pins 6 and 18 on your madcatz/monster cable where it plugs into the xbox, with some sort of jumper (I used a small strand of sturdy copper wire that i inserted into the holes of pin 6 and 18 after enlarging them slightly with a pin.). Be sure that your 'jumper' does NOT touch ANYTHING metal besides the pins 6 and 18.

Why it works: The XBox has an odd design for A/V kits. Simply put, it checks the bits on a few pins to determine which AV kit you have connected. For the standard A/V kit, 5 and 17 are jumpered only. Now for the advanced AV kit, additionally 6 and 18 are jumpered, which tells the xbox the cable is capable of dolby digital output. Furthermore, the HD AV kit jumpers 7 and 19 in addition to 6 and 18, but NOT 5 and 17. Closing 7 and 19 enable HDTV output ONLY.

Please reply with any comments/suggestions/questions.

--netmazk

Frostberg
12-25-2001, 07:30 PM
Hmm just a question here, I have the Monster Cable GameLink 400 X and the LightWave 100 X for optical sund and when I put in the martix, my receiver switches to dolby digital...so does that mean my cables are fine and might not be in this defective bunch? On the dashboard everything was set to "enabled" by defult audiowise. I dont have any DTS movies so I cant check to see if that works. It would help If i owned more than 3 DVDs...only because I only had a DVD-ROM drive pre-Xbox. I wouldnt really want to modify anything, because Id hate to mess up my $105 cables!

netmazk
12-25-2001, 07:36 PM
Originally posted by Frostberg
Hmm just a question here, I have the Monster Cable GameLink 400 X and the LightWave 100 X for optical sund and when I put in the martix, my receiver switches to dolby digital...so does that mean my cables are fine and might not be in this defective bunch? On the dashboard everything was set to "enabled" by defult audiowise. I dont have any DTS movies so I cant check to see if that works. It would help If i owned more than 3 DVDs...only because I only had a DVD-ROM drive pre-Xbox. I wouldnt really want to modify anything, because Id hate to mess up my $105 cables!

Newp, my above post is for the unlucky bunch of us that got bad cables... if you got the bad cables, the options for Dolby Digital and DTS won't even show up on the dashboard, only the options for mono, stereo, and ghetto dolby surround. Also, you won't see your receiver switch into digital mode either.

--netmazk

Frostberg
12-25-2001, 07:43 PM
Good to hear that...Im sure this post will help a bunch of people though. Thanks!