HDTV question?

[Dave]

I been running my Xbox on my 52 in HDTV as is. No adapter or anything. Whats the best adapter out there for HDTV for Xbox as far as picture quality goes? I seen a couple Xbox AC adapters I believe they are called, and Mad Catz, and just dunno how much a difference any of those adapters make on a HDTV?

[LynxFX]

I would personally just go with the $20 HD A/V pack from Microsoft. You can find them wherever consoles are sold. If you want, replace the comment cables that it comes with with some better ones. Should satisfy you just fine.

You could go with Monster's overpriced MX400 cables, which then makes you buy their extremely overpriced proprietary optical cable if you want digital surround sound.

You would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the Monster cables and the Microsoft HD A/V pack.

[Variation-XBA]

Id go with the monster cables, but yea, they are quite abit more expensive.

[l Maximus l]

I have the Monster 400 series Component video cables on my 50" Toshiba Widescreen HDTV. The games look amazing. I'll never play on a tube again.

The composite video cable (yellow in color) will give you 400 dots of resolution per square inch.

The S-Video cables (located on XBox's Advanced A/V pack) will give you 600 dots of resolution per square inch.

Finally, the Component video cables (blue, red, and green in color - three seperate video cables -- located on XBox's High Definition A/V pack or the Monster 400 series cables for XBox) will give you 800 dots of resolution per square inch. Also, since the XBox and the games are in progressive scan (the vast majority are) this is the only way you'll be able to fully utilize your HDTV - with progressive scan.

Definately go with the High Definition A/V pack or the Monster 400 series Component Video cables for XBox. My reasoning is: you might as well as fully utilize your equipment for what it's supposed to do. And, besides, they're just cables...but, they provide so much better resolution and since you have an HDTV, you can get progressive scan. Gotta love it!!

[MidniteArrow]

As a clarification, the MS cables will give you the same basic quality as the Monster ones, but the Monster ones are a little better (little when compared to the difference between composite vs. component, interlaced vs. progressive). I had the Monster cables for a while and returned them because, well, I remember having a good reason at the time which later turned out to be a non-issue, and I think it had something to do with Burnout. As I recall, you did NOT have to buy the Monster TOS-Link optical cable just because you had the Monster A/V pack. Any optical cable would do. The main cable came with a 1/4 inch to TOS-Link converter that any TOS-Link cable should fit into.

I do not recommend getting the MS pack and buying decent cables to plug into it. It's only advantage, IMO, is price. If you want good cables, get the Monster ones. If you get the MS pack and plug in good cables, you'll be plugging great cables into cheap connectors (on the MS A/V pack) that honestly were not designed with videophiles in mind. The Monster cables would be more what you are looking for. Plus, the price issue kind of goes away if you buy the $20 MS pack and then go get some $50 cables to plug into it. And the Monster cables are rediculously long to the best of my recollection.

[LynxFX]

Are they really including the toslink adaptor now with the monster cables? I swear they weren't before which is one of the main reasons I detest Monster as a company.

[MidniteArrow]

Well, I thought they did, but I did get the Monster optical cable. For the length, it's actually a decent product. I kept it, and returned the rest of it! I could always be remembering incorrectly.

[Cyclone]

Hmm...
and I thought Xbox looked good on my 25" Samsung CRT...heh I guess I'm really missing out!