I'm looking for some component cables for my Original Xbox. As you know, Microsoft
benevolently removed their own original "HD Pack" from the market. At the moment,
I only have an SDTV. However I've heard that component cables produce improvement
even on them.

I've had a tough time deciding what I should do. I have a natural inclination to buy
only OEM products for my video games, but Microsoft has made this difficult. New
original equipment HD Packs cost $$$ if you can find them.

I'm looking at some generic/3rd party options.

There's the "BOX" brand selling on Ebay that physically resembles the original.

There are the gamestore and MadCatz varieties, which usually lack digital audio.

Also Monster Cable's solution - I've heard some bad things about the Xbox cable
they offer, from poor connectors to the proprietary Digital audio out setup.

Right now, I'm leaning to another one - the Arsenal AXBB304. It's a breakout box
similar to the OEM, and it has digital audio out. It has what looks like S-Video and
RCA A/V on one side, and is supposed to have component on the other, with a
selector switch.

It's rather weird though, check out this picture.



Notice it's not showing the component side. I downloaded the manual (a MS Word
Document, no less), and saw that the component connectors are on the other side.

That's not what's really bothering me though.

The Standard RCA A/V Connector Color Code is

Yellow - Video
White - Left Stereo Audio
Red - Right Stereo Audio

The normal horizontal order of these is of course Yellow-White-Red.

As you can see in the picture above, they appear to have the Red and Yellow color
coding mixed up. Or at least in non-standard arrangement. Is this a bad sign?

Has anyone else here had any experience with this particular Xbox A/V cable? Can I
get some opinions on other alternatives? I don't have any personal experience with
any of the Xbox cables listed above, so I don't really know if they are good or bad,
or if any other cables would be better.

Right now I have it hooked up through the RCA cable that came with it.

I apologize if Xbox Component Cables have been discussed before. I tried to search
for the topic using the forum search, but couldn't find it.

EDIT: After studying the manual a little better, it looks like they mixed up the Yellow and White, not the Yellow and Red. My bad.

well, i use mad catz component cables for my xbox, and they seem to work fine. i think as far as cables are concerned, whether or not they're third party doesn't matter as much as with other peripherals; third-party cables appear to work as well as first-party ones. i also have a monster cable for my ps2, and it hasn't given me any problems.

as far as the connectors are concerned, i've noticed a similar oddity on a dvd player i have. it hasn't given me any problems though, so i wouldn't say that such a mix-up is necessarily indicative of shoddy manufacturing.

i can't really give much more help outside of my personal experience; i didn't bother to do much research as far as cables are concerned when i bought mine, and the ones i have don't give me any problems. ^^;

I decided to go with the Arsenal Component Kit. It's a breakout box with component
and composite video - audio connectors, and includes component video/ stereo audio combo cable.


If anyone is curious, here's a quick review.

When I received it, my version did not have the color mix-up that was shown in the picture.

It has a switch on it, allowing you to choose composite or component. Unfortunately,
the switch is labeled oddly- The options are "AV" and "Yuv". Apparently, "Yuv" means
Y'PbPr (component).

It also has stereo audio out (RCA) or Digital Audio Out (TOSLINK, I think). I only use
stereo though. It only has one set of audio outputs for both video outputs.

I did not try the cables that came with it instead opting for $$$ cables.

Now, how it works. The switch isn't perfect. If you have both composite and component
cables hooked up between the box and your TV, you could still get a picture from either
input regardless of the switch setting. However, if the switch is set as "AV", the
picture from the component input will not look right. In my case, it was black and
white, and kinda grainy. The composite picture looks ok, but you might have audio
issues with stereo.

With both video outputs on the box hooked to the TV and the switch set to "AV", the Xbox
dashboard would not show the Audio menu, as if expecting to send a mono audio signal.

The audio did not sound right, either. I don't know if it was mono, but it didn't sound
like the stereo I was expecting.

My TV didn't help either- it shares the rear stereo input between composite and component video input.

Switched to component ("Yuv" on the box), the audio issues clear up. The component
input makes a modestly noticeable edge detail difference. The picture is slightly sharper, and the fuzz associated with composite A/V inputs is all but gone.

Surprisingly though, the most noticeable difference is the color. I would say it's not
as vivid compared to the normal composite connection, but that doesn't mean it's
not closer to the original. It's possible that composite video was over-saturating the
original colors. I believe I'm noticing some subtle shading I may have missed before
and perhaps texture detail as well. (Though I might not have paid as much attention
to texture in the past.

Overall, it seems to work fairly well. It made a difference I could see, especially in
the color (even though my TV is only standard def - I confirmed tonight it will not
accept much less display a 480p signal from component input). It might be a good
idea not to have both component and composite video cables connected at the same
time. Other than that though, it does a decent job.