27" iMac Video Input With Xbox 360?

[RealEvil]

The results are in...

UPDATE - I MANAGED TO GET THIS WORKING AT 720P - READ ON A FEW POSTS...

This thing is a not working. It does not work with the 360 and its a nightmare with my MacBook Pro.

So, first up I hooked up the 360 as per this photo:

FYI - thats a HDMI to DVI adapter straight to the DP200. The USB power is from the back of the 360 and the Belkin MDP cable is going into the iMac.

Hit Cmd-F2... black screen.
Hit the Reset button on the DP200... black screen but sometimes it forces the iMac to revert back to its own image. About 10 mins of pressing reset and CMD-F2 never resulted in the 360 displaying.

UPDATE - when I press CMD F2 to view the 360 it returns back to the iMac after about 9 seconds - i.e. it wont remain on the external input
UPDATE 2 - I later figured out that this means the input resolution is not supported or is a temporary fault and flicking back and forth via CMD F2 a few times should fix it. It didnt in this case as the 360 was set to 1080p

To test the HDMI to DVI adaptor I tried the following:

FYI thats a DVI cable straight into a monitor I brought into a room. It worked right away - so the HDMI to DVI adaptor is fine.

I then decided to hook up my 13" 2009 MBP via the DP200. Here was the setup:

FYI - thats a MDP to DVI adaptor, going straight into the DP200 with USB Power from the MBP. The Belkin MDP cable was going into the iMac.

It worked! Sort of... its a terrible experience of pressing Reset on the DP200 and CMD F2 on the iMac until it finally jumps in to life. It took about 2 mins of various combinations until it finally worked.

FYI - Thats a video of Lost being played across the 2 screens.

So... just before I put this thing on eBay... any ideas? I really thought this was going to work :-(

 

[gianly1985]

What was the resolution of the imac when hooked to the MBP? 1920x1080?

 

[RealEvil]

When the DP200 worked with the MBP (and I cannot stress how random it was) then it would only output the same res as the MBP... 1280*800 (UPDATE - This should have read 1280*720). When I chose to Mirror the displays, that dropped to 1280*720 which I cannot explain.

With the MDP cable directly from the MBP to the iMac I can chose resolutions correctly.

 

[orange.x]

When the DP200 worked with the MBP (and I cannot stress how random it was) then it would only output the same res as the MBP... 1280*800. When I chose to Mirror the displays, that dropped to 1280*720 which I cannot explain.

With the MDP cable directly from the MBP to the iMac I can chose resolutions correctly.

Huge bummer! Are you going to contact Atlona on this? You would expect that it can use a higher resolution. But the thing is that it seems that the aspect ratio is 16:10 ( 1280x800 = 16x10 ) And the iMac display is 16:9 but the MBP display is 16x10..... Strange..

You have a normal PC you can test the DP200 on? DVI from PC > DP200 > iMac ??

 

[gianly1985]

When the DP200 worked with the MBP (and I cannot stress how random it was) then it would only output the same res as the MBP... 1280*800.

Strange...I expected that you could at least set 1920x1200 (----> 1920x1080) when in "extended desktop" mode.
Of course you couldn't set 2560x1440, because the DVI is a bottleneck and support max 1920x1200.

When I chose to Mirror the displays, that dropped to 1280*720 which I cannot explain.

This is somehow supposed to happen, because the iMac is a 16:9 display so, to avoid black stripes, it sets 16:9 resolutions (1280x800 is a 16:10 resolution instead).

More over, this is a good news: so the iMac can accept a non-native resolution (1280x720) in Target Display Mode ---------> a scaler is not (always) needed.

Isnt' there a way to force the x360 to output 1280x720?

 

[orange.x]

Strange...I expected that you could at least set 1920x1200 (----> 1920x1080) when in "extended desktop" mode.
Of course you couldn't set 2560x1440, because the DVI is a bottleneck and support max 1920x1200.



This is somehow supposed to happen, because the iMac is a 16:9 display so, to avoid black stripes, it sets 16:9 resolutions (1280x800 is a 16:10 resolution instead).

More over, this is a good news: so the iMac can accept a non-native resolution (1280x720) in Target Display Mode ---------> a scaler is not (always) needed.

Isnt' there a way to force the x360 to output 1280x720?

You can choose to display a resolution of your choice with the xbox. Can you test and see what happens when you choose al lower resolution than 1920x1080?? As far as I know the xbox does support more resolutions. Something like 1680x1050, 1280x1024 and some more resolutions. Maybe you can try some of them?

 

[g3nius20]

You can choose to display a resolution of your choice with the xbox. Can you test and see what happens when you choose al lower resolution than 1920x1080?? As far as I know the xbox does support more resolutions. Something like 1680x1050, 1280x1024 and some more resolutions. Maybe you can try some of them?

Try starting with the "Standard Def" option on the Xbox.. then go up one increment at a time if it works. Mine only has like 4 options - Standard Definition, 720p, 1080i and 1080p.. try them each (You'll obviously need to plug into another screen to change it initially).

 

[mt1012]

You can choose to display a resolution of your choice with the xbox. Can you test and see what happens when you choose al lower resolution than 1920x1080?? As far as I know the xbox does support more resolutions. Something like 1680x1050, 1280x1024 and some more resolutions. Maybe you can try some of them?

xbox does support only 1080p,1080i,720p,480p,480i when we use HDMI cable.
If we use VGA cable, we can set another resolution like 1680*1050.

 

[Sharangad]

Ah yes, my apologies there, belvdr. I failed to notice that 1440x900 is divisible by 16:10 and 16:9!

I still don't see why it would be blurry. I always play games at non-native resolutions and yes it isn't as perfect, but it's still acceptable.

1440x900 is only divisible by 16:10.

The way it works is you take the horizontal resolution (i.e. 1440 ) and divide it by 16.

1440 / 16 = 90.

You then multiply it by 10 (90 * 10) which gives 900.

I.e. a display with a horizontal resolution of 1440 if it's 16:10 has a vertical resolution of 900 pels.

If it were 16:9 then the resolution would be 1440x810.

 

[RealEvil]

...
...
So I hooked it back up to my DVI monitor and dropped the resolution down to 640*480.
...
...

Going to try other resolutions now. Oh baby. It looks to me like turning off the 360's 'Displays Discovery' option gave me just HDMI resolutions whereas turning it on gave me DVI (PC) resolutions...

PROGRESS!

 

[gianly1985]

RealEvil you should test these resolutions (in particular 1280x720, which already proved to work with your MBP):

 

[orange.x]

xbox does support only 1080p,1080i,720p,480p,480i when we use HDMI cable.
If we use VGA cable, we can set another resolution like 1680*1050.

My mistake. So when you use the old connection you can't even get it up to 1080p?

Oe baby! Progress is coming It already begins to look nice!
Can you make during the progress some HQ pictures of the screen if possible? So we can see the diffrence in resolution? And as it seems it is just streching it's way to the screen without any black borders.. That also should be good news, because that should mean the scaler won't be needed if you can pump up the resolution to 1280x720 or even higher if possible.

 

[gianly1985]

...
...
So I hooked it back up to my DVI monitor and dropped the resolution down to 640*480.
...
...

Going to try other resolutions now. Oh baby. It looks to me like turning off the 360's 'Displays Discovery' option gave me just HDMI resolutions whereas turning it on gave me DVI (PC) resolutions...

PROGRESS!

Excellent!!

IN YOUR FACE "a scaler is needed"-people!

After 2 months and 363 posts, WE GOT IT! Cheers to everybody who followed this thread!

So let's sum up: you just need the 150$ Atlona AT-DP200 (+various cables and common HDMI-DVI adapters) to play x360 on the iMac 27"!

 

[g3nius20]

Excellent!!

IN YOUR FACE "a scaler is needed"-people!

After 2 months and 363 posts, WE GOT IT! Cheers to everybody who followed this thread!

So let's sum up: you just need the 150$ Atlona AT-DP200 (+various cables and common HDMI-DVI adapters) to play x360 on the iMac 27"!

While I somewhat agree... let's see how high he can get the resolution.. cuz unless you can get to at least 1080i... it's probably better to just go buy another display (even though I, like others, want an "ALL-IN-ONE" solution..) Let's see what happens =)

 

[gianly1985]

...
..

This is probably the first picture on the whole internet showing an x360 playing on a 27" iMac...congrats. Can you post a full size picture of the final result? Thanks

ps: what about the audio? Since we cannot get it from the HDMI, is there some sort of headphone jack on the x360? If there is, you can connect it to the LINE-IN of yout iMac and then capture live audio using softwares like Rogue Amoeba "Line-IN" or "Audio Hijack Pro".

 

[g3nius20]

This is probably the first picture on the whole internet showing an x360 playing on a 27" iMac...congrats. Can you post a full size picture of the final result? Thanks

ps: what about the audio? Since we cannot get it from the HDMI, is there some sort of headphone jack on the x360? If there is, you can connect it to the LINE-IN of yout iMac and then capture live audio using softwares like Rogue Amoeba "Line-IN" or "Audio Hijack Pro".

Or you could use the Digital Audio out of the Xbox and plug it into a real sound system... the way it was MEANT to be played! =P MUAHAHAH.

 

[RealEvil]

I am still fiddling about with the resolutions... nothing to report yet.

In terms of the audio - you either need the Official MS HDMI adaptor or you can cut into a component lead casing (its just too large to fit alongside the HDMI port). The official adaptor just fits even alongside my HDMI -> DVI adaptor and has a TOSLINK out and stereo phono.

More news soon.

Here is the larger image (still 640*480) OR 480p HDMI (either worked):

 

[Bluegiz90]

I am still fiddling about with the resolutions... nothing to report yet.

In terms of the audio - you either need the Official MS HDMI adaptor or you can cut into a component lead casing (its just too large to fit alongside the HDMI port). The official adaptor just fits even alongside my HDMI -> DVI adaptor and has a TOSLINK out and stereo phono.

More news soon.

Here is the larger image (still 640*480) OR 480p HDMI (either worked):
]

Amazing news, so what do you mean by the audio? Is Audio not working with your current set up?

 

[gianly1985]

While I somewhat agree... let's see how high he can get the resolution.. cuz unless you can get to at least 1080i... it's probably better to just go buy another display (even though I, like others, want an "ALL-IN-ONE" solution..) Let's see what happens =)

I'm quite confident it will get 720p...

Another display? But it would not be IPS (no tint shift! excellent viewing angle!) and LED...to get a similar display, you need to spend 1000$ and more....so there are 2 reason to want to do this:
- all-in-one
- a shame not to enjoy such wonderful display (IPS LED)

 

[Bluegiz90]

Btw, because his X360 does not have HDMI, but component. Does this mean because the PS3 uses HDMI this will also carry Audio to the iMac?

 

[gianly1985]

I am still fiddling about with the resolutions... nothing to report yet.

So 1280x720 doesn't work?

 

[g3nius20]

Btw, because his X360 does not have HDMI, but component. Does this mean because the PS3 uses HDMI this will also carry Audio to the iMac?

Really?? YOU, sir.. have lost your speaking privileges for the day...

 

[g3nius20]

I'm quite confident it will get 720p...

Another display? But it would not be IPS (no tint shift! excellent viewing angle!) and LED...to get a similar display, you need to spend 1000$ and more....so there are 2 reason to want to do this:
- all-in-one
- a shame not to enjoy such wonderful display (IPS LED)

Oh I understand the issue! I want it to work very badly as well.. don't get me wrong... I just want to see what res he can get it up to as it didn't seem to work before when the xbox was set to 1080p.

 

[orange.x]

Btw, because his X360 does not have HDMI, but component. Does this mean because the PS3 uses HDMI this will also carry Audio to the iMac?

I think he uses the HDMI output on his xbox, not the component.
Can't wait And what will happen when he's playing a game, the LAG is also a really important factor!

Well Mark, let's try to work again

 

[Bluegiz90]

I think he uses the HDMI output on his xbox, not the component.
Can't wait And what will happen when he's playing a game, the LAG is also a really important factor!

Well Mark, let's try to work again

I thought only the Xbox Elites came with HDMI input though? They're the black Xbox's.