Playing xBox 360 on 30" Cinema Display

[theguycalledtom]

I want to buy an xBox 360 and play it on my 30" Cinema Display because I have no room for a TV or another monitor in my room.

Since Gefen hasn't released a dual link option, I was looking for a solution that was cheaper than their current one. I bought an eyeTV hybrid but it doesn't seem to be compatible with all games, notably some of the best ones including Halo 3.

Do you think a product such as this:
http://www.atlona.com/product.php?productid=17066&cat=309&page=1

Would enable me to play on my Cinema Display? Even if I can only play at 1600x1200, that doesn't bother me, as long as it worked.

Also, the most recent xBoxs have hdmi output, so could the solution be as simple as a hdmi-dvi cable?

 

[iPhil]

I want to buy an xBox 360 and play it on my 30" Cinema Display because I have no room for a TV or another monitor in my room.

Since Gefen hasn't released a dual link option, I was looking for a solution that was cheaper than their current one. I bought an eyeTV hybrid but it doesn't seem to be compatible with all games, notably some of the best ones including Halo 3.

Do you think a product such as this:
http://www.atlona.com/product.php?productid=17066&cat=309&page=1

Would enable me to play on my Cinema Display? Even if I can only play at 1600x1200, that doesn't bother me, as long as it worked.

Also, the most recent xBoxs have hdmi output, so could the solution be as simple as a hdmi-dvi cable?

that product will only support up to 1600*1200.. no full 2560*1600 glory wit that product...

 

[Mackilroy]

Wouldn't it just be easiest to buy the Xbox VGA cable?

 

[theguycalledtom]

I have a feeling that vga cables are analogue and apple displays do not accept analogue connections.

 

[MRU]

^ You are correct.

To make matters worse the 30" is dual link DVI meaning it's even further away/removed and you will struggle to be able to play your 360 on it.

To be honest, the price of a up-converting box will probably set you back the same price as a 24" Dell, which is probably your best option.

 

[Mackilroy]

Good point, I didn't think of that (I have a Dell monitor).

 

[gkarris]

that product will only support up to 1600*1200.. no full 2560*1600 glory wit that product...

When you hook up 1 dvi cable and use a lower res, doesn't the dispay scale down to it?

 

[theguycalledtom]

I'd rather run the screen at lower quality than have to find room for an extra monitor or TV.

I've plugged my brother's old Powerbook (No Dual Link) into the 30" and the screen still runs, but just at a lower resolution.

 

[JackAxe]

How small is your room? It's not like the old days where large CRTs were the only option. These newfangled TVs are VESA mountable, so you can hang them from a wall, or even the ceiling like that silly Philips commercial from years back.

I originally wanted to use my HD 30" for my Wii, but after looking at the prices for anything that was a somewhat viable option, I ended up buying a LCD TV instead.

Even if you find something that works well, the 30" only has one input, so unless you're investing another $400 in a DL-DVI switcher, or switching it yourself, it's really not practical. And if you're only using your 30" for a 360, then let me be the first one to slap you.

<]=)

 

[theguycalledtom]

I'm aware of the consequences of using the Apple 30" and you'll just have to trust me that its a lot more practical to use it to play the odd xbox 360 session than buying a whole new monitor or lcd tv, I wouldn't be asking the question otherwise.

So, getting back to the point... has anyone plugged anything into the 30" Cinema Display other than a Mac or PC and got it to display something?

 

[dukebound85]

you could use eyetv hybrid

catch is it wont output too high resolution but it would work on your monitor no problem

plus you can watch vhs though it and tv if you want on your monitor

edi: maybe should have read your post w/o skimming lol my bad

related...why wont halo 3 work on eyetv? makes no sense to me as i thought it takes the output from the 360 which can work.

 

[dukebound85]

I have a feeling that vga cables are analogue and apple displays do not accept analogue connections.

surely theres a way to convert analoge to digital. heck ive used many a adc before mainly for temp read outs

 

[yippy]

Yes you can convert analogue to digital....with very expensive bulky converters.

With the Xbox, does an HDMI->DVI converter (very cheap) not work? That would be what I would try first.

 

[theguycalledtom]

The eyeTV hybrid would be perfect but it only supports 50hz and all the big games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 use 60hz. Annoying!

I'm going to try the hdmi to DVI cord, since its fairly cheap but I was hoping someone might have experimented with this before.

 

[dukebound85]

is it limited by the software or the eyetv hardware?

that really sucks

 

[theguycalledtom]

"PAL 60Hz input is not supported":
http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/443/

Maybe if I got an 360 from the US, with US games, it might work... ?

 

[dukebound85]

"PAL 60Hz input is not supported":
http://faq.elgato.com/index.php/faq/more/443/

Maybe if I got an 360 from the US, with US games, it might work... ?

i have no idea if the us uses the 60hz. most likely thhough i would think

 

[MRU]

^ Irrelevant because Pal 60 requires component or rgb scart
Hybrid doesn't do component or scart, only s-video and composite.




HDMI to DVI WILL NOT WORK! As I have already said, the 30" is not DVI it is dual DVI which there is simply no converter which supports this yet.


If it was a standard DVI - all macs would be able to support it, but they dont because it needs a dual link dvi supporting port.



Your running around in circles, going nowhere.

 

[yippy]

It will not work at full resolution. However, it has been shown over and over that a Mac with only single link DVI CAN power a 30" monitor, just at a lower resolution then the native of the screen.

I would not rule out HDMI->DVI until someone has tried it.

Dual-link and single link DVI are the same thing except dual link has more bandwidth because it uses all of the pins in the cable. There is no converter because there is nothing to convert. So using HDMI might still work because the 30" cinema display CAN receive the signal and knows what to do with it.

 

[MRU]

^ I have found many posts on the net from people who have tested and found that you still need something like the HD-MATE from Gefen and then it will still only display at 1280x800 and it will not display anything with HDCP as the ACD doesn't have it.

The ACD doesn't have an built in scaler. It accepts two resolutions only 1280x800 and 2560x1600
When hooked up to a computer it's the graphic card which is doing the scaling, not the ACD monitor.

But looking at Gefens forum - it still isn't looking good.

http://forum.gefen.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2632&SearchTerms=30"

http://forum.gefen.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2768&SearchTerms=30"


and then judging from the many issues people get

http://forum.gefen.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2882

It's not looking good.


For the price of the solution you can buy a decent monitor with a NATIVE resolution to support the 360. But hey whatever the OP want's it's their problem

 

[gkarris]

^ I have found many posts on the net from people who have tested and found that you still need something like the HD-MATE from Gefen and then it will still only display at 1280x800 and it will not display anything with HDCP as the ACD doesn't have it.

The ACD doesn't have an built in scaler. It accepts two resolutions only 1280x800 and 2560x1600
When hooked up to a computer it's the graphic card which is doing the scaling, not the ACD monitor.

I put the MacPro in 640x480 at the store and it worked...

 

[TBi]

I put the MacPro in 640x480 at the store and it worked...

Well he just said it would work because the graphics card does the scaling...

 

[theguycalledtom]

The Apple specs page for the displays:
http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html

list these resolutions for the 30":
2560 x 1600 pixels (optimum resolution)
2048 x 1280
1920 x 1200
1280 x 800
1024 x 640

So I'm guessing any other resolutions listed in the display preference panel are scaled by the graphics card.


At this stage, I'm going to try this product:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-de-49-en-15-xcm+hdmi+360-70-2bsy.html

It seems to convert the analogue component signal out of the xBox and converts it to a digital Hdmi/dvi signal, up to 1080i. It should also avoid hdcp, if that may be an issue preventing a direct hdmi-dvi cable from working.

Hopefully the 30" will display at 1280x800. Although it seems the closest resolutions that the xbox can be set to are these: 1280 x 720, 1280 x 768, 1280 x 1024

Not sure if this cable will restrict the display options I will have. Although its likely that the final image will be a little squished or stretched either way due the the difference between 16:9 and 16:10. Oh well, it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[theguycalledtom]

Hmm, just as a test, I loaded up some 1080p trailers of Transformers and GTA4 and I couldn't tell the difference between 2560*1600 and 1280x800 from my couch where I guess i'd play video games. I'm obviously going blind.

Here is a video of that xcm cable working on a dvi screen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CiSYdpNjmI

However I'm still not sure what ratio screen they are using and if this cable would have any advantage over just a direct hdmi->dvd-d connection.

 

[takao]

The ACD doesn't have an built in scaler. It accepts two resolutions only 1280x800 and 2560x1600
When hooked up to a computer it's the graphic card which is doing the scaling, not the ACD monitor.

which at the price is little bit comical not to include a scaler
(my cheap hp has a nice fill to aspect ratio scaling option which is quite handy for none widescreen games)

edit: on viewing distance
in some german video enthusiast magazine they did blind testing to check at which ratio of viewing distance to screen size people could tell the difference between PAL and HD signal and it was

~4,5:1 for 720p
~6:1 for 1080p

where the 1 stands for screen _height_ not the diagonal
if you are farther away than that ration you aren't going to notice.. so i can assure you you aren't going blind