Can I splice my own component cables straight into the 360?

[theo cupier]

I have my Van Damme Red component cables burried in the wall to my mounted plasma.

I suspect that the HD component leads coming out of my 360 (and the coupler joining it to my Van Dammes) are a source of some signal degradation from the 360.

This has certainly been proven, in part, after I've just spent £6 in Maplin upgrading the cheap chrome phono couplers to a better, gold plated, version. the improvement in picture is noticeable.

I'm sure I could improve things by replacing the MS component cables with better ones (eg Monster) but I'd rather have just the single run of cables all the way between XBOX and screen.

Since I need >3m of cable and I don't want to get shot of my van Damme's (or go to the trouble of taking them out of the wall and putting new cable in there) does anyone know if it is possible to get my own component cables spliced into a 360 HD connector?

If so, is it an easy job (I've made my own cables before, but not soldered)? Can you get "empty" connectors to put your own cables in, or would I have to butcher one with leads?

Forum advice much appreciated.

 

[-Hitman-]

I have my Van Damme Red component cables burried in the wall to my mounted plasma.

I suspect that the HD component leads coming out of my 360 (and the coupler joining it to my Van Dammes) are a source of some signal degradation from the 360.

This has certainly been proven, in part, after I've just spent £6 in Maplin upgrading the cheap chrome phono couplers to a better, gold plated, version. the improvement in picture is noticeable.

I'm sure I could improve things by replacing the MS component cables with better ones (eg Monster) but I'd rather have just the single run of cables all the way between XBOX and screen.

Since I need >3m of cable and I don't want to get shot of my van Damme's (or go to the trouble of taking them out of the wall and putting new cable in there) does anyone know if it is possible to get my own component cables spliced into a 360 HD connector?

If so, is it an easy job (I've made my own cables before, but not soldered)? Can you get "empty" connectors to put your own cables in, or would I have to butcher one with leads?

Forum advice much appreciated.

I had the same dilemma and turned my component cable into a component and VGA (RGBHV) break out box and re-wired the SD/HD switch to select between comp or VGA.

The black box and gold plated phonos i got from maplins, picture attached!

I can now use what cables i want for Component and VGA!

I used the following info as a reference to build my own:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/14/how-to-turn-a-standard-xbox-360-video-cable-into-a-vga-cable-fo/

If you need more help let me know!

 

[ukkev2000]

I had the same dilemma and turned my component cable into a component and VGA (RGBHV) break out box and re-wired the SD/HD switch to select between comp or VGA.

Woah, you are an AV GOD! I wish they sold that as an genuine accessory.

EDIT: Read the link, Downside Der. Funny article, loved the Batman-esque "CRACK!" bubbles on the photos

 

[-Hitman-]

Woah, you are an AV GOD! I wish they sold that as an genuine accessory.

EDIT: Read the link, Downside Der. Funny article, loved the Batman-esque "CRACK!" bubbles on the photos

Thanks for the compliment (technical engineer by trade).

It is a little difficult to do especially if you have never soldered before(don't go there if so! )

I used the pinout drawings from that link to get reference to what i needed the 360 to output for me, in this case component (3 of 5 RCA's) and VGA(RGBHV) (5 x RCA) and used the original 360 AV connector's optical connection and filled the breakout box completely with a glue gun to seal all the connections and make it robust.

Cracking picture BTW.

 

[ukkev2000]

Thanks for the compliment (technical engineer by trade).

It is a little difficult to do especially if you have never soldered before(don't go there if so! )

Sure is a nice job !

My soldering is fantastic, it's more like sculpting in molten metal really. It's about as good as you'd expect from a software engineer

This, however, looks within my remit - or maybe I'll just make a hash of it and then one of my techie mates will take the mickey and thus be invited to show me how good/clever they are. They have yours to beat!

Thanks a lot for the link too.

 

[RBJTech]

Hi - an alternative and IMO better way to do this is to solder directly to the bottom of the 360 motherboard AV connector and provide component phono sockets attached to the 360 itself. (this is probably easier than soldering to the AV connector tbh - if it's anything like the old xbox connector than definately!) This will then give you absolute minimum connectors (your vanne damm cables straight into to 360, no AV connector needed) and maximum quality signal. Of course you need to open the 360 in order to do this. I did it for a built in VGA port using mini Vanne Damme cables but there is no reason why you couldn't do it for component using 3 Phono connectors and whatever audio you wanted (SPDIF or Coax).

Shout if you need more details and I'll post some links to xbox-scene ...

PS - ports are a VGA connector (switch to enable it), left/right audio and digital coax (instead of SPDIF/Optical)..