Noticing there wasn’t really any highly detailed guides for using a PC monitor (only a quick general one) with the Xbox 360 I thought I would compose this to help out people intending to use a PC monitor as a display device for the Xbox 360 using the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable. A lot of the information here is official information from Microsoft, along with information gained from personal experience of using a VGA cable to game with. I have also included the instructions of setup.
Why use a monitor with my Xbox 360?
Monitors deliver fantastic gaming graphics at high resolutions, as advances in manufacturing have dramatically lowered response times to the gaming-friendly 8ms-or-less range, and at an affordable price. Also if you have a PC you may already have a good monitor to game with, so why buy an expensive HDTV to game on when your monitor can produce impressive enough graphics as a display device, and save you the cost of buying a HDTV? A lot of monitors now are also big enough to still allow you to sit down in a nice comfortable armchair rather than at your desk.
How can I connect a monitor to my Xbox 360?
You can connect a monitor to your Xbox 360 by using a Xbox 360 VGA cable. Microsoft sells an official cable that’s available in most retailers. There are also several third party VGA cables, but for this guide I shall use the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable as reference.
Can I use any PC monitor with my Xbox 360?
Most PC monitors will work with the Xbox 360. Some older monitors however may not have a VGA port, having the cable attached directly instead. You may have to purchase additional equipment to connect this cable to the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable like the gender changer pictured below.
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=765095-4&cs=04&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=30098&lid=674101
What resolutions does the Xbox 360 support?
When choosing a monitor for Xbox 360 gaming, it's important to check that it has one of the below listed resolutions as either a native or supported resolution. Most modern monitors in the 20'' range will have native resolutions higher than 1360x768, but that doesn't necessarily solve the problem. Trying to send a non-supported resolution into most monitors will lead to a muggy, badly scaled, and possibly out-of-frame-image.
Post NXE update, the Xbox 360 now supports 16:10 Aspect ratio (though this also displays with thin blacks bars top and bottom of the screen) and the following resolutions:
What is the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable?
The Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable allows you to showcase stunning Xbox 360 high-definition graphics on your PC monitor or HDTV using the input. You can also play high-quality audio through your stereo system, or PC/Integrated monitor speakers. You can route sound through your PC. You can also use the optical audio port for digital surround sound.
What are the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cables features?
What does the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable look like?
Here is a picture of the cable inside the packaging.
http://www.360maniac.com/images/xbox-360-vga-cable.gif
Here is a close up of the cable VGA and audio connectors
http://www.fundepots.com/images/XBOX%20360%20VGA%20HD%20AV%20CABLE%20WITH%20OPTICAL%20OUTPUT.jpg
If the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable only has the left and right (white and red) audio connectors, how do I connect it to a PC/integrated monitor/PC speakers?
The cable comes supplied with a 2x RCA phono female to 1x 3.5mm male jack audio adaptor that allows you to connect the left and right (white and red) audio connectors into a 1x 3.5mm jack. Here is a picture of the adaptor:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41odFl6ut0L._SL500_AA280_.jpg
How do I connect the Official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable to my Xbox 360 with my preferred setup of choice?
To connect to a monitor and home audio equipment:
If your sound system has a digital audio input port, use the digital audio port instead of the standard left and right audio input ports as digital audio input should produce higher-quality sound than analogue input produces.
Note: A digital audio cable is not included with the Xbox console. If you want to use digital audio, you must purchase this cable separately. An example of what a digital audio cable looks like can be found here:
http://www.accellcables.com/press/productImages/DigitalAudio_Cable.jpg
To connect your console to a digital audio system:
To connect to a monitor and PC speakers/integrated monitor speakers:
Note: Some speaker sets can use the red and white audio connectors. It is advised to use these where possible for better sound quality.
To connect to a PC and route sound through PC speakers:
Note: Your PC will always need to be switched on if you wish to hear sound from your speakers using this method.
Choosing a PC monitor
In this section I will raise some points about choosing a suitable PC monitor for your Xbox 360. Ultimately what you buy comes down to your general gaming needs, and your budget, but hopefully the information here will give you a much more informed idea of what to look for.
LCD or CRT?
CRT monitors have traditionally been recommended as the best gaming monitors due to their higher response times. But this can be seen as old news, because LCDs can nowadays easily handle fast-paced games with good response rates.
However buying a good enough LCD monitor for gaming might not be in your budget. So in this case you are better off sticking to a CRT display, which will give you a lot of bang for your buck. In the end, choosing between an LCD or CRT depends on your budget and your gaming needs.
Here is a list of the main advantages of LCD and CRT. When deciding between the two, choose the type that best suits your specific needs and your budget.
Advantages of LCD Monitors
Less power usage – An LCD monitor require less power than a CRT.
Smaller and lighter – LCD monitors are much thinner and lighter than CRTs, and they weigh less.
Easier on the eyes – Because of the way LCD displays work, they don’t flicker like CRT monitors and so they reduce eyestrain and headaches. Also, LCDs tend to display text better since they can produce sharper images than CRTs.
Advantages of CRT Monitors
Cheaper – CRT monitors are generally less expensive.
Better colour range – CRTs are known to more accurately represent different colours than LCDs.
Faster response – CRT displays also currently have the upper hand in displaying fast-paced graphics and video. They don’t suffer from LCD-specific problems like ghosting and blurring, and are still currently viewed by many as the best type of monitors for gaming.
Multiple Resolutions – CRT monitors can handle multiple resolutions without problems.
Less Fragile – CRT monitors are rugged and are harder to damage.
Panels
PC monitors normally have one of the following panels.
TN = considered the hardcore gaming monitor, lowest colour accuracy, fastest response time/input lag due to low need of processing. Worst viewing angles.
PVA/MVA = Highest contrast ratio, decent input lag/response time. Ghosting is an issue, blacks crush as well. If you don't know what black crushing is, it's basically details in darker areas merging together into a giant block, aka, black crush.
IPS= Best in terms of colour accuracy, faster response time than PVA/MVA, but not as fast as TN. Most expensive.
Response Rate
The response rate of an LCD monitor refers to how quickly each pixel on the screen can change color. The faster the response rate, the less ghosting you will experience. Ghosting is when the previous image displayed on the screen can still be seen as a blur for moments after the image has changed. Ghosting can be seen in fast-paced graphical applications such as games and videos.
When choosing an LCD monitor for gaming, the response rate is perhaps the single most important factor to consider. If you’re playing a fast-paced action game such as a first person shooter, when you look around quickly you will experience ghosting. This can ruin your overall gaming experience, depending on how severe the ghosting is. The faster the response rate, the less ghosting you will see.
An LCD with a response rate of 8ms (milliseconds) is the minimum for good gaming. Lower than 8ms is better if you can afford it. The very best gaming monitors on the market have extremely fast response rates (even as low as 2ms), completely avoiding ghosting altogether.
Viewing Angle
If you look at an LCD monitor from an angle, you will notice that the image appears dimmer and the colors can look weird. At extreme angles the entire image can even disappear. The viewing angle of an LCD monitor is the angle at which you can still view the screen clearly. So, the greater the viewing angle, the better.
HDMI, DVI, or VGA?
The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. HDMI supports, on a single cable, any TV or PC video format including standard, enhanced, and high-definition video along with up to 8 channels of digital audio. The Xbox 360 uses a HDMI 1.2 cable. HDMI is considered to be the best connection for gaming with a monitor but can also be quite expensive.
The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors. It is designed for carrying uncompressed digital video data to a display. It is partially compatible with the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard in digital mode (DVI-D). The only way to use DVI with the Xbox 360 is to buy a DVI Female to HDMI Male Video Adapter as shown below as Microsoft do not currently sell a DVI cable.
http://www.consolesandgadgets.com/catalog/images/HDMI_Female_to_DVI_%20Male_back.jpg
DVI is not considered to be as strong as HDMI due to only being partially compatible with HDMI, yet it does offer good quality.
The Video Graphics Array (VGA) has come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the 640×480 resolution itself. VGA was the last graphical standard introduced by IBM that the majority of PC clone manufacturers conformed to, making it today the most common connection that monitors support.. Microsoft currently sell an official Xbox 360 VGA HD AV cable. VGA is considered by many the weakest of the three, being an analogue signal and not digital, yet is also the most cost effective and can still pump out good quality images and keep up with response times.
Closing comments
Unreal Warfare wrote:Why use a monitor with my Xbox 360? Monitors deliver fantastic gaming graphics at high resolutions, as advances in manufacturing have dramatically lowered response times to the gaming-friendly 8ms-or-less range, and at an affordable price. Also if you have a PC you may already have a good monitor to game with, so why buy an expensive HDTV to game on when your monitor can produce impressive enough graphics as a display device, and save you the cost of buying a HDTV? A lot of monitors now are also big enough to still allow you to sit down in a nice comfortable armchair rather than at your desk.
Most monitors are made with TN budget panels. These panels are able to dish out some really low response times but suffer a bit in the viewing angles, and color reproduction. I say if you have the cash invest in a HDTV instead. Other than that monitors are great. ( I game on one)
Edit - Nice guide though.
Templar001 wrote:Not bad but wasn't there already a sticky?
Scythe X10 wrote:Most monitors are made with TN budget panels. These panels are able to dish out some really low response times but suffer a bit in the viewing angles, and color reproduction. I say if you have the cash invest in a HDTV instead. Other than that monitors are great. ( I game on one) Edit - Nice guide though.
Nielo TM wrote:In this day and age, it's better to use HDMI/DVI than VGA on monitors due to low quality ADCs.
The SeaWulf wrote:also note that using the 16:10 resolutions that the 360 outputs black bars on the top/bottom of the screen.Good guide though.
sixfootsxc wrote:This is all fine and dandy but I'd rather just use my HDMI cable on my monitor and receive audio.
Unreal Warfare wrote: sixfootsxc wrote:This is all fine and dandy but I'd rather just use my HDMI cable on my monitor and receive audio. As I said, I'll be covering HDMI in a further guide update that I have planned (hence the reserved space). For now I wanted to concentrate on the questions surrounding the use of the VGA cable that I see across alot of other boards as I'm sure there's plenty of info already concerning HDMI anyway. However as I said it is an intended update to be included later.
sixfootsxc wrote:Was making a light-hearted reference to the current HDMI issues with the new update :P
Templar001 wrote: Nielo TM wrote:In this day and age, it's better to use HDMI/DVI than VGA on monitors due to low quality ADCs.Oh for sure but with not everyone having an HDMI port VGA is definitly better than component.
Orionioni wrote:OK. So how do I get audio to work with my iiyama ProLite monitor with just an HDMI cable after the NXE update?It worked before.None of the known 'workarounds' work for me.Thanks in advance for the info.
Unreal Warfare wrote: Orionioni wrote:OK. So how do I get audio to work with my iiyama ProLite monitor with just an HDMI cable after the NXE update?It worked before.None of the known 'workarounds' work for me.Thanks in advance for the info.You're not the only person with this issue. It seems to be a NXE issue. If none of the workarounds have worked for you have you tried contacting Microsoft directly and asking them about the problem you're having?
Orionioni wrote:What's the ETA on the NXE patch?