-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
OG Xbox Appreciation and Lack of Emulation Thread of the big black box of doom
- Thread starter bishopcruz
- Start date
The whole "You NEED a crossover cable" thing was an issue back when the Xbox was new. I cant recall if it was an XP thing or a hardware thing, but nowadays things work a lot better and dont require it in this case.
On the topic of video quality, while I cant comment on subsampling, it should be noted that some Xboxes just output terrible video for some reason. Likely related to caps or some sort of other issue, but some of them just look awful.
On the topic of video quality, while I cant comment on subsampling, it should be noted that some Xboxes just output terrible video for some reason. Likely related to caps or some sort of other issue, but some of them just look awful.
Ah, good then. You won't have to worry about the filter.
I'm gonna have to retry the direct connection then and see if it'll work this time.
As for picture, I'm not content with "Some Xboxes just have bad picture." People say it sometimes like it's just some random, undetermined occurrence. What I have found points to the filter being the culprit based on some tantigible data. The data sheets I managed to find seem to indicate that the filter was employed variably between the different encoders.
I've seen the filter at work myself and it is horrendous. Washed out blacks, unsaturated colors. Luckily setting the box to progressive output, bypasses the filter (including some other processes) via component. Both my Xboxes have a beautiful progressive picture. Easily the best picture above gamecube for that generation, despite having the encoder with the most heavy handed application of the filter in 480i. Republic Commando has the quirk where it'll only output 480i, but turning off widescreen on the dash, puts the game into progressive.
Ugh, I hate the internet sometimes. I think I have a 1.6 so now I'm going to be super critical of the image. I need to open it up to verify, and to clean out some broken pieces of the case from shipping. I guess I'll find out then. First things first though, need to mod my SNES so I can play my SFC Axelay that arrived yesterday.
Honestly, I doubt its all of them. It's very anecdotal on my end. I can pull out all my Xboxes after I get moved and test them one by one. Maybe. I need to pull some clock caps too while Im at it.
Yeah no problem. I don't suspect mine has any issues, but knowing of it I will be looking at it closer now.
Kiddy Dong
Member
Borman, you have probably the best shot out of anyone to solve this mystery with the video encoders. A collection of in game screenshots comparing all the different encoders, using component cables and comparing 480i/480p, would be an extremely useful resource for Xbox collecting in the future. We could finally do away with anecdotal evidence and draw conclusions based on facts.
@televator: You don't need a special cable; I use a plain old Ethernet cable and it works just fine.
I was never able to get a standard Ethernet cable to work for FTP (Windows 7, CAT5e), so it is an issue. It's possible y'all just happen to be using crossover cables.
And, the whole 'anecdote' versus 'fact' thing is laughable. As long as you're competent and objective, there is no distinction between the two.
No trust me, I dont have any crossover cables here. And I do more with the network than most people. 99% of my Xbox time is spent directly connected to my PC, until recently anyway. It could be a network adapter issue. I simply create a network within windows and it assigns everything fine.
And my point about it being an anecdote is I havent really scientifically tested these things yet in any numbers. I just know the two 1.6 Xboxes that Ive used regularly haven't looked as nice. Ill go grab one off the shelf.
Edit: Cant find the darn Xboxes I need. I swear I only have like 27 or 28 of them now. The joys of moving.
And Sonic Extreme anyone?
The point is that you need to take a good sampling correctly in order to start making confident statements correlating various factors. "Anecdotes" are by definition are unreliable samplings. In this case, being "competent and objective" implies not relying on a few anecdotes.
Admitting that your info is based on anecdotal observation is not making a confident statement though. Sure I'd rather we have some proper documentation, but I wouldn't come down on him this hard for lacking substantial info. Especially in such a case as the 1.6 revision's Xcalibur encoder. It's known that there's no data sheets publicly available for this component.
However, I have just recently scored some yummy crumbs of info...
Apparently, the processor does not have the same overscan feature of the earlier ones and the edges of the frame will display offscreen. I suppose it depends on how your television handles it too.
Although docs don't exist, it's believed to be based on some design by this company.
Maybe that's the root of problem then. I played with my network quite a bit trying to get FTP to work, but the simplest solution was to just run the Xbox through a router. I don't have any crossover cables either.
That's just it though, in an instance with little supporting information, 'anecdotes' may be the only evidence available. The use of such info wouldn't be without confidence, it would simply be "low" confidence. Informed decision making from low confidence is still perfectly acceptable.
Will hex-editing the XBE for a game allow me to play it in progressive on a newer version Xbox?
Gun Metal is the game I'm having problems with. I can't find its hex values anywhere either.
Edit: It's one of those games that you can get to display correctly anyway by loading into the game itself!
Still would be good to know.
Gun Metal is the game I'm having problems with. I can't find its hex values anywhere either.
Edit: It's one of those games that you can get to display correctly anyway by loading into the game itself!
Still would be good to know.
@televator I'm looking to get a component to hdmi conveter and a lot of them mention being 24-bit colour depth, I should keep an eye out for one that has 10-bit per channel/32-bit if I want the best out of the xbox, correct? Just checking that even thought the xbox does 32-bit it would also be sending that down the component without any loss.
EDIT: I got a reply from Fudoh, xbox's 32-bit colour might be (24bit+8 bit Alpha), although he wasn't 100%
EDIT: I got a reply from Fudoh, xbox's 32-bit colour might be (24bit+8 bit Alpha), although he wasn't 100%
Yes, bit depth is minimally impacted by sub sampling as far as visible artifacts like color banding despite the general loss in minute gradients. This is why IMO bit depth >> sub sampling. Definitely try to find a 32bit converter.
Edit: Fudoh may be right, but it doesn't hurt to have to potentially go over.
sixteen-bit
Member
yeah 60fps goes a long way
blast processed
Member
Speaking of Tony Hawk games, anybody play this?
I only played the demo which was just Andy's room, but it seemed pretty solid.
I only played the demo which was just Andy's room, but it seemed pretty solid.
MikeHattsu
Member
It's much much easier than any of the Tony Hawk games of course, but it's good as long as you can stand the soundtrack.
blast processed
Member
Not a Smash Mouth fan?
Yep, played it on PS2, I didn't even know there was an Xbox version.=O
Just import it. As long as your Xbox is moded, you should be able to play it fine. I use the unleash X dash to play my PAL copy of Shadow of Memories over here on my NTSC box with NTSC settings. It will allow you to switch your PAL box into NTSC display mode too.
I plan to, I think I've had one saved in my watch list for a looong time, just trying to get the Wii off the ground and working on my pc crt before looking into the xbox; thankfully it's already modded. I really can't wait to see JSRF, Orta and PGR2 on my monitor.
I just have to be patient and wait for the GARO transcoder to come out, supposedly out in a months time.
I'm getting around to messing with the other Xbox to document my process of cloning the HDD. Still no dice on FTP via direct connection method. Y'all who say it's not an issue probably used a crossover cable without realizing.
Edit: Damn, I ended up corrupting my socket registries trying to make it work... Okay, that's enough of that. Router is the better way.
Edit: Damn, I ended up corrupting my socket registries trying to make it work... Okay, that's enough of that. Router is the better way.
Got everything going on my PC again. That was not fun. As a trail to make sure everything was going smoothly again, I FTP'd a patch file for KOTOR. It worked perfectly. Turns out it seems to have patched the game to run slightly more smoothly and there are even what I swear are nicer graphical effects. Wasn't expecting that. The main attraction to the patch is the DLC add on for Yavin.
Trust me, didnt use a crossover cable.
MikeHattsu
Member
Could be they got a computer with an Auto MDI-X NIC while yours doesn't.
My PC is old as dirt, so yeah. It could definitely be a hardware difference.
Kiddy Dong
Member
Anyone know what replacement hard drive would yield the best performance in an Xbox? I'm not sure what specs I should be looking out for.
Honestly, most newer drives are more than enough as the bottleneck will be the PATA connection. A Solid State Drive would eliminate moving parts, making it last longer, but you won't see any difference in speed. The biggest performance boost will come from using an 80 wire ribbon cable (rather than the stock 40 wire).
I have some spare ribbon cables... How do you ID and 80 wire Vs 40?
Edit: 80 wire are thinner wires. I changed out my 40 wire for an 80 pin just now. It is a bit faster loading KotOR off the HDD.
Kiddy Dong
Member
So you can just swap out the stock ide cable for an 80 wire, nothing else needs to be done?
It's 720p on Xbox. Worth to play if you like Tony Hawk games.
Yep. Nothing special to it. After some more playing of KOTOR, the difference really is significant. With the 40 pin, the load screen would hang at around 30% for like 2 seconds, then slowly commence loading. With the 80 pin, it loads at a faster and more consistent pace.
wooops, I don't know how I missed this post, sorry.
The issue isn't connecting headsets to the xbox (I can do through my capture card), but getting surround sound. The headset I'm talking about only has virtual (ie: "fake") surround sound and that feature only works on PS3/PS4, and on PC through third-party programs. Otherwise it,s just stereo. Though unlikely, I was wondering if there's any headset that could actually output surround sound with the oiriginal xbox.
MiniBossman
Member
Anyone know the length of the IDE ribbon cable?
~16 inches
My replacement 80 pin one was about an inch or two short so I had to get creative in how to route it, but I made it work in the end.