"I received 3 extra flex cables"... - We saw the Wii video 😂Joking aside we're glad that you were able to get everything sorted out and running in HD! And we're always available if you, or anyone else, has any questions. One of the biggest selling points for us of the XboxHD+ is what we like to call the 'plus features'. While other solutions and other mods focus just on the output, the XboxHD+ is also laser-focused on adding additional features that are only possible with our software/hardware combinations. - Native frame buffer output that can completely bypass the built-in output scaler. (Reducing blurriness in the output image) - Native 480P output on all titles. A large part of the Original Xbox's library only runs in interlaced and our software outputs all titles natively in progressive. (Which isn't possible with any other setup) - Fixes games and kernel bugs. Did you that there are over 20 titles that refuse to run at all or with severe graphical issues on the 1.6 revision of the Xbox? The XboxHD+ fixes all of those with no need for patching games. We're also constantly working on new and exciting features!
When putting thermal compound directly on a bare die without a heat spreader, it's best to try and ensure the paste is covering the entirety of the die rather than relying on mounting pressure to spread the paste. Any uncovered points could become a hot spot very quickly
To me it looks like it could’ve used more thermal paste in general. But yes spreading thermal paste is very important for chips without a heat spreader. It also won’t hurt with chips that do have an IHS, the whole “trapped air bubbles” thing is a myth, or at least not noticeable. With socketed desktop CPUs there is also a surprising amount of pressure between the IHS and the cooler.
@@fqdn Unless the paste is conducive, there is almost never too much paste unless you like literally pour a gallon on. There is, however, a point of too little, and people like you said do this way too much on laptop CPU/GPUs or other exposed die situations. 90% of pastes are, at worst, messy. If you put too much, you wipe a bit, that's it. Too little and you have to reapply it entirely, which means you wasted paste. It might be cheap but who wants to reapply this crap?
I had the best luck with a super cheap one off Amazon. My PC would take a long while for the HDD to be detected with a StarTech one, before I switched to a cheaper, less good-looking random option off Amazon. But that was 2015, now is now, and I don't know what it was even made by or what chip it used, or if it's even still in production.
@@tsuyunobradley4439 I have a StarTech adapter, boot is instant after the MS logo appears on my softmodded Xbox. Maybe they changed the chips in a later batch?
@@R4dm1n Yeah, I'm wondering the same because I have never had issues with StarTech devices personally. Though tbf, I've never tried their SATA to IDE adapter because I've never had a need.
In addition to the HD pack, Microsoft released just straight component cables at the end of the system's life; the heads are metal and black. I have these and they work pretty well, but they have the Death Grip.
@@wadewilson6628 I just looked up the cables but mine are definitely the Microsoft cables. It could be my switcher is to blame, but pulling out always makes me feel I'm about to break something.
I recommend using electrical contact cleaner to remove stubborn thermal paste. Whatever the solvents in it are just do wonders to dissolve it, works so much better than IPA. (I discovered this bc of a thermal paste stain that I couldn't remove any other way)
In retail kits of thermal paste remover, it’s typically a citrus based solvent in one bottle, and IPA on the 2nd bottle. Citrus based solvents are used widely in circuit board refurb/repairs.
@@rockstopsthetraffic Arctic silver has Arctic clean as a 2 stage cleaner and one of the stages is definitely a citrus based cleaner. It may have IPA and/or lighter fluid as well but there's definitely a citrus component to it. And it performs way better than just IPA
@@AlistairBrugsch it performs better than isopropanol in that case, sure, but does it perform better than naphtha? In my experience many of the solvents that go to great lengths to claim that they are "citrus-based" and obscure other ingredients are in fact still mostly naphtha (or similar). Your grandfather's Ronsonol, with the smell covered up by some lemon oil.
it's just better to make the system work under heavy load so the grease and heatsink get hot. very easy to remove like that and no extra tools required.
Yes, one of the AV jumpers does let it know you have a video cable connected and the other one lets it know you have component cables to enable HD and 480p output.
Next time before desoldering with the gun apply some fresh solder to points you are going to work on, solder will flow easier and it should be a bit easier to remove :)
All I can say if anyone does decide to do this mod, read through the instructions several times before starting off so you know what you're doing, don't skip steps as they are all in there for a reason, and the MakeMHz Discord is full of people willing to help including the creator of the mod. That Discord saved my bacon a few times with this mod.
Word of advice about the slow boot time theres a good chance it has something to do with how your drive is partitioned there is a bug in the partitioning tool that fails to format. I ran into slow boot times with one of my builds and it turned out xbox was hanging trying to read that partition then eventually giving up and booting.
I did the Wii2hdmi Xbox mod (After mucking up the XOSVP mod). I've been happy with it, but would love to see a comparison between the outputs of the HDMI Mod shown here and the Wii2hdmi Xbox mod.
While this is probably the best HDMI solution for the original Xbox. I highly recommend the Chimeric Systems HDMI. Its literally plug and play and about half the cost. Only downside is that it took me a year to get it. Also add the Mclassic and be prepared to be blow away at how good Xbox games can look.
It's the most pointless mod ever. The colours are washed out compared to component cables due to the mod 'emulating' a HDMI signal. This video is full of copium.
It's a lot easier to remove those heatsinks if the system has been running before for a couple of minutes, so the paste is still warm. To remove the gluey old paste, use white gas or liquid barbeque lighter. It breaks down the chemicals better. Anyone tried the HDMI mod with a TSOP'ed system yet?
Good video, as always. One thing that could be an issue is if the Xbox has had the RAM upgraded to 128MB. I read that this HDMI mod won’t work in a 128MB box because the patched BIOS doesn’t support it. This may have been resolved by now, but definitely worth checking with the manufacturer before buying.
I found an official xbox component pack at some used computer store for $5 once, and despite me not owning an xbox at the time, I bought it, then forgot about it. Then after maybe a year of owning an xbox, I saw an MVG video mention how it's the best way to get video from an original xbox, and then it hit me like a truck after he showed the prices of them on ebay cause I realized "oh s***, don't I own that?". And indeed I did, and this video really made me appreciate it more cause soldering is my worst nightmare and going back to those cheap component cables is pure hell. It's a shame that now your only options are either spend $80 on a cable for a 20 year old system, take your entire console apart to add a modchip and do some precise soldering, or live with garbage picture quality.
Amazing video! Another interesting alternative has come out recently. Someone has been taking the xbox 360 component cables and fitting the original xbox av connector on them. I've got one and it's a big step up from the cheap China cables!
This is imo why modchips are still king when it comes to the original XBOX. It provides a lot of brickproofing for when the disc drive inevitably dies, and just being able to toss in a hard drive without having to deal with the HDD locking stuff and using something like CHIMP is honestly just so good.
You should also get in the habit of using wick to clean contacts down to the bare copper & then re-tinning them with fresh solder, even if they aren't to be used (to prevent corrosion). Solder cross-contamination/dried out fluxless crust will cause britility.
What a great video! Picked up a soldering iron and put a new screen in a GBA SP after watching your Gameboy repair videos. Hoping to do HDMI mods when I get more experience!
16:11 "And composite is about the lowest form of A/V transmission possible" The original XBox actually had an RF adapter option available from Microsoft if you wanted to play through coaxial, where all three of composite's analog signals would instead be shared inside of just a single copper cable. Obviously only really practical if you have a TV whose other ports are already filled up by more important things, or a TV that's too old to even have composite on it. The 360 also had such an option surprisingly. Also, I love that this video came out the day after I commented on the last XBox video and mentioned this mod. This is a really cool one! I just love that somebody went through all the effort to map out all of the digital circuitry that would be required for this to work, and then even created such a high quality solution for it. It allows the XBox's surprisingly powerful hardware for the time to really shine, and games that rendered internally at 720p or 1080i back in the day can now also output at those resolutions from the XBox because of this mod.
loved this video! that mod is too complicated for me though. making your own higher quality component cables is easier (when splicing a cheap original xbox component cable with oem xbox 360 component cables) and yields great results as well. also, it's not that expensive
"They made this shit so hard to get off that at least one person managed to damage their chips trying to remove them" I wonder if you had came across one of my old now-deleted Reddit posts where I mentioned that, hah. I ended up having to get a whole new Xbox after that, definitely learned my lesson with that one lmao. Great video.
I highly recommend re-capping your board while you have it open to do this mod, a lot of those caps in the original xbox(not just the clock cap) are pretty cheap and bound to fail eventually, recap it now and it will last another ~20 years.
I got the HD AV pack and being able to use my Xbox on my Trinitron CRT at 480p/720p/1080i with Dolby Digital through optical is awesome. Also using HD Retrovision component.
This was super fun to watch. Now I wanna get an OG xbox and do the same thing. Working on / with consoles of the 6th generation gives me such a sweet nostalgia feeling
I did a couple of the original XboxHDMI. My advice for removing the AV port is to use a multimeter to find all the power/ground pins and hit those with EXTRA heat. I also had to preheat with another iron and quickly switch to my desolder gun.
Realistically DisplayPort deserved to be the dominant digital plug but HDMI just has unfair industry strongarm on its side. Anyway I leave my Xbox unmolested because I use it with the A/V pack on a CRT so HDMI wouldn't benefit me. My friend wanted to do it (with the Xbox I modded and gave to him) but kept putting it off so eventually I bought him a cheapo Pound HDMI cable as a gift. Seems to get decent returns. We would have both preferred to get a Chimeric Systems HDMI cable but the waiting list for those is into the thousands.
For the Chimeric I'm currently at 853 and he no longer takes people in the queue to catch up (I started 1512 on November 6th 2021).. One other option is the Hyperkin cable that does the job for me. I'd rather wait and play other games while I get the Chimeric cable.. I also don't think that investing in all that soldering + gaining experience + then doing the mod makes sense to most people.
10:25 those points being bridged not only trick the xbox into thinking there's a cable connected, but it specifically thinks that there's the advanced HD pack connected to it which gives you access to 720p and 1080i.
Use desolder wick even if you use the gun. You also need flux & occasionally additional solder to 'loosen things up'. Ground plane points require additional contact time due to thermal absorbtion.
Back in the day I got a third party component box (like the official MS one), and to this day it's what I've used, fantastic quality even in 720p games. But new TV's don't even have component anymore so this mod is probably in my future, installation seems lengthy but that's par for the course with these HDMI mods for any console. Great vid!
I would love to see a follow up video regarding the open source component solution you mentioned. Though I imagine it would be sort of redundant for you since you have this mod, if nothing else it would serve as a great demonstration of the component solution. Unfortunately I'm stuck using the composite cables myself, and I am not confident enough in my skills yet to attempt this mod on my only Xbox. Anyway, great video and outstanding visuals of the comparison at the end!
I feel the best option when it comes to retro video games is to play on original hardware with the most optimal monitor for a system. This means owning multiple televisions or monitors throughout your collections without the need for upscalers, mods or converters. Most people are trying to force NES or Dreamcast on modern flat screens when that will never give the ideal overall experience. Depending on the systems generation, there are better options than mods or converters that provide the top experience. For instance professional plasma tvs provide the best contrast levels, blacks and whites. Professional level CRTs add scan lines and pixel definition. Vintage VGA computer monitors offer rich colors. There are good features found in all forms of technology. None of them are dead but many are impossible nowadays to find. In my opinion the best feature of modern panels are convenience, brightness and size, however you loose some of the magic.
I got the first public XOSVP and absolutely adore it. No modding of the console, and picture looks fantastic. Do run into the issue of the new main TV not having any component but that's why I have other TVs around the house :)
The heatsinks weren't that hard to remove originally. But over 20 years, it has hardened up and dried out, acting like super glue. I recommend using modern Arctic MX thermal paste, not the cheap stuff like Microsoft did. You shouldn't have an issue in the future, but always have a heat gun or blow dryer on hand.
The idea of the official component cables being worth something now is funny to me. Cus they just came with my Xbox when I bought it years ago and I didn't think much of it. Can't vouch for HDMI, but the official component is still such a huge leap over composite. Very crisp
You don't have to remove the standard av port to make it work. On the microcontroller (Pic I think, also power and eject come there) there are 3 pins for video output selection mode. You need to switch 2 of them to ground when you use HD video mode. With these 2 switchable it is possible to select the video output mode. There is enough space above the av-port to add a hole for the hdmi port and use a bracket for the pcb. Or make a Dongle with the bridges in them for in the av port.
I love modding consoles. Got some 3D printers to make those slick connectors shrouds and internal mounts. I really should be documenting more of that stuff...
something i did as a good middle road is to mod an xbox 360 component video cable with the end off a regular xbox av cable, all the pins are there and all it takes is to rewire the cable to the right pins
9:33 Fun fact: The word for throwing something/someone out of a window is "Defenestration". So you would've defenestrated both your Xbox, AND yourself.
I love my OG Xbox. I had one back in the day. I softmodded it. But I was a broke teenager so I kinda just stuck with the 8 GB HDD. Never even backed up the eeprom. The HDD crashed and my box was a brick because I didn't have the skills to solder nor the money to pay someone else. So I just sold it for parts. Back in 2020 though I started a project and basically built an Xbox. Found an Xbox on ebay with a crashed HDD. Same issue as my old one haha. I also bought a clear case and blue LED kit for it, an OpenXenium modchip, and a 2 TB HDD. I now have a decent amount of experience soldering and was able to accomplish the hard mod. Got the box running again with a nice big HDD and a pretty case upgrade. I also bought the Hyperkin HDMI cable for it. The HDMI mod here looks tempting, but I'd rather keep that part of it stock. That way in case I run into any good CRT monitors that have component built in I can use component cables. The Hyperkin HDMI cable isn't perfect but it's good enough.
@@jetcoughlogo5752 Not all, but most of the major ones. Heck even some titles from before HD supported it because of big screen TVs (Goldeneye and PD come to mind). That said, there where some notable exceptions and I think the Xbox version of Most Wanted was one of them.
TV settings, game settings, and/or dashboard settings. Set to 4:3, unless the game itself supports 16:9. This will work until the developers of the mod add a bordered/"Maintain Aspect Ratio" option.
thank you for taking the time to do this and put us step by step through it. i love what you do and its something I'm very well interested in. i build computers from scrap for fun. and id love to to find a way to turn my scrap computers into something !
Hey there Matt, may I suggest upscaling your videos to 4K before uploading them to YT? I think you can do it in OBS though I haven't figured the best ratio between quality and size when initially recording in 1080p myself. Still, channels like DigitalFoundry show that at 4K YT mangles these older systems output a lot less. If you have the spare HDD space to do it, it will massively improve the output from 6th gen consoles and below. 1080p output on YT is extremely mushy by comparison. In any case, great video, love your production!
I bought a O.G. Xbox when they where on sale and i was always into getting the best picture quality in HD so i bought the Monster cables Component cables for the Xbox and it looks really good with no drop out issues and the cables also came with an digital optical out port and fiber optic cable for digital surround sound I do have a Sony 27inch CRT TV that is for Retro gaming and I also have a 2014 40inch Samsung 4k TV that has one Component input and the picture looks great. I will buy this mod and sit on it just in case i decide to use it in the future but sure do seems like a lot of work but for those who dont have a component jack TV or cables i defiantly see how this is a must. P.S.......He didn't put enough Thermal paste on the GPU it a big chip and the X method on applying should be used for proper coverage.
You should really do a comparison between this and the XOSVP cable adaptor... If I knew how to solder, and could afford any of these native HDMI mods, I'd have converted all of my consoles to native HDMI, this looks really quite good...
I just went with a Pound HDMI cable... I've heard complaints, but I've personally been pretty happy with it. Prior to that I had Monster component cables, and while they certainly worked, those things are comically thick. It's like you're connecting garden hoses to your Xbox!
Wait, that black screen issue is kinda what I have with the cable that came with my monitor, along with a lot of other issues but some of them were before I got this monitor and cable
Incredible detailed video. Thanks for it I'm just looking for something like this. Do you noticed any input lag with widescreen or by switching to hdmi?
cheap component was blown out because its ycbcr. y is brightness, cb and cr are blue-difference and red-difference so i would imagine brightly-coloured signals through low quality cables would leak emr both before and after the tv sees the corresponding brightness data due to inductance i believe. i think this is why hdmi uses comparatively higher voltage and as a standard is way more well shielded afaik.
I have a Monster Cable (non-cheap?) XBOX component cable and I've had zero issues with it. I've even been able to run some games in 1080i. I'd love to HDMI mod my XBOX, but I'll stick with this cable for now.
"I received 3 extra flex cables"... - We saw the Wii video 😂Joking aside we're glad that you were able to get everything sorted out and running in HD! And we're always available if you, or anyone else, has any questions.
One of the biggest selling points for us of the XboxHD+ is what we like to call the 'plus features'. While other solutions and other mods focus just on the output, the XboxHD+ is also laser-focused on adding additional features that are only possible with our software/hardware combinations.
- Native frame buffer output that can completely bypass the built-in output scaler. (Reducing blurriness in the output image)
- Native 480P output on all titles. A large part of the Original Xbox's library only runs in interlaced and our software outputs all titles natively in progressive. (Which isn't possible with any other setup)
- Fixes games and kernel bugs. Did you that there are over 20 titles that refuse to run at all or with severe graphical issues on the 1.6 revision of the Xbox? The XboxHD+ fixes all of those with no need for patching games.
We're also constantly working on new and exciting features!
OOOOOOHHH ITS THE TEAM ITSELF
That's really cool, keep up the great work.
This should be pinned:).
@@Omega_Mark wish granted
Ok
Do I own an Xbox? No. Do I plan on owning an Xbox? No. Do I ever plan on modding hardware? No. I just love Matt's delivery and content.
This. :D
Same! 😂
Same
Same
Same
Epic Bro. I loved modding back in that console generation. Crazy to see people are still creating mods for the original Xbox today.
he he nobody knows it's future timeline pewdiepie except me
i did not expect to see you here!
@@RedNoise-hz5nh Same
@@RedNoise-hz5nhPewDiePie is a famous video game streamer. He's everywhere; even India
I love your content it's so enjoyable, didn't expect you in here aswell
When putting thermal compound directly on a bare die without a heat spreader, it's best to try and ensure the paste is covering the entirety of the die rather than relying on mounting pressure to spread the paste. Any uncovered points could become a hot spot very quickly
To me it looks like it could’ve used more thermal paste in general. But yes spreading thermal paste is very important for chips without a heat spreader. It also won’t hurt with chips that do have an IHS, the whole “trapped air bubbles” thing is a myth, or at least not noticeable. With socketed desktop CPUs there is also a surprising amount of pressure between the IHS and the cooler.
@@fqdn Unless the paste is conducive, there is almost never too much paste unless you like literally pour a gallon on. There is, however, a point of too little, and people like you said do this way too much on laptop CPU/GPUs or other exposed die situations.
90% of pastes are, at worst, messy. If you put too much, you wipe a bit, that's it. Too little and you have to reapply it entirely, which means you wasted paste. It might be cheap but who wants to reapply this crap?
Wrong. Spreading it creates air pockets. Boomer PC builders think that spreading it is the best way. It's simply not.
You need to replace the IDE to SATA adapter with a different one of another kind/brand so that you will have no boot delay at all, believe me.
Agreed. It’s likely the adapter causing the issue.
I had the best luck with a super cheap one off Amazon. My PC would take a long while for the HDD to be detected with a StarTech one, before I switched to a cheaper, less good-looking random option off Amazon. But that was 2015, now is now, and I don't know what it was even made by or what chip it used, or if it's even still in production.
@@tsuyunobradley4439 I have a StarTech adapter, boot is instant after the MS logo appears on my softmodded Xbox. Maybe they changed the chips in a later batch?
@@R4dm1n Yeah, I'm wondering the same because I have never had issues with StarTech devices personally. Though tbf, I've never tried their SATA to IDE adapter because I've never had a need.
In addition to the HD pack, Microsoft released just straight component cables at the end of the system's life; the heads are metal and black. I have these and they work pretty well, but they have the Death Grip.
@@wadewilson6628 I just looked up the cables but mine are definitely the Microsoft cables. It could be my switcher is to blame, but pulling out always makes me feel I'm about to break something.
i once broke a phone because a charger had a death grip, the contact of the charger detached and got stuck in the port
I have those cables too, I don't understand why they made them that way with a death grip. I almost broke the cables trying to remove them.
Cables with the DNA of gothic lemons
6:37 "none xboxhd+ patched bios" gives off major none pizza left beef vibes
I understand, I don’t know why but I do
I recommend using electrical contact cleaner to remove stubborn thermal paste. Whatever the solvents in it are just do wonders to dissolve it, works so much better than IPA. (I discovered this bc of a thermal paste stain that I couldn't remove any other way)
In retail kits of thermal paste remover, it’s typically a citrus based solvent in one bottle, and IPA on the 2nd bottle. Citrus based solvents are used widely in circuit board refurb/repairs.
@@brkbtjunkie "citrus based" lol usually the active ingredient in stuff like goo gone is actually lighter fluid.
@@rockstopsthetraffic Arctic silver has Arctic clean as a 2 stage cleaner and one of the stages is definitely a citrus based cleaner. It may have IPA and/or lighter fluid as well but there's definitely a citrus component to it. And it performs way better than just IPA
@@AlistairBrugsch it performs better than isopropanol in that case, sure, but does it perform better than naphtha? In my experience many of the solvents that go to great lengths to claim that they are "citrus-based" and obscure other ingredients are in fact still mostly naphtha (or similar). Your grandfather's Ronsonol, with the smell covered up by some lemon oil.
it's just better to make the system work under heavy load so the grease and heatsink get hot.
very easy to remove like that and no extra tools required.
My Xbox av port died, I know you were only joking when you said “if you need a spare av port, hit me up”, but I actually do need one!
Yes, one of the AV jumpers does let it know you have a video cable connected and the other one lets it know you have component cables to enable HD and 480p output.
Next time before desoldering with the gun apply some fresh solder to points you are going to work on, solder will flow easier and it should be a bit easier to remove :)
All I can say if anyone does decide to do this mod, read through the instructions several times before starting off so you know what you're doing, don't skip steps as they are all in there for a reason, and the MakeMHz Discord is full of people willing to help including the creator of the mod. That Discord saved my bacon a few times with this mod.
Word of advice about the slow boot time theres a good chance it has something to do with how your drive is partitioned there is a bug in the partitioning tool that fails to format. I ran into slow boot times with one of my builds and it turned out xbox was hanging trying to read that partition then eventually giving up and booting.
I did the Wii2hdmi Xbox mod (After mucking up the XOSVP mod). I've been happy with it, but would love to see a comparison between the outputs of the HDMI Mod shown here and the Wii2hdmi Xbox mod.
I did that one as well, and I really do love the quality it gives.
While this is probably the best HDMI solution for the original Xbox. I highly recommend the Chimeric Systems HDMI. Its literally plug and play and about half the cost. Only downside is that it took me a year to get it. Also add the Mclassic and be prepared to be blow away at how good Xbox games can look.
It's the most pointless mod ever. The colours are washed out compared to component cables due to the mod 'emulating' a HDMI signal. This video is full of copium.
@@WardenOfTerrahonestly this comment sounds of copium
8:14 I love how every "F*ck" in this video is censored, but "Sons of Bitches" gets through
It's a lot easier to remove those heatsinks if the system has been running before for a couple of minutes, so the paste is still warm. To remove the gluey old paste, use white gas or liquid barbeque lighter. It breaks down the chemicals better. Anyone tried the HDMI mod with a TSOP'ed system yet?
No way. Just use 99% isopropanol alcohol.
He does actually do this at 8:32.
Good video, as always. One thing that could be an issue is if the Xbox has had the RAM upgraded to 128MB. I read that this HDMI mod won’t work in a 128MB box because the patched BIOS doesn’t support it. This may have been resolved by now, but definitely worth checking with the manufacturer before buying.
128 MB RAM.
Almost unbelievable that my Desktop CPU now has just as much L3 cache.
Just did this mod a couple of days ago, install is super simple and the output is really good. love it
I found an official xbox component pack at some used computer store for $5 once, and despite me not owning an xbox at the time, I bought it, then forgot about it. Then after maybe a year of owning an xbox, I saw an MVG video mention how it's the best way to get video from an original xbox, and then it hit me like a truck after he showed the prices of them on ebay cause I realized "oh s***, don't I own that?". And indeed I did, and this video really made me appreciate it more cause soldering is my worst nightmare and going back to those cheap component cables is pure hell. It's a shame that now your only options are either spend $80 on a cable for a 20 year old system, take your entire console apart to add a modchip and do some precise soldering, or live with garbage picture quality.
Amazing video!
Another interesting alternative has come out recently. Someone has been taking the xbox 360 component cables and fitting the original xbox av connector on them. I've got one and it's a big step up from the cheap China cables!
This is imo why modchips are still king when it comes to the original XBOX. It provides a lot of brickproofing for when the disc drive inevitably dies, and just being able to toss in a hard drive without having to deal with the HDD locking stuff and using something like CHIMP is honestly just so good.
You finally use flux while soldering! I'm proud of you Matt
You should also get in the habit of using wick to clean contacts down to the bare copper & then re-tinning them with fresh solder, even if they aren't to be used (to prevent corrosion). Solder cross-contamination/dried out fluxless crust will cause britility.
What a great video! Picked up a soldering iron and put a new screen in a GBA SP after watching your Gameboy repair videos. Hoping to do HDMI mods when I get more experience!
Love these hdmi mods, I got one of the last HD CRTs with HDMI and this type of mod lets you connect it up just like an Xbone etc for me
16:11 "And composite is about the lowest form of A/V transmission possible" The original XBox actually had an RF adapter option available from Microsoft if you wanted to play through coaxial, where all three of composite's analog signals would instead be shared inside of just a single copper cable. Obviously only really practical if you have a TV whose other ports are already filled up by more important things, or a TV that's too old to even have composite on it. The 360 also had such an option surprisingly.
Also, I love that this video came out the day after I commented on the last XBox video and mentioned this mod. This is a really cool one! I just love that somebody went through all the effort to map out all of the digital circuitry that would be required for this to work, and then even created such a high quality solution for it. It allows the XBox's surprisingly powerful hardware for the time to really shine, and games that rendered internally at 720p or 1080i back in the day can now also output at those resolutions from the XBox because of this mod.
loved this video! that mod is too complicated for me though.
making your own higher quality component cables is easier (when splicing a cheap original xbox component cable with oem xbox 360 component cables) and yields great results as well. also, it's not that expensive
That's exactly what l did. It's a great budget option and the quality is good as well.
"They made this shit so hard to get off that at least one person managed to damage their chips trying to remove them" I wonder if you had came across one of my old now-deleted Reddit posts where I mentioned that, hah. I ended up having to get a whole new Xbox after that, definitely learned my lesson with that one lmao. Great video.
11:40 you should really spread the thermalpaste on die's, if even a tiny bit of a die's corner gets left without paste it could mean big trouble
Solder braid works best with lots of flux and HIGH heat on the iron. A little blob of solder on the tip of the iron to start it all off helps too.
I highly recommend re-capping your board while you have it open to do this mod, a lot of those caps in the original xbox(not just the clock cap) are pretty cheap and bound to fail eventually, recap it now and it will last another ~20 years.
I got the HD AV pack and being able to use my Xbox on my Trinitron CRT at 480p/720p/1080i with Dolby Digital through optical is awesome. Also using HD Retrovision component.
I havent watched your videos in a year, I saw this on my recommended and i just remebered how good your vids are.
@16:00 With hdmi you can even see lines for what I think is the radiator and the seat in the car is more well defined through the windshield!
Wearing an SGC tee brought tears to my eyes. I miss that con so much
Appreciated the nod to SCART… it was a really cool connector for its time
The Segway to the sponsor PCBWay was cleaner than the Segway to Linus’s sponsors. Clean job Matt loving the vids
Entertaining to see how you ran into the same issues as me repasting the chips. I felt like an idiot doing it recently.
This was super fun to watch. Now I wanna get an OG xbox and do the same thing.
Working on / with consoles of the 6th generation gives me such a sweet nostalgia feeling
I did a couple of the original XboxHDMI. My advice for removing the AV port is to use a multimeter to find all the power/ground pins and hit those with EXTRA heat. I also had to preheat with another iron and quickly switch to my desolder gun.
Realistically DisplayPort deserved to be the dominant digital plug but HDMI just has unfair industry strongarm on its side.
Anyway I leave my Xbox unmolested because I use it with the A/V pack on a CRT so HDMI wouldn't benefit me. My friend wanted to do it (with the Xbox I modded and gave to him) but kept putting it off so eventually I bought him a cheapo Pound HDMI cable as a gift. Seems to get decent returns.
We would have both preferred to get a Chimeric Systems HDMI cable but the waiting list for those is into the thousands.
For the Chimeric I'm currently at 853 and he no longer takes people in the queue to catch up (I started 1512 on November 6th 2021)..
One other option is the Hyperkin cable that does the job for me. I'd rather wait and play other games while I get the Chimeric cable.. I also don't think that investing in all that soldering + gaining experience + then doing the mod makes sense to most people.
Displayport is literally the display port
babe wake up MattKC uploaded
or made the patreon early video public
This is awesome! I have an old XBOX with XBMC, which I stopped using because of the noise, you opened up a new world, thanks!
10:25 those points being bridged not only trick the xbox into thinking there's a cable connected, but it specifically thinks that there's the advanced HD pack connected to it which gives you access to 720p and 1080i.
Use desolder wick even if you use the gun. You also need flux & occasionally additional solder to 'loosen things up'. Ground plane points require additional contact time due to thermal absorbtion.
Back in the day I got a third party component box (like the official MS one), and to this day it's what I've used, fantastic quality even in 720p games. But new TV's don't even have component anymore so this mod is probably in my future, installation seems lengthy but that's par for the course with these HDMI mods for any console. Great vid!
I would love to see a follow up video regarding the open source component solution you mentioned. Though I imagine it would be sort of redundant for you since you have this mod, if nothing else it would serve as a great demonstration of the component solution. Unfortunately I'm stuck using the composite cables myself, and I am not confident enough in my skills yet to attempt this mod on my only Xbox. Anyway, great video and outstanding visuals of the comparison at the end!
I feel the best option when it comes to retro video games is to play on original hardware with the most optimal monitor for a system. This means owning multiple televisions or monitors throughout your collections without the need for upscalers, mods or converters. Most people are trying to force NES or Dreamcast on modern flat screens when that will never give the ideal overall experience. Depending on the systems generation, there are better options than mods or converters that provide the top experience. For instance professional plasma tvs provide the best contrast levels, blacks and whites. Professional level CRTs add scan lines and pixel definition. Vintage VGA computer monitors offer rich colors. There are good features found in all forms of technology. None of them are dead but many are impossible nowadays to find. In my opinion the best feature of modern panels are convenience, brightness and size, however you loose some of the magic.
Good to see you take on a challenging mod. You seem to have much more patience now.
I got the first public XOSVP and absolutely adore it. No modding of the console, and picture looks fantastic. Do run into the issue of the new main TV not having any component but that's why I have other TVs around the house :)
The heatsinks weren't that hard to remove originally. But over 20 years, it has hardened up and dried out, acting like super glue.
I recommend using modern Arctic MX thermal paste, not the cheap stuff like Microsoft did. You shouldn't have an issue in the future, but always have a heat gun or blow dryer on hand.
Heat gun? No. Just use isopropanol alcohol.
The idea of the official component cables being worth something now is funny to me. Cus they just came with my Xbox when I bought it years ago and I didn't think much of it.
Can't vouch for HDMI, but the official component is still such a huge leap over composite. Very crisp
Love this UA-cam channel, console modding is really interesting to me. More content like this will keep me coming back.
Everyone says my life is full of coincidences lol. I was JUST think about HDMI on the Xbox a few days ago. Amazing video.
You don't have to remove the standard av port to make it work.
On the microcontroller (Pic I think, also power and eject come there) there are 3 pins for video output selection mode.
You need to switch 2 of them to ground when you use HD video mode.
With these 2 switchable it is possible to select the video output mode.
There is enough space above the av-port to add a hole for the hdmi port and use a bracket for the pcb.
Or make a Dongle with the bridges in them for in the av port.
I love modding consoles. Got some 3D printers to make those slick connectors shrouds and internal mounts.
I really should be documenting more of that stuff...
something i did as a good middle road is to mod an xbox 360 component video cable with the end off a regular xbox av cable, all the pins are there and all it takes is to rewire the cable to the right pins
9:33 Fun fact: The word for throwing something/someone out of a window is "Defenestration". So you would've defenestrated both your Xbox, AND yourself.
I love my OG Xbox.
I had one back in the day. I softmodded it. But I was a broke teenager so I kinda just stuck with the 8 GB HDD. Never even backed up the eeprom. The HDD crashed and my box was a brick because I didn't have the skills to solder nor the money to pay someone else. So I just sold it for parts.
Back in 2020 though I started a project and basically built an Xbox. Found an Xbox on ebay with a crashed HDD. Same issue as my old one haha. I also bought a clear case and blue LED kit for it, an OpenXenium modchip, and a 2 TB HDD. I now have a decent amount of experience soldering and was able to accomplish the hard mod. Got the box running again with a nice big HDD and a pretty case upgrade.
I also bought the Hyperkin HDMI cable for it. The HDMI mod here looks tempting, but I'd rather keep that part of it stock. That way in case I run into any good CRT monitors that have component built in I can use component cables. The Hyperkin HDMI cable isn't perfect but it's good enough.
Weird how I just bought one In person and got recommended this as soon as I open UA-cam 😂
I've only ever played Midnight Club on a psp, so seeing it here with the hdmi mod looked so good
The problem with the HDMI image is that it stretches the original image to 16:9. You end up with everything on-screen looking wider than it should.
You should be able to change that in the TV settings.
Recent HD+ update mostly fixes the aspect ratio issues.
but you can change desired aspect ration in dashboard, all the games support it iirc
@@jetcoughlogo5752 Not all, but most of the major ones. Heck even some titles from before HD supported it because of big screen TVs (Goldeneye and PD come to mind). That said, there where some notable exceptions and I think the Xbox version of Most Wanted was one of them.
TV settings, game settings, and/or dashboard settings. Set to 4:3, unless the game itself supports 16:9.
This will work until the developers of the mod add a bordered/"Maintain Aspect Ratio" option.
thank you for taking the time to do this and put us step by step through it. i love what you do and its something I'm very well interested in. i build computers from scrap for fun. and id love to to find a way to turn my scrap computers into something !
now that you can play Halo 2 at 720p (and even 1080) this mod makes even more sense
Hey there Matt, may I suggest upscaling your videos to 4K before uploading them to YT? I think you can do it in OBS though I haven't figured the best ratio between quality and size when initially recording in 1080p myself. Still, channels like DigitalFoundry show that at 4K YT mangles these older systems output a lot less. If you have the spare HDD space to do it, it will massively improve the output from 6th gen consoles and below. 1080p output on YT is extremely mushy by comparison. In any case, great video, love your production!
If you upload with 1440p+, you get the VP09 codec instead avc. So it's like h264 vs h265.
Should definitely build one of the XOSVP boards, would be pretty cool.
11:33 this is a rare very late model xbox that supports hdmi
I’m just here to say YES, I would like to see a comparison to the open source video project
I bought a O.G. Xbox when they where on sale and i was always into getting the best picture quality in HD so i bought the Monster cables Component cables for the Xbox and it looks really good with no drop out issues and the cables also came with an digital optical out port and fiber optic cable for digital surround sound I do have a Sony 27inch CRT TV that is for Retro gaming and I also have a 2014 40inch Samsung 4k TV that has one Component input and the picture looks great.
I will buy this mod and sit on it just in case i decide to use it in the future but sure do seems like a lot of work but for those who dont have a component jack TV or cables i defiantly see how this is a must.
P.S.......He didn't put enough Thermal paste on the GPU it a big chip and the X method on applying should be used for proper coverage.
You should really do a comparison between this and the XOSVP cable adaptor... If I knew how to solder, and could afford any of these native HDMI mods, I'd have converted all of my consoles to native HDMI, this looks really quite good...
I would love to see a video on the "Xbox Open Source Video Project"!
that's why I love HDMI support in PS3. It was ahead of the time.
Protip: you can "mod" (change the plug) a xbox 360 component cable to get a quality cable for your original xbox.
I just went with a Pound HDMI cable... I've heard complaints, but I've personally been pretty happy with it. Prior to that I had Monster component cables, and while they certainly worked, those things are comically thick. It's like you're connecting garden hoses to your Xbox!
Interesting video! Never had an Xbox but this was very interesting to watch. Also love the voice, its calming to listen to
Hi mattKC! I have almost watched all of your videos fully and I enjoy your videos!
Actually in the US (at least), MS released a 2nd version of the component cable for the OG xbox (it was more traditional component cable).
Yoooo Matt your videos are so special I love them
Wait, that black screen issue is kinda what I have with the cable that came with my monitor, along with a lot of other issues but some of them were before I got this monitor and cable
you should try adding an HDMI port on the 1$ Wii
6:01 idk why but you saying "BIOS" with the scene change made me laugh so much
Ayo new matt video, imma prepare the chips
I just love this monster of an Xbox with all the mods, is this the same one with the silent fans? Seems like this is an ongoing series
When getting stuck heatsinks off, I use a hair dryer to heat up the sinks for a few seconds and it usually works.
Incredible detailed video. Thanks for it I'm just looking for something like this. Do you noticed any input lag with widescreen or by switching to hdmi?
thank god im not the only one who found it difficult removing the heatsinks on the og xbox
This hdmi mod is great if you know what you are doing and you are a perfectionist.
Keep making videos like this, i love the content!
they have plastic razor blades that work well in combination with alcohol at removing the old paste.
Honestly I couldn’t b fucked doing this to my Xbox but always good to watch a new matt video
Matty out here with the Glarses gun
Weird you never mentioned the Hyperkin HDMI cable - plugs into the original AV port, seems to work fine (in my experience, anyway)
cheap component was blown out because its ycbcr. y is brightness, cb and cr are blue-difference and red-difference so i would imagine brightly-coloured signals through low quality cables would leak emr both before and after the tv sees the corresponding brightness data due to inductance i believe. i think this is why hdmi uses comparatively higher voltage and as a standard is way more well shielded afaik.
My kaico cable is just dandy 🎮 screw all that soldering I'd break something, great video 👍
I would like to see the open source thingie review.
Great video, i wish i had this on my OG Xbox (and i do have two of them).
I have a Monster Cable (non-cheap?) XBOX component cable and I've had zero issues with it. I've even been able to run some games in 1080i. I'd love to HDMI mod my XBOX, but I'll stick with this cable for now.
Wow you should’ve put a little bit more thermal compound on it Still a good video and if it works it works
I've read about people using acetone to remove that thermal paste. I haven't tried it myself but there you go.
Matt can you make a public playlist of all the videos involving this specific xbox