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Spliff · 02:03 PM

My neighbour's kid wants to hook up his Xbox to his flat-panel G4 iMac to play games while he's at private school. Since TVs are not allowed in the dorm rooms, he wants to use his iMac's monitor instead. Is this possible? If so, does he need a TV tuner or a DV bridge? And which port will the device use?

One of the Xbox forums suggests the VDigi VD-Z3 or the X2VGA adaptor. But those only work if your monitor and computer are separate.

Luca Rescigno · Feb 1, 2005, 02:12 PM

Sorry, the only lag-free video input solution for Macs is that $100 TV tuner PCI card. Obviously it won't work in an iMac. If you use a Firewire or USB one, you'll see significant lag, enough to make it unplayable.

If he does need some kind of a monitor to play, though, without it being a TV, there are still some solutions. First of all, you can get an attachable LCD display for the XBox. Just connect it right up to the XBox and you're ready to go. Of course, it's small, but it should work fine if the XBox is kept on a desk or table not too far from you. Not great for multiple players. The other option is to get a second computer - bear with me, it's actually inexpensive. Find any old PowerMac listed as being AV capable - some old ones (like the 8500AV and so on) have RCA input and output ports on the back. Put OS 9 on it and run Apple Video Player in fullscreen mode, and you've basically got a TV without the TV tuner itself. Then you can pick up a monitor to use and a set of speakers to hook up. It's not perfect, but there's no lag and it's not a TV.

Spliff · Feb 1, 2005, 02:37 PM

Lag over Firewire? Really? I thought Firewire was designed for video capture and all things video. So a Firewire TV tuner wouldn't work, eh?

That's disappointing that it can't handle analog to DV conversion. So I guess this device is next to useless.
http://www.cooldrives.com/griiiusb11au.html

Do you have link to those attachable LCD displays? That might be the best solution for him.

Luca Rescigno · Feb 1, 2005, 02:51 PM

Yes, I thought Firewire would work too, but someone informed me a few months ago that there is some lag associated with it. I haven't actually tried it, but do you really know anyone willing to drop $200 or $300 on a Firewire-DV bridge just to see if it works?

Anyway, the XBox LCD is very expensive - $200 (new) for a 7" with integrated speakers. I found it at Amazon. There are also used ones for about $50 less, and you may try eBay as well to try and find lower prices.

Actually, going to eBay revealed a component to VGA adapter. It has VGA in/out and RCA in/out ports, so you should be able to connect any old VGA monitor to the XBox through the converter box. Those are about $50 - NewEgg has one, and this is the one I found on eBay. The good thing about the eBay one is that it also has audio input and output, so you don't have to use some other kind of device in order to hear the audio.

That might be a better option. Requires you to also get a VGA monitor and speakers, but on the other hand, I know a number of people who have VGA monitors falling out of their asses on a regular basis. I'm sure you can find one for free/cheap. Same with speakers.

Spliff · Feb 1, 2005, 03:03 PM

Luca,

Thanks for the links. I also came across this:
http://www.x2vga.com/

Cadaver · Feb 1, 2005, 06:16 PM

Originally posted by Spliff:
Luca,

Thanks for the links. I also came across this:
http://www.x2vga.com/

That device will not help connect an Xbox to an iMac. The iMac has no VGA input.

The short answer: you cannot (easily/cheaply) connect another device to the iMac's screen.

The long answer: As Luca mentioned, an analog-to-digital video capture device may have a bit of lag (time required to convert the audio and video to something the computer can handle, send it to the computer, run it through software and display it on-screen). While it may only be a fraction of a second, I can see this causing serious gaming problems. However, if you have access to one and can try it (and return it if it doesn't work to expectations) there is no harm in giving it a test.

If cheap is what you want, then perhaps the Xbox-VGA dongle you linked above plus a bargain-basement 15" LCD monitor w/ speakers might do the trick.

This is the most significant drawback of an all-in-one computer (Mac or PC) - you can't easily swap/add/remove components. You generally give up customization for convenience. With a stand-alone computer monitor, you could do it with a cheap VGA switchbox...

Cadaver · Feb 1, 2005, 06:19 PM

Originally posted by Spliff:
That's disappointing that it can't handle analog to DV conversion. So I guess this device is next to useless.
http://www.cooldrives.com/griiiusb11au.html

The device you linked, a USB video digitizer, doesn't appear to have Mac drivers anyway (Windows only).

Spliff · Feb 1, 2005, 06:27 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
The device you linked, a USB video digitizer, doesn't appear to have Mac drivers anyway (Windows only).

Yeah, I noticed that. I think the best solution is a cheap VGA monitor and that x2vga device. Thanks for your help.