Original Xbox makes shaky images at 480p

Patches7o9

I recently bought a HD TV capable of displaying 480i/p, 780i/p , 1080i and got new component cables for all of my systems. For the most part everything works great except one thing. When my Xbox runs any game whose highest resolution possible is 480p the image looks shaky (like the image shifts a few pixels to the left, then back to their original position, and it repeats).

I know the problem doesn't lie with the TV, since my PS2 and Wii both display 480p games fine. The Xbox is fine at the menu (I'm guessing that only display at 480i) and games that display at 720p (THUG2) look fine. If anyone has seen this problem and knows how to fix it, or has any suggestions on how to troubleshoot further then it would be much appreciated

Also, what do most Xbox 360 games run at?

vonPoonBurGer

This sounds like a strange interaction between the signal generated by the Xbox, and your HDTV. Are their any upscaling options or picture quality filters on the TV that you can turn off? One of those might be misbehaving. FYI, I think the dashboard runs at whatever resolution you've set as the console's default under the System blade. At least, it'll flick and change resolution when you set it to different things. You might want to check and make sure that the 360 itself is set to 720p or 1080i in there.

Patches7o9 wrote:

Also, what do most Xbox 360 games run at?

I think game developers have to make their games capable of 720p / 1080i as a minimum in order to get official MS seal of approval to sell the title for the Xbox 360:

Microsoft wrote:

All games optimized for 16:9 aspect ratio, HD output (720p and 1080i), multichannel surround sound output, and full-screen anti-aliasing

If the console is set to 720p or 1080i, then that's the signal you should be getting on your TV. Even for old Xbox games that supported 480i/p maximum on the original Xbox, the 360 upscales them to the system resolution:

GameSpot wrote:

The Xbox 360 will run Xbox games in 720p or 1080i.

Patches7o9

vonPoonBurGer wrote:

This sounds like a strange interaction between the signal generated by the Xbox, and your HDTV. Are their any upscaling options or picture quality filters on the TV that you can turn off? One of those might be misbehaving. FYI, I think the dashboard runs at whatever resolution you've set as the console's default under the System blade. At least, it'll flick and change resolution when you set it to different things. You might want to check and make sure that the 360 itself is set to 720p or 1080i in there.

Oops. I should have been more specific there. My problem is occuring with the original Xbox, not the 360. (I was just curious about the 360 games). but no, there are no upscaling options or filters options on my TV. I'm pretty sure it's not the TV though, since every other console seems to be playing nice at 480p.
Thanks for the 360 info though.

embrik

This may be a long shot for you, but it's worked for me before. Occasionally on one of my component inputs (not both, for some reason), I'll switch to it and turn on the console, and it will start glitching. Simply by getting the content I want up (e.g. loading a game in 480p), switching to another input, then switching back will fix it for me. Give it a try.

fforde

Look through the menus on your TV and see if there is any timing option available. I must admit, I am ignorant to what is going on, but I had a similar problem with my 360 and modifying the timing on my TV fixed my issues. I think it has something to do with synced refresh rates.

vonPoonBurGer

Patches7o9 wrote:

Oops. I should have been more specific there. My problem is occuring with the original Xbox, not the 360. (I was just curious about the 360 games). but no, there are no upscaling options or filters options on my TV. I'm pretty sure it's not the TV though, since every other console seems to be playing nice at 480p.
Thanks for the 360 info though.

Doh! Sorry, I jumped to a conclusion on that one.

Patches7o9

embrik wrote:

This may be a long shot for you, but it's worked for me before. Occasionally on one of my component inputs (not both, for some reason), I'll switch to it and turn on the console, and it will start glitching. Simply by getting the content I want up (e.g. loading a game in 480p), switching to another input, then switching back will fix it for me. Give it a try.

Tryed that and it doesn't seem to work. Thanks anyways.

fforde wrote:

Look through the menus on your TV and see if there is any timing option available. I must admit, I am ignorant to what is going on, but I had a similar problem with my 360 and modifying the timing on my TV fixed my issues. I think it has something to do with synced refresh rates.

I checked my menus but there's nothing to modify refresh rates. I do think that refresh rates are the problem though, since I can check to see what the current input's timing's are (even though I can't change them) and when I compared the Xbox's rates against the PS2 and Wii in 480p mode they ran at (31.5 H, 60 V) while the Xbox ran at 31.4 H, 59.9 V). I have to call the TV manufacturer tomorrow morning anyways so I'll make sure to ask if there's some way to adjust the timing manually.