Making the Xbox Look Purty

s3rial one

I'm considering picking up an Xbox - the original one. One thing I'm concerned about is how it will look on my monitor; essentially a HDTV. I have my PS2 hooked up through s-video on this thing right now, and it looks awful. Unfortunately, component's out of the question, as my monitor doesn't have it.

Anyway, what I'm looking for is the best (and ideally economical) way to hook my Xbox up to my monitor (bonus points if whatever I get works for my PS2 as well) and have the best image quality.

First, my monitor: it's a Dell 2005FPW; a 20.1" widescreen LCD with a native resolution of 1680x1050. It has inputs for DVI, VGA, and s-video.

I already have one of those multi-system s-video cables, so conceivably, I could just plug it into my Xbox and start playing right now, but I understand that a lot of Xbox games will do at least 720p, and some even go as high as 1080i (although Halo is the only one I recall ever hearing that about). I guess first things first: is that true, or am I just wasting my time?

Second, I'm assuming I need VGA to do the higher-resolution bit. Apparently, s-video isn't even sufficient for 480p on the PS2. That means VGA. So, is there a native VGA cable for the Xbox, or do I need a VGA box?

I've read that the Xbox video cable has all the pins required for a VGA connection, but A) it only works on synch-to-green displays (I have no idea what that means), and I don't have access to a soldering gun, anyways. So the homemade option's pretty much out.

Third, assuming that I should actually go ahead with this VGA business and there isn't a native cable, can anyone recommend a good VGA box? Most of what I've seen online has been from places I've never heard of and made by brands I've never heard of. I'm also worried about video lag with the VGA box. Something that does upscanning would be nice, but not at the risk of lagging.

Finally, if I do have to get a VGA box, it'd be really nice if I could get something that'd act as a switch between my PS2 and Xbox.

I've basically been looking at the list of VGA boxes on Play Asia and scratching my head. They're all more expensive than I'd like, but Play Asia seems popular for importers in G&T, and that sounds better than going with some merchant I've never heard of.

So, any suggestions? Is this VGA business even worth the trouble?

Orogogus

Halo doesn't go up to 1080i. Only a handful of games do, and usually they're games you wouldn't want to play anyways or where you don't see much benefit (the Atari Anthology, for example). I think the 360 upscales Halo to 1080i, but not having one, I'm not really sure. The vast majority of Xbox titles can do 480p but not 720p or 1080i. There's a pretty good list of this stuff at HDTVArcade.

I believe that you do need to have either component cables or a VGA hookup to get 480p, 720p or 1080i modes. With composite or S-Video I think you're limited to 480i.

I used to use an older version of the X2VGA component -> VGA box before I got my 2405FPW, which has component inputs. It worked okay, but there are a few Xbox games that are 480i-only (e.g., the Hitman games), and you can't play those with the X2VGA box. Other than that it worked well with my CRT. It's supposed to work fine with modern LCDs, according to the manufacturer anyway.

The G&T forumers generally recommended the VD-23 box from Vdigi, and I assume it worked well. At the time, the X2VGA was Xbox-only, but it looks like the current iteration is good for all the consoles, so I don't know if there's any reason to pick one over the other.