I was one of the rare UK OG XBOX users to have the original HD A/V kits from 2002, and this meant that up until last years I was still able to hook up my OG XBOX to any TV that had component in - even my 2021 Samsung LED TV. However, I upgraded to an LG OLED this year, which only has HDMI inputs, so needed a solution.
Most available adapters are just a simple cable, which I knew would be useless and probably cheap rubbish. I needed something that had both PAL and NTSC compatibility (I ran my XBOX in NTSC mode to get 1080p resolution) and also had an optical audio out in case I wanted to connect the XBOX to my vintage Creative Dolby Digital surround system. This adapter fit the bill perfectly, and was also highly recommended by the company that build my modded XBOX.
Out of the box, the build quality is very nice, with the cable attached to a small metal pack that holds the HDMI and optical out ports. It supports all original XBOX resolutions from PAL 480i to 1080i, and for NTSC consoles from 480p to 1080p. It is region agnostic so doesn't care if your console is PAL or NTSC, so is ideal for PAL region users running modded consoles in NTSC.
This adapter DOES NOT require a power supply.
The HDMI output gives a fantastic, clear and clean image. Some reviewers have reported lines on their picture but I have nothing like that. Images are stable, bright and clean. There is no upscaling or image filtering being done by the adapter so what you get is the native console output.
There is only one thing to be aware of, and this is not a shortcoming of the adapter. You will find that black levels are a little intense if you are connecting to an OLED, so some dark parts of games may be VERY dark. This is not a flaw of the adapter; rather the original XBOX was designed for CRT screens with a fixed black level. Nowadays, with LED or OLED screens, when connecting an XBOX 360, XBOX One or XBOX series console you would just change the console's HDMI reference level but that's not an option on the OG XBOX - so you will need to adjust the black levels a little on your TV for that specific HDMI input (on my LG OLED I set them from 50 to 67 in the game mode settings and it looked about right).
The Optical output allows you to separate out the audio from the HDMI signal to go to a separate surround or sound system if you don't want the audio simply going to your TV, and supports Dolby Digital. If not used, audio is fed over the HDMI cable with the video signal as normal.
So if you have an old XBOX and no way to hook it to your modern HDMI TV, and if you want to be able to output Dolby Digital separately to a surround system, this is a perfect and cheap way to achieve that. Strongly recommended.
| Package Dimensions L x W x H | 17 x 12.6 x 2.7 centimetres |
|---|---|
| Package Weight | 0.13 Kilograms |
| Product Dimensions L x W x H | 7.5 x 4 x 2 centimetres |
| Item Weight | 0.13 Kilograms |
| Brand | Kaico |
| Colour | black |
| Part number | Kaico Xbox HDMI |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
