Gamester High Definition Pack

[MJ]

When I got my Xbox a few years ago I wanted a better connection than the composite/scart that came with it, so went and got a Gamester High Definition Pack (GHDP) as it catered for S-Video, which I've been very happy with on my CRT TV.

I was in the loft tonight putting some Xbox and 360 packaging away and found the GHDP box, forgetting that it was referred to as a HD pack, and in the manual it shows you how to connect it to a HDTV using its component leads (all them years ago?).

Does this mean that if I change the Xbox to NTSC to access the HD options and connect it to the LCD HDTV using component, I'll be able to play the Xbox in HD (like US consoles) or does it require the official HD AV Pack?

[EvilBoris]

yep that'd be it, its not real HD but 480p which is marginally sharper than standard RGB.

A few games support 720p though

[MJ]

Sweet! All these years and I never realised!

So it should look better than S-Video too?

I'm trying to make use of the LCD's connections, as it has one of each, so was now thinking 360 to VGA, Xbox to component, upscaling DVD player to HDMI and Sky+ to RGB scart.

I assume if an Xbox game doesn't support the resolution I choose in the dash, it will be displayed accordingly?

Do I switch to NTSC, go to official dash and select my changes and then turn it back to PAL or does it have to stay in NTSC to work (I only got it modded to play imports, so have never made use of its features)?

[tom-nook]

S-video isn't as good as rgb video so you should notice a fair improvement through component.

(as you thought) To enable 480p etc. you need to switch to NTSC and then go into the 'official' dash & enable 480p etc. throught the video settings (the component lead must be plugged in to do this). However, you must keep your Xbox in NTSC mode or it'll just revert back to 480i if you switch back to PAL.

The good news is that all imports will work in 480p (& a few will also run in 720p/ 1080i) and the vast majority of PAL games will be fine too. There are a few PAL games that won't work though(mostly Electronic Arts games) & will only boot if the video mode is set to PAL.

[MJ]

Thanks for the help everyone!