http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?cookie_test=1&product_id=802814

Does anyone know how well this tech will be compared to an actual hdmi enabled 360? This is a very tempting device for me, although the price is a little steep.

There's already been a big discussion on this thing. Don't waste your money. If this turns into an argument over why this thing is or is not a piece of crap, as it more than likely will, I'll come back and explain tomorrow as I have to be up for work at 5:30. In the mean time I pray to all who value their hard earned $$$ don't waste your money on this piece of trash.

Hey thanks for the reply

while i wouldnt call it a piece of trash, i wouldnt buy it either.

it will convert your analog video to digital, but you wont see any increase in picture quality or get any of the benefits really... so its kind of pointless.

ask yourself this....

is something wrong with component?
have you tried the VGA cable and didnt like it?
are you really needing to free up a component slot on your tv/avr and have a few free hdmi?

if you answered yes to at least 2 of the questions, maybe you should consider it, otherwise i wouldnt even waste the time thinking about trying it.

all IMO of course.

I actually could see some benefit to this device if it was less expensive. I have an older 360 without the HDMI port and currently have it connected to an XBR2 LCD via VGA. I get a nice picture but Sony has seen fit to limit severly limit the picture tweaking options over that input. I don't want to go component because then I'd lose 1080p capability with my HD-DVD add-on. Something like this would let me run my current setup to one of my HDMI ports. $90 it's just to expensive though; if this sold for $40 or less (even without the included HDMI and digital audio cables), I probably would have tried it out.

I wonder if it is using 'VGA' output to convert to HDMI? If so, it might be a nice option for those wanting to up convert dvd or watch HD DVD at 1080p. I may consider it when the time comes as my new projector (AE 2000) does not like the 360's VGA timings.

Original thread about this if anyone's interested. There's some pretty funny responses from people who don't know what the eff they're talking about to:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=955088&highlight=madcatz+HDMI

I'm lazy so these are my responses from last time:
This product is useless, let's assume it does convert VGA to HDMI which would allow upscaling and 1080p output. Why the hell not just use VGA which does exactly the same thing on it's own? All this is going to do is perform the analog-to-digital convergence before the signal reaches the TV instead of after and I'll bet it's not going to do a good job of it. I don't trust it for the simple fact that it's coming from MadCatz and is probably being marketed towards the typical Joe Schmuck who doesn't have a clue how the signal works he just knows HDMI is the bestest connection in the whole wide world YAY!


Just so everybody who's thinking of getting this knows, Gamestop is currently taking trade-ins on old 360s for $150 and they don't require a harddrive. So instead of wasting $100 on this piece of crap that will do nothing more than give you horrid PQ you'd be better off tradeing in your old box, keeping your HDD, and buying a new Arcade 360. All in all you'll end up paying $130 ($280 for the arcade system minus $150 from your trade-in) and you'll get real HDMI, a memory card, 5 free arcade games, and if you do your research you can snag a new box with the Falcon chipset.

It's also probably a good idea to note if you have a nice 1080p TV (in other words any name brand) it probably has a good de-interlacer so you could probably output HD-DVD in 1080i over component and it would look better than what this thing is gonna do.