Xbox 360 HDMI Cable with Optical Output

I think you're talking about the HDMI optical adapter. It's meant to be used with the HDMI cable so you can get optical or composite audio out. It won't mess anything up and it doesn't matter which one you plug in first. And yes one of them should have come with the Elite.

The audio-only cable is included with the Elite as well as the HDMI AV pack you linked to.
Some folks have found that some third-party 360 cables will do the job, too, while others just remove the rubberized cover off the plug of the component video cable. The issue is strictly a physical obstruction; the 360 switches video to the HDMI port when a cable is connected there.

If your trying to use the component cables for the optical while having the hdmi connected it won't work. The rca/optical dongle is slimmer than the usual component av cable.

yes, but you can tear up the connector and make it fit. the component video won't work, but the optical will.

Yes but why would he? He has an Elite, therefor he has the optical adapter.

What RCA/Optical dongle?

The one that comes with the Elite and MS's official 360 HDMI cable. It's a dongle that fits in the 360's A/V out along with an HDMI cable that allows you to output audio via RCA or optical as opposed to HDMI.

just so we're all on the same page here.

This is the dongle:


it comes included in A.) The Xbox 360 Elite Bundle, and B.) The XBox 360 HDMI AV Cable


to answer the OP, YES you can use that cord, thats exactly why that cord is included, and is that cords only function.

if i decide to remove the casing of the av cable to allow optical sound while the hdmi is plugged in, can i run a second tv at a lower def from the redundant video cables? i have 2 panels in one room, 1 of which has hdmi, the other only s video, vga, scart.

Sort of, just not simultaneously. HDMI always takes precedence. If the 360 senses an active HDMI connection, it will not output anything on component, composite, vga, S-Video, etc. If the 360 does not sense an active HDMI connection, then it reads the 3 jumper settings inside the cable's connector housing to determine what type of cable it is and then outputs that video type. So, if you have a standard component HD/SD cable, you can output component in HD or SD (composite in SD only), depending on the switch position, whenever the HDMI connection is not active. That is, the TV to which the HDMI cable is connected, is not powered on, or is switched to a different input in some cases.

Of course, using a component cable like that, will induce the dreaded HDMI switching reboot issue, where if you temporarily switch your TV to a different input than the 360 HDMI connection and then switch back to it, the 360 will reboot itself. If that doesn't matter to you, then by all means, go ahead with your plan. If that does matter, then you're out of luck, as there is no way to prevent the HDMI reboot issue while still retaining the ability to output component, composite, vga or S-Video without swapping cables.

P.J.

i have a ques for you guys. i was wondering if i have both an optical audio plugged in at the same time as hdmi, can i make the xbox send the audio (just stereo is fine) out of the hdmi cable and not the optical? perhaps a setting in the dashboard? thanks

It is POSSIBLE to output HDMI audio and optical audio at the same time on X360. The easiest to get a component video cable that fits nicely with HDMI cable is Madcatz/Gamestop brand. The component video connector is thin enough that it doesn't block the HDMI port.

X360 will automatically output audio on both HDMI and optical output.

There is a known issue doing this. If HDTV video input is switched to other source and then back to X360, X360 will reboot. There is a workaround to prevent this. There's already a very long thread about how to do this.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=924291

Skip to the last few pages in the thread because it's very long and too many ideas.

I have done this personally, and it works great by using a tape to over a pin on the component video cable from Gamestop.

Or, you can always buy the official Microsoft X360 optical audio out dongle for $50.

If you use the HDMI and component video trick in my last thread, you can disable optical audio by switching the HDTV/SD switch on the component video cable.

The way I use mine is HDMI is connected to the HDTV in stereo. Optical audio out is connect to the sound receiver in 5.1 channel. When I don't care about 5.1 higher quality sound, I don't turn on the sound receiver and I only use the HDTV integrated speakers. There's no need to change anything on the HDTV/SD switch on the component video cable.

thanks vortex. will the audio being sent through the hdmi and optical be BOTH 5.1? I just want to send stereo sound through the hdmi though, not 5.1 (optical), when the hdmi is connected even though i want to keep the optical plugged into the component a/v cable. can this be done?

Optical audio out dongle included with $400 Elite is not included anymore with $300 Elite. Microsoft drops the Elite price by $100 and if you need the optical audio out dongle, it will be $50. So, Elite is still $350.

The audio on HDMI depends on your HDTV. Most HDTV only has 2 integrated speakers which means HDMI audio is stereo. Most HDTV (low to mid end models) have optical audio out but the HDTV downsamples the audio down to stereo when it passes to the HDTV optical audio out.

It is why many of us that don't have 5.1 or higher HDMI sound receiver use the optical audio out on the X360 to get 5.1 channels audio.

As for your question on having HDMI and component video pulled in at the same time, yes if you use a component video cable that fits together with the HDMI cable.

ok perfect. yeah mine is just a low end LG so probably has 2 speakers. So just to clarify what you said above when you said its POSSIBLE to get audio out out of both, you mean as long as you connect the component cable and hdmi cable simultaneously via this hack (http:// www. youtube. com / watch?v=FptCB_3DOz4&feature=fvw) then ill hear hdmi audio even if the optical cable is connected?

yep thats what i wanna do. just wanna make sure that its also possible without the madcatz cable too. like that youtube vid guy did, he removed the plastic on the xbox's cable to allow the hdmi cable to fit.

Photo of both HDMI and Component video cables connected to X360. Both HDMI and optical audio are active at the same time.

Yes, I also tried using Microsoft brand Component video cable by removing the plastic casing but it's still a little thicker than Madcatz/Gamestop cable. The HDMI cable gets bended slightly when using Microsoft brand cable which puts more stress on the HDMI port.

If you already have a Microsoft brand component video cable and don't want to spend more money buying Matcatz/Gamestop cable ($15), then use the removing the plastic casing workaround.

ok thanks. i tried reading that long post you mentioned about the taping of the pin, but i dont think it relates to my original issue. i dont need to do any taping of pins if just want the hdmi audio to play with the optical cable connected, correct?

You may not think so now, but once you encounter the reboot issue, you may change your mind. The reboot issue happens when you have the 360 showing on your TV and decide that you want to switch to a different input or the built-in tuner and then switch back to the 360. That's when the 360 will reboot itself.....unless you've taped over pin 28, or otherwise cut the connection between pins 26-28. The same reboot issue happens if you turn your TV off and then back on, while the 360 is active.

P.J.

The new cheaper Elite on the market comes with neither HDMI cable, nor the special optical adapter. You have to either pay MS $50 for a HDMI package or mod your existing dongle to fit.

I am raising this thread from the dead. I am going to mod my component cable by taking the case off so I can use the optical out to my B&W soundbar then go directly to TV with HDMI.

Question is, I don't need the component video or RCA audio portion of the cable and it will create way more clutter in my TV stand. Is it ok to cut those portions off, essentially just having the dongle portion without the case and no cables coming out of it?

Thanks

They have these now too should anyone decide they need one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Mad+Catz...katz&cp=1&lp=5

Yes, it is ok to cut off the un-needed cables. Just make sure not to cut any wires that don't exit the connector housing. That is, any internal wiring must be kept intact.

Unless you also do the well known mod of snipping the jumper wire connecting pins 26-28, you will get the dreaded HDMI switch away/back reboot issue.

These days Monoprice sells a perfectly working HDMI audio dongle for something like $2.79. So, there's not much point modding a cable anymore.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

P.J.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up about the monoprice cable, $5 shipped!!! Can't beat that.

just a warning on the monoprice audio dongle. I bought a couple of these a few weeks ago. Both of them have a physical connection problem. They recessed the port too much such that your optical cable won't click into place and hold the connection. The gray plastic around the optical port puts just enough plastic in the way to block the clicking into place of the cable.

It's a problem that they readily acknowledge and they don't have a solution. They say it's because of the optical cable and that another optical cable may work better but it's hit and miss.

The only easy solution is to remove the external casing which will remove the recessing. So if you want a fully intact dongle and don't want a ghetto looking bare connector, you might have to look elsewhere.

What exactly happens?