Video quality on old sd tv

keithscarfe

I use my xbox 360 on an old sd tv (sony kd-32dx200u) with no hdmi or even component video inputs. (long story but this is how it is) All it has is scart and composite. I therefore use the composite output from the xbox into a scart adapter plug which has the 3 connectors: video, left & right audio. Like this one:
                                                                                                                                               
I must say the video image is truly rubbish and for this reason I don't really bother playing with the xbox any more.
If I remember when this TV was top spec (about 10 years ago) the image was superb and I fail to understand why the xbox composite output is so bad. I played video from a dvd player via the scart connection. I know composite is the lowest of the low resolution you can get but I wondered If I were to buy a cable with the scart built in would it use the component instead of the composite video signals. Like this one:
                                                                                                                                               
Does anyone know if I get one of these cables will the image be any better or will it still use the composite rather than the component video since the TV doesn't have any other component inputs? Why isn't there a plug like in first pic with RGB component inputs. I cannot find one anywhere?

noiseboy72

RGB Component will always look better, as the colours are sent individually, while composite mixes it all together and things get soft, with edges poorly defined in particular.

The problem you will have is that your X-box outputs YUV component, so you would need to transcode this to RGB interlaced. This needs something like this: Sony DSC-1024G Digital Scan Converter (with Genlock)  | eBay to convert the signal, plus a few cables, all of which can be found for a few pounds.

CARLOS

Firstly scart's don't carry component but they can carry RGB which is similar in quality but a different signal type, I would think your TV's scart socket will accept RGB but trying to get the right cable will probably be an issue.

I've no idea what the cable you show above would carry without seeing the specs for it ?

Munkey Boy

Xbox Ones don't do scart or composite though, right?

Indiana Jones

Correct the only output from an XB1 is HDMI so you would need a converter to take the digital signal and convert it to analogue, perhaps its time to make the upgrade to HD.

next010

Yeah really time to update, even a super cheap low end TV from Samsung or the like will do just fine, no need to break the bank, LCD TV's have come a long way.

The reason its looks so bad on the old TV is because of resolution, scart is 720x576, the Xbox 360 outputs 1280x720 or 1920x1080 on HDTV'S so thats a huge drop and it butchers everything in the image as all the content was designed for viewing at that resolution. DVD's look fine because they are still designed for 720x576.

The Xbox 360 if I recall didn't really support scart there are still some aftermarket cables and this one advertises scart RGB support which would be the best possible output on your old TV. That said your still stuck at 720x576 interlaced video.

The reason there are no easy plugs to convert component to scart is because they are too different, to use the component output from the Xbox you would need a conversion box that needs a power supply which you couldn't do with a little adapter. The component cable would output 720x480 (567i was EU scart, not part of NTSC USA) which would then get turned into 720x576 by the scart convertor box.

Lostsoul 301281

This.
Even a 40" Blaupunkt will cost no more than  £250.
They're decent enough quality and 1080p.