Electron Shepherd Budget-Friendly OG Xbox Xbox2HDMI Adapter!
58In this episode, we test out the Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI dongle, which promises to provide clean, crisp, digital HDMI output from an unmodified original Xbox.
Features:
Size: 58mm x 33mm x 12.6mm
Supply Voltage: 5V
Video Input: Component
Audio Input: Digital Surround Sound
Video Output: HDMI
Latency: LAG FREE!!
The original Xbox was the only one in the series that did not include an HDMI output. They did provide quality component video cables, as did Monster Cable, but for today's modern flat panel TVs, many people don't want to go through that hassle. There are companies that provide Xbox to HDMI cables, but generally speaking those tap into either the composite or S-Video output, and they don't look very good. In early 2023 we reviewed the Xedusa, designed to plug into your original Xbox and give you component, composite, optical audio output, and HDMI video output. It's a great device, but for some people, it might be overkill. Enter in the Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI dongle, a budget-friendly XBox2HDMI adapter that is under $50 and may be the ultimate solution for those looking for a simple yet good HDMI output for the Xbox.
The overall design of the Xbox2HDMI is very simple. You have a metal connector that goes into the multi-output on the back of your Xbox, a shroud around a PCB, and an HDMI output. The whole thing is only a few inches long, but much like the Xedusa it relies on the connector to provide strength and support for the cable. I'm going to look to 3D print something that will provide support down the road. The connector going into the system is fairly robust, and good quality, and the HDMI connector seems to be as well. I did feel like the HDMI connector was a little bit on the tight side, but I'd rather have that than have it flop around loose where could provide an intermittent connection.
I've been playing more and more of my Xbox lately, mostly thanks to the fact that I can now use other controllers with it. I started out by playing Star Wars Republic Commando, and I thought that the initial splash screen looked kind of grainy. When I got into the gameplay, however, I thought it looked really good. It very much reminded me of the visuals that I got out of like the Retro-bit Prism HDMI adapter or the Carby from Insurrection Industries for the GameCube. It wasn't doing any upscaling, it was giving me just a clean crisp 720p signal out of the system which is exactly what I wanted. It CAN technically output 1080i, but I feel 720p looks a lot better.
I moved on and played a number of games through this, one of my favorites is IndyCar Racing. I know, I know, in 50 ft make a left turn. At 50 more feet make another left-hand turn. While the character models and the cars were a bit boxy-looking, I thought everything looked super sharp. Best of all I didn't feel any lag or latency as I played.
I continued on and played several more games, Conkers Live and Reloaded, Doom 3, Ninja Gaiden, and they all had very similar performances. The color levels were accurate, the blacks were not overly soft or blown out, and I didn't notice any extreme jaggedness around anything, this is a pretty good solution in my opinion.
Why it RoX:
- Under $50
- Gives you a direct HDMI connection
- Very good performance
- Continually being updated
What could be improved:
- No external support for the weight of the dongle
- My HDMI port was a bit tight
- Still takes a while to ship
- Does not provide any upscaling
Should you buy one?
If your goal is to simply get a good, clean HDMI signal out of an original Xbox to connect to your modern TV I don't know that you're going to find a much better value than the Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI adapter. It's quite good in what it does and how it does it. When I originally ordered mine it was under $35, but it is since he had a price increase to push it north of $40. That's still about $20 less than the Xedusa, but the Xedusa does offer additional features. You can connect it to a RetroTink 2x Multiformat or 5x and get ine multiplication out of it, which the Xbox2HDMI does not do. The only way you can get any kind of line multiplication is by plugging it into something such as the upcoming RetroTink 4K, but if you're going to do that you'd be better off buying a 5X and a Xedusa. For the average consumer, however, I can't think of a much better way to connect your OG Xbox to a modern flat-panel television, it just works that well.
#ElectronShepherd #Xbox2HDMI #HDMIAdapter #Xbox #Xedusa