This is an extremely niche product, even amongst OG Xbox enthusiasts. The price alienates even more of that small number of people who would be interested in this...
When you're making something only a small group of people will buy, you can't sell it for 20 dollars. They have to actually make money off of it. If a collector wants this they'll buy it. Especially considering the inflated prices of legacy hardware these days.
@@xSilent.ThreatxIf 20 people worked on this, that makes it worse because how did something that costs this much, have a shoddy video quality that made it to review by creators? Someone MIGHT buy it, but the audience they want to buy it, more than likely won't because of the problems and price.
meanwhile, the Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI is $42 and it has a great picture with no darkness problems. you can get that, an ethernet hub, and an HDMI splitter and still spend less than the EON costs
For plug and play adapters, Xbox2HDMI really is the best option. I've tried various composite to HDMI adapters and two variations of the Pound Xbox Cables, and none of them would work on a 4K TV. I had a 4K Vizio and now I have a Sony OLED and the screen would always blink on and off, but on a regular 1080p TV I never had any issues. Got my hands on the Xbox2HDMI and it works perfectly, haven't played too many games on it but they all have looked great, no lag and more importantly no dense black levels.
For $190 you can buy one Eon adapter, or you can buy 4 Electron Shepard adapters ($42 each), a 4 port ethernet switch ($10), and have $11 leftover to spend on pizza for the boys.
You'd think for that price they'd make sure the video output was best-in-class and not noticeably worse (darker/noisier) than the rest. I love my GCHD but I think I'll stick with YPbPr->RT5x for my Xbox.
Trouble with trying to compensate for low brightness is that the darkest parts of scenes will already be lost/crushed, and you'll also be boosting noise. Kinda unacceptable at the price. It shouldn't have design issues like that at $200 a piece. And the etched off ICs gives a chintzy feel for it, like it might not be reliable long term.
I presume the etched off ICs are to ward off cloners, which is becoming a bit of a problem for small operations. I'm just thinking there's probably only so many ICs or compatible variants that use the same pin configuration that they could be.
Little tip, if you click in both sticks and both triggers on the Xbox's dashbord you'll switch it from 480i to 480p, a big benefit for devices like this!
The Dual HDMI seems a bit unnecessary to me since every gaming capture card has an HDMI pass through. And ethernet switches are under $20 so I really struggle to see the value in this product when it's 3x the price of the other HDMI adapter which isn't as dark a picture. Guess it'll either be the $60 HDMI cable or just component cables.
I've seen MVG, John Hancock's video and to be honest the HDMI out put is far too dark especially at this price point. The ethernet isn't really a bonus as a Ethernet switch can be bought with cables for cheap these day. I don't know who their target consumer audience is?
@@Oni64it's about a quarter of the price with significantly better image quality, it may also be worth looking into an ossc to upscale the image and not just convert it to hdmi, it's about the same price as the eon but looks wayyyy better
@@daddykarlmarx6183 I seen Adam Koralik also use a Mclassic on the Eon and that made it look better. It would be nice to see all the cheaper comparisons. I seen the Pound cable comparison and it looks less dark than the Eon lol
As a hardware designer myself, the way the PCB is "designed around the connector" makes every bit of sense to me. The XBOX AV connector is extremely niche nowadays, it's a miracle there are any off-the-shelf options for it at all. EON had to use it, since designing a new connector and manufacturing it would cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. I doubt they made more than a couple thousand units, so it would blow up the price even further. Not to mention that designing connectors is an absolute nightmare and a minefield for screwups.
Any chance you could take the time to elaborate on this point, or maybe address what it is about connectors and their shape/suze/fit that's so tough to get correct for manufacturers. I work at a retro shop, and of course sell plenty of these new styles 3rd party accessories and have always wondered why manufacturers, even companies like Hyperkin, have such a hard time getting a controller or power or video connector port right when obviously the original products have been around for 10-30+ years Thanks for the provided and any future insight man
@@Indead Sure thing. On one hand, connectors are just hard to get right in general: - The housing is usually stamped out of sheet metal first, then bent into shape, meaning already you need a stamping and bending stencils which cost ~$10k each, per attempt, which you need multiple of to get the tolerances right. If you make the housing even 0.1mm too big or small - the fit will be too loose or tight. - Then you have the pins inside the connector which have to have a certain shape, size and pitch, and in many cases need to be springy to ensure certain contact pressure between two surfaces. Get any of these wrong - the connector might not work at all, or worse - only stop working under some niche circumstance, like very high or very low temperature. - Then there's the electric plane that connects the connector to the PCB/cable it goes on, which in turn has its own challenges with build precision, signal integrity, etc. - The final assembly process also has its own challenges. Once all of these challenges are figured out, the material price of the final product is usually in the single-digit cents, or even below 1 cent per connector. But the upfront R&D cost for good production tooling can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wholesale manufacturers make their money back by selling millions of such connectors. In EON's case, they're probably aiming to sell a couple dozen thousand units, at most. Best case scenario - this adds another ~$20 to the final product. And that's the best case scenario, it can get a lot worse than that. Another thing is that the success designing on your own is absolutely not a guarantee. A lot of manufacturers need years to get this right even on widely used, common connectors with open documentation, like USB or HDMI. Now imagine you'd have to do all of this with a proprietary connector without any sort of official documentation, you'd have to trial & error the entire process even in regards to the basics like "how wide/tall/long is this thing?". What usually happens nowadays is that old proprietary connectors are manufactured using either stolen, cloned or lost&found original tooling from the original manufacturer, for which I have no moral objections because fuck proprietary connectors. If none of these are available - hardware designers are in for a major pain in the ass.
@@Indead oh right, one thing I forgot - these old giant controller ports you mentioned usually have plastic connector housings, not bent metal, which makes it much worse. Plastic injection molds are VERY expensive, like, very very very expensive, and the injection molding process itself presents its own challenges, like: - depending on which type of plastic you use it will shrink a different amount during cooling - all plastics shrink some amount during cooling, so you have to basically guess the dimensions beforehand, something like "I need this to be 10mm wide and the manufacturer reports a material shrinkage of 6%, so it needs 10.64mm in the mold" - the same plastic will shrink a different amount depending on a certain part's size, thickness and shape, a cube shrinks differently than a rectangle, or circle, or ball. - this different amoung of shrinkage leads to parts bending during cooling, which is usually solved by making the parts crooked in the other direction in the mold, so it cancels each other out. Getting all of these right the first time is less likely than winning the lottery.
Honestly, for the price point they are charging for this adapter, I would've expected the EON to deliver quality on par with the top HDMI adapters or Microsoft's official HD AV Pack, but it just doesn't deliver. Its very unfortunate. Better *external* options I would recommend; - Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI - XEDUSA - Chimeric Systems
Out of curiosity I Just searched on eBay for official Xbox component cables and I found a sealed set for almost half the price of this device. There's other options out there.
HDMI splitter = $5, cheap network switch = $5, both together = this device which costs $200. It’s absolutely outrageous that anyone is covering this as an honest device.
etching off the chips tells you everything you need to know, they know it's cheap to replicate but don't want competition so they can sell the part at 500x markup.
I don't think there's enough of a gain using these converters, especially if you are paying up for them. If your TV has the ability, I'd say the best option is an official Xbox component cable or even an Xbox 360 component cable modded for the OG Xbox.
Stopped watching at $189. That is absolutely RIDICULOUS. There was barely any difference in picture quality between the cheap component cables and the EON XBHD adapter (other than some darker colours). They may have designed their own PCB, but this is essentially the same technology as a cheap AV to HDMI converter and an ethernet switch - they've just shoved it all inside a nice 3D printed case. There is nothing special happening here. All these companies ever do is present "junk" in some fancy packaging and try to sell it at a premium price. - I used to do original Xbox streaming on Twitch; all I used was a cheap set of component cables off Amazon and a $10 HDMI splitter. It done the same job on par with this for not even a qtr of the price.
Really the only pro I see from this, are the multiple network ports. The dual HDMI is overkill, and most streamers use a capture card that splits the signal anyways, because it's accessible for modern consoles or their gaming PCs. The price to quality isn't close enough to say it's a must have. Even if noise is inevitable because it's converting an analog signal, it's still way too dark, which draws the question in quality of the chips they used, that they conveniently etched off. I think I'll stick to my Hyperkin cable as it pretty much suits my needs, and if the cable goes out, I'm out $20 and I could get another one at one of the retro game shops in my area.
Sanding down component markings is a no-go! Professionals who want to copy the design will still be able to clone . And the honest customers have to pay the additional labor....
A lil component cable and OSSC combo would actually be cheaper than this and you'd have a great scaler for all types of consoles, not just Xbox, would recommend that combo 100x over this.
The HDMI features I understand, the additional network ports at a glance seem unnecessary. Unmanaged switches are a dime a dozen and can be had for well under $5, and are a breeze to setup.
One less piece of hardware to lug around with you? As long as it doesn't increase the price more than a few dollars I don't mind. Would make for an easy Xlink setup. This setup still takes up less room than the official component cables. edit... Never mind, It costs more than an Original Xbox with other external HDMI solutions combined.
It's not a switch, it's an embedded network hub. Literally a device you can't even buy anymore that's necessary to play system link games together with other Xboxs. This one device allows itself and 3 other cabled Xboxs, to pay together with no additional hardware.
@@alecpring242 A hub is not needed for System Link, a buddy of mine runs a gaming center that has 4 OG xboxes on a ~$10 tp-link switch and works nearly %100 of the time. From what he's said in the past, you might have to do a factory reset on the xboxes and do a DNS flush once in a while.
@@alecpring242no, it's a 4 port fast Ethernet switch, probably, because those chips are cheap as dirt and Xbox didn't have any issues with system link through switches and routers
That OG Xbox was definitely ahead of its time... it looks insane even today, I recently beat Indigo Prophecy on it, and even though the game falls apart at the end it was still impressive because of the graphics and cinematography. With the Retrotink 5X I wouldn't get an HDMI-out for the Xbox but I'm glad you made this video to see the adapter. Thanks!
I had an Xbox, wish I still did. It was a great companion to my GameCube. The only problems were it was a behemoth and the faulty power supply problem that Microsoft never really addressed. I have a feeling that power supply problem was why the Xbox 360 and the first version of Xbox One had those massive in-line power bricks. It was bad enough that my GameCube, Wii and Wii U had them, even worse that my first Xbox 360 did as trying to position this thing in the best way possible in my entertainment rack was a complete hassle.
@@WJCTechymannever had one back in the day but bought one a few years ago and I find it very fun and impressive even nowadays! My version is the latest they released (manufactured in 2005) so I guess it doesn’t have the issues you’ve mentioned… but it won’t play a few games in 480p unfortunately!
I'm last year new when I received it in anticipation for Insignia and grinding up PSO further (I've been across Dreamcast+Gamecube and today Xbox1st) and she has been a fox. v1.6 revision so really only Jet Set Radio+Panzer Dragoon issues to 480p. Also the plethora of PS2 games that are just cake pass 480i and avoid dogshit load times in they Xbox form
You can get a fast ethernet switch and a HDMI splitter for a grand total of ~US$20. These two functions are more like afterthoughts added to pad the price.
i swear to god i pat my RT5X anytime a video mentions it with a smile. MVG trashed this device pretty bad though, he also mentioned though that the original component cables are much better than the cheap ones you can get today too,
My guess: Macro Silicon chips to video side, MS9282 for HDMI conversion and MS9332 to HDMI splitter. RTL8304MB or similar chip for network side. All are $1 chips. :)
Great video as usual. This seems like a hot mess. There are plenty of cheaper options that look better. I think you missed the Xedusa + from Beharbros.
EON is usually pretty slick but this doesn't seem to be worth it for me. Plus, extra depth on the already awkwardly shaped Xbox? That's sort of limiting for me. The EON GCHD wasn't bad due to the handle but I'd rather have a slimmer profile than Ethernet ports!
While it’s form factor and extra ports seem useful the brightness is a dealbreaker to me. It almost seems intentional the brightness is lower to mask the noise though I’m not sure I should go as far.
OH did you see that there is a new remote to use the retrotink 5x with, if you install 3.7 you can use it. however you can also just use any universal remote that has disney dvd codes. i got a great universal remote to do this with. so far the best feature of it is that the number pad loads one of your profiles at the push of a button
The Electron Shepherd XBOX2HDMI is the adapter of the people! Best video quality plug & play HDMI solution. It’s cheap ($42), doesn’t darken the image, and it’s readily available. I have a RT5X and Monster component cables and I still prefer the XBOX2HDMI.
7:57, you show us a component cable (red, green, blue for video + red and white for audio), then at 8:09, you show composite cables used/connected to the RT 5X Pro. If you didn't know, composite =//= component.
Wish you would have shown more captured footage with the brightness turned up. This would have been fair game if you’d mentioned you’d done so and would have allowed a better comparison between different devices in your head to head. Hard to just details when the picture was noticeably darker.
I bought an hdmi adapter for like 20 dollars... looked a long while for the one I saw without an external power brick, but managed to find it. Much brighter, and no noticeable artifacts from what I have seen (could just be missing them though). Only gripe with my is how it heats up after an hour or two... can occasionally get hot to the touch... still though.
No one should pay the price they are charging for it. There are much better options out there for a similar price or even cheaper than this half baked junk.
Price is about $90 too high, ditch the fancy box and extra hdmi port for a little better quality internals. Overall it's a nice little device, but WAY over priced. Btw Voultar was kind of dunking on you a little (even though he didn't directly mention your name) in his recent Gamecube mod video saying that Chipquik to remove through hole components (digital AV port) was a terrible approach and youtube modders should not be putting that info out there. All that being said I do enjoy your content and it's helped me tremendously with different retro mods. Keep it coming!
Tito, great production as always. 😎 Thank you for always giving us honest opinion and showing us the reasons of every pro and cons. Agree, that price tag is too high. This is because of the quality. We can find better options for a third or less of the price. I have the Xbox2HDMI (I hope you can show it in your channel). It is a great quality 'plug n play' solution for a good price.
I can see that a lot of time, effort, care and money went into making it, all contributing towards a higher production cost (and the need to make some kind of profit off it), but the fact that there's noise and a dark picture doesn't really want me to recommend it when you can get better separates (cable or ADC/scaler, network switch, HDMI splitter) for a lower cost.
They didn't really "skimp" on the cable interface. It costs so much more to design, prototype and manufacture a brand new connector that they will only need a few of.. and when there is an already existing product they can use, why not use it?
Might be great if they released a stripped-down version that only does the HDMI to one monitor, something like the N64 adapter at a much lower price for people who don't care about the LAN or the multiple outputs and even the audio port.
Hey Man, love your vids and how-to projects. I have a dope passion project idea, how about a PC gaming monitor or TV with a built-in PC on the back or the bottom. An all-in-one rig. Hope you consider the idea or even get some inspo from it, keep doing what you do.
Thank you for sharing some true words. Promoters like Adam Koralik / figure out productions have been trying their best to marketing this unfortunate product, while claiming to be neutral. Which is far from truth. Keep it up!
Looks like a decent product but given the simplicity of the circuitry involved and the fact you can emulate the same functionality with separate inexpensive network and A/V devices, there is zero justification for that price.
Interested in this thing. Super cool but not willing to pay 4x the cost of an OG Xbox for what's essentially a network switch and HDMI mod built into one box.
Yep, same. This is because when image is darkened there is no detail left to bring back. This is a baffling design flaw and honestly, price isn't the issue, the issue is that it's a bad product at almost any price. If they did this right, I wouldn't bat an eye, I would just accept it that it's not for me.
This is a hard one... $190 is a steep price but I'm looking at the Manufacturing cost and like if US company.... $190 is we break even and start work on the next product. I'm amazed this even exists at this point. The A/V connector was only used on OG Xbox so the fact it's a discontinued connector from at least 15 years ago amazes me.
That's a big, big no for me. I've got some Monster component cables (thick, like a garden hose!) and a Pound HDMI cable, which looks nice enough on a smaller display. Seems slightly noisy on larger sets, though. The point is, both of these didn't cost me ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS.
You could get the mod plus service for that much. Plus i’m not a fan of the box hanging out of the port design. It should be like the cable and then box. Like some of those Dreamcast VGA boxes. A more reliable design. Regardless it’s almost costs 200 and an Xbox2HDMI adaptor is $40.
this really seems like is geared for Barcades, Tournaments & other LAN Party-esque uses rather than for personal use also, this makes me miss the OG Xbox aesthetic & wish they released a shell for the Series X with that asthetic
The EON is way to dark… Try playing Doom 3 on the EON 😕 Honestly: with a price of 190$ this should provide awesome image quality and it doesn‘t like it seams😕
Great video, but the device not a chance. Analogue component, seems better. Nobody needs two HDMI outputs nor three Ethernet ports. Lan parties, will have many network switches on hand. It's good but not really
.. Recuerda subir los codec de videos juegos. Full pantalla completa .. Sube ese el Link de ese juego de . Xbox clásico. en super ultra full HDMI 8k Plus 3D . 5g .. Con el nuevo adaptador ya antes mencionado .. Y también con los nuevos emulación de las otras plataformas directx ..
Hiding what chips they're using is a huge "nope" for me. Gluing it shut makes it worse. And why not four LAN ports so you can get your party online over Insignia? Hard pass.
For $190 it's an absolute no deal having any visual issues like darkening or noise
Yeah a set of component cables plugged into an OLED would give cleaner returns.
AND the off-the-shelf hacked connector.
I mean you're never gonna get 0 noise from an unmodified og xbox, but the darkened image def makes it worse
And even if it did have no issues, it's still a no deal. Something like this should not cost this much. I can buy 3 original xboxs for that much
This is an extremely niche product, even amongst OG Xbox enthusiasts. The price alienates even more of that small number of people who would be interested in this...
The better Insignia gets, the more niche this becomes. But the price is the true killer there
When you're making something only a small group of people will buy, you can't sell it for 20 dollars. They have to actually make money off of it. If a collector wants this they'll buy it. Especially considering the inflated prices of legacy hardware these days.
@@xSilent.ThreatxIf 20 people worked on this, that makes it worse because how did something that costs this much, have a shoddy video quality that made it to review by creators?
Someone MIGHT buy it, but the audience they want to buy it, more than likely won't because of the problems and price.
@@thatrosepersonality8404facts. Crushed blacks are a no go, period.
Even the official HD adapter and a decent upscaler would be much cheaper.
meanwhile, the Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI is $42 and it has a great picture with no darkness problems. you can get that, an ethernet hub, and an HDMI splitter and still spend less than the EON costs
For plug and play adapters, Xbox2HDMI really is the best option. I've tried various composite to HDMI adapters and two variations of the Pound Xbox Cables, and none of them would work on a 4K TV. I had a 4K Vizio and now I have a Sony OLED and the screen would always blink on and off, but on a regular 1080p TV I never had any issues. Got my hands on the Xbox2HDMI and it works perfectly, haven't played too many games on it but they all have looked great, no lag and more importantly no dense black levels.
In some countries, a jtag 360 with the modded OG emulator is a nice cheap alternative as well
jtag is so much more expensivve than rgh what@@mmpsp693
For $190 you can buy one Eon adapter, or you can buy 4 Electron Shepard adapters ($42 each), a 4 port ethernet switch ($10), and have $11 leftover to spend on pizza for the boys.
hello shank
You'd think for that price they'd make sure the video output was best-in-class and not noticeably worse (darker/noisier) than the rest. I love my GCHD but I think I'll stick with YPbPr->RT5x for my Xbox.
Trouble with trying to compensate for low brightness is that the darkest parts of scenes will already be lost/crushed, and you'll also be boosting noise. Kinda unacceptable at the price. It shouldn't have design issues like that at $200 a piece. And the etched off ICs gives a chintzy feel for it, like it might not be reliable long term.
I presume the etched off ICs are to ward off cloners, which is becoming a bit of a problem for small operations. I'm just thinking there's probably only so many ICs or compatible variants that use the same pin configuration that they could be.
@@alextirrellRI nah just stolen parts lol
@@theodanielwollff What makes you think they're stolen?
Little tip, if you click in both sticks and both triggers on the Xbox's dashbord you'll switch it from 480i to 480p, a big benefit for devices like this!
Hmm 😮
Never knew that, and will try it next I play lol
The Dual HDMI seems a bit unnecessary to me since every gaming capture card has an HDMI pass through. And ethernet switches are under $20 so I really struggle to see the value in this product when it's 3x the price of the other HDMI adapter which isn't as dark a picture.
Guess it'll either be the $60 HDMI cable or just component cables.
Even if you dont have passthrough. There are HDMI splitters for a few bucks
The packaging and merch seems to be the best part about this product.
I've seen MVG, John Hancock's video and to be honest the HDMI out put is far too dark especially at this price point. The ethernet isn't really a bonus as a Ethernet switch can be bought with cables for cheap these day. I don't know who their target consumer audience is?
If it is just simple HDMI output you want, a great choice is the Xbox2HDMI by Electron Shepherd.
If its cheaper than this I would go for it.
@@Oni64it's about a quarter of the price with significantly better image quality, it may also be worth looking into an ossc to upscale the image and not just convert it to hdmi, it's about the same price as the eon but looks wayyyy better
@@daddykarlmarx6183 I seen Adam Koralik also use a Mclassic on the Eon and that made it look better. It would be nice to see all the cheaper comparisons. I seen the Pound cable comparison and it looks less dark than the Eon lol
Thank you for the high praise!
@@ElectronShepherdLLC Still waiting on a PS2 converter from you guys.
Holy hell I was not expecting it to be $200.
As a hardware designer myself, the way the PCB is "designed around the connector" makes every bit of sense to me. The XBOX AV connector is extremely niche nowadays, it's a miracle there are any off-the-shelf options for it at all. EON had to use it, since designing a new connector and manufacturing it would cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. I doubt they made more than a couple thousand units, so it would blow up the price even further. Not to mention that designing connectors is an absolute nightmare and a minefield for screwups.
That's an interesting take.
Any chance you could take the time to elaborate on this point, or maybe address what it is about connectors and their shape/suze/fit that's so tough to get correct for manufacturers. I work at a retro shop, and of course sell plenty of these new styles 3rd party accessories and have always wondered why manufacturers, even companies like Hyperkin, have such a hard time getting a controller or power or video connector port right when obviously the original products have been around for 10-30+ years
Thanks for the provided and any future insight man
@@Indead Sure thing. On one hand, connectors are just hard to get right in general:
- The housing is usually stamped out of sheet metal first, then bent into shape, meaning already you need a stamping and bending stencils which cost ~$10k each, per attempt, which you need multiple of to get the tolerances right. If you make the housing even 0.1mm too big or small - the fit will be too loose or tight.
- Then you have the pins inside the connector which have to have a certain shape, size and pitch, and in many cases need to be springy to ensure certain contact pressure between two surfaces. Get any of these wrong - the connector might not work at all, or worse - only stop working under some niche circumstance, like very high or very low temperature.
- Then there's the electric plane that connects the connector to the PCB/cable it goes on, which in turn has its own challenges with build precision, signal integrity, etc.
- The final assembly process also has its own challenges.
Once all of these challenges are figured out, the material price of the final product is usually in the single-digit cents, or even below 1 cent per connector. But the upfront R&D cost for good production tooling can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wholesale manufacturers make their money back by selling millions of such connectors. In EON's case, they're probably aiming to sell a couple dozen thousand units, at most. Best case scenario - this adds another ~$20 to the final product. And that's the best case scenario, it can get a lot worse than that.
Another thing is that the success designing on your own is absolutely not a guarantee. A lot of manufacturers need years to get this right even on widely used, common connectors with open documentation, like USB or HDMI. Now imagine you'd have to do all of this with a proprietary connector without any sort of official documentation, you'd have to trial & error the entire process even in regards to the basics like "how wide/tall/long is this thing?".
What usually happens nowadays is that old proprietary connectors are manufactured using either stolen, cloned or lost&found original tooling from the original manufacturer, for which I have no moral objections because fuck proprietary connectors. If none of these are available - hardware designers are in for a major pain in the ass.
@@Indead oh right, one thing I forgot - these old giant controller ports you mentioned usually have plastic connector housings, not bent metal, which makes it much worse. Plastic injection molds are VERY expensive, like, very very very expensive, and the injection molding process itself presents its own challenges, like:
- depending on which type of plastic you use it will shrink a different amount during cooling
- all plastics shrink some amount during cooling, so you have to basically guess the dimensions beforehand, something like "I need this to be 10mm wide and the manufacturer reports a material shrinkage of 6%, so it needs 10.64mm in the mold"
- the same plastic will shrink a different amount depending on a certain part's size, thickness and shape, a cube shrinks differently than a rectangle, or circle, or ball.
- this different amoung of shrinkage leads to parts bending during cooling, which is usually solved by making the parts crooked in the other direction in the mold, so it cancels each other out.
Getting all of these right the first time is less likely than winning the lottery.
Honestly, for the price point they are charging for this adapter, I would've expected the EON to deliver quality on par with the top HDMI adapters or Microsoft's official HD AV Pack, but it just doesn't deliver. Its very unfortunate.
Better *external* options I would recommend;
- Electron Shepherd Xbox2HDMI
- XEDUSA
- Chimeric Systems
EON should have included a mclassic style upscaling option to clean up the image for the price.
Out of curiosity I Just searched on eBay for official Xbox component cables and I found a sealed set for almost half the price of this device. There's other options out there.
i can vouch for the Xbox2HDMI. it's $42, and plug and play with a great picture. simple as that
HDMI splitter = $5, cheap network switch = $5, both together = this device which costs $200. It’s absolutely outrageous that anyone is covering this as an honest device.
The brightness issue is unforgivable. Great design flaw.
Why wasn't Electron Shepards XBOX2HDMI included for comparison? It is objectively the best plug & play HDMI solution for the OG Xbox.
etching off the chips tells you everything you need to know, they know it's cheap to replicate but don't want competition so they can sell the part at 500x markup.
I don't think there's enough of a gain using these converters, especially if you are paying up for them. If your TV has the ability, I'd say the best option is an official Xbox component cable or even an Xbox 360 component cable modded for the OG Xbox.
😂 the “let alone friends to game with” I felt that.. 😮💨
😭
Stopped watching at $189. That is absolutely RIDICULOUS.
There was barely any difference in picture quality between the cheap component cables and the EON XBHD adapter (other than some darker colours). They may have designed their own PCB, but this is essentially the same technology as a cheap AV to HDMI converter and an ethernet switch - they've just shoved it all inside a nice 3D printed case. There is nothing special happening here.
All these companies ever do is present "junk" in some fancy packaging and try to sell it at a premium price. - I used to do original Xbox streaming on Twitch; all I used was a cheap set of component cables off Amazon and a $10 HDMI splitter. It done the same job on par with this for not even a qtr of the price.
Really the only pro I see from this, are the multiple network ports. The dual HDMI is overkill, and most streamers use a capture card that splits the signal anyways, because it's accessible for modern consoles or their gaming PCs.
The price to quality isn't close enough to say it's a must have. Even if noise is inevitable because it's converting an analog signal, it's still way too dark, which draws the question in quality of the chips they used, that they conveniently etched off.
I think I'll stick to my Hyperkin cable as it pretty much suits my needs, and if the cable goes out, I'm out $20 and I could get another one at one of the retro game shops in my area.
Sanding down component markings is a no-go! Professionals who want to copy the design will still be able to clone . And the honest customers have to pay the additional labor....
Thankfully, it looks like it's not even worth cloning anyway. :p
"There is a huge improvement" not sure what you are looking at in the comparison with composite but the HDMI output is a dark mess.
EON's pricing table is outta hand. Glad I found an official XBOX component cable at a thrift store.
A lil component cable and OSSC combo would actually be cheaper than this and you'd have a great scaler for all types of consoles, not just Xbox, would recommend that combo 100x over this.
That solution also upscales 480p by 2X giving a very crisp image.
@@Pawnband Yep! it does, and it looks absolutely fantastic, you could even VGA mod the Xbox and run it through the ossc, it'd look even better.
The HDMI features I understand, the additional network ports at a glance seem unnecessary. Unmanaged switches are a dime a dozen and can be had for well under $5, and are a breeze to setup.
One less piece of hardware to lug around with you? As long as it doesn't increase the price more than a few dollars I don't mind. Would make for an easy Xlink setup. This setup still takes up less room than the official component cables.
edit... Never mind, It costs more than an Original Xbox with other external HDMI solutions combined.
Its an excuse to balloon cost.
It's not a switch, it's an embedded network hub. Literally a device you can't even buy anymore that's necessary to play system link games together with other Xboxs. This one device allows itself and 3 other cabled Xboxs, to pay together with no additional hardware.
@@alecpring242 A hub is not needed for System Link, a buddy of mine runs a gaming center that has 4 OG xboxes on a ~$10 tp-link switch and works nearly %100 of the time. From what he's said in the past, you might have to do a factory reset on the xboxes and do a DNS flush once in a while.
@@alecpring242no, it's a 4 port fast Ethernet switch, probably, because those chips are cheap as dirt and Xbox didn't have any issues with system link through switches and routers
I use the Kaico hdmi adapter and my picture is absolutely perfect.
That OG Xbox was definitely ahead of its time... it looks insane even today, I recently beat Indigo Prophecy on it, and even though the game falls apart at the end it was still impressive because of the graphics and cinematography. With the Retrotink 5X I wouldn't get an HDMI-out for the Xbox but I'm glad you made this video to see the adapter. Thanks!
too bad it wasn't released as the system it was meant to be, the Dreamcast 2. wonder how todays market would look.
I had an Xbox, wish I still did. It was a great companion to my GameCube. The only problems were it was a behemoth and the faulty power supply problem that Microsoft never really addressed. I have a feeling that power supply problem was why the Xbox 360 and the first version of Xbox One had those massive in-line power bricks. It was bad enough that my GameCube, Wii and Wii U had them, even worse that my first Xbox 360 did as trying to position this thing in the best way possible in my entertainment rack was a complete hassle.
@@WJCTechymannever had one back in the day but bought one a few years ago and I find it very fun and impressive even nowadays! My version is the latest they released (manufactured in 2005) so I guess it doesn’t have the issues you’ve mentioned… but it won’t play a few games in 480p unfortunately!
I'm last year new when I received it in anticipation for Insignia and grinding up PSO further (I've been across Dreamcast+Gamecube and today Xbox1st) and she has been a fox. v1.6 revision so really only Jet Set Radio+Panzer Dragoon issues to 480p. Also the plethora of PS2 games that are just cake pass 480i and avoid dogshit load times in they Xbox form
The end of that game is the biggest wtf i ever had in a game
For 200 usd this shouldn’t have any issues at all. You would be crazy to buy it.
You can get a fast ethernet switch and a HDMI splitter for a grand total of ~US$20. These two functions are more like afterthoughts added to pad the price.
i swear to god i pat my RT5X anytime a video mentions it with a smile. MVG trashed this device pretty bad though, he also mentioned though that the original component cables are much better than the cheap ones you can get today too,
My guess:
Macro Silicon chips to video side, MS9282 for HDMI conversion and MS9332 to HDMI splitter.
RTL8304MB or similar chip for network side.
All are $1 chips.
:)
Even if your guesses are correct, it's really $#!++y of them to etch the chips.
You were pretty kind to this product given it's flaws and ludicrous price.
190$ retail = probably not even 10$ worth of manufacturing cost = 5% work 95% profit
That price point is way too steep. You might as well do a hard mod for a real hdmi port at that price.
... and actually get far better quality in doing so.
For 200 bucks I can pay a guy to turn my XBOX into a Ferrari!
Great video as usual. This seems like a hot mess. There are plenty of cheaper options that look better. I think you missed the Xedusa + from Beharbros.
I really feel like the pound cable out performs this. That price tag is a no go.
I was going to buy that but it can only be used 1.4 or something xboxs
EON is usually pretty slick but this doesn't seem to be worth it for me. Plus, extra depth on the already awkwardly shaped Xbox? That's sort of limiting for me. The EON GCHD wasn't bad due to the handle but I'd rather have a slimmer profile than Ethernet ports!
Posted this on the mvg video as well, Wi-Fi and VGA output would have somewhat justified the high price.
for that price you should just buy the official component cable
$200 for crap-looking dark video. No thanks, I'll stick to component cables.
it's most likely the two large chips on the board are the same. thats how they get dual HDMI out. they're both anolog to digital upscalers
Splitting the analog source like that would explain the dark video, if so it's likely to shorten the life of the console.
I love your videos and I hope this isn't mean, but I think that more than one looping music track would be awesome
Tried them all for og xbox and ps2, there's no substitute for using a crt tv. It's just what these incredible machines was intended for.
While it’s form factor and extra ports seem useful the brightness is a dealbreaker to me. It almost seems intentional the brightness is lower to mask the noise though I’m not sure I should go as far.
That price. Wow. For what it is. A definite no. Shame really. Seems to have many good features.
Fantastic review and tear down. I never owned an Xbox and have no nostalgia for it. However, Is till really enjoyed your video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
*Shows a very dark picture with black crushes*
Macho nacho: “it’s great improvement!”
😂 lol
OH did you see that there is a new remote to use the retrotink 5x with, if you install 3.7 you can use it. however you can also just use any universal remote that has disney dvd codes. i got a great universal remote to do this with. so far the best feature of it is that the number pad loads one of your profiles at the push of a button
Modern gamer review saying it was dark in place with image
The Electron Shepherd XBOX2HDMI is the adapter of the people! Best video quality plug & play HDMI solution. It’s cheap ($42), doesn’t darken the image, and it’s readily available. I have a RT5X and Monster component cables and I still prefer the XBOX2HDMI.
7:57, you show us a component cable (red, green, blue for video + red and white for audio), then at 8:09, you show composite cables used/connected to the RT 5X Pro. If you didn't know, composite =//= component.
Wish you would have shown more captured footage with the brightness turned up. This would have been fair game if you’d mentioned you’d done so and would have allowed a better comparison between different devices in your head to head. Hard to just details when the picture was noticeably darker.
I bought an hdmi adapter for like 20 dollars... looked a long while for the one I saw without an external power brick, but managed to find it. Much brighter, and no noticeable artifacts from what I have seen (could just be missing them though). Only gripe with my is how it heats up after an hour or two... can occasionally get hot to the touch... still though.
You could probably add Bluetooth audio with a BT to 3.5mm adapter for current gen sound systems
What was the adapter that was cheaper that you recommended? I can’t find it
If this is too expensive for you, get the Behar Bros Zedusa for 70 bucks. It is phenomenal.
No one should pay the price they are charging for it. There are much better options out there for a similar price or even cheaper than this half baked junk.
I have a Xbox High Definition Av Pack + OSSC + Mediabridge Component Video Cables that i got years ago and love it
Well they're both splitting and upscaling the image without external power and using questionable chips ... maybe a reason the output is dim?
An actual honest review, thank you so much
Price is about $90 too high, ditch the fancy box and extra hdmi port for a little better quality internals. Overall it's a nice little device, but WAY over priced. Btw Voultar was kind of dunking on you a little (even though he didn't directly mention your name) in his recent Gamecube mod video saying that Chipquik to remove through hole components (digital AV port) was a terrible approach and youtube modders should not be putting that info out there. All that being said I do enjoy your content and it's helped me tremendously with different retro mods. Keep it coming!
Tito, great production as always. 😎 Thank you for always giving us honest opinion and showing us the reasons of every pro and cons.
Agree, that price tag is too high. This is because of the quality. We can find better options for a third or less of the price. I have the Xbox2HDMI (I hope you can show it in your channel). It is a great quality 'plug n play' solution for a good price.
At that price they could at least get the Brightness/Contrast/Gamma right!
The cheap component cables look better than this. Sad to see :(
I was wondering when Tito would cover the EON XBHD.
I can see that a lot of time, effort, care and money went into making it, all contributing towards a higher production cost (and the need to make some kind of profit off it), but the fact that there's noise and a dark picture doesn't really want me to recommend it when you can get better separates (cable or ADC/scaler, network switch, HDMI splitter) for a lower cost.
That wireless Logitech controller for the Xbox is the best.
Awesome review! It'd love to send you one of my Xbox2HDMI modules to get your feedback! I know you'll be pleasantly surprised ⚡
I think it's really funny how they even etched the network switch chip. As if that is something difficult to clone 🤣
They didn't really "skimp" on the cable interface. It costs so much more to design, prototype and manufacture a brand new connector that they will only need a few of.. and when there is an already existing product they can use, why not use it?
Are we getting so lazy that we can't type or say "merchandise" we have to say a stupid shortened version "merch".
Might be great if they released a stripped-down version that only does the HDMI to one monitor, something like the N64 adapter at a much lower price for people who don't care about the LAN or the multiple outputs and even the audio port.
This will be perfect on some fighting games especially if you set it up as dual side like the arcade versions of tekken 5 in some competitive arcades.
Hey Man, love your vids and how-to projects. I have a dope passion project idea, how about a PC gaming monitor or TV with a built-in PC on the back or the bottom. An all-in-one rig. Hope you consider the idea or even get some inspo from it, keep doing what you do.
Thank you for sharing some true words. Promoters like Adam Koralik / figure out productions have been trying their best to marketing this unfortunate product, while claiming to be neutral. Which is far from truth. Keep it up!
Looks like a decent product but given the simplicity of the circuitry involved and the fact you can emulate the same functionality with separate inexpensive network and A/V devices, there is zero justification for that price.
Interested in this thing. Super cool but not willing to pay 4x the cost of an OG Xbox for what's essentially a network switch and HDMI mod built into one box.
MVG pooped on this for the dark picture and crushing of blacks. I would rather put the $190 towards a retrotink 5x.
I saw a thumbnail for your video first, Tito, but went to see the MVG video first. Damn, he was pretty upset with the device.
for this price you can get an OSSC
you should have compared with the official XBOX HD AV adapter with the RT5X
I had an HDMI adapter and the image was way too dark like the EON, and turning up the brightness made no difference
Yep, same. This is because when image is darkened there is no detail left to bring back.
This is a baffling design flaw and honestly, price isn't the issue, the issue is that it's a bad product at almost any price. If they did this right, I wouldn't bat an eye, I would just accept it that it's not for me.
Thank you for your video and rhis new device for the original X Box
This is a hard one... $190 is a steep price but I'm looking at the Manufacturing cost and like if US company.... $190 is we break even and start work on the next product. I'm amazed this even exists at this point. The A/V connector was only used on OG Xbox so the fact it's a discontinued connector from at least 15 years ago amazes me.
That's a big, big no for me. I've got some Monster component cables (thick, like a garden hose!) and a Pound HDMI cable, which looks nice enough on a smaller display. Seems slightly noisy on larger sets, though. The point is, both of these didn't cost me ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS.
This thing solves problems no one is having
at that price point there's just no excuse, it should work out of the box, I shouldn't have to mess with brightness settings just to compensate
You could get the mod plus service for that much. Plus i’m not a fan of the box hanging out of the port design. It should be like the cable and then box. Like some of those Dreamcast VGA boxes. A more reliable design. Regardless it’s almost costs 200 and an Xbox2HDMI adaptor is $40.
I Love your Content/Videos ❤, Best Regards from Germany
Also notice that you cannot get 480p output on PAL console without modding
MVG reviewed this on his channel.
I think you're supposed to keep on normal aspect ratio from the system settings and not widescreen
this really seems like is geared for Barcades, Tournaments & other LAN Party-esque uses rather than for personal use
also, this makes me miss the OG Xbox aesthetic & wish they released a shell for the Series X with that asthetic
For me I love the classic mod simple & the best
The EON is way to dark… Try playing Doom 3 on the EON 😕 Honestly: with a price of 190$ this should provide awesome image quality and it doesn‘t like it seams😕
Great video, but the device not a chance. Analogue component, seems better. Nobody needs two HDMI outputs nor three Ethernet ports. Lan parties, will have many network switches on hand. It's good but not really
.. Recuerda subir los codec de videos juegos. Full pantalla completa .. Sube ese el Link de ese juego de . Xbox clásico. en super ultra full HDMI 8k Plus 3D . 5g .. Con el nuevo adaptador ya antes mencionado .. Y también con los nuevos emulación de las otras plataformas directx ..
Hiding what chips they're using is a huge "nope" for me. Gluing it shut makes it worse. And why not four LAN ports so you can get your party online over Insignia? Hard pass.
I wonder if EON will come out with a “bare bones" HDMI scaler in the future?