Review of Microsoft XBox High Definition AV Pack

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It surprises me how some people think they know what they are talking about... This is a great product first of all. It comes with component cables, but if you want you can use "better" cables. You will need an optical digital cable to get 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound out of your games. DTS is only available for movies that support it. Games can't use DTS so don't expect it. The component cables that come with this work just great and you don't need to spend alot more money on Monster cables. Do you really think that Microsoft would release somthing that could make their system look bad? Unless you have some insane electrical and/or radio interference then you might want to get cables that are even better than Monster's. Another misconception is that just by using these cables with an HDTV you will get HD resolutions of 1800i with all games. That is just not true! Most games such as Halo only use 480p. There is about 1 maybe 2 games (right now) that go as high as 1080i and I that at least one if not both are football games. That's not to say that 480p is bad because it's not. It's a great resolution and seeing as how most launch games didn't have anti-aliasing, but still looked great proves it. Bottom line great product at a great price.

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If you have an HDTV or a 5.1 surround sound system, you'll need this to experience the XBox to its fullest.

For only (about) $20, this gives you all the cables you need. However, if you want to use the optical digital output, you'll need to supply your own cable. Also, if you're a cable snob you might want to pick up some higher quality cables. Personally, I think the cables included are just fine.

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I saw this in the store the other day and decided to try it out since I have a 53inch HDTV. I wasnt expecting much but I was really suprised at the difference in pictures vs. the standed AV cable that came with the XBOX. After hooking it up, I went to my XBOX control panel to enable 1080i. While I didn't see much difference in Rainbow Six 3, when I popped Madden in, I immediately noticed a difference. The picture seems a lot crisper and sharp, I must say I am plesantly suprised. I then decided to try NCAA football. With the standard AV cable I always found NCAA to be rather grainy and sort of blurry, but after playing the game with the HDAV Pack, the game looked much much better. No more graininess, the picture is as clear as can be. I will have to play Halo for the 100000th time to see if I notice a difference in that as well.This product is worth all 1,999 pennies that it costs. For those that say you can't tell the difference I don't know what to say. Remember to enable it in your XBOX control panel or it won't work. I'm not sure how this works with regular TVs if at all, so that may be your problem too. This is a must have for HDTV owners.

OK I am so stupid. Nearly 3 years after getting this thing, I just now realized that this pack also has an optical connection for digital audio sound. I have no idea why it took me so long to realize this, but now that I have, I plugged in an optical cable to my receiver, and my XBOX games are now able to be enjoyed all over again, true surround sound, the way XBOX games are meant to be played. This makes this even more worth the money.

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I am not sure what everyone is talking about needing another cable, my HD pack came with a cable. There is no optical cable for 5.1 dolby digital, but for [amt] what do you expect. The cable that comes with it allows you to hook up the component video and stereo. Currently all XBox games only output 480p, so all this talk about 1080i is non-sense. The first game that rumor has it will support 1080i is Madden Football. 480p though looks incredible though and this product is a must have if your TV/projector supports component video. The Monster solution may provide a bit better quality solution, but that in no way diminishes the value of this.

But from what I've seen the Monster Cable pack runs $60 and requires a special $35 optical cable to get dolby digital. The MS HD pack runs $20 and uses a standars optical cable which can be picked up for under $20.

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There seems to be a lot of misinformation with regard to this HDAV Pack. After having installed and played with it, I will try to set the record right. The pack is all-inclusive. That is to say for twenty bucks, it contains all the cables you need to connect to your HD ready TV. The cables that are included are very basic unshielded component video (3) and RCA audio (2). With this pack, the best you can do right now is a vertical resolution of 480 lines because the output of the setup screen and all the current games, even Halo, are only NTSC and do not take advantage of the potential capability of 1080 lines of resolution. So don't believe those who claim to run Halo at 1080i. That is not to say, however, that Halo at 480 lines isn't gorgeous. Ultimately, if you have an HDTV, you need this pack to take advantage of it.