Having a 360 video problem...

[Flak Beard]

I often take my 360 back and forth from my living room to my game room, one of which has an HDTV and the other a standard CRT television. For the HDTV I use the component cables that came with my 360, and for the SDTV I use a set of generic s-video cables I ordered off eBay.

I played some 360 on the SDTV last night and everything was fine. When I powered it on this morning, I got sound but no picture. I tested my other consoles hooked up to the same switch box, and they all worked fine on the TV's s-video port. The 360 would not show a picture even hooked up to a normal composite jack.

The weird thing is, the TV showed that little white flash on the screen just like it always does when you turn something on connected to one of it's inputs. Maybe I'm not describing this well, but you guys know what I'm talking about?

Anyway, I took the 360 back out to the living room and it worked fine on the HDTV with component cables. I'm thinking the s-video cable went bad, but I have no idea how this could of happened just sitting there overnight. Perhaps a small surge?

Also, I know what you're thinking... why not just try the s-video cables out on the HDTV? Unfortunately, that involves some working with furniture I'd hate to have to get into right now.

[Niode]

Mine used to do this all time when I was going from an SDTV to an HDTV, I simply just flipped the HD/SD switch a couple of times until it displayed what I wanted it to display.

Sometimes I think you have to have the lead plugged into the 360 before switching modes. Otherwise it tries to output in whatever video mode it last used, regardless of the state of the switch.

Actually reading your post back it seems I got your problem backwards. If you are getting picture on the HD cable then it's highly likely that your SD cable is broken.

[Flak Beard]

What is weird is that the s-video cable has one of those SD/HD switches on it. I have no idea why it would need to be there since you can't send an HD signal through s-video.

Unfortunately, switching it back and forth produced no result.

[Niode]

Hmmm. As long as the HD cable is working fine then your 360 isn't broken, replacing a video cable is a minor expense. It's probably not worth the hassle in trying to repair it.

[Flak Beard]

Yeah, I guess I can't expect too much from a cable that cost me $7 with free shipping.

I emailed the seller to see about a replacement. If I have to pay to ship it back though, I might as well just go see if I can pick up a cheap replacement at a local game store.

[Niode]

Yeah it kinda sucks but that's the risk you take when you buy cheap cables. Good luck for when you decide to find a cheap replacement anyway

[Flak Beard]

Unfortunately most of my local shops don't even carry the official MS s-video cables anymore, so that's why I went to eBay. I find these universal ones all over the place though...

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/Product ... t_id=18698

[Niode]

Oh god, stay away from those cables, they are dire. I bought a MadCatz component one and I had to wiggle the cable all the time to get a decent picture and when I used it on my 360 it would have diagonal lines scrolling through the picture on anything above 480p. Really poor quality cable.

I bought one because my Viera only has one component input and I wanted to use my Wii, 360, and PS2 without having to reach round the back. Swapping a cable out of the back of a console is much easier. I ended up just getting one of those Joytech component boxes, they are amazing for the price, 7 port ethernet switch, 5 (6 if you include the pass through cable for the 360) optical inputs, 5 inputs with sockets for s-video, composite and component. Customizable LCD screen so I can change the names of the inputs when I scroll through (like DC, GC, 360, Wii, PS2 etc) and a remote! I paid £20 for it. The only problem is the 360 Passthrough cable sucks, the colours are very drab and it has interference issues, I just use the official 360 Component cable and have no problems with it, colours are vibrant and no interference at all. Means I only have 5 inputs rather than 6 but no biggy really.

[Flak Beard]

I kind of figured the multi-console cables would stink. I'll make sure and stay away from them.

Quick question, if my cable is bad, would I still get that "white flash" I mentioned? It's that thing a CRT will do any time you turn on a device that is connected to one of it's inputs. Hard to articulate what I'm referring to exactly, but every CRT I've owned did it. It's like a quick scroll that happens once.

[Niode]

Well I have a dead gamecube (it powers up to a blank screen, the modchip has died) that does the white flash thing on my TV. So it's more to do with power surge in the system that anything else.