Video signal conversion help

[wojonatior]

I need some help. I recently have wanted to move my Xbox-360 onto my computer monitor. There is a cable from Microsoft that does exactly that. Problem is, it costs 40 dollars. I have been thinking about converting the female ends of the cable that I have(One end plugs into the xbox, and the other end has component cables, yellow, red, and white, and the high-def cables, green, red, and blue.) into a male VGA or DVI. I have been told though, that solution would not work, because of the signals and whatnot. Would any of you have any inexpensive solutions to this problem?

[Erloas]

Composite video (the single yellow, the red and white are audio) will not work. Component video, the red, green and blue, have the sync signals mixed with the color signals.
VGA and DVI-A (or other DVI connections that also include A) both use 3 color signals and 2 more independant sync signals.
There is no direct way to convert from composite, component and VGA/DVI-A, you need some active circuitry to do the conversion for you.

I'm going to assume your monitor doesn't already have component video inputs on it. I know my monitor does and quite a few mid to high end monitors do, but if you have a cheaper or older monitor it probably does not.

There are quite a few things you can buy that will make the conversions for you, but its probably not going to be any cheaper then buying the direct cable for the XBox.

If you happen to have a newer stereo reciever they tend to have a wide range of video inputs as well as audio inputs and they will generally have DVI, HDMI, and/or VGA outputs on them that can do the conversion for you. If you don't (and it isn't that likely anymore with stereo systems loosing a lot of their predominance in houses) it is something to look into getting instead. They are going to cost a lot more then the $40 for the cable (I'm guessing probably about $200 for what you would need) but they give you a lot more options. They would be able to drive a nice stereo system as well as the ability to quickly change between a lot of different devices and at least 1-2 outputs too.
I know my brother ended up getting one for his TV because he had a DVR/cable box and PS3 that both required HD inputs but his TV only had one set of inputs (it was an older DLP TV). It generally isn't an issue any more since most TVs have a wide range of input types on them. The difference between TVs and monitors is fairly minor anymore and the only real distinction is what they want to market them as and if they have a tuner built into them.