How do I best connect an Xbox One to an old CRT TV which only has Scart or component connections?

Thanks

You’ll need, somewhat obviously, a HDMI to component converter, or a HDMI to (ideally RGB if your TV supports it) SCART block.

You’ve got two problems here though. The first is that HDMI is digital, and component (and SCART) is analogue, so some sort of converter will be necessary rather than being a simple cable.

The second, and potentially bigger, issue is that HDMI is ‘clever’ and requires communication between the two devices. In part this is copy protection; if a video player can’t establish that it’s talking to a legitimate playback device it may fail. What we’re describing here is essentially a device which can bypass copy protection. Whether this affects the Xbox or not I’m not sure; if I were to guess I’d hazard that it’ll fail for commercial video playback (eg Netflix) at least, if it works at all.

What this means in practice is that any solution is either going to be expensive, a bit crap, or just not work. I’d guess that most HDMI / component converters will convert from component to HDMI rather than what you need which is the other way around.

If I were you, I’d either look to replacing the TV (which there’s an argument for anyway, you might as well have bought a 360 as hook a One through an ancient TV), or use a Windows 10 PC as a remote screen.

Cougar – thank you. I thought it wouldn’t be easy

Having just Googled, I’ve edited my post slightly.

First hit was this,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portta-PETHR-Component-convertitore-Windows-10/dp/B00A8FIQXA

Reviews are mostly 5* and 1* reviews, which sort of backs up what I was saying. For some people’s application it worked, for others it didn’t. It’s a bit of a lottery.

I’d be shopping on gumtree for a TV you’re not going to get the best out of it even if it does work.

I’d be shopping on Richer Sounds for a TV you’re not going to get the best out of it even if it does work.

I’d be shopping at John Lewis for a TV you’re not going to get the best out of it even if it does work.

😆

I’d be shopping at Bang and Olufsen for a TV you’re not going to get the best out of it even if it does work.*

*this is just getting silly now. Obviously I would go to John Lewis 😛

I remember my flatmate hooking up an Xbox 360 to our (old but fairly nice) CRT TV that we had at time. It worked but was practically unusable at times, text far too small to be readable on the CRT. Fine on a modern TV.

On a related note,

I ran a 360 for years on a top-of-the-range-when-I-bought-it-back-in-the-Late-Jurassic Sony Trinitron. This sort of thing:

It was a great picture, on a great set which I was loathe to replace for the sake of it.

I eventually buckled under pressure to replace it, and stuck a shiny modern HD panel in its place. I knew it was going to be an improvement of course, but was absolutely staggered at how much better the 360 looked on the new TV, fonts were pin-sharp whereas before they were muddy and hard to read. It was truly shocking.

And that was on a 360. The difference using an Xbox One on a new TV will be like having laser eye surgery for cataracts.

Lowe is where it’s at for a cheap game tv. 😉