Gaming parts & AV accessories
Heavy Duty 1.8 m VGA & AV Cable for Xbox 360 — HD PC Monitor Video with Stereo Audio, Optical Digital Audio Output and Gold-Plated VGA & RCA Plugs
This is a heavy-duty VGA lead for the Xbox 360 that also carries stereo audio and a digital optical audio output. It lets you run the console into a computer monitor or a projector rather than a television, which is the tidiest answer if your display has a VGA socket and no HDMI input, or if the HDMI inputs you do have are already full.
Check compatibility
Please note: on this batch the white ring on the audio plug may carry a slight yellow tint. It is cosmetic only and does not affect the picture, the sound or the fit — you can see it in the photographs
What the plugs are, so there are no surprises. There are three connectors at the display end: a 15-pin VGA plug that carries the picture, and two RCA plugs, red and white, that carry the sound — right and left stereo audio. VGA carries video only and cannot carry sound, which is why the audio comes out separately on its own two plugs. The red and white pair are audio: this lead does not carry composite or component video, and there is no yellow video plug on it.
Key product details
- VGA video output — plugs the console straight into a PC monitor, projector or any display with a 15-pin VGA input, at up to 1080p
- Stereo audio on the two RCA plugs — red and white carry right and left sound to your monitor speakers, a soundbar or any amplifier
- Plus a digital optical (TOSLINK) audio output built into the console connector, so a soundbar or AV receiver can be fed straight from the lead
- Gold-plated VGA shell and RCA plugs for a clean, corrosion-resistant contact on the connectors that get plugged and unplugged most
- Heavy duty build — a thick, heavily insulated grey jacket, a moulded strain relief where the lead enters the console connector, and a separate moulded body on every plug so it pulls out by the body and not by the wire
- 1.8 metres (180 cm) — enough to reach from a shelf or a desk to the back of a monitor
- Fits the Xbox 360 (original) and also fits the Xbox 360 S (Slim). Both use the same wide AV multi-out socket
- Not suitable for the Xbox 360 E, which has no AV multi-out socket at all
- Brand new, unused stock
About this item
The build is the difference you can see in the photographs. The jacket is thick and heavily insulated rather than the thin flat cable these are usually sold as, and the console connector has a proper moulded strain relief where the cable enters it. Each plug has its own moulded body with a ribbed grip, so it comes out by the body instead of by the wire. The VGA shell and both RCA plugs are gold-plated; the console connector itself is the standard nickel finish.
The optical audio output. Look at the console connector and you will see a square shuttered port on its side. That is a standard TOSLINK optical digital audio output. Plug an optical cable in there and the console can send digital audio to a soundbar, an AV receiver or a headphone amplifier while the picture goes to the monitor on the VGA plug. This matters most for the original Xbox 360, which has no optical socket on the console body at all — on that machine a lead like this one is the only way to get digital audio out.
Please check which console you have, because this is the one thing that catches people out. This lead fits the Xbox 360, the original model, and it also fits the Xbox 360 S, the slimmer glossy version. Both of those have the same wide, flat AV multi-out socket at the back, and this lead plugs straight into either one. It is not suitable for the Xbox 360 E. That is the later, squarer model with the flat matte styling, and it dropped the AV multi-out socket completely in favour of a small 3.5 mm jack, so nothing on this lead will plug into it. If the back of your console has a wide flat slot beside the HDMI port, this is the right lead.
Setting it up takes a minute. Push the console connector into the AV multi-out until it seats, then run the VGA plug into the monitor and the red and white plugs into the audio inputs on the monitor, a soundbar or an amplifier. Select the VGA input on the display and set the console display output to the resolution your monitor supports. If you are using the optical output for sound instead, connect an optical cable from the port on the console connector to your amplifier and set the console audio output to digital.
One honest note about this batch. These are from older stock, and on some of them the white ring on the audio plug has taken on a slight yellow tint. It is a purely cosmetic variation in the moulded plastic — it does not affect the picture, the sound, the fit or the life of the cable, and every cable is brand new and unused. The photographs show it as it is so you know exactly what arrives.
Complete your setup
Monitor or powered speakers use a 3.5 mm analogue input for sound? Connect the red/white RCA audio plugs through our 3.5 mm stereo plug to twin RCA sockets adapter. VGA carries picture only. Check the audio input is analogue stereo, not optical.
Choose only what your setup needs. Linked items are sold separately.