Plug-And-Play XBOX DUAL HDMI & LAN Adapter | EON Gaming XBHD Review

In this episode, we unbox and test out the latest release from EON Gaming, the XBHD. This Plug-And-Play Adapter for the original Xbox promises to give you dual HDMI outputs and LAN Party Integration. Let's check it out.

What do you do if you want to connect your original Xbox to your TV via HDMI? And what if you wanted to have a LAN party with original Xbox hardware? Well, towards the end of May 2023, the team over at Eon Gaming announced a new addition to their product lineup. They are calling it the XBHD, and it has a number of interesting features, but it raises a lot of questions too. Let's take a closer look.

One of the challenges with the original Xbox is the fact that you can't tap right into it and get an HDMI output. You have your multi connector which can output composite, component, and S-video. Well, it appears that Eon Gaming is tapping into this port and providing you with an HDMI output. According to their own specs, it will output anywhere from 480i, 480p, and 720p, but 1080i resolution is not recommended. Unlike popular upscalers out there such as the RetroTink or OSSC there is no line multiplication going on here, as such what you see is kind of what you get. Now, this does feature twin HDMI outputs, so you can connect one Xbox to two different TVs to be able to have multiplayer fighting games for example, and each player gets their own television.

Another interesting feature of the XBHD is the integrated LAN adapter and ethernet ports. It connects to your system's LAN adapter port, and features three additional LAN connection ports. Interesting in theory, but in 2023 are LAN parties with original Xbox hardware that common? I don't know the answer to that question. I would think that if you would want to have the equivalent of an Xbox LAN party you would use either an Xbox 360, Xbox One or Xbox Series S or X and connect over the internet. A LAN party requires you to be in the same room, and is anyone really lugging around an original Xbox anymore? I don't know.

FInally, an integrated 3.5mm MiniTOSLINK connector for audio. This is a very generational appropriate connector, but audio and video are both handled by HDMI so I don't know that there's a specific need for this.

Connecting the XBHD to the back of my Halo edition XBOX was straightforward, however, just like the EON GCHD, you need to make sure that you push the unit all the way into your system. I thought it was fully inserted but failed to get any video signal. An extra push and it popped into place.

For gameplay, I threw a number of different titles at it. Star Wars: Battlefront was first up, and it looked fairly similar to playing through the Electron Shepherd XBOX2HD and the Xedusa, which is what I expected. Draw distance and details all looked quite good. From here I moved to a few games I had never played before such as Crimson Skies (OMG this game is awesome!), Halo 2, Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate, and Soul Caliber 2. I'll say that I thought Crimson Skies and Soul Caliber 2 both looked great, but I thought Halo 2 was a bit on the darker side. That could have been the game, however.

I finished up with 2 games I am very familiar with, Enter the Matrix and Indycar Racing. While Enter the Matric CAN run at 1080i, I left the settings at 720P, and the results were very, very good. For Indycar Racing, I will say I thought things like the driver's hands and gloves looked much smoother than with other adapters, but that could be me mis-remembering.

Why It RoX:
- Plug-And-Play
- Beautiful Design
- Molded-in feet supports the adapter
- Dual HDMI outputs
- Integrated LAN adapter

What could be improved
- No Upscaling
- EXPENSIVE
- If you have no use for LAN this loses a lot of its benefits
- Very tight fit into system

Should You Buy One
For $190, you're making a heck of an investment in an adapter for one particular system. As I stated in our announcement video, when you have the Xbox2HDMI adapter from Shepherd Electronics and things like these Xedusa from the Behar Bros that will get you to an HDMI connector for a fraction of the cost, it prices itself out of the market for those simply looking to get to an HDMI output. Frankly, the HDMI output isn't the big feature, and I don't believe it is the focus of the XBHD. LAN parties and those running tournaments are going to get the most benefit from the XBHD.

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