It sounds simple enough, you want to play your Playstation 2 (PS2), XBOX, or other gaming console that uses composite video, on your computer monitor. Turns out that doing this can prove to be quite difficult, but here’s a solution.
You may start out looking for adapters on Amazon or eBay and within seconds you find tons of different adapters. Some of these adapters look like they will work just fine, RCA inputs on one side and VGA or HDMI on the other side. What’s even better is that you likely get a great deal on the adapter, perhaps it will only set you back $1.50.
Unfortunately, this will leave you without an image on your PC monitor and you will find yourself trying to figure out how to get your $1.50 back. The truth is these adapters weren’t designed to work the way you think they would. Most of these kinds of adapters were meant to work the other way around and were never intended to be used to hook a gaming console up to a PC monitor. Luckily there is a simple solution that will get you up and running quickly.
You can use the PETRH RCA Component RGB YPbPr to HDMI v1.3 Video Converter or one similar to this. Not many monitors have composite video hookups so this will be very helpful as it will provide you with an HDMI connection to plug right into your monitor. This is the fastest way to get up and running without getting all caught up in the adapter game. This converter also handles audio which is a nice addition that some adapters might not have. The key to finding a working adapter in this case is one that is powered and comes with it’s own power supply.
Please note that you will also need to get a component cable for your PS2 or original Xbox as the original cable provided with these consoles only offers composite video (Red, White and Yellow). After that, the only other connection you need to make is to hook up the power supply to the converter box and you’re ready to game. Of course you don’t have to just use this converter for games, you can use it for just about anything you want to hook up that only accepts and HDMI signal. You can pick this unit up for around $25.00 on Amazon or eBay.
