Review: The XBHD from EON Gaming Works Well But is Very Niche

EON Gaming has officially launched the XBHD. This is a plug-and-play solution to help gamers play original Xbox games on their HDTV systems. EON was kind enough to supply me with a unit to review along with an original Xbox system, but all the thoughts below are my own. If you like what you read, you can grab your own XBHD from Amazon, Castlemania Games, GamesConnection, and StoneAgeGamer for $189.99.

Let’s talk about the physical product before diving much deeper. This is honestly, the XBHD’s strongest area. The packaging it comes in is very fun as it’s designed to invoke the design of the original Xbox which is a very fun touch. In addition, the physical XBHD is solid and well thought out. The plastic shell has similar design aesthetics to the Xbox, fits snuggly in the cavity, and has two feet on the bottom to make sure the ports on the Xbox aren’t put under undue strain which could lead to damage. So far, so good. The HDMI ports on the back are a little snug, but not too tight in my opinion. It’s also very nice that the XBHD does not require any kind of external power.

Now the big question: does the XBHD work? Yes! I was able to play some classic titles such as Halo 2, NFL Blitz 2003, and Fable on my monitor and TVs via HDMI no problem. I was even able to connect my monitor and TV simultaneously thanks to the dual HDMI output. I do want to note that I do not have any other Xbox consoles so I was unable to test if the ethernet ports work, but I’m willing to take EON’s word on this one. However, I did test out the Mini TOSLINK with my soundbar and it did work although if you use it with headphones or anything, make sure you can adjust the volume on the listening device as the XBHD has no volume control. Interestingly enough, EON does state in the instructions to note enable 1080i in the Xbox settings, but I don’t have any 1080i games (there were very few) to test and try to understand why that is. In addition, I don’t have any 720p titles, but 480p worked just fine.

I do want to take a brief moment and talk about image quality. I noticed that the games seemed a little dark, but shrugged it off as just a setting I needed to change on my display. However, after seeing some other reviews, it has become apparent that this is just normal for the XBHD which is a bummer. It’s important to remember that the XBHD does not do any upscaling, filtering, smoothing, etc. It essentially serves as an analog to digital converter that can connect to two displays and three other consoles for LAN parties. So, depending on your television, you may find that the picture is not the best. This is when I found the mClassic from Marseille to come in very handy. My TV is very cheap and doesn’t always have the best features. For example, all games were stretched out to a 16:9 format regardless of whether or not the game supported it, which is a bummer. Thankfully, the mClassic can be set to Retro Mode which then fixes this problem. In addition, the mClassic worked great to smooth out the image and make the games look better in my opinion.

This brings me to my final verdict. The XBHD works and accomplishes what it sets out to do which is great. However, I cannot help but question who this is really for and I’ve come up with two answers. The first answer is streamers. The dual HDMI output allows you to connect to a TV/monitor and your capture card so you don’t have to worry about lag or latency as you play. The only other audience I can think of besides random outliers are places like gaming cafes or gaming events/conventions. The way I see it, these places are the only ones that could really host anything like a LAN party and have the equipment necessary. The two outputs can help make multiplayer a bit more comfortable, particularly with smaller screens. Meanwhile, I would dare you to find me enough groups of at least three friends who each have an Xbox console and TV to accompany it (instead of just doing split screen) who could actually use the LAN party functionality to make this product worthwhile.

If you fit into one of the two categories in that last paragraph, the XBHD could be worth it although I do think it’s still a little on the pricey side. I’d probably rate it around a 6 or 7 out of 10 for those groups since it is more convenient than getting each of those parts separately. If you are just looking for a way to connect your original Xbox console to an HDMI screen, I have a hard time recommending the XBHD due to the price tag combined with features that you would probably not take advantage of which is the basis of my score below. It’s a solid product physically and it works well, but it’s definitely overkill for most people I can think of.