XBox 360 USB hub question

[MrNazraq]

I want to know more about the USB hub that's coming with the XBox 360 version of Rock Band. I'd appreciate it if I could get an answer from someone from Harmonix.

Basically, from what I've seen in pictures, the cord is only about 1 foot long. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

If it is just 1 foot long, it'd be nice if we could buy our own USB hub that has a longer cord. But I don't know if it would necessarily work with the 360. I've read some web articles saying that it works with the wired controllers. I'd like to see some more testing before I go out and buy my own.

Would it be OK if we bought a non-powered USB hub? What would the effects be on the XBox's power supply? On the other hardware? I don't want to accidentally fry my XBox by doing this...

[admanimal]

Any standard USB hub will work (not sure if it has to be USB2 or not). I would get a powered one to avoid potential problems.

[tbradshaw]

Thankfully, the USB specification is fairly clear on this.

The only reason that "unpowered" USB hubs were written into the USB specification was as a "exception" to allow for mobile computing where power limitations insure that only "low power" devices are going to be used. The USB specification places this at under 100mA.

Any non-mobile USB hub should be powered and must be powered if the sum of the power required by devices is near 500mA.

We don't know the exact power needs of Rock Band controllers (or even traditional XBox controllers), but you should really use a powered USB hub. It's worth mentioning that you will not "burn up" or otherwise damage your equipment by using an unpowered hub or attempting to draw too much power from a USB connection. Things just won't work.

While you could give an unpowered hub a shot, no one familiar with the USB specification and requirements will suggest that you do so. Go ahead and just get a powered hub. It's the right thing to do. :)