Thinking of getting a Xbox 360, but i have one question

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With the recent price drop on the Xbox 360 I am now very tempted to pick one up. I will be connecting it up to my PC monitor which is a Benq FP241W. I have three connections available to me on this monitor, HDMI, S-Video and Component. I would also like to run my sound through my X-Fi card on my pc so I can use my headset with it. This sound connection will have to done via an optical connection. As far as I can tell this can only be done on the Xbox from the connection that isn’t the HDMI one.

Basically what I'm asking is will I suffer a loss in resolution or image quality by using this component connection over the HDMI one?

If I would lose image quality or resolution can I run the picture through HDMI and the sound through the other connection at the same time?
 
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It is possible to run both an HDMI cable and also use the optical out on the component connector at the same time. It does require some butchering of the connector at the xbox end though so you can plug both in at the same time.
 
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Ah right, Thanks for the info guys.

I have to go into my local store and get them to open the box as im not sure what is included as standard in it. Some pics on the web show the item that smokedog posted as included and some dont.

At least i know it is possible now and i wont have to buy a TV as well :p
 
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Ah right, Thanks for the info guys.

I have to go into my local store and get them to open the box as im not sure what is included as standard in it. Some pics on the web show the item that smokedog posted as included and some dont.

At least i know it is possible now and i wont have to buy a TV as well :p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Elite#Xbox_360_Elite

This is what wikipedia lists, based on the current xbox 360 package (£199 in UK). The HDMI cable and adaptor (which were both in older elites and are sold as a bundle separately) were dropped when the price dropped.

The outside of the boxes show what is inside, so you won't need to open it. Maybe you will get lucky if they have the "older" boxes which had the HDMI cable and audio cable.


rp2000
 
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When I ran my xbox through a computer screen I used the VGA cable you can get for an xbox. It came with an adapter so that you can plug in a normal headset jack.

There will be an adapter that will enable you to do what you want, and if you look around you should be able to find it cheap if it doesnt come with the console.
 
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You should get pretty much the same picture from component and HDMI.

New Elites (stupidly) don't come with HDMI cables any more, therefore you'd need to pick one up. A lot of places are throwing them in anyway, but don't get scammed by them telling you that you need to pay £15 for the best connection, it doesn't work like that. You should be able to pick one up online for a few bob.
 
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You should get pretty much the same picture from component and HDMI.

New Elites (stupidly) don't come with HDMI cables any more, therefore you'd need to pick one up. A lot of places are throwing them in anyway, but don't get scammed by them telling you that you need to pay £15 for the best connection, it doesn't work like that. You should be able to pick one up online for a few bob.

Yeah, i always lol at the £30 HDMI gold plated cable's. I'll hopefuly be picking one up this lunch time. £240 for an elite, halo 3, fable 2 and 12 months of xbox live. Sounds like a good deal to me ><
 
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Just to confirm whats been said above.
I upgraded my launch console to an elite yesterday and it only come with a standard yellow, white and red composite cable and the block doesnt have an optical out on it.

Bit of a pain as my tv can only output the audio to my amp in stereo, so im going to have to go back and get a lead with an optical out so I can output diurectly to the amp.
Think the components £20 aswell :/

Side note....the elite only comes with 1 pad now aswell.
Price drop is all well and good, but they have taken a few things out the box to compensate.
 
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Thanks for the info TheCybermonkey. Im the only person who will use this xbox so only having one pad isnt a problem for me. Also one of my friends has an old style cable that does have a optical out which he is kindly giving me. So i should be sorted on that front. the only extra things i will need is a HDMI cable if one isnt supplied and a longer optical cable as last night i found out that the one i have is only 60cm long.
 
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HDMI doesnt come in the box, meaning you do need to buy one.
(this is all assuming that the place you buy it from is using the newer stock)

Only other thing worthy of note is that Im sure there used to be an issue wereby if you use a cable that isnt the offical HDMI cable, such as the component cable just as an example, to get the optical port......then the block that goes into the machine gets in the way of the HDMI port meaning you cant use it.

i.e. if you want to use HDMI and have an optical port you have to use the official HDMI cable.
Although I believe there is a way to get it working by taking the cable casing appart.

Not sure if someone else can shed light on this?
If not, I should be able to check if this is still the case when I get home tonight with the component cable.
 
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Well i got my Xbox yesterday and i picked up the HD VGA kit and a optical cable today. However i cant get the sound to work through my X-Fi card. When i start up the 360 i can see the green bars going up and down in the vista sound pannel but no sound comes out of my headset. This still still happening when i start up a game. Does anyone know how i can get the sound to work?
 
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