Xbox 360 Questions (Dummies Guide)

DCFC79

pfpf wrote: »

i thought after all the recent doom and gloom, and following on from a crappy summer it was time to prepare for the dark cold winter. what better way than a bit of gaming?

Xbox360 v PS3 aside i have a few questions if anyone can help?

i have been a keen gamer for many a year but have got out of gaming in the last year or two due to various things. i have never been into consoles, PS1 excepted, its been computers from the Amstrad CPC464 through to PC's and everything in between.

so here goes.

1. why is it better to have a HD version of the 360 and not the arcade? what you mean by HD version, do you mean the elite version, theres 3 versions, premium, elite and arcade

2. is it simply a matter of connecting HDMI to HDMI and thats it, HD quality? if you have the elite, a HD tv and a hd cable

3. i only have 1 HDMI socket on my TV, can i use a splitter box thingy?

4. how easy to connect to the net? i have a router currently connecting 2 PC's with spare sockets on the back (i dont do wireless). is it just another wire from router to 360? i dont understand all this port stuff, would i have to tell the router anything?

i used to use ethernet to router, only settings i changed was on the xbox network settings,

5. whats all this "live / points" stuff? i see things like "gold membership - £xx.xx per year" but then see things like "2100 points £xx.xx" whats the difference between membership and points? which do i need to play online gaming? (is there silver and bronze?)

ms points is like currency, you use it to buy add ons for games or download films, arcade games eg paperman, pacman, sonic. The Gold membership is what you need to play multiplyer or on xbox LIVE, theres 12 month subscriptions, 3 month and 1 month. Ive seen 12 months for about £25 on ebay so imo the 12 month is cheap. Each game has 1000 gamerscore points, you get so many gamerscore points for doing a certain activity in a game,

6. wired or wireless handsets? what do 360's come with?

all 3 types of consoles comes with wireless


thats all i can think of just now.

any help or other tips/advice would be greatfully received.

pfpf.

any other questions just ask, ps if you do decide to go on xbox LIVE you will need a hard drive so id get the premium or elite if you have a HD tv, the consoles come with a free month of live so you can try it out

pfpf

a question regarding connecting.

i had thought i would use HDMI but as a couple of people say the splitter boxes are quite poor and my TV only has 1 HDMI socket i have had a look on the back to see what else is available.

my samsung TV has a "component" input, which consits of Audio L&R and 3 sockets named Pb/Pr/Y - all these sockets just look like phono inputs to me.

is using those inputs going to get as good a picture as anything?

which cable will i actually need, is it simply 5 phono cables from 360 to TV?

what res does the 360 run at? the TV will run 720p or 1080i max, will i have to tell the 360 what to run at?

thanks again.

pfpf.

Conor_3

pfpf wrote: »

my samsung TV has a "component" input, which consits of Audio L&R and 3 sockets named Pb/Pr/Y - all these sockets just look like phono inputs to me.

is using those inputs going to get as good a picture as anything?

Yes, exactly the same. The only difference is that it won't upscale DVDs when you play them with the 360.

which cable will i actually need, is it simply 5 phono cables from 360 to TV?

No, you need the proper Xbox 360 one. It has a proprietary connector at one end and the phone plugs at the other.

what res does the 360 run at? the TV will run 720p or 1080i max, will i have to tell the 360 what to run at?

It will go to the maximum of the TV. You set it in the system properties.

pfpf

Got my Xbox today and my god, whats happened to just sticking a disc in and playing like the good 'ol PS1? :eek:

got it rigged up to the router and to the TV via component. the lead was included in the box in the pack i got so i wasted £8.00 buying one from eBay last night

had a play with all the settings and options, havnt even played any games yet


how does the headset thing work?

i like to wear headphones to listen to music/play games. does the headset that plugs into the back of the contrlloer just work for chat?

i quickly loaded up a game and couldnt seem to get any sound through the set plugged into the controller, just my headphones plugged into the tv, which then removes the ability to use the headset!

thanks again.

donnajunkie

the headset is for talking to other people on xbox live during a game. you can usually hear and talk to everyone that is playing the game so long as they have a headset too.

pfpf

donnajunkie wrote: »

the headset is for talking to other people on xbox live during a game. you can usually hear and talk to everyone that is playing the game so long as they have a headset too.

but how do i hear everything else in game? sound/effects/music etc..

can i not use a full headset that allows me to hear everything in game and speak/hear other players like you can on a PC?

donnajunkie

yes you can hear the sounds in the game as well.

DCFC79

pfpf wrote: »

but how do i hear everything else in game? sound/effects/music etc..

can i not use a full headset that allows me to hear everything in game and speak/hear other players like you can on a PC?

the headset allows you to talk to your team mates in multiplayer (or when your in chat with your mates) you still get the other sounds like a grenade going off via the tv speakers

pfpf

DCFC79 wrote: »

the headset allows you to talk to your team mates in multiplayer (or when your in chat with your mates) you still get the other sounds like a grenade going off via the tv speakers

but this is what i mean. i want to hear EVERYTHING through a proper set of headphones/headset, i dont want any external sounds from TV speakers etc.

can i do this and still be able to hear/talk to other players? if so how?

thank you.

II_D2_II

yes you can actually do this,, i have a turtle beach X1,,

what this headset does is, it puts every sound through your ears(in game, and voice)

check them out

i think the turtle beach X4 just recently came out too,, they dont come very cheap but it puts you more in the game and the sounds are amazing.