Xbox 360 & HD Connection

Silverdollar

Can anyone tell me how to connect my Xbox 360 to a HD tv to enable me to get a HD picture.
I have a HDMI cable that I use for my Virgin V+ to connect to the TV.
Can I just plug that into the Xbox? If so where abouts on the XBox does it plug in?

Many Thanks

mdbarber

not all xboxes have the hdmi out so check, other than that u will need the ms vga cable for the xbox

donnajunkie

the cable that comes with the console provides hd when connected to the component slot. if you have a look at the end of the cable that connects to the console you will see a switch were you switch between sd and hd depending on what type of tv you have. it also has a slot in the bit that connects to the console for an optical cable that you can then connect to a home cinema system and get 5.1 sound.

i have a question of my own related to this. if we were to use a hdmi cable instead of the component how do we get the 5.1 sound through our home cinema system? hdmi cables dont have a slot for an optical cable and there is no slot on the console itself for an optical cable.

mdbarber

donnajunkie wrote: »

the cable that comes with the console provides hd when connected to the component slot. if you have a look at the end of the cable that connects to the console you will see a switch were you switch between sd and hd depending on what type of tv you have. it also has a slot in the bit that connects to the console for an optical cable that you can then connect to a home cinema system and get 5.1 sound.

i have a question of my own related to this. if we were to use a hdmi cable instead of the component how do we get the 5.1 sound through our home cinema system? hdmi cables dont have a slot for an optical cable and there is no slot on the console itself for an optical cable.

funnily enuf was just discussing similar on another forum, the hdmi cable can do audio as well, so i imagine u will need an hdmi thruput on ur amp or an hdmi output on the tv

donnajunkie

hdmi can carry sound but can it carry 5.1? tvs by themselves dont decode sound into 5.1. how many home cinema systems have an hdmi input? it is always optical cable or coaxial cable for sound anyway.
i wonder if it is possible to still have the component cable connected to the console and use it for the sound only combined with an optical cable and then just use the hdmi for the picture.

mdbarber

donnajunkie wrote: »

hdmi can carry sound but can it carry 5.1? tvs by themselves dont decode sound into 5.1. how many home cinema systems have an hdmi input? it is always optical cable or coaxial cable for sound anyway.
i wonder if it is possible to still have the component cable connected to the console and use it for the sound only combined with an optical cable and then just use the hdmi for the picture.

Don't see any reason it can't carry 5.1 as it is a digital stream and the data bandwidth of even 5.1 sound will be insignificant alongside hdtv.
Have to admit haven't really looked into it that deeply as its all only just appearing in the mainstream, as you pointed out only a few amps have hdmi connections
It is possible though that a mature industry like the audio equipment industry will put up a resistance to having to pay a licence fee as is normally required for decryption methods as used in hdcp, but i don't expect that to be more than token resistance.
I supposed even if its not an official product someone will come up with a breakout system to feed data to the amps out there.

donnajunkie

when i think about it more the 5.1 sound needs to be decoded i think. a tv itself doesnt do that. so it would have to be connected to a home cinema system. so it would then be a case of connecting a hdmi cable from the console to the home cinema and then another hdmi cable going from the home cinema to the tv. that means the home cinema system would have to have a hdmi in and hdmi out. i dont know of any that currently do that. so the question remains, if we use a hdmi cable with our console how do we still get the 5.1 sound? as i said previously the only way i can think of is to still use the component cable for connecting an optical cable to the console for the sound and then just use the hdmi cable for the picture. i wonder if that is how it is done?

mdbarber

donnajunkie wrote: »

when i think about it more the 5.1 sound needs to be decoded i think. a tv itself doesnt do that. so it would have to be connected to a home cinema system. so it would then be a case of connecting a hdmi cable from the console to the home cinema and then another hdmi cable going from the home cinema to the tv. that means the home cinema system would have to have a hdmi in and hdmi out. i dont know of any that currently do that. so the question remains, if we use a hdmi cable with our console how do we still get the 5.1 sound? as i said previously the only way i can think of is to still use the component cable for connecting an optical cable to the console for the sound and then just use the hdmi cable for the picture. i wonder if that is how it is done?

there are a few now, the Pioneer VSX-817-K and the Yamaha DSP-AX761 to name a few but as i said someone will come up with a breakout solution shortly

TonyLisaP

donnajunkie wrote: »

as i said previously the only way i can think of is to still use the component cable for connecting an optical cable to the console for the sound and then just use the hdmi cable for the picture. i wonder if that is how it is done?

Have you actually tried it to find out?

I might give this a go later as I have a few HDMI cables laying around.

TonyLisaP

TonyLisaP wrote: »

Have you actually tried it to find out?

I might give this a go later as I have a few HDMI cables laying around.

Right. I tried it and you cannot physically fit both connections into the XBOX at the same time. So that will be a no.

TonyLisaP

It sees that you can lever the casing off your current casing so you can fit both cables in or spend some money on one of these