Xbox 360 +1080p HDTV = WOW

[drothgery]

There should not be much of a reason why an HDMI cable length should effect transmission quality. It's not an analog signal and so the signal degradation and shielding issues that effect analog cables should not matter with an HDMI.

Err... no. A digital signal means that it will work or it won't (so cable quality won't affect picture quality, but it may affect whether you get a picture at all), but unless my understanding of the physics involved is completely wrong (which it might be), shielding and signal degradation issues are inherrent to transmitting a signal on wire.

 

[Banshee16]

But how is it for non-HD TV? That's what I mostly use my TV for these days. I have a Wii (no 360 or PS3) and no BluRay/HD player. I assume that getting an HD TV and receiver for sports and the odd TV show probably isn't worth it yet. Maybe next year around this time (I'll probably have a 360 by then, I'm guessing).

It would have been worth it over Christmas. I have Starchoice, and it's cheaper than when I was using Rogers. And the picture's better. And it's far more reliable.

That having been said, during the week of Boxing Day, Future Shop had the Star Choice 505 receiver on sale for, I think, $100....or $150....and that included programming credits for $100 in pay per view movies. I already had one, and paid more for it, but was tempted to use it for my second HDTV.

I think the deal's over though. And with Starchoice, you don't pay extra for your service if you're getting HD channels. You get the HD variants of channels you're already paying for, automatically.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

That's not so John. The original release of the Xbox 360 supports 1080p output now (if the box is updated via Xbox Live or an updated CD/DVD update), but the original XBox 360 does not have a HDMI port, they only have composite, component, or using a special cable to send VGA out of the back of the 360.

(To be clear, the new Xbox 360 Elite has an HDMI port - but the inital release versions of the 360 do not.)

Most 1080p HDTVs do not support 1080p inputs via component (720p yes, 1080p? No). They do support 1080p input via HDMI, (DVI for the few that have this) and VGA.

In the case of my Sony Bravia, to get 1080p input, I need to use a VGA cable or HDMI.

As it turns out, we already had a 360 VGA cable. With the correct settings on the VGA input, the Sony Bravia provides HDMI 1080p resolution and awesome color over the VGA input.

Just one point to add.....whether or not your TV can accept 1080p signals over component is redundant *if* your TV is a 1080p TV that does 3:2 pulldown. If it does, it'll take that 1080p signal and deinterlace it. That's my understanding from CNET and a few other sites.

Getting 1080p signal broadcast only really matters in TV's over 50", and most TV's do 3:2 pulldown anyways, and consequently it's redundant.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Err... no. A digital signal means that it will work or it won't (so cable quality won't affect picture quality, but it may affect whether you get a picture at all), but unless my understanding of the physics involved is completely wrong (which it might be), shielding and signal degradation issues are inherrent to transmitting a signal on wire.

I've read in several places, and talked with people who work in the industry, and indications seem to be that despite it being a digital signal there *can* be loss.....but for most users, it really doesn't matter. If you've got a 3' or 6' cable running behing your components, the cable isn't long enough for it to matter. If you've got some kind of crazy hookup where you need a 50' HDMI cable, then cable quality does matter.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Hmm. How much did you get for your original 360 on eBay? And how much quieter is the Xbox 360 Elite?

I am really enjoying the 360 and with the new update, all the DivX, XVid upscaling DVD stuff if way cool. The thing I don't like is the damned noise. It's just much too loud.

Is the Elite perceptibly quieter?

How do you get the update? Does it do it automatically when you log into Live? I haven't seen anything update recently, though Live has been flaky for the last two weeks, so maybe that's why.

And are you saying that the update allows the 360's disk drive to upscale DVD's you play in it? Because I didn't think the XBox did that (yet), unless you have the XBox HDDVD player.

Banshee