Gamersquare Forum

[shenbo]

We have a new Sony Bravia 42 inch TV and had an XBOX 360 newer one but it got the ring of fire. (It had a HDMI hook up on it.)

So we went to a place and got a used xbox 360 with a year extended warranty (cause the machine is 2007) and when we went to hook it up we noticed there is no HDMI cable on it.

Now is this going to make much difference with picture quality and sound? We also watch movies too. Im thinking of returning it if that is the case.

[viewsonic]

Only the Elite comes with a HDMI cable, but all 360s manufactured since August of 2007 have a HDMI port. It's located just below the main AV port on the back of the console.

If yours doesn't have one, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

While component cable will do 1080p, most 1080p HDTVs only support 1080p over HDMI. 1080i or even 720p should be just fine though. Most games are only in 720p. Playing a DVD on the 360 will cause it to be upscaled, but there isn't going to be a noticeable difference between a DVD upscaled to 1080i vs. 1080p.

Besides which, if you get a blu-ray player eventually, it can also upscale your DVDs and will probably have a better upscaling chip than the one in the 360. And the blu-ray player will definitely do HDMI, so it'll eventually become your main main movie machine.

As for audio, the HD-AV cables' connector has the port for an optical audio cable, so you can connect that to your surround sound system for surround sound during games and movies. The advantage of HDMI is 1080p, and a single cable for your audio AND video signals. Again, I wouldn't worry about the 1080i vs.1080p thing. Only blu-rays are in 1080p