Quick Xbox 360 Question

poosemon · 18 Dec 2009 at 00:16

I have an xbox 360 elite....i am currently connecting to my 32" hd ready lg television through hdmi and would just like to know from real world experience how much quality i would loose switching to using componant,

basically my tv has two hdmi connections and i have a bluray player and wdtv already using them so getting annoyed at continually switching sources, also i would like to connect the 360 to my surround system but need the source to be optical which the componant cables also offer...

thanks in advance

Andybtsn · 18 Dec 2009 at 00:17

Usually depends on the TV, I find component and HDMI are pretty identical. VGA however, looks a lot better, a lot sharper. I've found the same results from four TV's I have.

ic1male · 18 Dec 2009 at 01:25

Not much detail will be lost. One could arguably say analogue sources like component are better for video games as there is not such hard aliasing in the picture.

EDDS · 18 Dec 2009 at 01:36

if your tv has a vga input use that as the 360's vga output is excellent, better than hdmi in some cases.

(it has a optical out on the cable too)

Shamikebab · 18 Dec 2009 at 02:55

I've been using a component cable with our new TV, would I be better off using the VGA cable with a DVI dongle instead then?

EDDS · 18 Dec 2009 at 03:50

i find the vga produces a much sharper picture compared to component, i think its better than hdmi too, so yeah give it a shot.

poosemon · 18 Dec 2009 at 10:15

Does the vga cable have phono aswell for when I don't want to use the surround sound system?

sc(+)pe · 18 Dec 2009 at 10:18

poosemon said:
Does the vga cable have phono aswell for when I don't want to use the surround sound system?

Yes it does.

poosemon · 18 Dec 2009 at 10:40

Ok thanks for the help! one final question...is everyone using the official one or are different branded ones just as good?

sc(+)pe · 18 Dec 2009 at 10:48

I use the official one and would reccommend it.

Cannaton · 18 Dec 2009 at 11:05

I prefer VGA on my LG tv, component overscans by 5% which means you loose a little bit of the image on each side and also the sharpness is decreased slightly. I'd check on your TV first, on mine i have VGA (you can with HDMI too) set to PC mode rather than DTV. Depends on the model i guess though.

sja360 · 21 Dec 2009 at 11:30

i find component is really good on my toshiba regza 37". i tend to find vga is washed out. Also i havent got a HDMI port on the xbox sadly so i cant comment on that.

orderoftheflame · 21 Dec 2009 at 13:55

Official VGA every time, the unofficial ones tend to give a naff washed out picture from my experience.

I'll only use HDMI for convenience if I'm connecting my Xbox to someone else's TV.

Kol · 21 Dec 2009 at 13:58

As orderoftheflame said, I bought a 3rd party one and it was OK but not great.

cokecan · 21 Dec 2009 at 14:00

I would recommend the official one everytime. the 3rd party ones I've tried gave ghosting or washed out colours

poosemon · 21 Dec 2009 at 18:57

found official one for £9.99 "in the jungle" job done...

JoeBoi · 21 Dec 2009 at 22:07

Andybtsn said:
Usually depends on the TV, I find component and HDMI are pretty identical. VGA however, looks a lot better, a lot sharper. I've found the same results from four TV's I have.

I always find the colour looks bit funny on my Dads 360 with the VGA cable maybe the tv isn't set up as well as what mine is, they just seem washed out.

Andybtsn · 21 Dec 2009 at 22:15

JoeBoi said:
I always find the colour looks bit funny on my Dads 360 with the VGA cable maybe the tv isn't set up as well as what mine is, they just seem washed out.

The colours do seem more vibrant with HDMI but the sharpness is awful, even with it modified to suit the tv.

Kreeeee · 21 Dec 2009 at 23:45

I really don't like component, and prefer HDMI to VGA.