Newbie 360 Experience/Questions :)

[djphatic]

the 360 shouldnt be crashing mid-game, it could be case of the console overheating. Make sure that the 360 has plenty of ventilation/space at the back of the console to allow the heat to escape out via the fans.

Its rather strange you get red rings when booting via controller but not when booting from the console.

If the problem persists with crashes and red rings I would return it for a replacement unit.

[bigblue]

Probably a very obvious answer, but how do you know which device is scaling???

It's easier with regard to the display. Unless you feed your TV/monitor/panel something at it's native resolution, to display it properly it'll always have to scale, either up or down.

With the games it's more tricky as I'm not sure what to believe Some claim that the 360 renders the majority of games in 720 then scales for 1080, other claim it depends on which game.

Every supposed 1080 game that I've tried looks better (on my 1080 screen) in 720p. The only one I've played so far that looks better in 1080 is Virtua Tennis, but then it's the only native 1080p game so that makes sense

On the other hand HD Video and Sky look better on my TV in 1080 than 720p. So I guess that when I play most 1080 games through 360 it MUST be scaling, hence the drop in PQ. So I think therfeore that the scaler in my TV is better than the 360. I'm yet to speak to anyone who has a current gen 1080 screen who doesn't feel the same way. Most pricy TV's nowadays probably do a better job of scaling than the 360. Makes sense I s'pose