New buyer questions

[jonathan_phang]

Morning,

thinking of picking up a premium this morning, one of the £169.99 packages and wanted to just get a few q's answered before I head out...

1) The Premium comes with the 60GB drive. Now I have a fair few credit vouchers for Computer Exchange, so I would be able to exchang the new 60GB one for a second hand 120GB one... I only think I need to do this so that I can install more games to the HDD. Would you say a second hand one would be a big risk? Or are they pretty hardy???

2) I already have 2 wireless Xbox360 controllers that I use with my PC. I'm thinking that I should be able to use these with the actual console too... Anyone know if theres a reason why I cant?

3)The old 32" LCD I have doesnt have HDMI ports but a HD-Capable DVI-D port. I already have a HDMI-to-DVI cable that I diddnt use for my media PC (Used VGA instead), would that be okay to use for video out? Would use component, but my Wii has that - and theres no way I'm switching that to RGB scart...

Thanks for any help

Gonna look up prices and see if I can get myself a newer Jasper somehow...

JP

[Stephen C]

The hard drives are pretty hardy, I've never ran into a problem on over 10 second hand drives.

You will definately be able to use the controllers, it's just a means of syncing them to the console.

As for DVI-D, only problem I can see with using an HDMI to DVI-D cable would be that you'll have no sound so you'll need something like this (example).

Hope some of this helps, maybe someone else has some more in-depth knowledge.

[finlay666]

1) The Premium comes with the 60GB drive. Now I have a fair few credit vouchers for Computer Exchange, so I would be able to exchang the new 60GB one for a second hand 120GB one... I only think I need to do this so that I can install more games to the HDD. Would you say a second hand one would be a big risk? Or are they pretty hardy???

Save yourself the money and get the arcade then buy the hard drive, can pick up the 120gb HDD for £60-70 or so and you are saving the extra money, the arcade comes with an HDMI port anyway

You can use a HDMI-DVI adapter for normal playing, but that will not carry the soung, I would advise getting the VGA cable kit and switching to DVI on the PC as it saves getting an expensive adapter on top

Controllers will work fine, you just need to resync them

[jonathan_phang]

Cool - cheers for the info. Have asked a guy at work to take a pic of the back of his Premium so that I can see the connections for audio and video etc... Been reading about and bit worried about the scaling that might occur, as I have a fairly old set, and seeing as the 360 doesnt output at native res (1366x768) I wonder if there will be mass scaling going on... Ooh the burdens of research!!!

[finlay666]

Back of what you get will be dull, power connection, hdmi port, ethernet, a usb port and the proprietary connection for connector block from which the other connections are on like composite/component and a connection for optical out

Go VGA cable if you want native res, best bet IMO as it does PC resolutions so you could aim for 1280x720 or so or possibly higher

[JimmyBoy]

ive tried the official vga lead on my tv which has the same res and the component and hdmi both look better, this was the case on my old tv aswell, just try that dvi adaptor you got im sure you'll get a picture you'll be more than happy with (1080i looks great on my sony)

also if you want a jasper your best bet is to go with the arcade and like said, you could get a preowned 120gb hdd

[jonathan_phang]

Back of what you get will be dull, power connection, hdmi port, ethernet, a usb port and the proprietary connection for connector block from which the other connections are on like composite/component and a connection for optical out

Just wondering, because I am sure I remember reading about this a while back - if you use the HDMI port, then unless you have a really thin connector, does this obscure the block with all the other connectors - which I will need to use for stereo sound?

Going to have a google for it now, and maybe a picture of the back...

JP

[Stephen C]

Yes, it does.

As for DVI-D, only problem I can see with using an HDMI to DVI-D cable would be that you'll have no sound so you'll need something like this (example).

[finlay666]

If you use HDMI and want seperate sound out you either need the offcial kit OR buy a 2nd cable and hack it so you get the plastic shell off so you can use both

[jonathan_phang]

Well, went into Hemel toady and got the SFIV pack (60GB Pro) and it turned out to be a Jasper... Just been setting it up and atm installing SFIV to the HDD... Currently got it plugged into Component, but will probably end up hacking the cover off the cable case so that I can fit both...

[finlay666]

HDMI carries sound so unless you are passing it into speakers or a receiver that bypasses the TV you dont need the connector block and just the hdmi cable

[jonathan_phang]

Well - actually, behind door 3 - The TV I have is a really early HDTV, it was my dads when he first wanted on, and it has a HDCP compliant DVI port, but no HDMI - which can be used (hence all the Qs about HDMI-DVI) but it means that you cant transport sound...

Either way, I want to route it to a switcher anyway, as I have my media PC and Wii all present in the cabinet under the TV now...

[jonathan_phang]

Well, kinda sorted out the A/V issue... I used my existing HDMI-to DVI-D convertor to connect to my TV and went to computer exchange to get the 'Official Xbox360 Audio Adaptor'. This is the separate dongle that comes with the official HDMI cable kit, and has phono and optical jacks. Picked it up for £5 at computer exchange, so a bit of a bargain really.

Anyway, plugged it all in and it and it’s all up and running, but one thing that I did notice is that the display options now just show standard monitor resolutions, instead of the TV specific 720p and 1080i... I’m guessing this is to do with the TV, or the HDMI-to DVI-D convertor, but just wondering if I am missing anything by using standard resolutions rather that the progressive signal (As I probably would have it on 720p).

I’ve given Halo 3 a quick test on the 2 connections and not really sure if there is a difference, but you seasoned veterans might know different. Thanks in advance.

JP

[finlay666]

It will be because you are using a computer interface

Straight HDMI into my pc monitor still gives me 1080p etc

[jonathan_phang]

Right, that makes sense - will try again tomorrow to see if I can see any differences though... I guess for convenience that I will stay with the 1360x768...