Any real advantages with HDMI?

Yes I have a 1080p 32" LCD. How will it be better than the regular HD the 360 comes with?UmBeer

They do, but it's rare. This is the one i have.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC32D62U-1080p-HDTV/dp/B000NEDYEC/

They do, but it's rare. This is the one i have.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC32D62U-1080p-HDTV/dp/B000NEDYEC/

UmBeer

[QUOTE="UmBeer"]

They do, but it's rare. This is the one i have.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC32D62U-1080p-HDTV/dp/B000NEDYEC/

Strife88

and I always thought you needed HDMI or VGA to view in any definition higher than 720p/1080i

HDMI makes the image clearer. Surround sound makes the sound better.... Of course it's worth it, they are two completely different things.gifflegerbpiss

you can run components, you still need an HD source though (cable or sattelite box).Strife88

Well I run 1080i through a VGA cable on to my LCD monitor which is 32inch, My my dad uses HDMI for his 40inch sony TV. There is very little difference between the two. His image is a little darker but I don't know if that is the HDMI or just his TV's settings.

I would say there is a small difference but, if you were using,say VGA like me and thought you were using HDMI it would be hard to tell the difference.

[QUOTE="Strife88"]you can run components, you still need an HD source though (cable or sattelite box).deadesa

They support 720"P" and 1080 "i". HDMI and DVI are the only ones that support 1080"p". My dads TV does 1080i and p and there is hardly a differece in image quality.

[QUOTE="deadesa"][QUOTE="Strife88"]you can run components, you still need an HD source though (cable or sattelite box).elfboy69

They support 720"P" and 1080 "i". HDMI and DVI are the only ones that support 1080"p". My dads TV does 1080i and p and there is hardly a differece in image quality.

COmponent on the 360 supports 1080p, but it's up to the tv to support 1080p input over component. Samsung is the known to offer 1080p over component the most.

Also, don't forget that other then for HD-DVD, the vast majority of video output from the 360 will be in 720p (or lower), hence you most likely aren't going to notice a difference between HDMI and Component.

Even with 1080p content, you'd be lucky to spot the differences.

[QUOTE="gifflegerbpiss"]HDMI makes the image clearer. Surround sound makes the sound better.... Of course it's worth it, they are two completely different things.deadesa

The sound shouldn't be any better on the 360 with HDMI. I don't think the 360 even supports the better Dolby Digital Plus or lossless audio even on HD-DVDs that actually have it, so games are no different. So regular dolby digital will sound the same either on HDMI or Optical, not like it's any higher quality all of a sudden through HDMI. And you'll need a newer $400+ receiver to support uncompressed audio from HDMI or decode the newer audio.

There are no disadvantages to HDMI (except for the cost of the cable). HDMI is full digital.kyrissbp82

Actually, the cost of HDMI cable is an advantage. Being digital, it's not like you have to spend a ton of money like you do with analog cables. So a $5 quality cable from Monoprice will give you 100% of the picture, no loss. Spending $100 on HDMI does nothing to the quality and there really isn't any variable difference, it's either working, or you have a noticeable problem or no picture.

I mean I'm using a cheap DVI cable that came with my 20inch LCD monitor. At 1680*1050 resolution, I can see every pixel crystal clear, there's no noise, discoloration, it's 100% picture perfect. That's why you don't see $100-$300 Monster digital cables being sold to PC users. But in the theater market, there are suckers.

Well if you have a pretty big tv 40 inches or greater HDMI would be better. Also the Hd-DVD player add on for the 360 can only run in 1080p through HDMI. TM1

The 360 was the first 1080p HD-DVD player, and that was before an HDMI 360 existed. The 360 can output HD-DVD at 1080p over VGA, also upscale DVDs to 1080p. While the 360 can also do 1080p over Component, HD-DVDs for legal reasons are limited to 1080i with that, and DVDs to 480p.

[QUOTE="TM1"]Well if you have a pretty big tv 40 inches or greater HDMI would be better. Also the Hd-DVD player add on for the 360 can only run in 1080p through HDMI. TimothyB

The 360 was the first 1080p HD-DVD player, and that was before an HDMI 360 existed. The 360 can output HD-DVD at 1080p over VGA, also upscale DVDs to 1080p. While the 360 can also do 1080p over Component, HD-DVDs for legal reasons are limited to 1080i with that, and DVDs to 480p.

I know the games with component can run at 1080p but i'm talking strictly hd-dvd movies running at 1080p is hdmi. I'll take your word on VGA, never ran a vga cable before so i'm not very familiar with it. My old premium was a non hdmi model and i could run my games with component at 1080p but once i put an hd-dvd in it went to 1080i. Old system broke so i just bought an Arcade which had HDMI so now i get the full advantage of the hd-dvd player.

Is there any advantage with having an HDMI port and cable for the 360 if you don't have surround sound?UmBeer

There's nothing to be really an advantage with HDMI for a surround sound system. Most people don't have newer receiver with HDMI inputs that support audio. Most early models only did video switching. So most people would still use optical unless they bought a new $350+ receiver. And in the 360 case, there's nothing to benifit from sound from HDMI. The360 doesn't output uncompressed audio or the newer audio like Dolby Digital Plus and such on HD-DVDs. The 360 only outputs regular Dolby digital, which will sound the same with optical or HDMI.

Also, if you don't get the Elite 360, you don't get the audio adapter dongle. What I mean is, if you connect HDMI to your 360, then you can't connect a component or VGA cable to the 360 at the same time to use their optical out, because the HDMI cable gets in the way. Thus, you are forced to buy MS's official HDMI cable for $50 that includes a special adapter that's thinner and can be plugged into the AV port at the same time as a HDMI cable, letting you use optical or stereo cables. The Elite comes with that $50 set.

So to your main question, there's no real advantage to begin with audio from HDMI, it can actually cause more problems if someone want's to use HDMI to their tv for 1080p, and optical to their receiver. Like I'm not about to replace my $650 Harman Kardon to get a new receiver with HDMI support for no better sound from the 360. Luckily, I can run HDMI from the 360 to the TV with dolby digital through the HDMI cable, then use optical out from the back of the tv to the receiver for Dolby Digital. So I had no need to spend $50 for that adapter to use optical on the 360 or replace my receiver.

[QUOTE="TimothyB"]

[QUOTE="TM1"]Well if you have a pretty big tv 40 inches or greater HDMI would be better. Also the Hd-DVD player add on for the 360 can only run in 1080p through HDMI. TM1

The 360 was the first 1080p HD-DVD player, and that was before an HDMI 360 existed. The 360 can output HD-DVD at 1080p over VGA, also upscale DVDs to 1080p. While the 360 can also do 1080p over Component, HD-DVDs for legal reasons are limited to 1080i with that, and DVDs to 480p.

I know the games with component can run at 1080p but i'm talking strictly hd-dvd movies running at 1080p is hdmi. I'll take your word on VGA, never ran a vga cable before so i'm not very familiar with it. My old premium was a non hdmi model and i could run my games with component at 1080p but once i put an hd-dvd in it went to 1080i. Old system broke so i just bought an Arcade which had HDMI so now i get the full advantage of the hd-dvd player.

Yeah. Seeing how DVDs are some how allowed to be upscaled to 1080p with VGA, it's not too far fetched HD-DVD has no restrictions. I've never tested it myself. I have a 1080p tv, but the VGA port is crippled to a 1024*768 resolution just meant for PCs. But knowing when the HD-DVD adapter came out that it was the first way to do 1080p with HD-DVDs using VGA, I feel pretty sure about that one. But again, not everyone has VGA, or like me, a VGA port that can support 1080p. It can be as hard as finding a 1080p component input.