Best way to hook up an xbox 360 to a monitor

[TheGreySpectre]

So the way I am looking at it there are 2 ways to hook up a Xbox 360 to a PC monitor: VGA and HDMI + DVI converter.

I am wondering which will yeild me better quality.

In addition: does the VGA out support high def sound? I only saw the RCA outs on it when I was looking at it in the store.

Thanks

P.S. Hooking it up to A dell 2005 FPW and Logitech Z5500 speakers.

[thideras]

Most monitors can only do 1080i over component. So, if your monitor is capable of 1080p, you will get better results from HDMI. Not sure about what it can do over VGA, but probably 1080p.

You can use the optical out on the back of the system, that is what I do.

[Pntgrd]

You are right about the vga adapter only having analog audio. But it does have an optical out on it. You just plug the optical cable into it. Making it work with my X-Fi and Vista was a trip though. I use the vga with my 24" lcd and run at 1920x1080 with my console. Only problem is I get a black bar on the left side of the screen. Still working on that.

[TheGreySpectre]

I don't have the capability of doing component to my monitor which is why I am looking at VGA vs HDMI. The monitor I am using runs at 1680x1050 so I believe unless I am mistaken I can only do 720p resolution (which equates to 1280x720 I think)

[Niku-Sama]

this thingy, as long as you dont have HDMI aparently (http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802686)

[redrumy3]

i run my 360 on my samsung 226bw using vga

http://www.target.com/Psyclone-VGA-Cable-Xbox-360/dp/B000P4PSFI/sr=1-2/qid=1199269650/ref=sr_1_2/601-7463060-0715337?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Axbox%20vga&page=1

resoultion i use is 1360 x 768 picture is fine for me much better than my tv :P

[deathman20]

I run my X360 on my 24" 1920x1200 monitor, just have a small black bar on the top side of the screen. I have it hooked up via, VGA connection right now due to the fact that I wanted 1080P instead of 1080i that I would of gotten through the component cables.

BTW with VGA there is cables out there that do support optical out on them. Mine has it and I got the cable from Amazon a few weeks ago. While I don't have optical in to my speakers I had to use the RCA connectors to a 5.1 Splitter box (from logitech) to hook up to my computer speaker jack connections. Works great mind you its only 2.1 sound though.

[Caust1c]

http://gear.ign.com/articles/703/703073p1.html

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16874103025

these two links should clear things up. :D

[deathman20]

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HD-AV-Cable/dp/B000H96ZJE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1199300248&sr=8-4

Na this you get Optical support as well. I know I don't seem to have issues with this cable at all in any of my games I've played so far.

[Caust1c]

Forgive me of my ignorance, what does optical support do? And why is it different from the one I linked?

[deathman20]

Optical is for audio. For 5.1 surround sound if you want the option.

Theres alot of cables out there more or less finding one for cheaper than the store to hook it up is all good IMO. But am curious now what the difference between mine is and the regular one that you linked Caust1c in terms of visual quality. IMO I think mine looks good but hey if theres better. Really need better speakers want 5.1 on my setup.

[jiggamanjb]

Forgive me of my ignorance, what does optical support do? And why is it different from the one I linked?

Optical is digital audio, RCA's are analog. Optical is 'better'.

[Caust1c]

Well I don't have it but reading around people say that with the MS cord, it has the least ghosting, quality degration. I was thinking about doing this on my LCD shortly in the future also. Didn't know about the digital audio however.

[Pntgrd]

I have the M$ vga cable. I notice no ghosting running it on a 24" WS lcd. If I use the consoles 1368 x 768 resolution it will fill the whole screen. If I use the 1920 x 1080 res I get a 1" wide black bar running up the left side of the screen. My lcd let's me choose between 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10 aspect ratios but neither makes any difference in what I see. Also, for what it's worth, I also use the optical for sound. I run it to the optical in port on an X-Fi Platinum and use the onboard Dolby decoder to get the 5.1 sound through my Logitech surround system. Much better sound, IMO, than when I did the same with the analog setup.