The General 360 Owners/Buyers FAQ Thread (Updated 1/15/10)

I just got a 360 Elite, but unfortunately, I don't have a TV at the moment.
What I do have is a 19" widescreen monitor, but that only takes VGA input.

I was wondering what the pros and cons of going from HDMI-->VGA and Component-->VGA are, and which y'all would say is better, and I was hoping someone could recommend me a CHEAP but good adapter.

Thanks guys.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']I just got a 360 Elite, but unfortunately, I don't have a TV at the moment.
What I do have is a 19" widescreen monitor, but that only takes VGA input.

I was wondering what the pros and cons of going from HDMI-->VGA and Component-->VGA are, and which y'all would say is better, and I was hoping someone could recommend me a CHEAP but good adapter.

Thanks guys.[/QUOTE]

No recommendations on an adapter, as I've never had to find one, but I might be able to help with the choice on which would be "better".

From what I was told about HDMI vs component, HDMI is a better source, as it's a digital signal and thus runs none (or low) chances of degradation. Now in theory, having a digital source to convert is probably better than an analog source...

Then again, I'm not a videophile, I just regurgitate what people tell me. :\
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']I just got a 360 Elite, but unfortunately, I don't have a TV at the moment.
What I do have is a 19" widescreen monitor, but that only takes VGA input.

I was wondering what the pros and cons of going from HDMI-->VGA and Component-->VGA are, and which y'all would say is better, and I was hoping someone could recommend me a CHEAP but good adapter.

Thanks guys.[/QUOTE]


Here is a cheap 360 VGA adapter from Play_Asia.com for $11.80 shipped

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-de-77-6-49-en-15-vga-70-16s8.html

Alot of CAG's have bought & used this version in the past including myself. .
 
Dear members of CAG

I was curious if anyone else has had my experience and would appreciate some feedback from experiences.

I have an xbox360 elite and it seems my disc drive is breaking. Not a Red ring of death. It is making whirring noises and screeching noises. Then it reads the disc and is ok. But i was wondering how much anyone has been charged if they mail back their system to fix the dvd drive? Should i bother? go until it dies? I bough it at costco so in theory i could go back to costco and exchange the system. The HD is fine of course. I dont know what to do. This is not covered under the red ring of death.... Thanks all!
 
If its out of warranty Microsoft will charge you $94-99 to fix a bad dvd-drive
my brother currently has a bad dvd-drive that wont read any disks and doesnt want to pay that much just to replace a $30 drive. so if you are still under warranty let MS fix it otherwise id say exchange it at cosco
 
K my network is starting to report in:
Code Lyoko-16
Guilty Gear-20
Samarai warrior-26
one piece-20
Rock n roll adv-13
luxor 16

all are confirmed TIVs in FL.

Note that all are still+$, just not as good. I really think there may be a 3rd option--we just traded enough of these to finally trigger a drop. Note that the common games to move over (Like Bust a move)dropped the most %wise, but the harder to find flips only moved down 3 bucks each. We'll find new flips, and none of these are losers...the SW drops suck, I still had 30 games in town to go get.Luckily I was only holding a couple. That one is easy enough to explain...the new retail price dropped...of course BB is going to see that, and then adjust the used and TIV. At least we got 1 day of lag time to use. We need to be prepared for this to happen again...if BB applies retail price drops a day slower than GS, we will always have that 24 hour window to use.

Perhaps BB has some algorithm to assign trade values to games based on how many there are, what the original retail was, etc....and they tweaked the formula, generating a huge number of drops. Obviously the games that they buy the most of would be most affected, which coincidentally also happen to be the same ones we trade.

In fact, looking at it as someone who runs a real business and this little side business, if BB decided to crack down on the trade values 3-4 weeks ago when they started banning people, it would take that long to research and decide on what adjustments to make to the program, which means it would be hitting us now....this might have been a drop that's been in the making for a month or so.

All in all, most games dropped 3 or 4 bucks...so using your coupons to pick up 3 flips at GS and profiting 27-30 bucks is gone....now you will get 18-20.

Until we find the new flips.
 
Sorry guys, I merged the wrong threads, the Gamerush thread is back up but the posts are still messed up here...it will take me a bit to clean them up. Sorry for the inconvenience.
 
Is HughesNet satellite dsl fast enough for live? My girlfriend cant get anything but that where she lives? anythoughts?
 
Sometimes while I play gears of war on live i get the message my controller disconnects

anyone know what it could be? the batteries in the control are fine

* Here is a update - Seems to disconnect when the controller vibrates alot when I turned the rumble off the controller works fine now

now I got no rumble :whistle2:( anyway I can fix this?
 
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So, yesterday, when I got home from vacation, I had a 360 transfer cable waiting for me in a brown bubble envelope. Then, today, I look in the mailbox, and there's another cable inside of a USPS priority mail box. The envelope from Indiana, the box from Texas. Anybody else had this happen to them? Also, why the different locations?

Also, they shipped fast. About one week after I mailed the form.

But the funniest thing is, I already transferred my data. :whistle2:#
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']So, yesterday, when I got home from vacation, I had a 360 transfer cable waiting for me in a brown bubble envelope. Then, today, I look in the mailbox, and there's another cable inside of a USPS priority mail box. The envelope from Indiana, the box from Texas. Anybody else had this happen to them? Also, why the different locations?

Also, they shipped fast. About one week after I mailed the form.

But the funniest thing is, I already transferred my data. :whistle2:#[/QUOTE]
Same exact thing happened to me last week. I faxed over the form, and had two mailed in the same way from the same locations as you. Weird, I tell you.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']Anyone read anything regarding the new bundles being Jaspers (or not being Jaspers)?[/quote]

Well, they are still trying to clear out old stock, so even if Jaspers are out there, you are not guaranteed to get them.
 
[quote name='BoneMonkey80']
* Here is a update - Seems to disconnect when the controller vibrates alot when I turned the rumble off the controller works fine now[/quote]

It might be a LOOSE battery pack? Rumble may cause the pack's contacts from being flush with the controller's contacts.

Another idea: if you are using rechargeable batteries, they may not have a high enough spike deliverance of power. This could be due to aging or having lower power rating than a normal double A. Try another set of batteries and see if they work. Most rechargeables are just fine for 360 controllers, however.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Well, they are still trying to clear out old stock, so even if Jaspers are out there, you are not guaranteed to get them.[/QUOTE]

I found out just how true this is today when I walked into a Best Buy and saw they had 2 Elite holiday bundles on the shelves...as in the 2007 holiday bundles. I go into this Best Buy about twice a month, and they hadn't had those in probably 5 or 6 months. The rest were non-bundles in all 3 flavors.

Guess it's going to take a while.
 
Am I thinking this through right? I'm wanting to figure out which platform to buy the 90 billion awesome games coming out. I'm leaning towards the 360 because it has more exclusives I care about (Mass Effect, Banjo Kazooie 3, Fable 2...) ...but I'm basing that ENTIRELY on the idea that the 360's noise problem is going to get fixed next month with the new firmware.

Here's my reasoning-90%+ of the 360's noise is from it's optical drive. You can hear the system when it's at the dash. It's not QUIET, but it's not really unreasonable considering, and it sounds similar (to my ear) to a PS3 running a game at full blast.

The thing is...when you launch a game demo on the 360, it never seems to get any louder. It's the same as at the dash.

So...I'm assuming that after this update, when you're running a full game from the hard drive, it'll sound just like if the system were at the dash.

Am I thinking that through right? Or should I just buy PS3 versions of games to play it safe?
 
LOL at people buying consoles based on the sound it makes when it is in use.

To answer your question: each 360 sounds different. Since I have fixed quite a few 360s from the rrod I can tell it depends on the type of 360 DVD drive. Newer ones tend to be more quiet.
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']Am I thinking this through right? I'm wanting to figure out which platform to buy the 90 billion awesome games coming out. I'm leaning towards the 360 because it has more exclusives I care about (Mass Effect, Banjo Kazooie 3, Fable 2...) ...but I'm basing that ENTIRELY on the idea that the 360's noise problem is going to get fixed next month with the new firmware.

Here's my reasoning-90%+ of the 360's noise is from it's optical drive. You can hear the system when it's at the dash. It's not QUIET, but it's not really unreasonable considering, and it sounds similar (to my ear) to a PS3 running a game at full blast.

The thing is...when you launch a game demo on the 360, it never seems to get any louder. It's the same as at the dash.

So...I'm assuming that after this update, when you're running a full game from the hard drive, it'll sound just like if the system were at the dash.

Am I thinking that through right? Or should I just buy PS3 versions of games to play it safe?[/quote]

I think you should strongly consider a myriad of other aspects of both systems in making your decision (what do most of your friends have, do you want to watch blu-ray movies, what do you expect in an online experience, are you a Netflix customer, etc. etc.).

Having said that, your logic sounds right on the money to me. The 360 is fairly loud, but by no means unbearably so, when not playing a disc-based game or movie. With games running from the hard drive, you should not experience anything louder than when idle or playing an XBLA game or a demo. Although, there might be a slight increase if the fans have to kick in a little bit harder. Also, you'll still get disc noise for I dunno, 20 seconds-ish when initially launching the games, because it'll have to read the discs to verify you have the actual game.
 
[quote name='Wolve11']LOL at people buying consoles based on the sound it makes when it is in use.[/quote]

What's funny about it? Some people may not care, but for me it's a huge issue. It would be like if one system gave everything a green hue. Games might still be enjoyable on it, but not if the display looked right-that would be very distracting to me.

To answer your question: each 360 sounds different. Since I have fixed quite a few 360s from the rrod I can tell it depends on the type of 360 DVD drive. Newer ones tend to be more quiet.
Click to expand...

Mine's a BenQ, and it is quieter than my old ones, but still completely beyond unacceptable (to me). That's why I'm asking if you guys think the new firmware will take care of this issue, by bypassing the optical drive entirely.

[quote name='mkernan']I think you should strongly consider a myriad of other aspects of both systems in making your decision (what do most of your friends have, do you want to watch blu-ray movies, what do you expect in an online experience, are you a Netflix customer, etc. etc.).[/quote]

Good advice, but for me not relevant. I love Blu Ray, but I'll be keeping my PS3 around regardless, and separate Blu Ray players are getting cheap enough now. My friends pretty much either have both, or are split about evenly. For online, the PS3 has an advantage since I can dabble in it. 360 effectively has no online for me as I don't like online games, and paying $50/year makes no sense for me. (I realize this would be completely the reverse for a lot of people!) At any rate, I don't care enough about it to care one way or the other, as basically I just launch the online mode of a game on the PS3, play it for an hour (never really enjoying it), and going "yeah, there it was...".

Having said that, your logic sounds right on the money to me. The 360 is fairly loud, but by no means unbearably so, when not playing a disc-based game or movie. With games running from the hard drive, you should not experience anything louder than when idle or playing an XBLA game or a demo. Although, there might be a slight increase if the fans have to kick in a little bit harder. Also, you'll still get disc noise for I dunno, 20 seconds-ish when initially launching the games, because it'll have to read the discs to verify you have the actual game.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks! I was thinking that would be the case, but wanted to make sure I wasn't forgetting something!

I guess I probably will just go 360, which was pretty much how I was leaning. Except...probably not for Street Fighter 4 unless they release a controller with a fixed d-pad here :(
 
I have been getting the magical three red lights lately and I planned on returning my system to Costco and using the life time warranty to get a new one. Only thing is their new ones come with a 60 gb hd and mine is a 20 gb hd. So I will have to exchange the hd with them this time.

So here is my question it will suck losing all my saved data and I can deal with that except my NHL Be A Pro character. I was curious if someone knew or could find out if that character is saved on the EA network or do I need to go buy a mem card and save him to that. He is less than 30 games from being a legend but I hate how M$ charges $50 for 512 mb. If anyone knows that would be huge help.
 
[quote name='niceguyshawne']Do they make a transfer kit for the 60gb? I thought they only had one for the 20 to 120gb.[/QUOTE]
The transfer kit is universal. It's a USB to HD cable that connects your new HD to the USB port on the system.
 
Ok so as all of you know, Lef4Dead comes out next month.

So I am thinking whether I should save my money for Left4Dead, or if I should get THREE different OLDER games for the same price.
 
Does your 360 have a green link light and does the act light (these are found under network settings) blink orange sometimes while no account is logged into live but an ethernet cord is still connected to a modem? I never noticed my ethernet light go off during the time I'm not logged into an account until now but maybe I haven't been paying attention. Thanks for any help
 
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[quote name='Young Deezy']Ok so as all of you know, Lef4Dead comes out next month.

So I am thinking whether I should save my money for Left4Dead, or if I should get THREE different OLDER games for the same price.[/quote]

Yo, get Lef4Dead dawg!!!
 
[quote name='Short Round']I wasn't aware that Lef4Dead comes out next month.

I wasn't even aware that it was a game.[/quote]

Are you serious man? Lef4Dead is going to be a huge game...

Does this image ring a bell at least?

lef4dead60818vk8.png
 
[quote name='Short Round']I wasn't aware that Lef4Dead comes out next month.

I wasn't even aware that it was a game.[/quote]

Are you serious man? Lef4Dead is going to be a really popular game.

Maybe a picture will help you remember the game....

lef4dead60818cx0.png


Does this help ring a bell?
 
[quote name='Pure Apathy']

lef4dead60818cx0.png


Does this help ring a bell?[/quote]



I can't believe you put in the effort to photoshop that picture.

That's some serious dedication.
 
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[quote name='Short Round']I can't believe you went put in the effort to photoshop that picture.

That's some serious dedication.[/quote]

It took about a minute to do it. Now if I would have centered it, that would have been some serious dedication.
 
That happens sometimes to my internet box. Like there are two slots work, but the other two don't. They don't flash, but it does'nt log me into XL when I plug it into the non working slot.
 
[quote name='Young Deezy']Ok so as all of you know, Lef4Dead comes out next month.

So I am thinking whether I should save my money for Left4Dead, or if I should get THREE different OLDER games for the same price.[/quote]


I would say go for the 3 older games, I would assume you are thinking of the buy 2 get 1 sale at EB/GS. Just remember L4D will be used the next time EB/GS has a buy 2 get 1 sale, so if you can wait get more for you money. I personally "almost" never buy games for more than 25$.
 
i would go for left4dead now. its a online centric game.. u wait to buy that for later, by the time you pick it up there will be nothing but experts playing the game, calling you asshat because you suck compared to them.
 
[quote name='homeland']i would go for left4dead now. its a online centric game.. u wait to buy that for later, by the time you pick it up there will be nothing but experts playing the game, calling you asshat because you suck compared to them.[/quote]

I agree with you there.
 
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