General Xbox 360 questions

[ibex333]

I am thinking about buying an Xbox, but I want to know more about it before I spend my money. The first and last console I ever owned was the Sega Genesis back in the early-mid 90's so I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the new consoles.

Please answer my questions:

1)Just how capable is the xbox when playing movies from a usb source?
Which formats does it support and how well does it play movies from usb drives, hard drives, etc? What movie resolutions does it support? A large part of the reason why I want to buy an xbox is to hook it up to my TV and play movies from usb sources, so if I cannot do it well I need to know. The other part is that off course I will be playing games.

2)Despite doing lots of research on google I still cannot make sense of which system I should buy. As I understand, the cheaper "Arcade" system DIDN'T have HDMI in the past, but it DOES have it, now... Is that truly the case? If this is so, then what are the drawbacks of getting a $200 system? I'd say I only need the bare essentials without sacrificing performance, usability, convenience, image quality, etc.

3)How important is it to have a hard drive? I am not planning to use Xbox live and I will most likely not use any downloadable content, except for maybe essential updates or addons for games. Knowing this, do you think I still need a hard drive? What is the smallest size I can get away with? Do xbox users have to pay for the LIVE service to download updates?

4)If I go to a store now and buy this console which "version" will it be? Are they more reliable than they used to be? I heard this stuff about Zephyr's, Falcons, etc, but know little about all this... How likely am I to get a RROD?

5)Is it possible to repair an xbox yourself in case of a RROD? I don't buy warranties whenever I can help it. I consider myself fairly tech savvy and I built and repaired quite a few computers in my life. Are there any merchants selling spare parts for xboxes in case I will need any in the future? Are there any trustworthy online repair shops that charge less than Microsoft and wont steal my console? Are there any essential mods I should do on my xbox, like cooling fans, heat sinks, etc?

6)Are there any good reasons why I shouldn't buy a used Xbox 360 on ebay?

7)Is the HDMI cable included with the $200 system?

8)Anything else you think I should know prior to purchase? Any tips?

Thanx very much.

 

[Queasy]

First, check the FAQ for this forum.

1) The 360 supports WMV, Divx, Xvid, and h.264 (2-channel audio only) with resolutions up to 1080p.

2) The Arcade does indeed have an HDMI port now. The major drawback to using the Arcade is that it does not come with a hard drive.

3) Pretty important. Even though the Arcade now comes with 256MB of internal memory, the new Dash (NXE) eats up about half of it. You're better of buying an Arcade and getting a 20GB HDD through eBay or MS if you aren't going to be downloading alot.

No, you don't have to pay for Live to download updates. Just set up a free Silver account and you can download updates without a problem.

4) Depends. The version you want to get right now is the Jasper. The only place I know of where you are assured of getting one is at NewEgg where they advertise the 360 Arcade with 256MB of memory. Nobody knows the failure rate of the Jasper yet but the previous version (Falcon) was estimated to be 10%.

5) Yes but the 360 comes with a 3-year warranty for RROD (only 1 year for any other failures) so you're better off not repairing it yourself.

6) Russian Roulette

7) No but you can get them cheap at monoprice.com

8) Keep an eye out for deals at Dell and other places for 360s. They have them on sale from time to time. Also, if you ever want to get on Live, check NewEgg and Amazon to get the Live Gold subscription cheaper.

 

[YoungGun21]

Originally posted by: Queasy
First, check the FAQ for this forum.

1) The 360 supports WMV, Divx, Xvid, and h.264 (2-channel audio only) with resolutions up to 1080p.

2) The Arcade does indeed have an HDMI port now. The major drawback to using the Arcade is that it does not come with a hard drive.

3) Pretty important. Even though the Arcade now comes with 256MB of internal memory, the new Dash (NXE) eats up about half of it. You're better of buying an Arcade and getting a 20GB HDD through eBay or MS if you aren't going to be downloading alot.

No, you don't have to pay for Live to download updates. Just set up a free Silver account and you can download updates without a problem.

4) Depends. The version you want to get right now is the Jasper. The only place I know of where you are assured of getting one is at NewEgg where they advertise the 360 Arcade with 256MB of memory. Nobody knows the failure rate of the Jasper yet but the previous version (Falcon) was estimated to be 10%.

5) Yes but the 360 comes with a 3-year warranty for RROD (only 1 year for any other failures) so you're better off not repairing it yourself.

6) Russian Roulette

7) No but you can get them cheap at monoprice.com

8) Keep an eye out for deals at Dell and other places for 360s. They have them on sale from time to time. Also, if you ever want to get on Live, check NewEgg and Amazon to get the Live Gold subscription cheaper.

Just in case you missed it, you should probably read this post.

 

[mugs]

Arcade also does not come with the component/optical A/V dongle, so the only way to get surround sound out of the box is over HDMI. Optical audio will require a separate audio dongle ($50 ) or the component/optical a/v cable (which will require a simple modification to use with HDMI). This is important, because most people don't have a receiver that supports HDMI audio. Many HDTVs are capable of passing the audio along from HDMI to optical though.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: ibex333
6)Are there any good reasons why I shouldn't buy a used Xbox 360 on ebay?

Don't take this personally, but I can't understand why people still ask this question.

I mean really... seriously?

360's are banned from Live all the time... guess where that graveyard is: EBAY

360's start to lock up before they RRoD... guess where they go between locking up and RRoD'ing: EBAY

360's RRoD... guess where some of them go, too: EBAY

Gamers want to sell their release-day 360 so they can get a Falcon or Jasper... guess where they go: EBAY


Of course, none of this information is new. It's common knowledge that the 360 - especially pre-Falcon 360's - are extremely headache-prone, so why are we still addressing the age-old question "can I get one on ebay and not lose my ass?"

I'd tell you to "buy new", but you already know that.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: mugs
Arcade also does not come with the component/optical A/V dongle, so the only way to get surround sound out of the box is over HDMI. Optical audio will require a separate audio dongle ($50 ) or the component/optical a/v cable (which will require a simple modification to use with HDMI). This is important, because most people don't have a receiver that supports HDMI audio. Many HDTVs are capable of passing the audio along from HDMI to optical though.

Here is the modification mugs is talking about.

 

[BlueWeasel]

So the 360 can play media from USB drives attached directly to the console? That sounds like what the OP is asking.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
So the 360 can play media from USB drives attached directly to the console? That sounds like what the OP is asking.

Yes. I answered that in my post above. It can play media via USB drives, disc, or streaming. All of this is from the dash.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: mugs
Arcade also does not come with the component/optical A/V dongle, so the only way to get surround sound out of the box is over HDMI. Optical audio will require a separate audio dongle ($50 ) or the component/optical a/v cable (which will require a simple modification to use with HDMI). This is important, because most people don't have a receiver that supports HDMI audio. Many HDTVs are capable of passing the audio along from HDMI to optical though.

Here is the modification mugs is talking about.

Yeah. To be clear, that cable doesn't come with the Arcade model. It comes with the other models. So if you want to go that route, you have to obtain that cable somewhere (not sure if MS sells it separately; if so, it's probably $30+ )

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: ibex333
I am thinking about buying an Xbox, but I want to know more about it before I spend my money. The first and last console I ever owned was the Sega Genesis back in the early-mid 90's so I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the new consoles.

Please answer my questions:

1)Just how capable is the xbox when playing movies from a usb source?
Which formats does it support and how well does it play movies from usb drives, hard drives, etc? What movie resolutions does it support? A large part of the reason why I want to buy an xbox is to hook it up to my TV and play movies from usb sources, so if I cannot do it well I need to know. The other part is that off course I will be playing games.

2)Despite doing lots of research on google I still cannot make sense of which system I should buy. As I understand, the cheaper "Arcade" system DIDN'T have HDMI in the past, but it DOES have it, now... Is that truly the case? If this is so, then what are the drawbacks of getting a $200 system? I'd say I only need the bare essentials without sacrificing performance, usability, convenience, image quality, etc.

3)How important is it to have a hard drive? I am not planning to use Xbox live and I will most likely not use any downloadable content, except for maybe essential updates or addons for games. Knowing this, do you think I still need a hard drive? What is the smallest size I can get away with? Do xbox users have to pay for the LIVE service to download updates?

4)If I go to a store now and buy this console which "version" will it be? Are they more reliable than they used to be? I heard this stuff about Zephyr's, Falcons, etc, but know little about all this... How likely am I to get a RROD?

5)Is it possible to repair an xbox yourself in case of a RROD? I don't buy warranties whenever I can help it. I consider myself fairly tech savvy and I built and repaired quite a few computers in my life. Are there any merchants selling spare parts for xboxes in case I will need any in the future? Are there any trustworthy online repair shops that charge less than Microsoft and wont steal my console? Are there any essential mods I should do on my xbox, like cooling fans, heat sinks, etc?

6)Are there any good reasons why I shouldn't buy a used Xbox 360 on ebay?

7)Is the HDMI cable included with the $200 system?

8)Anything else you think I should know prior to purchase? Any tips?

Thanx very much.

Sounds like you want the 60GB premium. Make sure the power supply is 175watts on the side of the box you buy, thats a falcon which is pretty new, i think its lower for the even newer jasper, or at least the 12v rating is changed, check the FAQ.

As for RROD, theres a 3 year warrenty for that, everything else is 1 year. Also ive read if you break it any other way you can send it in saying it has RROD and they will send you a new one anyways, YMMV with this though.

Never buy one from ebay, ever. It will be broken somehow or banned or an ancient zephyr or even worse a launch 360 (xenon).

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Never buy one from ebay, ever. It will be broken somehow or banned or an ancient zephyr or even worse a launch 360 (xenon).

Heh, I have two Xenons. One is a launch. If they haven't died yet, they never will.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Never buy one from ebay, ever. It will be broken somehow or banned or an ancient zephyr or even worse a launch 360 (xenon).

Heh, I have two Xenons. One is a launch. If they haven't died yet, they never will.

Careful... they might have heard you say that

Sometimes that's all it takes!