UPDATED: 3/27/08
Judging by my own traffic patterns and given the number of questions I see on the Intartron, there’s much confusion regarding the Xbox 360 and its support of high definition. This has only increased recently with the release of the HD-DVD addon, the Elite models and the various dashboard updates. I’ve gathered the various pieces of information into one, easy-to-find, well-spidered place.
Q. Is it true that I have to use a high definition television with the Xbox 360?
A. This is false. The Xbox 360 supports many different connections to many types of televisions, from composite connections for standard televisions to component, VGA and, with an Xbox 360 Elite, HDMI connections for high definition televisions and computer monitors.
Q. Do all games for the Xbox 360 support high definition?
A. Yes, all games that are genuine Xbox 360 titles must support at least 720p. Every indication from Microsoft is that every game that is ever released for the platform must support at least 720p. Please note that some games render internally to a smaller framebuffer — most notoriously Project Gotham Racing 3 which renders to a 1024 by 600 framebuffer — so take this with a grain of salt.
Q. Do I need any kind of set-top box to play games in high definition on my Xbox 360?
A. No, you need no external hardware to enjoy Xbox 360 games in high definition. The only “extra” thing you’ll need is either the Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable, the Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable or the Xbox 360 HDMI AV Cable if you have an Xbox 360 Elite.
Q. I have an HDTV, I have an Xbox 360… how do I get high definition?
A. First you need to plug everything in. If you’re using the component HD AV cable you plug the red, green, and blue RCA cables into the respective inputs on your display. With the HDMI AV cable, plug in your HDMI cable. If you’re using the VGA HD AV cable, you’ll plug the single connector into the respective input.
If you’re using component, be sure to flip the switch on the Xbox connector side to the “HD” setting. If you don’t, you won’t get high definition resolutions available in the dashboard.
Once you’re plugged in, turn on the Xbox 360 and navigate to the System blade of the dashboard and go to the Console Settings. Here, select the Display option and choose the Resolution. The available resolutions depend on which cable you’ve installed.
Q. What about Xbox games like Halo and Halo 2 played via the backwards compatible mode? Will they be displayed in high definition?
A. Yes. Actually, all backward compatible games will be upscaled and support FSAA. That said, there is some confusion whether Bungie has done something additional with Halo and Halo 2 to have it actually render to a 1280×720 internal framebuffer instead of merely being upscaled. However, it is almost certain that it is only upscaled as direct questions to Bungie regarding the precise process have gone unanswered.
Q. Will games look terrible on anything but high definition televisions?
A. No, games will not look terrible on standard televisions. Given that the graphics in Xbox 360 games will have greater overall detail in terms of polygon counts and texture sizes, Xbox 360 games will almost certainly look better than games from previous generation consoles, even on standard televisions. As an example, Xbox games look considerably better than, say, Playstation 1 games due to the amount of detail the Xbox was capable of producing in comparison with the Playstation. Similarly, Xbox 360 is more capable of producing detail than any preceding console.
Q. Are all games displayed in widescreen or letterboxed on all displays?
Some games will be displayed in letterbox format on standard 4×3 displays. Game developers can choose to support widescreen and full screen in their games, it’s entirely up to them.
Q. Can I use my computer monitor as my display for the Xbox 360?
A. Yes, depending on the type of monitor you have. And you will likely be able to play games in high definition too. The Xbox 360 supports the following resolutions when using the VGA AV connector: 640×480, 848×480, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×768, 1280×1024, 1360×768, and 1920×1080. In order to use your monitor you will most likely need to purchase the Xbox 360 VGA HD Cable or the Xbox 360 HDMI AV Cable and connect it to the respective port on your monitor.
If you don’t have a free VGA port on your monitor, you will either need to switch back and forth or purchase a VGA switcher.
Support for 1920×1080 was added during the Fall Dashboard Update in October 2006. There are many reports of some incompatibilities with various nominally 1080p displays including the Dell 2405.
Q. What about my laptop? Can I plug the Xbox 360 into my laptop and use its screen?
A. No, you cannot plug the Xbox 360 into a laptop and use the screen. If you’re laptop has a video input, you can plug the composite cable from the Xbox 360 into it and view it, but it will not be in high definition making it likely worse than even a moderately sized standard television.
Q. But if I use my monitor, how will I get sound?
A. With speakers, of course 
. Both cable packages provide a pair of stereo RCA cables for standard stereo sound as well as an optical digital audio connection (optical digital audio cable not included). You will therefore need at least a set of powered, stereo speakers that accept a pair of standard stereo RCA connections or a fancier surround sound model (e.g. the Logitech z680) that can accept an optical input for the sophisticated gamer.
Another option if you have a sound card available on your PC is to use an external converter and plug the stereo sound output directly into the sound card. That way all of the sound from your Xbox 360 is routed through your computer’s standard sound interface.
Q. My HDTV only supports 1080i but I’ve heard that most games are programmed for 720p. Will I be able to play games in high definition?
A. Absolutely. Some HDTVs do not include a built-in scaler to handle non-native resolutions. The Xbox 360 has the needed built-in scaler that will scale the output to any resolution you need. In the case of HDTVs that only support 1080i, the game might render to an internal 720p frame buffer, but the output scaler will scale that output up to a 1080i signal that your HDTV can display. Yes, it will still be gorgeous. As an example, both ABC and ESPN-HD broadcast their high definition content in 720p, so if you’re receiving that content there’s scaling being done somewhere in your equipment chain.
Q. Do I need anything else to play DVDs from my Xbox 360 (like the DVD remote and dongle for the original Xbox)?
A. No, the Xbox 360 plays DVDs out of the box with no additional purchases required. You can control the DVD player with the game controllers, with the included media remote in the $399 Xbox 360 package, or with the expanded remote available separately.
Q. Does the Xbox 360 upscale standard DVD movies?
A. Absolutely, but only if you’re using the VGA or HDMI connection. During the so-called “Spring Dashboard Update” Microsoft enabled DVD upscaling over the VGA connection — and upscaling over HDMI has been there since the introduction of the HDMI AV cable — so if you’re using VGA or HDMI you’ll see movies in whatever resolution you’ve set in the dashboard. However, this is only over VGA or HDMI. Also, with Fall Dashboard Update, standard DVD movies will be upscaled to 1080p on displays that support it, again only over the VGA connection or the HDMI connection.
Q. What does the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player do for me?
A. Why, play HD-DVD movies, of course . The Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player is a software-based solution, meaning all of the decoding and other tasks are all performed on the 360’s triple-core processor. This has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s easy to update the software over Xbox Live if needed as compared to a hardware solution and it should be fairly flexible. It will, however, work the Xbox 360 harder than just about anything on the market as the entire process of using an HD-DVD in software is actually fairly complex, requiring 4.7 million lines of code solely for the HD-DVD processing.
You still use your built-in drive to play games on the Xbox 360. Microsoft continually states that they will not use the HD-DVD drive for game discs in the future. You’re welcome to play your standard DVDs in either the built-in drive or the HD-DVD drive, there’s no functional difference.
Note also that with the HD-DVD Consortium dropping out of the race, the HD-DVD player will eventually be most useful for holding cups and weighting down papers.
Q. What kind of resolution do I get out of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player?
A. Everything up to 1080p, depending on various factors. If you’re using the VGA or HDMI connection you’ll get up to 1080p on everything from games to standard DVDs to HD-DVDs. If you’re using component you’ll get up to 1080p on games, but only up to 1080i on HD-DVD movies and only up to 480p on standard definition DVDs.
Q. Can I use the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player to play my games?
A. No, all games are still played using the internal drive on your Xbox 360 console.
Q. Can I use the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player with my computer?
A. Yes, though it requires some work. Please see this reference for more information.
Q. Is the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player region-free?
A. For HD-DVD movies, yes as are all HD-DVD players. For standard DVDs, no. A lot of people were hoping the HD-DVD drive might provide a loophole to watch out-of-region standard definition movies on the Xbox 360. However, the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player assumes the region of the console itself when it comes to standard DVDs.
Q. Do games look that much better on an HDTV compared with a regular television? Is it worth the money?
A. Yes, most people that have experienced HDTV resolution would say it’s worth it. High definition television displays a 1280 x 720 progressive picture in 720p, a 1920 x 1080 interlaced picture in 1080i or a full 1920 x 1080 image in 1080p for up to six times the overall resolution compared with standard 480i. To make an example, think of playing a game on your computer in 640×480. That’s approximately like playing at standard resolution. Now change the resolution to 1280 x 720 or 1600 x 1200 (or 1920 x 1080 if you have it). The amount of information in the picture is vastly greater. In addition the connection technology used for high definition — component, VGA, or HDMI — is traditionally capable of transporting a clearer, sharper image than composite or S-video.
Q. Will there be an HDMI/DVI connection on the Xbox 360?
A. Yes, there already is one available on the Xbox 360 Elite models. The Xbox 360 Elite (black) comes with the HDMI cable bundled.
Q. Can I use an HDMI connection with my original (non Elite) Xbox 360?
A. No, HDMI is only supported on the Xbox 360 Elite model.
Q. Why not?
A. Microsoft hates you? No. The original Xbox 360 models didn’t support HDMI on the motherboard. The Elite models propagate the appropriate signals to the built-in HDMI port. The original models are completely incapable of this.
Q. Which cables support digital, multi-channel surround sound?
A. All of them except the composite cable have connections for an optical digital audio cable. The optical digital audio cable itself is not included in any package.
Q. Which cable should I get? Which one has better quality?
A. In general VGA and component are about the same in terms of picture quality. If you have an Xbox 360 Elite model, the HDMI connection, being a completely digital signal chain, will provide a better image especially at higher resolutions. In most cases the VGA or HDMI connection provides more options, especially when viewing movies on DVD or HD-DVD.
A special caveat about the VGA implementation: if you have an HDTV that only accepts a 1080i input signal, the VGA connection will not work for you. The 360 will not output a true 720p or 1080i HD signal over VGA, only computer resolutions of 640×480, 848×480, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×768, 1280×1024, 1360×768 and 1920×1080 (progressive).
Just an update on the 1360×768 issue. I found this link which suggests that it will support it..
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6139672/p-2.html
Quote
The system allows you to set your display resolution and aspect ratio depending on the type of video cables you use. VGA cables will give you six different resolution options: 640×480, 848×480, 1024×768, 1280×720, 1280×768, and 1360×768. Component cables will give you 480p, 720p, and 1080i resolution choices. Games are actually rendered internally at 720p, and the ATI video engine scales the video up or down to the desired resolution.
That’s exactly where you’d have to plug in the 360 as well, Mike, into that same standard VGA port (I assume it’s VGA because very few if any monitors ship with only a DVI port). So you have two choices. The free choice is to just switch back and forth between your PC and your 360 when you want to use it. The more costly choice is to purchase a VGA switcher such that you can simply press a button to switch between the two.
Hi! Im a little bit confused, i have a 1280×1024 monitor, so from what I gather its certainly capable of supporting the 360, right? But… it doesnt have any ports on it…i dont know if i am just being a bit thick, but with my monitor, theres one power cable that goes into it, a port for audio, and thats it… The way it gets it signal is by plugging into my graphics card. So am i going to be able to play my 360 on it? And if so, how? Is there something i will need to buy? and if so, where can I get it from? Thanks
sorry, meant to say 15″ in the original post. most 17″s support 1280×1024, which’d be enough to support 720p.
saleh said: I’m not sure if it’d work. 720p is 1280×720, while most 17″ monitors support a max resolution of 1024×768.
Oh my, Saleh is right. I totally misread that, I really thought he said 1280×768. Yeah, the original poster will almost certainly be limited to 480p. My apologies for the misinformation and thanks for the catch.
no problem. hey, i misread the 15″ as 17″
Oh my, Saleh is right. I totally misread that, I really thought he said 1280×768. Yeah, the original poster will almost certainly be limited to 480p. My apologies for the misinformation and thanks for the catch.
I’m not sure if it’d work. 720p is 1280×720, while most 17″ monitors support a max resolution of 1024×768. horizontally, there aren’t enough pixes to support 1280, even if you were to use one of the 3rd party software to customize the resolution.
I could be, and have been known to be, wrong.
It’s doubtful, Greg. While we do not know precisely which resolutions will be supported using the VGA connection, it’s doubtful that such an esoteric resolution will be one of them. The problem is regression testing. If they have to test all games in all resolutions, it doesn’t make sense to support every possible resolution. The burden would be too high. That goes for MS as well as the development houses.
Great FAQ..
But it still has not answered a question I have.
I have just purchased a new LCD HDTV (mainly for 360!)
Will the 360 be able to output to its native resoultion of 1366×768 using the VGA connector ?
I am hoping so as this will be much better than the TV up-scaling standard 720p resolution.
Thanks
No new laser is required to read standard DVDs. Even if it did upscale — which, as you said you knew, it doesn’t — it’s still reading the same, standard video from the DVD.
In terms of it generating 720p content, that has nothing to do with the DVD medium aside from storage of game code and media like cinematics, graphics, and sound. Even so, it’s relatively easy to store a 720p media stream that could then be displayed by the 360.
If 360 will display games in atleast 720p, but not movies in 720p, has Microsoft created a new laser for this console? I know that this unit does not have Blue Ray or HD DVD, so how will this be able to play a HD standard, when no previous DVDs (are encoded in 720p) or DVD players that can play “TRUE” HD. Is this just some kind of modified upscaling player????
Divx and Xvid will likely be unsupported. I don’t know what precisely will be supported.
Q1: Will I be able to play divx/xvid files from a home-burned DVD or CD?
Q2: Will I be able to STREAM divx/xvid files from my PC?
Q3: If I need a Media Center PC to stream files from, what formats are supported? Will divx/xvid/VOB file formats be supported??
Thanks!
One time I was in kind of a jam so I hooked up the Xbox sound outputs using that exact converter the author mentioned to my notebook’s mic input, and set it to rout to my 2.1 PC speakers. Let’s just say that Halo 2 was a little less than compelling on the bass end, even for my speakers. My notebook doesn’t have a line in, so others’ results may vary with a line in port. I would recommend just getting a cheap amplified speaker system or in that case.
Halo and Halo2 are compatible. check bungie.com for this story
Re: What about Xbox games like Halo and Halo 2 played via the backwards compatible mode? Will they be displayed in high definition?
According to Kotaku, “play both games in wide screen at 720 p with full scene anti-aliasing”.
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/bungie/bungie-announces-halo-halo-2-360-details-136351.php
My 17inch LCD TV has 1280×1024pixels which to me is not enough for 1080i but is at least 720p,but manual says 480p. Why are my TV’s resolutions above the minimum for 720p HD but manual says TV supports 480p ED. Should I just try to receive the HD signals? or be satisfied with 480p?
Yes they will work just fine and yes they will be better than either composite or S-Video.
Unfortunately no, you won’t be able to use a laptop screen. Laptops typically do not offer video inputs. Yours appears to have the option of composite video input but I can’t find a connector for it. Even if it did, the best you’d get out of it would be 480i as composite doesn’t support high definition resolutions. Sorry.
You’ll have the option of letterboxed output or, likely, “squished” output. Stretched is for widescreen displays trying to display 4:3 material. Oddly, we don’t really know yet what resolutions will be supported over the VGA connector.
I’ve got a 21″ CRT VGA that’s 4:3. Does this mean that the image will look stretched or be running in a letter box?
I’ve got a 21″ CRT that’s 4:3. Does this mean that the image will look stretched or be running i some sort of letterbox image?
I have an Alienare 51m 7700, a top of the line gaming laptop. Will i be able to use the screen for my 360 or will i have to buy a separate monitor. I am in the navy and need something portable. Thanks.
I have a 36inch Sony Wega that is not HDTV compatible but it does have a hook up for compoment cables. Will these cables work for this hook up and will they look better then on the standard outputs?
If you purchased the $399 version and not the $299 Core version it comes with the component AV cables. If you purchased the $299 Core version you’ll have to buy the component AV pack. See the comparison here.
i have preordered a xbox 360 and have a new HD TV. Will i need to buy a component HD AV cable to use HD?
Likely you will be able to play in 720p. You will almost certainly need the 360 VGA HD Cable. They’ve been notoriously quiet about the supported resolutions when using the VGA cable, but I believe you’ll be okay.
Do you have a link to your TV? Without some kind of high bandwidth connection, you’re never going to get a progressive signal into it. Composite and S-Video are incapable of transmitting a progressive, 480p image.
My TV is Progressive scan capable but does not have a component connection it has composite. How will Xbox360 convert my signal to 480p without utilizing a component input from TV?
I have a 15″ LCD monitor w/ 1024×768 resolution. Will I be able to play in some sort of HD format.
will it look clean on my lcd?
I have a 15″ LCD monitor w/ 1024×768 resolution. Will I be able to play in some sort of HD format.
Component cables are capable of supporting any HD signal, actually. Maybe you’re confusing component with composite?
Hello! How come the xbox 360 will display in HD if component cables do not support more than 480p?
Thanks!!!
I am really confused with this so please help me