[Stan Welks]

I want to get a 360. I currently have a 42-inch LCD with HDMI ports. Is there a noticeable difference in visual quality by using HDMI vs. some other inputs for the 360?

Thanks.

[Gary Shipley]

From what I understand,I don't think you would notice a difference. I read that if you had two 42 inch sets side by side,one at 720p , and one at 1080p ,the average guy probably could not see the difference. The difference however ,would be more noticeable if you were seeing the image on say, a screen size of 100" or more.

[Scott98]

No you will not see a difrence unless you have the HD DVD drive.. but as far as games go componet cables have plenty enough bandwith to run 720p there will be no improvment running hdmi on games.

[Stan Welks]

do any 360 games run at 1080?

[Bob_Chase]

I have tired both component and HDMI using Halo 3 on my set--a 50" Panasonic PX75U--and the difference is night and day with HDMI having a far superior picture.

Not that the component picture was bad. It's just that with component the picture seemed to have an overall haze. Blacks were more of a dark gray, the picture seemed softer, and lighting effects didn't have as much pop.

At first I hooked up the 360 (premium no HD-DVD) with HDMI. I don't have an HDMI capable receiver so I was running an HDMI cable to the TV and an optical cable out of the TV to the receiver. Unfortunately this was only passing a stereo signal (re: no DD 5.1). But the picture was phenomenal. Almost life-like.

Because of the lack of 5.1 audio I thought I would use the component dongle (with 5.1 out) so I could have the great picture with 5.1 audio. My wife who could really care less about this stuff immediately commented: "Eww. What happened to the picture?"

The picture was good but the HDMI-genie was already out of the bottle, so to speak. I immediately yanked out the component and went back to HDMI with absolutely no regrets.

Your mileage may vary with a different display, but on my system, HDMI is the crystal-clear winner. It's not even close.