A few Xbox questions

Hi-

I'm a new guy here who is looking for some wife-approved justification for buying a new toy-a Xbox.

I have a fairly standard HDTV setup nothing fancy; 55" Hitachi rear projection TV 16:9 ratio with a dolby 5.1 theatre I had built into my new house.

First question: with the HDTV adapters and associated goodies, will the Xbox utilize the full screen (movie screen aspect) and surround sound? I have structed home networking installed (LAN, cable and phone jack combined behind TV) as well so I think I can go to Xbox Live! with a minimum of unsightly cables (wife issue). Am I correct in this assumption?

Big question: SpyNavy noted in a similar post that you could buy a screen adapter to pair with the DVD adapter to play DVDs for the kids in the car (probably needing a car power adapter as well.) I've Googled on this and come up with partial answers at best. Can any of you harried-Dad types tell me how well this works? This will sell it to my wife for long trips.

Thanks in advance.

Lars

Edit: spelling and such

First question: with the HDTV adapters and associated goodies, will the Xbox utilize the full screen (movie screen aspect) and surround sound? I have structed home networking installed (LAN, cable and phone jack combined behind TV) as well so I think I can go to Xbox Live! with a minimum of unsightly cables (wife issue). Am I correct in this assumption?

Some games officially support wide screen and some still look fine stretched out on my Toshiba 52 inch despite being made for a 4:3 aspect ratio. As for networking, if you''re lucky enough to have an ethernet jack right behind the TV you should be good to go! I assume that connection gets to a router eventually?

Hey Lars,
Yeah, the xbox will display in 16:9 although I''ve never watched a dvd in that ratio though. In the setup options it says it''ll play audio in 5.1 but I''ve never noticed the difference in my setup, maybe games don''t support it much. So the xbox will do what you want it to do, although I wouldn''t expect it to do any of those real well... it is predominately a gaming console and that it does extremely well. It probably wouldn''t be too hard to hook it up in the car with a power adapter as its got a simple ac cord in the back, the kind old stereos have, so that shouldn''t be a problem. From what I hear of the screen that plugs into the back of it, its really small for playing games on, but watching movies should be ok.
As far as convincing the wife... best of luck to you! Although if you convinced her to let you buy the 55"" HDTV a $150 for an xbox shouldn''t be too hard.

Lars,

In the immortal words of me:

It is always easier to apologize then it is to ask permission.

Thanks for the quick responses.

As for networking, if you''re lucky enough to have an ethernet jack right behind the TV you should be good to go! I assume that connection gets to a router eventually?

Yes, with some work. I have cable internet access w/ router in the den for the PC, I may have to get a little fancy to complete the home networking tie-in for the router/cable modem but that should not be a huge problem.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I''ll only want to use the Xbox in the house for games, I have a semi-crappy DVD player that has Finding Nemo perma-installed. If I can take that damn fish on the road the rugrat will be happy.

My thought is that the Xbox would be a versatile portable DVD player for my family, regardless of which car we are in, the fact I get to frag people is a bonus.

Thanks again,
Lars
who can quote the entire script of Finding Nemo for a $1.

who can quote the entire script of Finding Nemo for a $1.

I don''t even know illegals that''ll work that cheap.
I can do Lethal Weapon2 and much of Alladin. Actually, I''m not allowed to watch LW2 with most of my friends any more. Apparently they want to hear Mel Gibson, not Mel Duckson.

Peons.
Quack!

I don''t know how much of an issue this is for your portability, but my Xbox doesn''t run well if it''s not on a level surface. Just something I''ve noticed when I change it''s location.

Power inverter for cars.

While on the subject, I could use a nice wireless PS2 controller. So far I only see the Logitech and Pellican ones.

This is the way I use the Xbox in the car. I have an Xterra which has a power outlet in the back. Best Buy sells an adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter style adapter and provides 2 standard AC plugs. I then plug in a powerstrip to it. Best Buy also sells a screen that sits on top of the Xbox and fold up onto it for storage (maybe increases size by 50% or so. The screen and the Xbox get plugged into the power strip in the back of the Xterra. I set the Xbox on the Backpack carrying case behind the center console and my son is able to play games (Kung Fu Chaos seems to be the traveling choice) and/or watches DVD''s. It is nice to be able to travel and not have the only TV in the hotel room or grandmas house etc... tied up by the ""little dude"". Thats my .02 anyhow. Hope that helps.

Yes, with some work. I have cable internet access w/ router in the den for the PC, I may have to get a little fancy to complete the home networking tie-in for the router/cable modem but that should not be a huge problem.

Do you have a wireless router? There are Ethernet-802.11 bridges out there available for $80-$100, some marketed specifically for PS2 and Xbox. Plug it in, and XBox thinks its on an Ethernet segment whereas the traffic goes wirelessly.

"Dr.Ghastly" wrote:

Lars,

In the immortal words of me:

That''s classic right there.

"Gorilla.800.lbs" wrote:

There are Ethernet-802.11 bridges out there available for $80-$100, some marketed specifically for PS2 and Xbox. Plug it in, and XBox thinks its on an Ethernet segment whereas the traffic goes wirelessly.

There''s also a really neat solution coming out from Mad Catz that uses the home''s electrical system as a network to bridge between your XBox and router. Plug one module into your XBox network adapter and a spare outlet, and the other module into one of your router''s spare ports and another spare outlet (presumably in another room), and as far as your XBox and router are concerned, you''re directly connected via Ethernet. Seems like a good solution for those of us who don''t want to go wireless.

There''s also a really neat solution coming out from Mad Catz that uses the home''s electrical system as a network to bridge between your XBox and router. Plug one module into your XBox network adapter and a spare outlet, and the other module into one of your router''s spare ports and another spare outlet (presumably in another room), and as far as your XBox and router are concerned, you''re directly connected via Ethernet. Seems like a good solution for those of us who don''t want to go wireless.

Called HomePlug and you can use any HomePlug Ethernet Bridge with your Xbox..

[quote=""KillerTomato""]

"Gorilla.800.lbs" wrote:

There are Ethernet-802.11 bridges out there available for $80-$100, some marketed specifically for PS2 and Xbox. Plug it in, and XBox thinks its on an Ethernet segment whereas the traffic goes wirelessly.

Naki has one for $60. http://www.nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=14

Any Bandwidth limitation traveling over the home electrical system or interference from things getting turned off and on - the load increasing etc... on the house electrical supply etc...?

"SpyNavy" wrote:

Any Bandwidth limitation traveling over the home electrical system or interference from things getting turned off and on - the load increasing etc... on the house electrical supply etc...?

no not really... you''ll see between 2mbps and 8mbps depending on quality of electrical lines in your home and distance..

Theoritical maximum speed of Homeplug 1.0 is 14mbps but you''ll never see that...

Homeplug 2.0 raises the bandwidth to 74mbps and in our labs we''ve been able to stream 3 720p HDTV sources across it with zero drop frames or synch issues.

Wow, so much knowledge here.

You guys are great! Got the Xbox squared away for the home- no problem, except for the weekend I spent playing Halo. Large screen-HDTV and home theater surround sound+cold beer=sick gaming. This does not bode well for my household productivity.

I do have a wireless router so I will investigate the Xbox tie-in. Pretty cool, never thought of that new-fangled wireless contraption.

The traveling Nemo show that the Xbox will mutate into seems to be a go as well, even though I''m still pricing/investigating the best screen.

Thanks again folks.

Lars
With bleary eyes and sore thumbs.

Large screen-HDTV and home theater surround sound+cold beer=sick gaming.

Where I''m from sick gaming involves wellington boots and Obscene Scrabble.

Yeah, but you''re English :).

I know technology moves at a blistering pace but sometimes it still amazes me..

Last Sunday I hooked up my new TV and Misc. Equipment..

My new DLP Projection tv I decided on was the Samsung HLN617W..

I also picked up a new Sony ES Reciever and a Samsung DVD player model DVDHD-841 (more on this later)

First off.. the picture on this is amazing...actually better than my Sanyo PLZ2 that I used in my last home on a 96"" Screen.. perhaps because its on a smaller screen or simply because the DLP technology is different that the LCD technology the PLZ2 uses... but the Sanyo always was slightly washed out and required a very dark room to really enjoy the picture.. The Samsung I can watch in complete sunlight which I could never do before.. so I''ll finally be able to fully enjoy Football Sundays

I''ve watched Return of the King, Finding Nemo, Escape from NY, North by Northwest and all looked amazing..

The Samsung 841 DVD player replaced my Pioneer Elite THX DVD player (the first Progressive Scan DVD player they made about 4 years ago) Despite the Pioneer costing me close to $1200 this Samsung at $179 blows it away.

I did some comparisons between the two since I could hook them both up and my buddy brought over his copy of Return of the King. The tiny $179 DVD player which upscans everything to 720p/1080i through my TV''s DVI port produced a far clearer and more vivid picture than my old Pioneer Elite did. I noticed a few time visible artifacts with my Pioneer that the Samsung didnt reproduce.. so its a keeper..

Its too funny how in 3-4 years something costing less than $200 outperforms something that was 5 times the price at one point..

I dug up my old Pioneer LD player and my LD collection...they looked pretty crappy as most Analog does on these newer TV''s.

Makes me wonder though how much better one of the Denon DVD-5900 players can actually be though..

Old World Decadence > New World Perversion. Ask the French about those Brits and their habits...of course ask the Brits about the French and their habits.

In yer dotage cold beer and tighly gripping dentures are as good as it gets.

Go easy on me I''m old and tired, but back in the days of 20 sided dice and dragon bongs (before there where computers laddie!), I was sumthin, lemme tell ya.

Pass the Cheetos, dude.

Lars

I have yet to find a computer game (online or not) that can replace those evenings and into the next day with close friends around a table playing an RPG of some sort and eating and drinking entirely too much. The sheer fun of those evening has been hard to replace or even emulate.