Lets make some connections....
Yes, that’s what the back is all about… connections. This is where the Xbox 360 is chucking everything out of… the sound and video all come from here as well as the network capability if you’re not running WIFI at home. Let’s start off with the AV connector, as this is the one that has the most going on and is where the Xbox 360 is going to interface with your home equipment.
Now this little doofrey is the centre of the Xbox 360’s output, handling all the video and audio through one socket from the back of the Xbox 360. However, what you can then plug it into depends entirely on which type of cable you have. For example, Core system owners will just get a basic composite cable whereas Premium pack owners will have an HD connector as well as composite. You can also pick up a VGA AV cable which will allow you to hook up your Xbox 360 to your PC monitor if the fancy takes you.
Click for larger imageNow on the back of that plug is a little square bit for the optical sound output, so if you’ve a reasonable amplifier, you’re in for a treat with high quality 5.1 surround sound, though the optical input on the back of all the AV plugs, regardless of which cable you have. Just slap in your optical cable, hook it up to the amp and enjoy.
Click for larger imageNow having a look at that little socket again, there’s three switches on there that will come in handy for HDTV owners. The first switch is the one that selects output between normal composite for standard telly and then HD composite. Selction of HD format is donw through the Xbox 360 set up menus allowing you to select the type of HD picture you want from 480p, 720p, and 1080i. It’s worth noting that if you use a VGA cable, you’ll be able to select resolutions from 640x480, 848x480, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x768, and 1360x768… which is a bugger if your screen’s native resolution is 1280x1024 though it’s pretty certain someone will figure out a way to hack it for this res. So now you’ve got you spanky new Xbox 360 hooked up to your sounds system and preferred display device, what can you do with it?
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