I just bought a new 32 inch LCD HDTV and when i play DVD's on my xbox 360 the picture doesnt look very great. Im just using the regular componets any ideas of whats goin on?

did you set the xbox to the tv's native resolution ?

umm i didnt actually go and set it to that.Would that be the default right of the bat?

what would the native resolution be?

You have to set the Xbox (within the Blade setup) to your TVs native resolution. You can find your TVs native resolution either by looking at the manual or by doing a google search and you should be able to find it fairly easily (for instance my TV Samsung HLS6188W the resolution is 1080p 1920X1280 so I ahve my Xbox set to output 1920X1280). BTW you may need to adjust your TVs settings for best output, if you do a search within the TV forums ehre you should be able to find what otehr people are using for your particular set.....DVDs are only 480p so they may look "soft" and "not that great" anyways compared to HD-DVD regular DVDs fail in comparison :(

it would also help if we knew what your TV was a 32" LCD doesnt do us much good..... :)

well i have seen alot of people saying to use a VGA cable....can i just buy any old VGA cable or do I need to buy a special xbox VGA cable??? o and its an olevia 432v

You have to buy the VGA for the 360. There is only one output for all that stuff on the back of your 360.

Changing the xbox resolution has no impact when using component cables. When playing movies it defaults back to 480p. I know this because I have mine set for 1080i and it uses that resolution for everything but regular DVDs which it changes back to 480p (my TV lets me know when resolutions change). If your picture doesn't look good you can use SpyderTV (pricey) or one of the DVD calibration disks on the market to adjust the TV settings for the input you are using. That should help out a lot. If it doesn't look good after that there is the possibility your TV doesn't display SD material very well.

Changing the xbox resolution has no impact when using component cables. When playing movies it defaults back to 480p. I know this because I have mine set for 1080i and it uses that resolution for everything but regular DVDs which it changes back to 480p (my TV lets me know when resolutions change). If your picture doesn't look good you can use SpyderTV (pricey) or one of the DVD calibration disks on the market to adjust the TV settings for the input you are using. That should help out a lot. If it doesn't look good after that there is the possibility your TV doesn't display SD material very well.
It actually upscales the DVDs now to the resolution of your TV ie 1080p, 1080i, ect IF you TV accepts the resolution over that connection....there are not that many Tvs out there that will accept 1080p over VGA so the best bet would be to see what inputs on the TV can accept the higher resolution connections and use those...Hopefully for you it wont be "only" the HDMI connection....
For instance my TV accepts 1080p over VGA and the resolution does not change when playing DVDs or HD-DVDs. The update form November acctually "unlocked" 1080p output for games (1080i for movies) over component.

For VGA you are correct but the original poster was asking about component. For component it does not upscale movies. The games will play at the higher resolution but DVDs still play at the lower 480p resolution regardless of the resolution your TV accepts over component.

ok so i can upscale to 1080i using the VGA. Where is the best place to get that cord I know i can get one online but I really dont wana wait for it to be shipped and I looked at the one at circuit city but it was like 60 bucks does walmart carry a 360 vga cable?

ok so i can upscale to 1080i using the VGA. Where is the best place to get that cord I know i can get one online but I really dont wana wait for it to be shipped and I looked at the one at circuit city but it was like 60 bucks does walmart carry a 360 vga cable?


The MS brand VGA cable is only $40. Maybe you were looking at Monster cables?

i also found a JOYTECH digital VGA cable which sounds nice because it has the VGA cable and a digital optical cable together anyone know anything about it?

Before spending any money, make sure the switch on the A/V cable that came with your xbox 360 is set for HDTV, not standard tv. This switch is tiny and is located on the base of the A/V cable right where it plugs into you xbox.

yea i had already done that

I bought a Korean or Chinese knock-off VGA cable on ebay for about $15 with shipping. I've already thrown the box away, but I think it was a Dragon. Works great!

ok so i can upscale to 1080i using the VGA.

No, 1080i isn't an option with VGA.

So the 360 is an upconverting DVD player only through VGA?

So the 360 is an upconverting DVD player only through VGA?

That is correct.. DCMA Restrictions do not allow for HD Upconversion via Component

So the 360 is an upconverting DVD player only through VGA?
correct

Thanks - I figured there's no need to buy an upconvert dvd player since the 360 can do this. :)