To connect to a PC and route sound through
PC speakers:
- Connect the VGA cable as described "To connect to a
monitor and audio equipment."
- Attach the audio 2x RCA phono female to 1x 3.5mm male jack audio
adaptor supplied to the left and right (white and red) audio connectors
- Plug this into the audio
in port on your PC sound card
- Go to your Control Panel
- Go to Hardware and Sound
- Check to make sure you Line In is checked
- Make sure your Line In volume is correct
Note: Your PC will always need to be
switched on if you wish to hear sound from your speakers using this method.
Choosing a PC monitor
In this section I will raise some points
about choosing a suitable PC monitor for your Xbox 360. Ultimately what you buy
comes down to your general gaming needs, and your budget, but hopefully the
information here will give you a much more informed idea of what to look for.
LCD or CRT?
CRT monitors have traditionally been
recommended as the best gaming monitors due to their higher response times. But
this can be seen as old news, because LCDs can nowadays easily handle
fast-paced games with good response rates.
However buying a good enough LCD monitor
for gaming might not be in your budget. So in this case you are better off
sticking to a CRT display, which will give you a lot of bang for your buck. In
the end, choosing between an LCD or CRT depends on your budget and your gaming
needs.
Here is a list of the main advantages of
LCD and CRT. When deciding between the two, choose the type that best suits
your specific needs and your budget.
Advantages of LCD Monitors
Less power usage – An LCD monitor require
less power than a CRT.
Smaller and lighter – LCD monitors are much
thinner and lighter than CRTs, and they weigh less.
Easier on the eyes – Because of the way LCD
displays work, they don’t flicker like CRT monitors and so they reduce
eyestrain and headaches. Also, LCDs tend to display text better since they can
produce sharper images than CRTs.
Advantages of CRT Monitors
Cheaper – CRT monitors are generally less
expensive.
Better colour range – CRTs are known to
more accurately represent different colours than LCDs.
Faster response – CRT displays also
currently have the upper hand in displaying fast-paced graphics and video. They
don’t suffer from LCD-specific problems like ghosting and blurring, and are
still currently viewed by many as the best type of monitors for gaming.
Multiple Resolutions – CRT monitors can handle
multiple resolutions without problems.
Less Fragile – CRT monitors are rugged and
are harder to damage.
Panels
PC monitors normally have one of the
following panels.
TN = considered the hardcore gaming
monitor, lowest colour accuracy, fastest response time/input lag due to low
need of processing. Worst viewing angles.
PVA/MVA = Highest contrast ratio, decent
input lag/response time. Ghosting is an issue, blacks crush as well. If you don't
know what black crushing is, it's basically details in darker areas merging
together into a giant block, aka, black crush.
IPS= Best in terms of colour accuracy,
faster response time than PVA/MVA, but not as fast as TN. Most expensive.
Response Rate
The response rate of an LCD monitor refers
to how quickly each pixel on the screen can change color. The faster the
response rate, the less ghosting you will experience. Ghosting is when the
previous image displayed on the screen can still be seen as a blur for moments
after the image has changed. Ghosting can be seen in fast-paced graphical
applications such as games and videos.
When choosing an LCD monitor for gaming,
the response rate is perhaps the single most important factor to consider. If
you’re playing a fast-paced action game such as a first person shooter, when
you look around quickly you will experience ghosting. This can ruin your
overall gaming experience, depending on how severe the ghosting is. The faster
the response rate, the less ghosting you will see.
An LCD with a response rate of 8ms
(milliseconds) is the minimum for good gaming. Lower than 8ms is better if you
can afford it. The very best gaming monitors on the market have extremely fast
response rates (even as low as 2ms), completely avoiding ghosting altogether.
Viewing Angle
If you look at an LCD monitor from an
angle, you will notice that the image appears dimmer and the colors can look
weird. At extreme angles the entire image can even disappear. The viewing angle
of an LCD monitor is the angle at which you can still view the screen clearly.
So, the greater the viewing angle, the better.
HDMI, DVI, or VGA?
The
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video connector
interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. HDMI supports, on a
single cable, any TV or PC video format including standard, enhanced, and
high-definition video along with up to 8 channels of digital audio. The Xbox
360 uses a HDMI 1.2 cable. HDMI is considered to be the best connection for
gaming with a monitor but can also be quite expensive.
The Digital
Visual Interface (DVI) is a video interface standard designed to maximize the
visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer
displays and digital projectors. It is designed for carrying uncompressed
digital video data to a display. It is partially compatible with the
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard in digital mode (DVI-D).
The only way to use DVI with the Xbox 360 is to buy a DVI Female to HDMI Male Video
Adapter as shown below as Microsoft do not currently sell a DVI cable.
http://www.consolesandgadgets.com/catalog/images/HDMI_Female_to_DVI_%20Male_back.jpg
DVI is not
considered to be as strong as HDMI due to only being partially compatible with
HDMI, yet it does offer good quality.
The Video
Graphics Array (VGA) has come to mean either an analog computer display
standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the 640×480 resolution
itself. VGA was the last graphical standard introduced by IBM that the majority
of PC clone manufacturers conformed to, making it today the most common
connection that monitors support.. Microsoft currently sell an official Xbox
360 VGA HD AV cable. VGA is considered by many the weakest of the three, being
an analogue signal and not digital, yet is also the most cost effective and can
still pump out good quality images and keep up with response times.
Closing comments
I hope this general guide becomes useful and
answers a lot of questions you may have about using a monitor with your PC. If
there is a question not answered within the guide please feel free to ask and I
will update it as and when necessary.
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