I’m considering getting an Xbox 360, now that the price has finally dropped. I thought I’d ask you guys a few questions before I make my decision.
1.) I think I’ve decided on the Elite version, for the HDMI, and the bigger drive capacity. Are there any other differences between the elite and the older cores/premiums? Are they cooler or quieter? Are they still prone to overheating and failure? Any thing else I need to know about the different models?
2.) This will be taking the place of my DVD player. What resolution will the 360 output DVD’s over HDMI? Does it do any upscaling or am I still limited to 480p? What about downloaded or streamed content?
3.) I’d like to be able to replace my HTPC if possible. What formats will I be able to watch on the 360 if I am streaming from my media server? I know there are “work arounds” to get ripped DVD’s streamed, so I’ll be working on that. But I was wondering about AVI’s (both divx and xvid) and MPG’s (my current recorded shows from SageTV). MKV files would be nice, too, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. I’m pretty sure WMV’s won’t be a problem. If it does not have native support of these other formats, what sorts of options are there for getting them to work?
4.) I’m thinking about making the switch on my media server from SageTV to MCE. If I throw the 360 into the equation, would I be better off using MCE 2005 or going with Vista MCE?
Thanks in advance!
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