Output HDMI and VGA at the same time?

[Mahendra varma]

I have purchased my XBOX360 6 months back and i have attached that with the yamaha AMP with HDMI port and then to my projector, This works fine for games, movies but i want to use my 360 as a jukebox to play mp3's through the AMP.

I wanted to use this system alternatively with my Projector as well as with the monitor,But the problem is that could I gain the output from both at the same time that is with the HDMI as Well as through VGA?

[Pageous]

You need to duplicate the video output AFTER it has left the XBOX. I suggest buying a box that will mirror the HDMI output. You could then shove a HDMI > VGA converter on the mirrored output to the monitor. Just make sure you monitor can take the same resolution your PJ can.

[Sachit]

Eventhough it is possible, the picture quality on the PC's HDMI video output is noticeably worse than what comes out of the VGA (D-Sub) connector?

Another thing to consider in regard to the image quality is the physical connection. If it's possible, try using another source with the same cable to see if the cable is the issue (digital connections can be a pain).

To get the system to output HDMI at all, I have to power off the PC and reboot with the HDMI connected. It then detects the TV on the HDMI port and I get video out of the HDMI.

Yep, this is pretty common (my nVidia mGPU is the same way (even on Vista)). I can't say for sure, but it seems to be an HDCP thing (only handshakes on initial boot).

[Pageous]

By default Vista MCE will go to the active monitor. I believe you can send it to a secondary display, but it doesn't sound like thats what you want.

Resolution shouldn't make any difference assuming the onboard card can display at those resolutions. Both monitors can run at independent resolutions, this is once again a Vista/driver function. Vista does this very well.

Assuming you don't want both monitors on at the same time, when you power up the machine it will default to the screen that is turned on. If they're both on it will enable multi-monitor support. So if you want to use the TV turn off the LCD Monitor and vice versa. Depending on the monitor/card you use you may need to unplug the VGA port to ensure if sees it as off. This means whatever screen is on will be the Primary. The plug and play drivers should take care of displaying the screen at whatever resolution that screen was at when it was last plugged in/turned on.

If you want to use multi monitor support it gets a bit trickier - you will probaby need to reverse the Primary monitor in the drivers to get MCE to display on the monitor you want. However it should still work ok.