I am relatively new to this website, but I would like to compliment everyone on their willingness to help everyone. With that in mind, I need some viewpoints.

I do not own a HDTV. I wish I did, but my wife said it was either the 360 or an HDTV. I chose the 360 (have yet to get it though...grrr). Beside hijacking a Best Buy delivery truck, here are my options:
1. Keep the AV cable that comes with both systems and suffer through the AV video quality until I can get a HDTV.
2. Get a S-Video AV cord to play on our TV. I have read that if you do not have an HDTV but a TV with S-Video outlet, the picture is better than the normal AV cable.
3. Get a VGA AV cable and play on my 17 inch LCD laptop. I have heard that this is also the way to go if you want Hi Def gaming, but do not have the HDTV. I would also think that my computer's graphic card would have nothing to do with the quality of picture on my LCD.

One more question: Can I exchange for credit my HD AV cord or my AV Cord (depending on whether or not I get a Premium) for store credit toward one of these cables in EB, Gamestop, or BB?

In due time, I would probably get both S-Video and VGA cables. I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on this.

Thanks!

I would not expect any stores to be willing to exchange any cables that came with the system for store credit, but they may give you a few bucks and treat it as used. Unfortunately, new cables cost $40!

I find that the VGA cables work fantastic displaying 720p on my projector. The only issue with this, is that if you only use a 17 inch monitor, with the 720p 16:9 aspect ratio, the image will probably be too small to get maximum enjoyability.

I know you said you weren't planning on buying HDTV, but I do have to insert that I only paid $500 for a brand new Sharp XR-1S projector on Ebay that displays up to 1035i. Very sweet projector at a very sweet price and you can probably find one comparable.

If are going to stay away from HD, use the S-Video cable for best output.

Hope that helps.

Set your resolution on your laptop to 640x480 and try browsing the web for a few minutes. Next, set your resolution to 800x600 and again try browsing the web for a few minutes. Which do you prefer? (I'd personally go for S-Video over standard RCA any day).

Your graphics card is completely out of the loop as far as input to the LCD screen is concerned. I personally don't like console gaming on anything other than my television, but it will offer you another gain over S-Video.

It doesn't come in the normal packaging, so pulling that off would be quite an accomplishment (though I don't put anything past WalMart's return policy).

So basically I'd recommend S-Video if you like playing on your TV, and VGA if you don't mind playing on your laptop's LCD.