Well, i know this question has probably been asked a million times before, but, i am considering flashing my xbox 360 but have a few questions:

1.If i flash it with the latest and safest firmware and use only 'stealthed' backups, do i run the inherent risk of being banned, even if I only play online multiplayer with originals, but go online singleplayer with backups?

I think the offical comment from XBox-Scene is somewhere along the lines of;

"Modifying the firmware in anyway makes you run the risk of being banned"

I'm not sure what exactly is ok and not ok to comment on surrounding xbox live and back-ups, but other people have commented on it working fine. With ixtreme you have to have stealthed (...or propper) back ups to play fullstop, so you should be fine

basically, what DD said is right. at the current time, ixtreme is the way to go, and at this time is safe. just bear in mind that there was a time when MS wasn't banning on the 360, then they started banning. there is nothing stopping them from revising their scheme in the future, so there is always risk when modding your system.

using backups on LIVE is against the LIVE TOS so it is illegal, and also not really welcomed here

the best you can do it disconnect from live when playing a backup to protect yourself from getting a ban

true, but even that is disputed. some say that there is a form of spyware on the 360 that scans the media in the dvd drive and stores that info, and then when connected to live, that info is passed to ms, in which they could unleash the banhammer.....

the bottom line is this,"Modifying the console in anyway makes you run the risk of being banned". This includes modchips, firmware, dashboard, ect. About the only thing that you CAN do without getting banned is changing the case, or the external cables on the xbox.....that is about it.