Well, this morning my FOURTH Xbox red ringed.

So, happily I picked up the phone to call for my usual free repair only to find out, screw me, the 3 year warranty was up. I'll still debate that, yeah the original warranty from launch day was passed but this was my fourth freaking system... shouldn't it be three years from the newest replacement?

Ah well, so I even talked to management and they wouldn't do anything about that but offer me a 100 dollar repair.  I said, that's kinda sad since I have a 25 year old NES that still works.  I do not think the foreign chick on the phone understood me anyway.

So, as opposed to paying for repair and still having a crappy 2006 model with no warranty, or hoping I got a newer replacement I just went out and picked up an arcade.  I honestly can't say that I regret it seeing as I get a fresh 3 year warranty on RROD, an HDMI port and the newer more efficient chip set.  The manufacture date on this one is February 2009, good enough for me!

Now I can't just figure out if there is anyway to get optical sound with an HDMI cable.  I don't think there is so I'm staying on component for the time being.  I can't tell a difference at 1080i anyway.

And before people call me a retard and ask why I didn't just get a PS3 instead.  Well for one I have a huge collection of games and accessories.  For another thing all my friends are on Live.  But if I ever get screwed again on 360 I SWEAR I will never buy another Microsoft platform.

Well, it happens(four time jeez). I had my first RRoD in November right after Gears 2 was released. I was pissed off then. My warranty still has a year left on it. I may go out an buy and arcade myself in 2010. However, RRoD is always in the back of mind every time I turn on my 360.

As for optical + HDMI if you want to you can split the component cable box to let the HDMI through. Its deliberately too big for both the HDMI and itself to be used at the same time. But if you're not running a 1080P set its probably not worth it.

never had RROD. But I had a DVD drive break on one of my 360s.

In any case...sega and nintendo knew how to make quality systems that last you a lifetime. However after the PS1, these systems started to be manufactured by the lowest bidder. Trying to cram as much technology for as little $$$ has this effect.

PS1 and PS2 early models were quite terrible as well. But 360 takes the cake with its RROD fiasco...but atleast the 3 year warranty is there.

Yea mirosoft charges to much for there repairs. Way better off just buying an arcade then getting a refurbished one.

Now that´s what I call dedication (I´m not saying it´s a bad thing, btw)...I always give my systems 3 chances.

as far as using optical, microsoft sells an hdmi cable that has an audio cable for surround systems. It has an optical or the red/white outputs so you can run to surround sound. Here's a link.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8479158&st=xbox+360+hdmi&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1185267959809

This is one of the main reasons that i only use my 360 sparingly! The disk drive sounds like a 747 taking off, which makes me a little nervous at times so try to keep my RPG'ing to a bare minimum lol! And mine is a 2009 Elite also...

HDMI does digital audio and video so there is no need for the optical audio. If your stereo only does optical hook the 360 up to the TV and the TV up to the stereo.

^ If you have the Elite why not just install the games? They are only 6.8GB each.