This is a good idea, but it will not work. If you connect your HDMI to your TV it will only transmit 2 channel audio due to the handshake process inherent in HDMI/HDCP. The audio will then be sent from the TV to the receiver as  2 channel audio.

If his TV supports surround as My TV does then he should get surround. I would think any TV that's "new" enough to have an HDMI port would have surround.

Why don`t you try to fix your 360 yourself? You need to X-clamp it. That`s it. It`s out of warranty,so why not. You will not get banned from Live,trust me.

So...why don`t you fix your box?

Buy a fan device like Dargon 3.6.0 for it if you are scare of RROD. It is automatic on and off. I have two devices to keep my system cool lol. Leave it on verticle stand, somewhere high and plenty of room around your 360.

i have a 2008 sony tv, the optical out audio out only is in stereo no matter what the input is.  Almost every tv is like this.. The audio is simply not passing through the tv from the xbox. its being processed then sent out.

This is news to me. I assumed the Digital Optical out from the tv (connected to my receiver) did output surround.

If this is not the case, am I hearing stereo sound through all of my surround sound system? all of the speakers do create sound, and I could swear it was surround sound.

I should definitely look into this as I currently have the 360 optical out directly into the sound system, but the ps3 uses hdmi to the tv, then another optical to the sound.

meaning the 360 has surround sound but not the ps3, in my case.

But I like how the PS3 sound also goes through the tv itself. there is no sound through the tv when playing the 360, just surround.

This is the curse of not having a receiver with hdmi i guess.

SRS surround is not real Surround audio. It is a horrible simulated surround processing that is supposed to make 2-channel audio sound as though it were real surround.

If your TV happens to have a Sub out, it is only due to an additional crossover processing chip on the TV that outputs LFE to the SUB.

Most recievers have the option to do 5 channel sterio in which the stero signal goes out to both front, rear and center channel with the low frequencies going to the sub.

Some receivers also have simulated surroung processing that will try to figure out which sounds come from the rear channels and then output that sound to those speakers. Usually you see this when selecting "Theater Mode" or something similar.

One way that may help you be sure is if you look at your receiver, most havve LED inidcations showing which audio channels are in use. Usually by a box being lit up indicating each. If your reciever has this and not all 6 boxes are being lit up, then your receiver is not getting real surround and it is simulated or in 5 channel stereo mode.

Also if the receiver does not have the boxes, it generally has a "MultiChannel" LED that will light up when it has real surround input.

Sorry to hear about another RRoD, JPL. At least you have a new 3-year warranty that should last until the nextbox. I'm eager to know how quiet and cool your new jasper runs.

My 360's been acting up lately, but luckily I still have 20 months remaining on my 3-year warranty. It's my 2nd one overall. MS sent it to me in November after my original falcon version 360 got an E74 error.

Btw I've owned just about every major console manufactured prior to 2000 and never had any real problems. My NES is 21 years old and aside from blowing in it and jiggling the cartridge to the right, it still works. My Genesis is 18 years old and still works fine. It's still laughable how bad MS shit the bed with the 360 design. The only other system that I've personally experienced problems with was my older brothers' Atari 2600. By the time I was old enough to play it (we'd had it about 3 or 4 years by then), most of the games didn't work and the paddles/joysticks were beat to hell.

Well with a 50K gamerscore anyone would give Xbox another chance.