About a month ago, I bit the bullet and decided to buy an Xbox console.  I ordered an Xbox 360 Pro from Newegg, along with GTA IV and Mass Effect.  I also ordered an HP LP2475w from Provantage, based on good reviews from this Hard Forum thread.  The Xbox 360 Pro was $100 cheaper than the Elite with the same specs, with the exception of hard drive space.  I didn’t need to pay $100 for 60 gig of extra space, and the Pro model had an HDMI output, which I wanted to use to hook up to the monitor which had an HDMI input.  I planned to run the analog audio from the Xbox to my PC sound card and use the PC as my amplifier.

Around the end of January, everything comes in and I start to set it up.  Lots of headaches ensue:

Problem 1: The Xbox 360 Pro analog and HDMI jacks are right next to each other, preventing the simultaneous use of HDMI and analog audio.  Both plugs don’t fit at the same time since they bump into each other.  I guess the MS designers thought that most people would use exclusively digital or analog AV, but not digital for video and analog other for sound.  There were plenty of complaints about this on the internet, and there are a few posts about tearing apart the Xbox analog plug so both HDMI and analog outputs can be used at the same time.  As it turns out, the Xbox 360 elite has space between the HDMI and analog jacks so both can be used simultaneously, but to me this “feature” isn’t worth the extra $100.  So, I’m using component instead, since the HP monitor has component input and I can’t tell the difference between that and HDMI.  On the internet, there are also arguments abound about HDMI versus component, so it seems that one is not necessarily better than the other.  I’ve heard that HDMI is noticeably better for really large TVs, but at 24 inches, my monitor doesn’t even come close.

Problem 2: I got the wrong adapter for the analog audio to mini-stereo.  I ordered the adapter I thought I would need to convert the analog output from the Xbox to the line in on my PC sound card.  As it turned out, I needed an additional analog AV female-female connector to make the whole thing work.  I also got a Sennheiser DSP 360 to act as a standalone amplifier, but so far I haven’t used it since the computer seems to be working fine.

Problem 3 (The Big One): The monitor came with a bent stand.  After I set it up and began using it, I noticed the monitor had a slight lean to it and the whole thing shook when I typed.  This was really annoying.  Provantage required that I call HP to try to resolve the problem first, and then go back to them for an exchange if necessary.   So, after two hours of phone tree hell and calls transferred between India and the US, I finally reach someone who handles the monitor I got.  Fortunately, the monitor I got is serviced by the small business department (not home), so the support I got was pretty good.  I got a case number to give to Provantage, since the HP tech said it would be faster if Provantage did the exchange and not HP.  I filled out an RMA request on the Provantage website, hoping this would be the case.  The monitor with the bent stand had no stuck or dead pixels and I asked the Provantage customer service agent if I could just replace the stand, but I wasn’t permitted to do that.  The whole thing had to be returned, which would come back to kick me.

Fortunately, the RMA went through and I didn’t have to pay for return shipping, but the whole process took forever.  It took about a week for the RMA to go through from the day I got the monitor, another week for the RMA to be processed, and another week still for the replacement monitor to arrive.  Last Friday, the replacement came and I picked it up, set it up (fortunately, the stand was not bent on the replacement), and turned it on.  As soon as the backlight came on, a red splotch appeared in the middle of the screen about the size of a quarter.  A smaller one the size of a dime was right below it.  On light backgrounds, I couldn’t see the splotch, but with anything dark or black, it was plainly visible, like glare from the sun.  It was really bad playing GTA IV, where it seems to be night almost all the time.

This time I decide to deal just with HP and forget about screwing around with another return from Provantage.  I’d read on the Hard Forum thread that a few other people who bought the monitor had recieved exchanges from HP, with a tech coming right to their door with a replacement.  I went throught the HP phone tree mess once again and talked to someone who said a tech would be dispatched with a replacement on Monday.  Monday came and went, but today, the guy showed.

The tech wheeled the monitor into the apartment and opened the box.  As soon as he opened the box, I knew something was amiss.  The stand was different.  When the tech took all the foam and packaging off the screen, I saw it was a different model: a 2465, not LP2475w, like what I had.  The specs were clearly inferior and didn’t have all the inputs of the 2475, so the guy said he would order the correct model and come back. I wonder how long that will be…

So, overall my new setup is great: with two monitors I have tons of desktop space for work, and the monitor works great with the Xbox, except for the red spot, of course.  Aside from the spot, the monitor is way brighter than the 20 inch Dell, even at 75% brightness.  The colors are much more vibrant.

This has been the biggest mess I’ve dealt with regarding ordering stuff online.  Poorly designed audio jacks and monitor defects have gotten the better of me, but I’m not giving up.