Okay, so I want to hook up my Xbox 360 to my HD computer monitor. I currently use a VGA cable that plugs into the A/V port on my Xbox, but there is ghosting on the screen due to the digital signal being converted to analog. I have an HDMI-to-DVI cable, but my monitor doesn't have built-in sound, so I use my headphones which plug into the red and white circular cables that normally plug into a TV. So, since I want to use HDMI and obviously HDMI doesn't have the analog audio ports, could I use the HDMI cable AND the A/V cable? I would keep both plugged in, but I would only use the A/V cables for sound and only use the HDMI to DVI cable for video.
To clarify, I want to have the A/V plugged in and also the HDMI plugged in. The cable I have right now that is plugged in to my Xbox (the one that gives ghosting across the screen) has one VGA cable and the red and white audio cables. The back of my Xbox (I have the older white xbox 360 Arcade) has both the A/V slot AND just underneath that is the HDMI plug. What I want to do is plug in the VGA/Audio cable AND the HDMI cable for video, but I would only use the HDMI cable and the Red and White audio cables, and the VGA cable would not be plugged in. The audio cables plug directly into my headphones.
I just want to know if once one cable is plugged in, does the other empty slot cut off, or can I use the HDMI and VGA/Audio cable both at the same time?
Yes, you should be able to use both the HDMI cable and the red/white audio cables together. Is there any way you could post pics of the cables you are using as well as the back of your Xbox and monitor? It would give us a better idea of what you are working with.
And another question: Is there anything I could do to prevent the Ghosting? I know that this cable doesn't have a Ferrite core, and that might help, but I don't really have one of those just laying around...
I've done exactly this. It is possible to have HDMI and AV in at the same time. I broke off the casing that was around the connector of the gray av microsoft cable. Apparently the casing has literally no use other than to cover the HDMI port for some retarded reason. So I used my hdmi for display and my av for my audio (turtle beach headset).
I did this to my xbox slim and it works perfectly. All you have to do is remove the casing to the AV cable that plugs into the console and you should be able to manage both an hdmi and the av cable at the same time.