The reality of adult life with a significant other and a video game addition is that you are limited in time and space. Most games will have their computer setup and a separate setup for their console and TV. When I lived on my own that was my reality. A living room setup with 5.1 surround sound, 32" Sony Trinitron TV, and a bad ass Xbox Live setup. Then in my bedroom I had my computer with the 19" Trinitron Monitor and a 4.1 surround sound system setup. These were two distinct areas, each with their own purpose.
Once I had moved in with my beloved we had each had much larger apartments in a cheaper part of the country. Space was at a premium. I went about setting up my video game systems like I had had them before and for a while as I was unemployed and then under employed working 2nd shift everything worked out fine for gaming. I could play before I went to work when she was working and after work since she was already in bed.
After work generally 1 AM to 4 AM was a difficult situation. I needed to use headphones and had to keep my voice down really low when I talked on Xbox live. Breaking these rules would result in sleeping on the floor, since I'm too tall to sleep comfortably on the couch.
Then came the end of the school year and with my beloved being a schoolteacher she was now home all the time. I had lost my time to play my games in the afternoon. She was used to being able to watch TV whenever she wanted since she had a similar situation where I never interfered with her since I was busy at work. A conflict was brewing over a relatively minor item in the grand scheme of our relationship, TV time. A solution needed to be found so that we could both enjoy the activities that we had become accustom to when we had the place to ourselves when we are now occupying the same space at the same time.
I did some research and found a small device that would take the HD output of the XBox and convert it into a VGA signal. At the time it cost around $80 which was a little more then I though I could afford since the two of us where really living off of a school teachers salary and my just over minimum wage job and buying food every month was becoming difficult. I cut down on all the expenses that I could such as switching from eating romen noodles once a day to twice a day. After a few weeks of giving up on my time with the XBox and TV in the afternoon and pinching my pennies I finally had enough saved to justify the purchase of the converter box. After a few days it had arrived and I was able play on my computer monitor.
Switching from a 32" SD TV to a 19" monitor is not trivial; there is a lot to get used to. First there is the most noticeable difference in size. The monitor is a lot smaller but my proximity made up for it. I was now two to three feet away where I was six to ten feet away before and the 19" seems to take up more of my field of view. Then since the HD to VGA converter starts out with the HD output of the XBox the picture itself is much clearer, most games only support 480p but that is orders of magnitude better then SD TV.
So far everything has worked out great. I could use my XBox or computer anytime I had free with out interfering with her.
I have mentioned briefly playing at night with headphones. This presents some challenges to overcome. The XBox Live headset does not play well when you try to wear it will other headsets. Luckily the Live headset is based off of a standard phone headset with a 2.5 mm jack. Most cell phone headsets are like this and I had a headset that I used with my cell phone that was an ear bud with the microphone in the line. This worked well I could hear everyone with no problems but I was a little faint when I talked, this could be partly due to the fact that I was trying not to wake my girlfriend up. I could always move the mic closer to my mouth if someone really couldn't hear me or if I needed to be extra quiet. This worked great from the first night I played with headphones.
A lot of talk goes on about turning up the surround sound to hear your adversary coming around the corner. I believe headphone can provide an advantage in this regard. Most people have no clue how to setup their speakers for a 5.1 system and thus sounds do not appear to come from the correct position. Headphone, well being only stereo, still can produce an excellent 3D sound environment and are a lot cheaper. When I hear my opponent moving nearby I can tell their position and direction of movement just by the sound, way better then I ever could with my mix match speakers for the 5.1 system in the living room. Once I became adapt at using headphone to my advantage I rarely ever go back to using anything else. The other day I got home early from work and I knew I would have the place to myself for a couple of hours. I turned on my 4.1 speakers my XBox is now connected to and started to play. I was disorientated and distracted by the sound. It was nowhere near as crisp as I was accustomed to. The sub woofer was the most distracting, my headphone provide for minimal bass which is good since the human ear can not really get positional information out of bass, the woofer would drowned out the higher sounds and effectually nullify any of my ability to use sound to my advantage. That's just my personal opinion, but it works for me.
Approximately three months ago I finally broke my ear bud headset, cracking the plastic beyond simple repair. Everything still works with it; I just don't like the sharp pieces of plastic in my ear. I was back to using the standard XBox headset. Well the earpiece on the XBox headset was blocking sound on whatever ear it was one again messing with my ability to use sound to my advantage. The solution this time was to use ear bud headphones under the XBox headset. This actually works better. The cell phone ear bud would block some sound from the normal headphones, but now the headphones are closer to my ear then my screaming teammate.