Xbox wasn't showing up to TGS empty-handed, nosiree. They've finally stepped up with a couple of interesting, albeit expected, announcements. First up: the
Xbox 360 HD DVD drive finally has a price and
date of launch -- for Japan. The land that
forgot the Xbox are first to have their HD DVD add-on announced, due to hit overseas streets on November 17th for ¥19,800. That's about $170 US, which is not only an awesomely and unexepectedly low price for an HD DVD device (especially when bundled with a Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote), but it's also a good indication that the US version of the device should be around the $200 range when released in the US,
as we've been predicting. Part two: a software update this year will enable 1080p output on the friggin' Xbox 360! Your rig will finally benefit by pushing the full 60 megapixels per second of visuals to your compatible HDTV. Sorry, no HDMI cable yet (or ever?), though, this is only over component and VGA. Users can expect 1080p upscaling immediately on current games and DVDs and native 1080p on compatible HD DVD titles, but Microsoft hasn't yet announced future games that will rock 1080p natively. Watch out Sony, that whole
1080p song and dance isn't such a marketing edge for you guys anymore.
P.S. -Just to sate your curiosity, we were chatting with
Shane Kim about this stuff and asked specifically about
360s with an internal HD DVD. Microsoft's answer is and continues to be a staunch no. That whole thing about paying only for what you need, etc.
Update: It would appear there's some contradictory information already --
Reuters is reporting that it'll be November 22nd for ¥20,790 (about $180 US). Our press release and conversation with Shane Kim are both pretty straight up about November 17th for ¥19,800, so we'll see how it unfurls. Ultimately it shouldn't matter too much to those reading this post, we're still talking about the Japanese release of the device.
Update 2: Microsoft let us know there was a flub in their press release -- it's definitely the 22nd for Japan.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
M @ Sep 20th 2006 12:08AM
Either way, I will get it, and the format war is over in my house when I get the PS3...
Firm @ Sep 21st 2006 12:41PM
Hasn't anybody noticed what microsoft is doing. The xbox 360 is know more expensive than ps3. $499 plus $170 comes out to be $670. You got to be kidding me. Mircosoft is trying to pull a wool over our eyes. them ps3 is a better buy do the math you self nice marketing scam mircosoft. Trying to make the xbox seem cheaper
Domaku @ Dec 17th 2007 11:14PM
Do your math the highest priced 360 it $449 and thats the elite.
You don't have to have a 360 HD-dvd drive, but with the ps3 you have to have blu-ray
idiot
M @ Sep 20th 2006 12:08AM
I thought HD-DVD topped at 1080i, and the big selling point of Blu-Ray was 1080p?
Is it just an de-interlacer? That would be worst...
James @ Sep 20th 2006 3:19AM
1st gen HD-DVD players could only output 1080i, but all of the HD-DVD movies support 1080p. The 2nd gen Toshiba HD-DVD players being released in October for US and 1st gen players for Europe can output 1080p.
Franssu @ Sep 20th 2006 10:56AM
Sure, badly de-interlaced 1080i (from a video source) would look awful. But as we're talking film-based material here, and there's no difference whatsoever between 1080p/24 material output in 1080i/60 and properly deinterlaced and 1080p/24 material output in 1080p/60.
1080p is, for the time being, mostly a marketing fad. Plug a blu-ray player on a decent 1080p display, and you won't be able to see a difference when you switch the output of the player between 1080p and 1080i, because on the screen there won't be any.
Raaj @ Sep 20th 2006 10:53AM
All the HD-DVD movies are encoded at 1080p24, and the player can choose to output whatever resolution it chooses to. This is no different from what Blu-Ray does. It was FUD spread by Blu-Ray idiots that HD-DVD was limited to 720p/1080i while Blu-Ray was at 1080p. NOT TRUE !!
The first generation HD-DVD players from Toshiba converted the 1080p24 on disc to 1080i60 and output as such. The Blu-Ray players announced from Samsung, Sony, Pioneer and Panasonic also do the same, but after converting it to 1080i60, they use another chip to deinterlace and output 1080p60. Toshiba chose to let a user's 1080p TV do the deinterlace, or give the option for the user to use an external video processor to scale the video to match their display's native resolution.
In all these cases, neither HD-DVD players or Blu-Ray players announced so far are outputting pure 1080p. It is only going to be deinterlaced 1080i. The next time an idiot in Best Buy or Circuit City pushes bullshiat at you and says HD-DVD is not full HD whereas Blu-Ray is true HD 1080p, call his bluff.
Acheeze @ Sep 20th 2006 12:09AM
first
i never knew that component cables supported 1080p
Michael @ Sep 20th 2006 12:14AM
Yes they do. Check wikipedia for details. Component can handle 1080p at 60 fps (have to specify because someone is bound to disagree) and so can VGA. Looking forward to a PS3 on my 46" Sony Bravia XBR3 in full HD! w00t
James @ Sep 20th 2006 3:22AM
1080p is not a problem for component cables. The problem with using component for 1080p content is that in the future with the image constraint token being active, you won't be able to view 1080p content on a non digital or non-HDCP-capable cable. You would have to use a DVI-HDCP or HDMI cable.
Tom @ Sep 20th 2006 12:10AM
While my HDTV does not support 1080p, I am interested to know if the HD-DVD will also upscale DVDs to 1080i and 720p. I would assume so...any word on that?
pete @ Sep 20th 2006 9:40AM
No HDMI = no upscaling regular DVDs.
That's built into the CSS copy protection in commercial DVDs.
MrW @ Sep 20th 2006 12:12AM
Maybe 120 megapixels per second?
So, 1080p on the 360 is pretty useless unless a game is designed for 1080p. Yippee, no surprise there. Considering the original intent was not to run games at 1080p, I'm not sure we'll see any 1080p games in the near future until developers improve their optimization skills. At least the PS3 was designed with 1080p in mind. Kind of sad that MS is essentially admitting that they were wrong about "1080p not this generation." This is, of course, assuming the claims in this article are substantiated.
Franssu @ Sep 20th 2006 10:55AM
Games will be rendered in 720p and upscaled to 1080p. In fact, most PS3 games will behave exactly this way, because the PS3 ain't that much more powerful than the 360 and 1080p is much much more pixels than 720p.
Oozer @ Sep 20th 2006 12:13AM
"Users can expect 1080p upscaling immediately on current games and DVDs"
Woah, wait, the 360 will be able to do upscaling? Or is that a typo? Please tell me it's not, because I would love it if my 360 could upscale.
nathanieljla @ Sep 20th 2006 10:13AM
Oozer, is your set 1080p? If not I wouldn't worry about the upscaling ablity. I maybe even go as far as to say even if you have a 1080p set you probably shouldn't care about upscaling. You'll always want to give you picture it's native rez for the the best picture. If you set is 720p and you're giving it a 1080i signal then you're set is converting it to 720p. In most cases the scalers for 1080i to 720p actually only take 540 lines and scale it up, so you're WAY better setting you box to 720p. If you do have a set that's 1080p then I'm sure it scales as well, but maybe the xbox does it better.
Scaling the final image up isn't the same as the game rendering at 1080p, which is not what's going on here. However, the fact that the HD-DVD can output the full 1080p is cool.
Kenjix @ Sep 20th 2006 12:15AM
Well it looks like the price for the PS3 looks like more of a bargain now. the 20GB PS3 model is now cheaper than the 360 with HD-DVD add on sweet. Also the 599.99 model is a couple of bucks more and has HDMI and no upscaling.
Superdotman @ Sep 20th 2006 8:09PM
300+180=480
480
Superdotman @ Sep 20th 2006 8:16PM
300+180=480
480 is smaller than 500.
400+180=580
580 is smaller than 600.
Do not pass go. Do not collect HD-DVD add-on.
Also:
"It's perfect. Sony releases their new console and they walk right into... an HD-DVD add-on."
;)
Hello Moto @ Sep 20th 2006 9:10PM
And then add in a harddrive, since hte cheap Xbox 360 has one, and look now:
300 + 180 + 100 = 580.
Also lets add live so that we can play online, lets only get a year though, sicne we don't want to hurt our wallet to much:
580 + 50 = 630.
Ups, I guess that we should add in 4 mroe years until Xbox 679456854 comes out...
630 + 200 = 830.
So lets see, I can ahve xbox 360 for 830, or I can buy a PS3 for 500 or 600. Which woudl I rather have??? PS3!!!!
brandon @ Sep 20th 2006 12:16AM
Does anyone else find this to be quite ugly? Then again, any kind of add-on is going to look odd.
Also, what is the resolution of 1080p? Isn't the VGA cable already capable of putting out higher resolutions? The only thing I wondered is if it currently isn't doing 1080p as in progressive scan. Is progressive scan something typical computer monitors do?
James @ Sep 20th 2006 3:24AM
Yes, VGA can output 1080p resolution, but it's still an analog signal. Nothing beats pure digital from DVI or HDMI.
Dario @ Sep 20th 2006 1:38PM
1080p is 1920x1080.
Joe Anstett @ Sep 28th 2006 7:56AM
1080p is 1920x1080. Computer monitors have been progressive scan forever. Some of the early CGA graphic IBM PC/XTs had interlaced monitors, and that's going back 15-20 years.
carg0 @ Sep 20th 2006 12:17AM
That's awesome news for everyone waiting for this thing in the states. That should put it at no more than $250, which is a very fair price considering stand alone players start at $500.
If they decide to sell it for less at $200, it becomes an "impulse buy" and really puts Sony's Blu-Ray format on it's heels.
Tom @ Sep 20th 2006 1:27AM
My impression of Acheeze:
FIRST! DERRR! *grumble grumble* Uhhhhrrppll *drools on self*
Acheeze @ Sep 21st 2006 9:03PM
You are a retared, is this all you do? Going around engadget and make fun of people who make mistakes in their comments. You are truely pathetic, please spare us all and kill yourself.
@ Sep 20th 2006 3:19AM
i dunno, i really think this is a way better bargin then the ps3 for 1 reason.
If HD-DVD fails horribly microsoft can make a blue ray disk drive and no harm no foul. They really left them selves open to expand and allow people who dont want to commit to a format yet take their time and ease into it. Hell im not ready to rebuy my dvds, and im glade microsoft is going to give me an option of either paying for it or not unlike sony who is forcing the blue ray format(which isnt a bad thing considering what sony is trying to do) I just enjoy the route microsoft is taking and the normal average person isnt ready to rebuy their dvds. Plus if say half the movie studios decide to back blue ray, and other half decide to back hd-dvd they again will benefit by making a blue ray disk drive. Sony created the format they dont own it. Hence the xbox360 could eb the cheapest machine to play both hd dvd and blue ray and its overall giving us the opitions which is the best part.
Yuusou @ Sep 20th 2006 3:26AM
I did research (googled) on component cables a while ago when I started buying my HD TVs and I read in several places that they could not do 1080p.
I'm gonna have to look at that wikipedia entry. I'm just not buying this.
James @ Sep 20th 2006 3:32AM
It may be your TV that doesn't accept 1080p on its component inputs. That doesn't mean component cables do not support 1080p. Most likely, the limitation on your HDTV only allows 1080p over HDMI and/or DVI because of HDCP.
Raider @ Sep 20th 2006 3:32AM
Whoever designed this needs to be fired. It's going to look stupid on top of the 360. Sure the drive bay matches... but really... it should have had a curved bottom so you could lay it on top of the system. Then all they would have needed is four rubber half spheres or something (hell even make them green), and put them on the bottom if you want to lay it separately.
You can tell this thing has the same body design as the 360. But... that is from the side of this unit... which then it would look great and matching... but you would have to access the disc from the side.
Long story short.. BAD DESIGN.
I'm going to call it..."Warped Book" because it is a curved, f'd up looking book.
Wei @ Sep 20th 2006 7:16AM
"Whoever designed this needs to be fired. It's going to look stupid on top of the 360. Sure the drive bay matches... but really... it should have had a curved bottom so you could lay it on top of the system. Then all they would have needed is four rubber half spheres or something (hell even make them green), and put them on the bottom if you want to lay it separately. "
If you think outside of the box, you'd see that maybe this thing was meant to put on the side of the Xbox or somewhere else instead of only on top.
aposey @ Jul 19th 2007 3:27PM
Has anyone considered that the blueray drive on the playstation is going to be used for both DVD and Game All that use is goin to end the drive's life quickly. On the 360 movies on one drive, games on the other. Sounds good to me. Killed one original xboxes and two playstations watching movies.
amrizul @ Sep 20th 2006 3:36AM
Ryan..
actually both right.Reuters report with tax included, but Shane without..
Revels @ Sep 20th 2006 3:36AM
"Well it looks like the price for the PS3 looks like more of a bargain now."
*snorts coffee out of nose onto screen*
Teman @ Sep 20th 2006 3:37AM
Japan has a 5% consumption tax - 19800 JPY * 1.05 = 20790 JPY
Joshua @ Sep 20th 2006 3:43AM
For those who don't know this already: A link to the HD-DVD product page on Xbox.com. It has a good size comparison and overall looks of the product with the Xbox 360
http://www.xbox.com/hddvd
David Beamish @ Sep 20th 2006 3:48AM
what is the point of suporting 1080p when half the games I have seem to struggle at 720p? Saints Row jerks and even Dead Rising has chugged a few times when theres a lot going on. I'd rather have 720p with vsync and 60fps please.. there is no need for 1080p for a lot of us, esp in Europe.
Magus @ Sep 20th 2006 9:15AM
I dont think any companies would release games on hd-dvd they would be cutting out a lot of audience if they did. The atachement seems purely for video playback.
All tho MS can go with a blueray atachement IF BD wins the format war it would still only be a functional playback device not a gaming accessory. Also if any company does release a game using HD disc and this atachment MS would be locked into this as an accesory not able to do BD in the future.
The PS3 is a gaming platform trying to be a BD trojan horse as well. Even if the format flopps for film all the games will be BD.
haggisbreath @ Sep 20th 2006 3:49AM
Can someone find me a TV which accepts 1080p over component?? And 1080p only really effects people with a full HD set (which here in Australia is about 5 people ATM :)). A 1080p TV would upscale a 720p input to the native 1080p anyway, so whats the difference here? Better smoothing of textures? This sounds just like a bullet point that MS wants but will not have a large impact in terms of developers or even features that most consumers want.
James V @ Sep 20th 2006 9:54AM
The Westinghouse 42" 1080p monitor accepts 1080p over component. If you don't believe me, here's a review:
http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/westinghouse-LVM-42w2p1.php
Dave @ Sep 20th 2006 4:51AM
I don't know what you guys are on about... games don't have to be explicitly written for 1080p. The resolution for 1080p is exactly the same as 1080i... 1080p is not a new resolution, it's only a designation for how the resoltion is displayed by the physical display device (i.e. your TV).
Both 1080i and 1080p have 1920x1080 (WxH) pixels... if a game is written to run in 1080i, then it has the same number of pixels as it would if it were 1080p... the only difference is the way in which your TV reconstructs the image.
MySchizoBuddy @ Sep 20th 2006 5:16AM
btw who is selling HD-DVD content.
where can I buy em, or it is just to create the OooooooOO! factor
Revels @ Sep 20th 2006 5:23AM
"btw who is selling HD-DVD content."
Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/r5g6y
DeepDiscountDVD
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/format.cfm?classID=1
Wal Mart
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product_listing.gsp?cat=486303
...
Court Kizer @ Sep 20th 2006 5:52AM
What is the point of having HD-DVD without HDMI? LOL What are they all freaking idiots? WITHOUT HDMI you have NO HDCP (copy protection support). The entertainment industry has been leaving out HDCP on HD-DVD discs just temporarily while they are all new, for hold over of 3 year old systems that only except component input. As christmas season hits both blu-ray and HD-DVD will be hot items, both will have HDCP. And that means that most HD-DVD discs will play at dvd resolution instead of high-def in your xbox which is absolutely pointless.
Nice stunt Microsoft!
zenman @ Sep 20th 2006 7:08AM
i know this is an xbox360 addon, but my question is, will this thing be able to connect to a PC, or maybe even to a tv directly like a standalone player? that would make this a definitely better deal over PS3 or any other blueray player.
Ryan J. @ Sep 20th 2006 7:11AM
1080P over component is a great addition, but I don't think that 1080P HDTV's that accept 1080P over component are very common. I think most that can do 1080P take it over HDMI. My brand spanking new 60" Sony A2000 does not take 1080P over component for instance.
Rory @ Sep 20th 2006 7:59AM
I've got a samsung HLS 6187 and it accepts 1080p over component... this is going to be great! No need to buy a new upscaling DVD player now.
Nate @ Sep 20th 2006 7:20AM
holy shit, sony is screwed, but this is awesome i never thought id get 1080p on my 360 SWEET
Sanchez @ Sep 20th 2006 7:36AM
How much of a picture quality improvement would an HDMI be over component? as my projector has both. This is, both at 720p.