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.
posted September 20th 2006 3:01AM
With those triple cores sitting around in the 360 doing nearly nothing while playing a 480p DVD - I bet they could come up with a farily decent software upscaler.
good competition for sony now... they may want to use their marketing "skills" at this point... we havent heard from sony in years!!!!
Aw, phooey. That was supposed to be a reply With a greater than sign, but apparently the latter stopped the former.
Hello Moto -
You don't know what will be free with PS3 Online. And you *definitely* won't get the equivalent of Xbox Live for free. Not even close.
This isn't Microsoft "catching up." This was the plan all along. You don't think they just figured out how to magically make the 360 output 1080p, did you?
Mark my words, there will be more Xbox 360 games that support 1080p than PS3 games. The PS3 can't realistically do 1080p in games. It doesn't have the memory bandwidth - not without giving up *everything* else just to mark that checkbox.
"1080p is not a problem for component cables."
Yes it is. While component cables and VGA can transfer a 1920x1200 signal at 60fps, it is compressed and will have artifacts. DVI will give a clean, uncompressed signal at the same bitrate.
This from Magicbox;
Microsoft announced starting this fall Xbox 360 will be able to support games and movies in 1080p. Xbox 360's HD-DVD movie playback function will also support 1080p. The first batch of titles supporting 1080p include:
Blue Dragon (Microsoft Game Studio)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom)
Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 (Tecmo)
Trusty Bell (Namco Bandai)
So thats 4 this year and its just been made public, how may PS3 games in 1080p this year? one, two maybe? and they have had a good 12-18 months to get some running, but like 1/4 of devs say the PS3 is way overated in what performance it can do anyway
But at the end of the day, all this information is pretty much useless when you think of the fact that probably less than 5% of PS3 owners will own a HDTV, let alone a 1080p set which there are few of esp in europe which i think the first sets came out this month, same for 360 owners though i do think more 360 owners will own more HDTV sets, many due to xbox owners on average being older.
So to me 1080p doesnt mean jack as i own a TV that only displays upto 1080i, for the majority of people it wont either....Microsoft get moaned at for leaving stuff out of the 360, the funniest thing is they get moaned at more for giving us the option of having it later, i say good on you microsoft for not forcing us to buy as they and nintendo know HDTV is NOT the masses.
Pretty soon Microsoft will be able to sell an entertainment center to hold all of the add-ons that they might have included in the first place. Between the console, the HD-DVD, their version of the eyetoy, and whatever else they'll add on later, that's quite a stack to have going.
I dont know what the prices are in the US, but in the UK, the premuim 360 is £279 plus hd-dvd between £129-£149 which is £410-430 but the will be a bundle of the drive and the hddvd add on which is rumoured to be £375-£399 which makes it £25-£50 cheaper than the PS3 which isnt out until march 07 in europe anyway, i'm pretty damn sure the US will have the same bundle making competitive against the PS3, Microsoft arent that dumb you know.
"Firm", can you please put the pipe down. I paid 399 for my first 360 Premium (hd, wireless, etc). If you paid 499 you got jacked. Hey, want to buy a ps3 for 899?
tcc3, I am sincerely interested in what you are trying to accomplish with dynamic disks. I am familiar with dynamic disks (striping data). I know how I could use them for MCE, but I don't know why someone would be limited to this solution. Please explain a little more. I have two 300gb external drives full of video connected to my MCE that I can watch in another room via my 360.
There are 3 different types of Component cables...
1) Interlaced Component - 480i
2) Progresive Component - 480p (EDTV)
3) Broadband Component - 720p, 1080i (wideband component) (HDTV)
And from what i understand (i might be wrong though, technology changes rapidly) "upscaling" is a mathematical process to match pixel count output of the DVD signal to the physical pixel count on a HDTV. It's also known to be inconsistant. So think of this...if this thing does upscaling, then you're paying $200 or $250 for a mock "true high-definition", which by the way only comes out of HDMI or DVI-D w/ HDCP...
"if this thing does upscaling, then you're paying $200 or $250 for a mock "true high-definition", which by the way only comes out of HDMI or DVI-D w/ HDCP..."
lol, the resolution from component at 1080i or 1080p is exactly the same as the resolution through a HDMI cable, 1920x1080.
The Xbxox 360 will upscale things just as the PS3 will, in fact they deal with video identically apart from the HDMI cable. BUT it's just a cable, doesn't always look better and doesnt add any resolution or definition.
From what I understand the xbox360 actually has the capability of a digital output, which I expect they will 'turn-on' as soon as Vista launches.
I install Home Cinema's everyday, its not very often that HDMI gives a better picture than component, even the opposite can be true sometimes.
The deal is, HDDVD is the maximum capacity of yesterday's technology, the less refined red laser, while the blu-ray disc is the beginning of future technology, the more refined blue laser. Out with the old, in with the new...
Whereas Xbox 360 is dealing with yesterday's technology for an added price, the PS3 seems even more appealing, with a blu-ray disc player integrated into the system.
Luke, you are dead wrong. HD-DVD also uses a blue laser. Check any of the FAQs.
Does anyone else find this to be quite ugly? Then again, any kind of add-on is going to look odd.
http://www.laptopbatteryclub.com/
...
Here's something that might swing the pendulum seriously in Sony's favor:
Since developers KNOW they have high-capacity, greater-than-DVD drive onboard the PS3 they can confidentally add lots of levels, models, ets. Whereas with the 360, they can only assume DVD capacity and therefore have to keep things inside those boundaries.
The prices of x box 360 and Ps3 are going be about the same when you but the add on for x box it going to depend on what format wins out. If hddvd wins out Sony will die. Win they come out with this new technogoy you should get everything you need like hdmi etc
Flexability is important. If BluRay takes off you can still buy a 360 for games minus the price of the player.
I still think BLuRay will win, between Sony and Disney this is a huge part of the video market.Besides when it comes to quality a stand alone player(maybe hybrid with both formats) will have better image and sound quality then a game machine/player.
I have always stuck with Playstation consoles; however, with the recent purchase of my 40" LC HDTV, I was looking for HD gaming over my PS2 as it didn't look great on the new TV. For $375 (after taxes), I walked out of Best Buy a few days ago with an Xbox 360 Premium system, Call of Duty 2, and Hitman - Blood Money. I considered waiting for the PS3 to go down in price, however, that will be a while and getting it now would be very costly as well as I never buy a newly released system.
I didn't buy the Xbox for HD-DVD usage. I have a Home Theater PC that can handle all of that, however, @ $200 bucks for something I already had (the 360 or my PC), I consider it to be a GREAT deal. I initially was wanting Blu-Ray to win the war, however, from the vast amount of research on the world's library (Internet), I have my own opinions of HD-DVD possibly coming out on top. I'll soon be running my 360 on VGA to my TV, so I'm not worried about HDCP support and the HTPC runs on HDMI with HDCP support, so either way, I'll be covered. My TV's native resolution is only 720p, so I do not need to worry myself about the issues with 1080i/p.
When I was first looking into buying a 360, I was going to wait for the upgrade to the 65nm core to reduce heat and power consumption, in addition to hoping for an internal HD-DVD drive and HDMI. Truth is, I can get 720p with this machine over component and VGA. Also, many gaming systems used to play DVD, etc., generally show more wear and are more likely to fail when using the same drive to game. I like the fact that this uses and entirely different drive to play movies. Less wear on the disc I use to game.
As others have said, the Xbox offered quite a bit of stuff that I would actually use. With a HTPC running MCE 2005, I'm able to use this as a Media Center Extender. Although I watch most of my stuff on the big HDTV, the better half likes to watch stored movies and shows that are on the computer in the bedroom... My Media Center remote not only works with my computer (MCE 2005), but it works with my Xbox and TV. I can even use my 250GB external hard drive and plug it directly into the Xbox and it recognizes it, so I'm not stuck with buying 12-14GB drive at $100.
I have nothing against the PS3, in fact, I can't wait to see what happens. I may even get one later on when the dust settles. Both have their positives and negatives. I preferred the PS2 over the original Xbox by leaps and bounds. I didn't even care about the 360 coming out; however, after research I bought one and am VERY happy with it. The only thing I’m not to excited about is the heat this thing puts out (or doesn’t put out because it doesn’t evacuate all of it).
With all that said, I'm having a hard time not buying the external HD-DVD drive. For a system I ALREADY OWNED AND WANTED PRIOR TO THE HD-DVD DRIVE, it is a CHEAP upgrade for HD-DVD content. I’m sure I’m going to find a deal on the drive for less than $200, so it’s not really an expensive plunge into HD.
YMMV
Dude, you and I have the exact same history with playstation and xbox. My second ps2 in 4 years broke down and I refused to buy another one, but my accessories and game library is quite extensive so I waited months for the 3 to come out. When I couldn't get a ps3 the day it came out, (because of all the rediculous people waiting in line to buy it and sell it on ebay) it took me 30 seconds to change to the xbox 360. Other than a small list of games, I'm very satisfied. Tomorrow I'm going to get an HDTV to see what it really does. I'm a true gamer also. I buy the frickin things to play games. This hype about the stupid blue ray technology is stupid. No DVD movie will ever go in one of my game machines again, so a stand alone HD DVD player is a damn good idea.
Check out this cool documentary, "One Six Right: The Romance of Flying" on HD DVD.
www.onesixright.com
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MahVsiQ98
The guy at Best Buy told me the Hd drive upconverted regular dvd to HD, but only through HDMI.I bought the drive, and later realized MS doesn't make an HDMI cable for the xbox 360.I called Xbox 360 tech support and was told that the external drive definitely does not upconvert.On the other hand, the same tech also told me the drive wouldn't even play regular dvd's. Not true.I am not happy with the way the Xbox console dvd player works, it freezes alot, starts out with subtitles on and won't let me change it,and the size of the widescreen image is very small vertically,on both the internal and external drive.Yesterday my console froze up, I changed DVD's and my tv still showed a frozen image of the first disk.Now it doesn't do anything except show a distorted image of the dashboard.I have my console networked to my PC, which is cool because I can listen to my music stored on a drive upstairs. Unfortunately I don't have Windows Media Center,only XP, so I can't stream video.So, now I am at the point of trying to decide if I should return the console to costco, and the HD drive to BB, or buy a new console, switch out the internal drive, and return the old one.After reading all the posts on here about upconverting or not, I am more confused then when I started.As a side note, in a previous post someone stated that they would not benefit anyway from an upconvert because their TV only displayed 720P anyway. Well correct me if I am wrong,but don't regular dvd's only display in 480i,and wouldn't he then benefit from an upconvert to 720P?