Xbox 360 with HDMI confirmed by Microsoft... sorta

If you weren't already a believer in the HDMI toting black Xbox 360 Elite then perhaps this bit of titillating tattle will sway you: a Microsoft XNA framework developer has unintentionally (we presume) confirmed the long awaited HDMI in Microsoft's official XNA Game Studio Express forum. When asked if HDMI output on the "revised 360" will require any code changes, the developer responded "No changes required." Hah, good to know.

[Via Xbox-scene, thanks Daniel]

[Hans Jaquez @ Mar 26th 2007 4:27AM]

Awesome! Im getting the 360 if it get HDMI and a 100GB+ HDD

[Nick @ Mar 26th 2007 4:44AM]

The only thing I would be worried about if this is a final production pic is what we do about audio if we don't want to run audio through our television and our receivers don't have hdmi input. Am I gonna have to run hdmi to my television and plug in the original output as well attached to nothing to attach my optical cable? Seems kinda dumb. /shrug

[Joel @ Mar 26th 2007 7:11AM]

I was wondering about that HDMI audio issue too. As in "I dont want to use my tv's crappy audio". But I think (not sure) that the solution is - The HDMI cable runs to your tv set, then, if your tv has a digital optical out, you run that digital optical cable to your sound device (like your receiver).

[HEADsoldier07 @ Mar 26th 2007 7:57AM]

Nick - on the end of the huge audio plug for the 360, the cable isn't centered because there is and optical audio plug. Just get any old optical audio cable for it. And you don't need an expensive one cuz it's digital.

[Nick @ Mar 26th 2007 3:50PM]

Head - yeah, that's what i was wondering. If one would have to plug in the old huge plug with it attached to nothing on the other end, so that you could use the optical input on it. Terrible design if that is the only solution...

[deepinu84 @ Mar 26th 2007 4:44AM]

for $479.00 this thing better come with a high definition drive. I thought microsoft was like "1080p wasn't possible this generation" and no one needs hdmi. lol they sure changed their mind pretty fast. I think ill just buy a used core for the two games i want to play on the xbox. Microsoft is just endorsing the ps3. yay Ps360-core. Wii is for girls.

[Olivier @ Mar 26th 2007 5:00AM]

Deepinu84,
HDMI is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. The 360 can already output 1080p vai component (although not all TV sets support it). The thing is, if your TV supports 1080p HDMI, it probably also supports 1080p via component.. so kinda useless.

HDMI is however very nice as you don't need to run a separate cable for sound.

The real news here is the larger hard drive and the allegedly more silent console (thanks to lower heat dispersion and less fans).

HDMI really isn't all that it's hyped to be

[Doug @ Mar 26th 2007 8:34AM]

Not true! HDMI also gives you uncompressed PCM audio!

Along with what Jimmy said.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Mar 26th 2007 5:34AM]

Is there any chances that M$ would build in some basic primitive HDMI hub?

I'm running out of HDMI ports - and I yet to purchase upscaling DVD player...

It would be nice if devices like in old times with antenna cable had two socket - male and female - so that one can hook multiple devices to TV which had only single input.

[August @ Mar 26th 2007 1:07PM]

Is there any chance(s) that you can denote "Microsoft" without using "M$"?

[Jimmy @ Mar 26th 2007 5:50AM]

@Oliver

'HDMI is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else.'

HDMI's video transfer is the same as DVI video transfer. This is the standard which almost all new monitors use. The reason for the standard is to provide a fully digital connection from the source to the display which should result in better images overall. With component cables the player has to convert the signal to analog and then the television converts it back to digital before displaying the image. With HDMI/DVI the player just sends a digital signal.

'The thing is, if your TV supports 1080p HDMI, it probably also supports 1080p via component.. so kinda useless.'

This is just not true. I did extensive research before buying my 1080p television. Very few, my guess is about 10%-15%, of the 1080p sets support 1080p over component. The reason for this is that none of the content providers want you to be able to dump a 1080p analog signal. That is why all of your upconverting DVD players only upconvert to highest quality over digital outputs. The TV makers know that few if any sources will output 1080p over component so why waste the time and money building it into the TV. Things change of course and more newer televisions will obviously support 1080p over component because it will get cheaper to do and it will fill another checkbox on the 'we got that' list.


Having HDMI on an XBox means that I can actually get 1080p instead of 1080i. Combine that with the HD DVD addon and I now can watch 1080p movies. Too bad that means I would be spending $679 to do the same thing I can already do on a PS3 for $499/$599.

[Roy Warner @ Mar 26th 2007 6:19AM]

This is a REALLY old picture...

[Ang @ Mar 26th 2007 7:16AM]

---HDMI is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else----

PS3 - HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the first and only industry-supported, UNCOMRESSED, ALL-DIGITAL audio/video interface.

Currently XBOX 360 - Component Y - (Luminence), RY - (Red), BY - (BLUE), is ANALOG with less bandwidth than RGB (ratio of about 3 to 2).

- Because HDMI is digital, video looks extremely vivid, crisp (sharp) also with very good detail in the the dark areas, does not smooth out video on screen, allows you to see video games, movies as they were meant to be shown, warts and all.

- Because Component is analog and is RGB compressed usually makes everything look smoother (Softer) when looking at images on screen.

- I think this is why some people prefer XBOX 360 to PS3 graphics, softer images even can make bad graphics (textures etc.) look nicer because they can hide the flaws when compared to HDMI.

XBOX 360 owners might not like the way HDMI presents the video on screen, because it might show all the flaws of game graphics that looked ok before.

[Gates4President @ Mar 26th 2007 8:24AM]

@deepinu84 : MS can do pretty much whatever they want at this point, its all just more payout for their massive victory over Sony.

http://www.microsoftisawesome.com/2007/03/pointless-statistics-and-massive-lulz.html

[Andrew @ Mar 26th 2007 9:15AM]

You guys are forgetting that the VGA outputs 1080p, and there are a decent amount of sets that support it.

HDMI, gimick or not, is obviously what the industry is moving towards (today, at least). To stay competitive, MS had to jump the bandwagon.

[craig @ Mar 26th 2007 10:17AM]

Which sets support 1080p over a VGA input? Very few sets have a VGA input at all, and those that do generally don't support 1080p over them. 1080p is not a common video mode for computer monitors.

There aren't even that many sets in the market that do 1080p at all. Just not that important. I have one that does 1080p and one that only does 1080i. I could care less.

[Dan @ Mar 26th 2007 10:04AM]

This may be a stupid question, but don't the original XBox 360 have an HDMI slot in the back? I am in that situation and have a Sony TV with an HDMI input in the back and that is how I want to hook up my XBox 360 to the TV but there aren't cords out there yet... Or am I wrong?

[d butler @ Mar 26th 2007 11:09AM]

All 1080p sets have a VGA input, and pretty much all of them accept a 1080p signal through the VGA input.

[craig @ Mar 26th 2007 12:10PM]

Haha, that's rich. My 2006 60" Samsung 1080p doesn't. 1080p is not a standard computer monitor mode at all and expecting such a mode to work over a VGA connector is wishful thinking.

Of course, if you're gonna lie about it anything's possible. There MAY be a set that does 1080p over the VGA input but that would be the exception, not the rule. Most 1080p sets don't have a VGA input at all.

[bboncorr1 @ Mar 26th 2007 11:09AM]

those of you calling it a gimmick dont know its a bigger improvment with hdmi 1.3. it improves color saturation, sync issues, and gives us the option for lossless audio. ms had to wait for the final specs to get released and approved or they would have been left looking foolish. it might not be huge for gaming but hd video and audio this could potentialy be a big improvemnt.

as for 1080p and gaming it can be done its just a matter of how good it will look. there are alot of tvs that do 1080p over vga but some of them have issues displaying the whole picture on the screen.

to be honest people without hdmi 1.3 tvs or recievers without lossless codecs shouldnt bother with this upgrade. when a tv is properly calibrated on component or hdmi they should look the same. anyone who says otherwise is only making themselfs look foolish. calibration done right is the only way to go when doing a comparison.

[Trent @ Mar 26th 2007 11:54AM]

HDMI is a great connector. HDCP however, not so great.

[eddyk @ Mar 26th 2007 12:13PM]

HDMI and Component are visyally the same (remember this : http://arstechnica.com/articles/headstart.ars article comparing a PS3 and a xbox 360 both connected on one of the best Full HD display existing ; a Sony Bravia display) ; HDMI is only relevant when HDCP encryption is enabled, locking HD streams to be ripped in full quality.
I challenge anyone to tell me he really sees the difference between a Component and a HDMI plugged console !

[Nick @ Mar 26th 2007 9:09PM]

Challenge accepted. I see a difference in dvi/hdmi versus component.

[deepinu84 @ Mar 26th 2007 1:17PM]

M$ sucks

[Sam @ Mar 26th 2007 6:27PM]

why does microsoft suck? heaven forbid they did well in a free market system, that they cater to a crowd that actually makes them money (the general population, not the geek market..), its called business you ignorant people. They suck because they make money? They seem pretty smart to me, but maybe I would have a different perspective if I was typing this from my parent's basement...

[danny decker @ Mar 26th 2007 10:52PM]

Just for all ya alls information. Plasma's, LCD's, or any digitally based tv like DLP's, are INCAPABLE of displaying an interlaced image. Whats important is the resolution, not progressive scan or interlaced. Full 1080p tv sets have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 which gives you the "full" 1080 image. Those sets that are labled 1080i/720P have a resolution of 1366 x 768, which is capable of showing a full 720P image, but it is also capable of recieving a 1080i Image and scaling it to fit withing it's native resolution of 1366 x 768. All pictures you see through these digital TV's are progressive scan. The only TV's that can show you an interlaced image is a tube tv otherwise known as a CRT.

There is no real difference in picture quality between HDMI and Component. It's just a matter whether the digital picture is being converted to analog at the receiver, or media player like the xbox, or if it's being converted to analog at the TV. Although most tv's haven't supported 1080P through component, you will find that all the ne LCD's are supporting 1080P through component.

[Andy @ Mar 27th 2007 4:07AM]

The new ELITE 360 is a natural progression of the system given that more TVs are being made with multiple hdmi connections and most new DVD and HD players are using this connection. I'm not surprised MS are making these hardware changes with the hdmi connection and bigger hard drive, as they have always said they are about giving the consumer a choice of how they use the 360 - hence the HD-DVD add-on rather than an internal unit driving up price. Although this is bad news for people with a burning desire to watch IPTV, HD-DVD via HDMI, its good news for people like me who bought the 360 at a competative price to play games - sure it would be great to have all the extras, but to be honest I wouldnt use them much apart from watching the odd movie (dvd still good enough imo though and cheaper). It makes me laugh that people are getting so worked up about consoles being upgraded or sold in different packages and even thinking that because they bought one they should be entitled to a free upgrade.....newsflash this is normal for any other product - buy an ipod, next year a new better version is released no upgrade offered - buy a PC same thing happens - buy a phone, a car, a tv, hifi, a coffee machine, a toaster the consumer is treated the same way. If you want to be an early adopter of new tech then trade in your 360 and pay the difference for the new model, but I dont think theres a big enough difference for most 360 owners and I'm guessing that like me they wont be that bothered as long as the games keep coming. The idea of the games console being a media hub doesnt work for me anyway - it might be good economic sense to have one system that plays all media, but in practise the quality is never as good as seperates and if the media centre dies, the whole system does which means no games, no movies, no photos, no music till its fixed or replaced. In a couple of years time there will be cheaper HD players, HDTV services and even recorders available with disc prices down to a reasonable level and some sense of which format will become standard - that's the time for anybody without a burning desire to waste money to get into this type of thing. MS realise this I think and are keeping options open for themselves and the consumer, how can this be a bad thing?

[gibschan @ Mar 27th 2007 10:37AM]

M$ does suck.

...$450+ fo an xbox 360? no free onine service? no Home type capabilities?? No wifi??? .... NO BUILT IN BLUERAY/HD DVD???

just get the PS3...save you the space/money and waiting time....not to mention that PS3 has Folding@Home and a potable devicee that wll be used to sync with it...

xbox fan boys need to re-evaluate the list of stuff they get and for what price...

[ebob9 @ Mar 27th 2007 2:05PM]

Since some people are mentioning that TVs don't do 1080p over Component or VGA,

The Westinghouse 1080p LCD sets do. I used to own the LVM-42w2, and now own the LVM-47w1, and both sets do 1080p over Component and VGA.

I currently have my xb360 doing 1080p over the Component in, and have verified in the set control panel that it is actually 1920x1080 progressive. Same with VGA (albiet from a PC in that case).

[Kris Senchantixay @ Mar 27th 2007 8:07PM]

I have a Samsung HL-R5688W that does 1080p only on VGA and my Sony KDS-60A2020 (which is a 1080p television) does not do it on VGA. Go figure.