Microsoft prepping component to HDMI adapter?
By Paul Miller 
posted March 29th 2007 11:58AM
posted March 29th 2007 11:58AM
Friendly tipster Evan M wasn't too stoked to see an Xbox 360 Elite headed for store shelves after he'd just purchased a Premium 360, especially considering the fact that his TV has a whole HDMI port twiddling its thumbs, just waiting to get its game on. After informing Microsoft of his displeasure through what we're sure was a politely worded email, Evan claims to have received a slightly encouraging response from a Microsoft support person, promising an upcoming HDMI to component adapter for the 'box to make his situation perhaps a bit more bearable. Unfortunately, the support person also mentioned that "we do not have information as of the moment if the cable will be sold separately," which might mean such an adapter is only destined for sales with some sort of updated Premium SKU, at least for the immediate future. We'll keep our eyes peeled.[Thanks, Evan M]
This is not as good as it sounds. you lose picture quality anytime you make a conversion from analog to digital. not only that but the signal is handled via hdmi and component two different ways. you are more or less going to have component quality picture plugged into an hdmi input. I'm not going to way in on whether cmpt is better than hdmi but don't get your hopes up for an adapter that is gonna give you hdmi quality picture.
Why in the hell didn't they come up with a adapter first? To me this makes no business sence at all.
If the adapter comes out will that mean my DVDs will
upscale properly to my 1080i Tv? Should I finally get the HD-DVD player from them? Generally I don't like MS products, the original XBOX being the exception. So I put my faith in them again with the 360. To top it off my 360 died so I send it back to the Texas warehouse in their brown box in return I get a older machine. What the hell is up with that nonsence?!
Sorry about the rant.
Good, but I hope they somehow integrate a digital audio signal into the cable because the only way I'm buying another new cable is if it can help reduce the rats nest of cables behind my AV system by reducing the number of cables. If only all of my AV components had HDMI out, I'd only have 4 or 5 cables back there.
I wouldn't count on it. Isn't HDMI a strictly digital format? I don't think it's like DVI which has both analog and a digital support. I know component is analog only. So this converter would have to digitize the analog signal and compress it to MPEG2/MPEG4/AVC for use by the TV. So why even bother at all? That would be one expensive converter...
I would assume anyone with a HDMI enabled TV would most likely have a digital surround sound system.
I think that it was just a BS move to calm the customer down. It just doesn't make sense.
@Virtual Fanboy
Exactly. Total BS.
If it was going to be real the following issues would come into play:
1. The A/D converter + HDCP chip for HDMI would be prohibitively expensive for this application.
2. The analog hole would be in play, so no unconverted DVD, and Image Constraint Token would knock you down for HD-DVD later.
Unless Component, Optical, and a USB connection was made to the adapter, the analog signal was somehow scrambled coming from the 360, the USB connection handshaked with the 360 for an encrypted pairing with the adapter, then the adapter unscrambled before hitting the A/D. - and all of that done in a way that the MPAA liked and approved of.
The analog scramble would have to vary a bit per adapter and switch methods periodically like those RSA key fobs (internally of course) so it would be a pain for someone to build a descrambler box, and impossible to sell a universal one.
ISN'T DRM GREAT!!
I don't see the point in this thing. having an adapter to HDMI will not make the quality any better since the signal is transfered over component cable from the xbox360. All this would do is free up a component cable input on the back of your tv.
Use of an adapter would not allow the use of HDCP, which would mean you lose all the content-related advantage (DVD upscaling, etc, immunity to the Image Constraint Token) that HDCP provides.
There isn't a lot of point to this idea.
BTW, I wouldn't trust a MS phone monkey to give me the corporate address, you don't go to them for accurate info on upcoming products.
What is "just bought"? 30 days 90 days? Take it back and wait a couple of months till the elite comes out.
Hmm, sounds like BS to placate the customer.
An adapter wouldn't support HDCP. With all the talk about IPTV over Live MS have dropped the ball on this. MS have announced new deals with content providers so surely they'll have to make assurances about copy protection and DRM, which means HDCP over HDMI. The end result surely means 10.3 million existing 360 owners left out in the cold with component connections and no/crippled IPTV service. I'd love a workaround solution, but don't think this is it.
I thought it was going to convert the proprietry 360 multi-out into a HDMI, you know one end 360, the other HDMI, meaning conversion is unnecessary. But I also read that 360s don't have all the pins necessary to do that wired up, so therefore it can't work, unless they have now started wiring them differently.