Xbox 360 Core HDMI cables mentioned on spec sheet, new timing hack tools appear

Why oh why must the endless speculation about the HDMI ports on the Xbox 360 keep on going? Microsoft! Just level with us, stick the port on all three consoles, and send out a press release. The latest on the HDMI on Xbox 360 / or not fiasco comes in the form of an update to the Xbox 360's spec sheet to say that the Core console doesn't come with a HDMI cable included. Draw your own conclusions please. In similar Xbox 360 themed news, a new package for an already existing exploit promises to perform a "Timing Attack" and downgrade your 360 to an earlier, more hackable kernel. Mere mortals need not apply, as usual.

Read -- US spec sheet update
Read -- Timing Attack tools released

[O B M @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:56PM]

I really don't understand the need to 'hack' the 360, it's a console, and i can be used as a media center, what else do people need? "OMGzzzzz we just hax0red the 360 and put linux on it!!!!!!eleven111" who cares? get a PC f*cking cheap skates.

[mcatrage @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:39PM]

You've obviously never used XBMC. Sure linux is great and all but I think most people trying to hack the 360 really want to reach the point where the 360 is as open as the original xbox.

[awholeian @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:12PM]

I was kind of ticked that my hdmi 360 didn't let me use the hdmi and optical out at the same time (my tv's optical out doesn't work with the 360).

Luckily, I found a way around this. You can remove the pastic case on the av adapter, which should give you plenty of room to connect it without covering the hdmi port.

Dirty? Yes, but it beats buying an hdmi av adapter from M$.

[JeffDM @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:35PM]

Do you mean to say that the connectors are too close together?

[Matthew Harnack @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:21PM]

I have an xbox 360 Elite and I use the HDMI and the Optical adapter at the same time and it works. It doesnt work with your TV because the bit rate is different on the xbox then what the TV will accept. It won't work with my iPod Hi-Fi because of that.

[Alan @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:57PM]

I had the same problem. As soon as I read your comment I went and attacked the AV cable with a few screwdrivers and problem solved! Thanks for helping me save $50 :)

[SteveMB @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:13PM]

Why oh why must there be endless news about a medicore phone (iPhone)? Engadget!

[Kozzi @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:18PM]

Oh come on! thnx for mentioning iPHONE in a VERY-NON-MOBILEPHONE-related news.

[JOE KINCHELOE @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:22PM]

Why are you asking about a iphone in a xbox 360 forum??

[RedBull Runner @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:25PM]

Why oh why must there be endless morons complaining about the apple news on engadget... Either Don't read it, or get the apple-stuff-omitted feed.

And if you are going to complain about iPhone news, maybe it would be a good idea to complain about it in an actual iPhone article?

[MRCUR @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:20PM]

Oh wow Engadget, once again I submit something (this time being the Core HDMI info) and get no credit...

[Paris @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:52PM]

Since this came up, could someone tell me if the xbos360 premium upscales DVDs?

I've read that an elite does it but can't find anywhere whether or not the premium does it too?

[h0mi @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:06PM]

The xbox will upscale dvds if you use HDMI or VGA.

[dj-kenpo @ Sep 23rd 2007 11:20AM]

xbox1 with xbmc also upscales dvd's.

[Sean @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:54PM]

God, what's with all the Engadget bashing in this post? Jesus Christ.

You probably got no credit because they didn't look at the fan submissions at the time and found it on their own.

k?

[SJ @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:57PM]

MS please banish the Core from existence! Just make the premium $300, and the Elite $400...

[Andy @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:57PM]

Microsoft/Bungie gives engadget folks cool halo 3 stuff and you still link to 360 hacking information. WTF is with you guys? Stop linking to hacking stuff and writing about it!

[John @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:29PM]

They also get paid by AT&T and look what they've been doing recently... incidentally, they don't get any advertising revenue from Apple, but who's to say what goes on under the table ;)

[Funkdafied @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:58PM]

Where's the problem??
From reading the specs it seems pretty clear that all versions will have an HDMI port, just that the Elite is the only one that will come with a cable.

[Zach @ Sep 22nd 2007 9:12PM]

Isn't this brand dilution? How many different kinds of x-boxes does there need to be?

[MRCUR @ Sep 22nd 2007 9:18PM]

I just noticed that the Core is shown with a chrome DVD drive bezel now. So I guess MS is only making two consoles now, the Elite and Premium and shipping 2 versions of the Premium. Seems smart since it will save MS money to only produce one motherboard type.

[embassy @ Sep 22nd 2007 9:34PM]

i still find it rather hilarious how engadget gets these nice little tidbits of info (hours and sometinmes DAYS) before joystiq.

props to the 'gadge staff.

[moe @ Sep 22nd 2007 9:37PM]

and they still do not have the newest version of hdmi. red ring anyone?

[stephenbratz2 @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:56PM]

Neither does the PS3 - it has 1.3 hardware, but only 1.2 software so it will only do 1.2.

But even if they did have 1.3, what would you do with it? Does your TV supports 1.3? Probably not, being that the only TV (actually a projector) that does that I know of is an Epson costing about $4000 and is not available in the US. But if you do have one of these TVs, do you have 1.3 cables (older HDMI cables do not support 1.3)? Can you visually tell the difference between 24 and 48 bit color? Do you have any media that is more than 24 bit (hint, all broadcasts, DVDs, HD DVDs, and Blu-Ray are encoded only at 24bit)? Does your TV support 2560x1600 resolution (the only reason why they bumped the bandwith)? Are you sure that your TV supports the new features - most of them, like 48 bit color depth, bandwith, etc. are not required to be supported, even if it uses the 1.3 designation?

The only thing currently supported by 1.3 devices (I have the onkyo 805 receiver which supports 1.3) are DTS-HD and TrueHD audio transmission over the HDMI cable rather than processing them within the source device. Because the add-on does not process these audio formats, this is the only thing that the 360 could benefit from 1.3.

But hey, even though you probably do not have the ability to process 1.3 (and not much else does), the 360 does not support 1.3 so it must be bad, right?

[JeffDM @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:31PM]

stephentratz2; Epson has at least two projectors in the US that support HDMI 1.3, the Home Cinema 1080 (I bought mine for $2300 after rebate) and a Pro version of same ($3500-$4000). I thought 1.3 was needed to use 1080p24 (which is really nice), but I can't find the information to be sure.

Older cables might not necessarily have been tested, but that doesn't mean they don't support 1.3.

[Rican768 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:23PM]

its true it does not i got a 360 priemume and it said no where of hdmi and had same old box but upon opening there it was hdmi and it did not come with a cable

[Neeko @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:04PM]

i wonder if u send one on for repair if u will get the HDMI version?

[gatorade @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:20PM]

i know, i might "acidently" break mine right before my 5 year warranty expires (WOOT!)

damn dude, i cant believe it... 5 years of not having to worry.

[pixelmassacre @ Oct 29th 2007 9:22AM]

I knew nothing of the hdmi update till i swapped my screwed core console for a new one at my local game store an lo and behold an hdmi port, small consolation for being on my 3rd console in 6 months, I just hope this revision is better soldered\assembled.

[n3rd @ Sep 24th 2007 1:32PM]

the HDMI cable that comes with the elite is total garbage.. its such a low end piece of crap , after playing rainbow six vegas the video would skip whenever there was alot going on at one time or whenever i shot through glass. i bought a 6.00 HDMI cable its 100x better than the one microsoft gives you with the console so you should be happy that you arent stuck with there's.. with the new cable never had a problem ever again.