Unless you've been living under a rock, possibly because your friend told you on April 1st that you'll get rich if you do, you're probably aware of the recently announced Xbox 360 Elite bundle, which will come equipped with an HDMI video output. Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, has announced (in a post on AVS Forums) that Xbox 360 Elite's HDMI output follows the HDMI 1.2 specification, unlike Sony's PS3, which is HDMI 1.3 compliant. The Elite relies on HDMI handshaking to select a suitable resolution when connected to an HDTV set, meaning the Xbox 360 will automatically select the appropriate video output resolution up to 1080p; users cannot manually force resolutions. HDMI audio output remains crippled with the Xbox 360 Elite: even when connected to HDMI, it will not output uncompressed multi-channel audio (no lossless HD DVD audio formats).
When connected to an HDMI home theater receiver capable of processing audio over HDMI, the Xbox 360 will continue to output Dolby Digital, DTS or WMA-Pro to compatible receivers. Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD audio tracks will continue to be down mixed and output no different from the Xbox 360 Core or Premium systems. Nevertheless, the Xbox 360 Elite can output 2-channel PCM audio over HDMI. Expect a spring HD DVD software update to introduce DTS audio output capabilities to existing Xbox 360 Core and Premium systems. Majidimehr also promises the spring update will address the HD DVD lip-synchronization issues. "If you are keen on having 5.1 PCM output, I recommend purchasing the Toshiba A2 player which after the price drop, will be much cheaper than Elite. Our goal was to provide a digital connection for video which people wanted for some of their TVs. And of course, single cable A/V connection. So if having analog video bothered you before, you can now use digital. If you lacked component/VGA on your TV, you are in business with Xbox 360 Elite," said Majidimehr.
News source: DailyTech
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