XBox360 with HD-DVD in 2006

[iconboy]

Well, the morning newspaper here has an article about this.

The gist of the article is that this is a big win for the HD-DVD consortium and the format war has now spilt over into the gaming market. They say this move is necessary to fight PS3's blueray disc with higher capacity.

This is pretty big news here since MS and the XBox is now a HUGE ally of HD-DVD.

They focus less on how this may be a real hard kick in the nuts for current owners :laugh:

M$ has always supported HD-DVD, the only way to make this work is to have it as an addon (not even include it in the future builds of the 360) as is alienated the current userbase and also causes production problems, and this way people who want to play hd dvds on their 360s will be able to at their own cost, problem is- if the format is used for games, developers are gunna ****ed when they want to sell millions of copies and only a few thousand have the addon. Like i said before, M$ should have thought ahead like Sony and implemented this a long time ago.

[SonComet]

Wow, it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

[gunnerhkjp]

M$ has always supported HD-DVD, the only way to make this work is to have it as an addon (not even include it in the future builds of the 360) as is alienated the current userbase and also causes production problems, and this way people who want to play hd dvds on their 360s will be able to at their own cost, problem is- if the format is used for games, developers are gunna ****ed when they want to sell millions of copies and only a few thousand have the addon. Like i said before, M$ should have thought ahead like Sony and implemented this a long time ago.

MS has always supported HD-DVD, but the difference is that now, they have commited an actual product to HD-DVD.

This HD-DVD vs BlueRay will be interesting to watch.

[ahhell]

MS has always supported HD-DVD, but the difference is that now, they have commited an actual product to HD-DVD.

This HD-DVD vs BlueRay will be interesting to watch.

Microsoft hasn't committed to anything! This is all just speculation.

[etempest]

Ms wanted to release the xbox 360 with HD-DVD, the only problem is it wasn't ready. It was suppose to be done at the same time as Xbox360 launch but got delayed.

I would not be surprised if MS switched the dvd to HD-DVD once HD-DVD comes out. It was dealyed due trying to get the copyprotection setup. They don't want Blue-Ray to win. Angery xbox360 fans vs possible defeat of HD-DVD as the next gen standard..

Sony using Blue-Ray to help push it's format, $300-400 is cheap for next gen video player and using the PS3 to help push movies as well as games with greater capacity.

Boils down to staying with 4.5gb limit per disk (compare 25gb/50gb single layer discs that blue ray has) or endorse blue-ray (not going to happen unless it wins) or switch to Hd-dvd later.

[generalnewbie]

yeah i agree pure speculation! i highly doubt this will amount on jan 10th

seeing that HD DVD players are having issues with copy protection

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2005/12/13/ap2388661.html

read that.. then start to fight.

and for the kids who think that DVD9 disc arent large enough... ummm lets see

it doesnt take 9 gigs of data to make a great game. I can name pleanty of games

that use less then 4 gigs and have better gfx then a bloated 9 gig disc.

Current games for the 360 arent even close to 9. Developers arent limited

by anything. If at all they are making games shorter by not filling up the full 9 gigs.

ill wait till i see a sony BR disc play in a ps3 with 15 gigs of data. Im willing to take a best

that the games wont come close to 8 gigs for another 2 years.. and after that

i willing to bet that compressed images will be way better! MPG2 is bloatware

[Mark-x]

yeah i agree pure speculation! i highly doubt this will amount on jan 10th

seeing that HD DVD players are having issues with copy protection

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2005/12/13/ap2388661.html

read that.. then start to fight.

and for the kids who think that DVD9 disc arent large enough... ummm lets see

it doesnt take 9 gigs of data to make a great game. I can name pleanty of games

that use less then 4 gigs and have better gfx then a bloated 9 gig disc.

Current games for the 360 arent even close to 9. Developers arent limited

by anything. If at all they are making games shorter by not filling up the full 9 gigs.

ill wait till i see a sony BR disc play in a ps3 with 15 gigs of data. Im willing to take a best

that the games wont come close to 8 gigs for another 2 years.. and after that

i willing to bet that compressed images will be way better! MPG2 is bloatware

arent even close? does 7 gigs count as not even close?

And I dont believe this hd announcement. The game makers will create ways to better compress their textures, thats all.

[Lanky]

Hmm that sux for people that just brought them and want to watch HD DVD's i suppose.

I also doubt they will release an add on unless it's externall (seems unreasonable) or really easy to take the old dvd out and put a new one in. Microsoft wouldn't want everyone opening their systems and voiding their warrentys.

[jokeripa]

so you do not think an addon will take place? ****...

We know as much as you do

[DeadOnArrival]

I'm having a flashback, anyone please help... But didn't sega do this? They released there sega gen. and then about 6months to 1 year later released the sega cd and was probly the biggest flop? Also to add, its gonna be rare to see games being developed onto hd-dvd, why? well microsoft already sent out there dev kits to developers, there told to design for dvd. Its kinda hard to appeal to the normal consumer by telling them, oh were sorry but you bought the dvd only xbox 360, now you gotta buy the hd-dvd "add-on" in order to play these great hd set of games... So realisticly, its probly in microsofts better future just to wait off on this whole thing and see what actually does play out and in the mean time work on there 360 successor console (next one)...

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Oh man. The blogs in Japan are buzzing with this news.

The hard core XBox360 fans are going ballistic.

The biggest point is that HD-DVD player standard REQUIRES HDMI connection.

Since current Xbox360 does not and CANNOT have HDMI connection, it can't have an add-on HD-DVD drive.

Something to think about.

Just because it doesn't have an HDMI port doesn't mean it can't output HDMI.

Microsoft has not said what outputs the X360 could support eventually.

[thagame]

sweet

I will be fine if they just make some addon for my current Xbox360. If they don't i will kill them with my own hands :)

somehow im doubting that lol

[b mitchell]

It cant happen. The 360s GPU outputs only in analog. HD-DVD requries a digital output for HDMI. The 360 cant do it. I dont even know if an adapter would work for that.

[BroChaos Veteran]

feel sorry for everyone who purchased an xbox360 already

don't feel sorry for me! i'm loving my 360, couldn't imagine playing games any other way. no way i'm waiting for some possible time in 2006 to play this.

[fascist]

Not going to happen. Face it everyone, they didnt want it in... If they did they would of launched with it, face it people, come on already. Also isnt hdtv digital, so how coupd it only output in analog?

Im loving mine too by the way.

[Erich]

I hope they release HALO 3 on HD-DVD

[Brandon Live Veteran]

It cant happen. The 360s GPU outputs only in analog. HD-DVD requries a digital output for HDMI. The 360 cant do it. I dont even know if an adapter would work for that.

Got a source for that?

I really don't know if it's capable of digital output. But the fact is that no one knows and no one on the X360 team will tell me.

[Mark-x]

I hope they release HALO 3 on HD-DVD

and why is that?

[b mitchell]

Got a source for that?

I really don't know if it's capable of digital output. But the fact is that no one knows and no one on the X360 team will tell me.

Yep, and again, it wont happen.

Unfortunately in the first version of the Xbox 360, that AV cable port appears to be strictly analog. Microsoft has indicated that they may support HDMI at a later point in time, but that may require a new revision of the motherboard - assuming there is no digital video signal carried over the AV port. On the flip side, ATI has had a history of placing TMDS transmitters on their GPUs, so it may be possible that a digital video signal is present at this connector today, although if it were we don't understand why Microsoft wouldn't offer a DVI/HDMI cable option now.

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2611&p=2

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Yeah... that's not a source. That's some guy saying "It might not have it, but based on ATI's history it makes sense that it probably does."

So... not exactly a good source to back up your claim, eh?

[OrangeSoul]

The Xbox 360 went with analog to put the price down, there seems to be a plan for get a convertor cable later on , probably with the release of the HDDVD, the cable will convert analog to digital but it will cost you, not much though.

[gunnerhkjp]

The Xbox 360 went with analog to put the price down, there seems to be a plan for get a convertor cable later on , probably with the release of the HDDVD, the cable will convert analog to digital but it will cost you, not much though.

That would change things considerably.

I have a preorder 360 waiting for me. I just have to go pay for it and pick it up. :laugh:

What to do...

[b mitchell]

Yeah... that's not a source. That's some guy saying "It might not have it, but based on ATI's history it makes sense that it probably does."

So... not exactly a good source to back up your claim, eh?

I think it is extremely reliable. It states more than anything else has thrown out there in this thread. There is no digital output on the current 360 motherboard, and without a digital output, you have no HDMI. No HDMI = No HD-DVD. Its really quite simple. Unless MS wanted to undergo the risk fo putting in a new motherboard this soon just to get digital output just to get a better dvd player in a game console....I just dont see it happening.

[Xerxes]

This is only a wild uneducated guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if the HD-DVD upgrade (if true) is Japan only...it would make sense (and it wouldn't be the first time Japan gets something everyone else misses out on...PS2 HDD, N64 DD etc anyone?)

Edited December 15, 2005 by Xerxes

[Jeremy1]

There is no digital output on the current 360 motherboard

Why do you keep saying that? Even the source you pointed to doesn't agree with you.