Comments on: Microsoft slips and confirms HDMI output

By: anon

anon — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:48:54 +0000

That’s exactly what would piss me off. I would be really angry if the new 360’s had an HD-DVD drive built in. 1080p doesn’t matter to me because I have a 50 inch HDTV. A resolution of 1920×1080 in a 50 inch TV is a waste of technology and money for the consumer. To see the benefits of that resolution in a 50 inch, you’d basically have to have the TV strapped to your face. You really need a TV larger than 55 inches to benefit from the higher resolution with 1080p and even then you’d have to sit abnormally close. Some people sit so far away they may as well have an EDTV.

By: Roujin Z

Roujin Z — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:55:55 +0000

Oh, and as for the 120GB HDD, sounds cool, but until they bring the Xbox Video Marketplace to Canada, I don’t see the point in buying one. I use a 20GB iPod to stream all my music and custom soundtracks to my 360, so I’ve still got plenty of room for game demos and videos on my “paltry” 20GB HDD. I’m not picking up the new HDD until there are enough reasons to make it a worthwhile investment.

By: Roujin Z

Roujin Z — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:50:41 +0000

I’m glad that HDMI is finally coming to the 360, even if it is only for new units. It’s unavoidable…Microsoft has to keep a leg up on Sony and it can’t do that if it can’t offer comparable experiences. More and more people are purchasing HDTVs these days (I just bought mine a week ago) and they all offer HDMI, so eventually the lack of HDMI would have negatively affected 360 sales if something wasn’t done.

That said, as a Premium 360 owner, I have to ask, what is the big deal? This is not going to affect gaming. I’ll still be able to play all 360 games in 1080p via component and VGA. I’ll still be able to enjoy HD-DVDs in 1080i or 720p should I choose to purchase the HD-DVD add-on (but frankly I don’t like clutter and I’m enjoying my regular DVDs in widescreen progressive scan literally for the first time on a TV that I own). The only thing that would make me upset would be if Microsoft added HD-DVD as the 360’s standard disc drive and offered it at the same price (without offering current users a SIGNIFICANT upgrade discount.

By: CherryMD

CherryMD — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:36:22 +0000

Actually, If I remember correctly, the current 360 is capable of having an HDMI dongle and use it to it’s fullest. A while back it was noted by Microsoft that the system had the chip inside already for digital output. They would just have to produce a dongle and update the software to get it to work. The reason they weren’t was because of licensing and lack of standards. They were waiting for 1.3 before committing to it. I may be wrong though. I remember the article on here though.

By: WarLord360

WarLord360 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:33:23 +0000

alright, lets get it straight everyone, not all TV’s accept a 1080p signal using component this is why they probably have an HDMI port on them. Ok the deal with Microsoft with having that output is because it will Utilize Tv’s that don’t accept 1080p using component and it will offer a Digital signal compared to a Analog signal of component cables. The reason that noise is not an issue with HDMI is because it’s Digital, whether the signal is there or not at certain time frames will create a picture that converts to 1920×1080 lines in progressive resolution. DVD’s were meant for standard def so they are only in 480i being upscaled to 480p, the HD-DVD’s are in 1080p and they are displayed in 1080p on your HDTV as long as your TV supports 1080p over component cables, with the approach of HDMI you won’t have to worry if this is compatible or not with 1080p, because they were designed with this resolution in mind. All other comments based on this message will be ignored so don’t bother to waste or time on trying to correct me.

By: Veritas

Veritas — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:27:08 +0000

So they’re putting in an HDMI port for something that can’t be used…?

By: inty2525

inty2525 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:03:59 +0000

hhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllsssssssssssssssssss yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:19:34 +0000

“No software changes” does not equal “no hardware changes”.

By: longitude

longitude — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:39:10 +0000

briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggg iiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttt.

By: J1980

J1980 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:19:06 +0000

doh! who is sick of hearing questions why the xbox360 cant just have a cable plug at the back for HDMI

its got me down as a spammer again!!!

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:24:44 +0000

The article states:

Will the HDMI output on the revised 360 require any code changes
To which Shawn Hargreaves, Microsoft representative, replied without hesitation:

No changes required.

….. If no changes required maybe there is a chance of a HDMI cable for existing xbox’s ???
I mean you can upgrade a core for a premium at the moment so you should be able to do the same with the new core / premium consoles ??

By: Sabre Squadron

Sabre Squadron — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:22:05 +0000

According to my TV, my regular DVDs (using my Xbox 360 HD-DVD player and the HD component cable) are being shown at 576p.

I agree about the colour, thing though - I think I prefer a white box to the black.

By: LeDrewJ

LeDrewJ — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:02:49 +0000

Actually, you’re all wrong so far, unless I missed something.
1080p IS possible over component, but with the 360, only games are possible in 1080p through component. When it comes to HD-DVDs, you can only go as high as 1080i through component. And as for regular DVDs being upscaled, you can only go as high as 480p through component.
With HDMI, all formats, games, HD-DVD, and DVD-upscaled will all hit 1080p resolutions. This is the main reason I will return my “broken” 360 to EB Games before the one year warranty is up and have it replaced with the HDMI Premium sku. Then, if I really need it, more than likely not, I may buy a 120 GB HDD when they hit stores. I prefer my 360 in white, I think the black looks terrible. Although if it was a nice glossy black, maybe with some nice chrome trim, or neon green light-trim , that would be a different story.
And please, not to sound conceited, but just don’t argue with my HDMI argument, those are facts, and if you do decide to argue about it, I will find the links to it, directly from xbox.com and various other sites.

By: Hornydragon

Hornydragon — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:59:45 +0000

HDMI 1.1 isnt unreliable all HDMI video specs are based on DVi 1.0 HDMI 1.3 delivers additions that nothing can utilise yet Deep colour etc HDMI is all about DRM nothing else and what is the benefit in sending DD5.1 or eeven True HD sound to a TV with 2 speakers? If you have an AV amp or processor with HDMI then there is a small cable benefit but most 360 owners dont have this anyway. Having an HDMI output may help them sell more cosoles but you wont get a better image (it may be more “compatible” but thats about it) ALso it will mean more people forking out more money on HDMI switches etc as 2 HDMI is standard for new screens (some can have 3) This really is nothing to worry about.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:32:13 +0000

Not true. HDMI 1.3 wasn’t specced until June 2006 while 360 launched in Nov 2005, and HDMI 1.1 was an unreliable crap standard. There was no worthy alternative over the existing offering of composite/RGB/component/VGA which covers most bases anyway.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:30:34 +0000

Why cause a million people to delay their purchase by announcing too early?

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:29:27 +0000

You are wrong. The current units only support analog outputs

By: DJ Devotion

DJ Devotion — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:27:47 +0000

I’ll just wait and see. At this moment i’m on my fourth 360 (two just overheated and gave graphic issues, last one was the famous “ring of death”). With a bit of luck the fifth one can be attached to my Sony 40W2000 through HDMI and deliver vibrant 1080p, opposed to 1080p through VGA.

By: Jmel

Jmel — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:42:27 +0000

ms basically went with what was cheapest at the time, analog output.. and just waited till production was up high enough to justify a component change.

so early adopters lost… but thats just how it goes these days.

By: kidman64

kidman64 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:03:09 +0000

“Why can’t the current xbox360 have a cable that ends in a hdmi male port? I mean, the port on the set is digital, isn’t it?” - well no, it isn’t. 360 is able to output video signal in analog, not digital. that’s why another scaler (’hana’, probably’) is needed for digital output

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:42:55 +0000

I’d like to ask “so what do owners of white 360s do?” but then I remembered Nintendo, and their constant hardware upgrades, so we’re not getting HDMI ports until we want new 360’s. (Which, if they break, won’t be long.)

Not that I even own an HD set.

By: Scott-James

Scott-James — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:16:50 +0000

right. I don’t buy this. We are at the end of march and it is supposedly released in april.

Surely something should have been said by now!?!

By: Scott-James

Scott-James — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:15:03 +0000

I’m sorry but you are wrong!

All that HDMI does is support HDCP which is disabled on the xbox. That’s the copy protecion. 1080p can be delivered over component and VGA.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:46:46 +0000

Why can’t the current xbox360 have a cable that ends in a hdmi male port? I mean, the port on the set is digital, isn’t it? A hdmi cable shouldn’t be a problem with a software upgrade. Neither should HDCP be as it’s not even implemented yet.

By: coojo

coojo — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:15:15 +0000

yay cant wait for my elite 360

By: x El Scorpio x

x El Scorpio x — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:53:36 +0000

No big deal, people just think that because it’s “super new tech” that it’s way better…basically the same picture quality as component or VGA.

By: kidman64

kidman64 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:45:54 +0000

exactly, hdmi on todays 360’s is impossible (i mean real hdmi, you still can use some vga/component-to-hdmi converter, but that’s still analog signal)

By: Sabre Squadron

Sabre Squadron — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:23:13 +0000

It’s just occurred to me that this is probably new builds of the existing SKUs only, i.e. not upgrades for existing boxes. Hmmm, hope I’m wrong.

By: Sabre Squadron

Sabre Squadron — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:46:34 +0000

So where’s the guy that kept insisting to everyone that HDMI for the existing Xbox 360 SKUs was impossible?

This is good news for me. I’ve got a 1080p TV that won’t accept 1080p via the HD Component cable. The reduced cable clutter will be good too!

By: T800

T800 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:27:29 +0000

Plus HDMI could mean uncompressed sound for HD-DVD.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:36:23 +0000

Well we’re both correct. Component formally isn’t specced to carry 1080p signals, but there is equipment that supports it anyway.

By: H

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:30:28 +0000

Component supports 1080p fine
xbox enables 1080p via Component and VGA
its the lack of compatible TV’s that is the issue

picture quality is identical

the only benefit for hdmi is the reduced cable clutter as sound (inc DD5.1) is integrated.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:04:32 +0000

Actually there’s not too much of a big deal. HDMI support 1080p, unlike Component, but there are barely televisions out there accepting 1080p inputs anyway. If you have a 1080p set it’s cool, otherwise you’re off just as good with component and an optical cable for the sound.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:03:04 +0000

what’s the big deal? is 1080i through hdmi that much better than 1080i through component or vga?

By: MDK x2002x

MDK x2002x — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:45:21 +0000

YES
i cant wait for my black 360