Possible HDMI connector for HD-DVD extension?
Chris Lewis spoke with spiegel.de about the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on and (ofcourse) the Xbox360 in Japan. Chris Lewis is the Microsoft executive in charge of the European market for the company’s Xbox gaming consoles. Some interesting questions came up about the HD-DVD addon and the possibility of a HDMI connector.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is the HD-DVD-drive for the Xbox 360 still in the pipeline?Lewis: Absolutely, yes. We’ll say a little bit more about it at E3. It will give people access to HD DVD.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: But the 360 doesn’t have an HDMI-Interface — so you won’t actually be able to watch any HD-DVD Movies on it because the obligatory copy protection mechanisms are missing.
Lewis: All I can say to you is — there are interesting developments in the pipeline. We will make sure that the HD-DVD-peripheral device will meet all the requirements for consumers to enjoy high-definition DVD playback.
So does this mean, there is a possibilty of a HDMI cable coming to the Xbox 360? Or does only the HD-DVD addon-on get the HDMI connector? I’m pretty sure that everything we need to know is shown at this years E3 so stay tuned.
I know they have repeatedly said that games will not be made for the HD-DVD disks, but I still hope they will announce that they will.
I really hope they don’t. It’s not needed and I’m not interested in buying a HD-DVD extension.
If you don’t want it, don’t buy it.
Like bigsteve said - it is nice to have the option so people who DO/WOULD like it have the choice.
Yeah but I’d miss out on certain games/content…
Don’t be so selfish, if you don’t need/want it, don’t buy it. If you are concern you’ll miss out some games and you really want the games, then it’s time to make the jump to HD-DVD.
think of how sweet it would be to play an Elderscrolls game where you could travel to ALL the provinces of Tamriel. Not just Morrowind or Cyrodiil, but the entire Elderscrolls world. No magic wall telling you you cant go any further.
It would be jesus.
At least we will all have the option if we want it. I dont think sony is going down the route by having it built in is a good option. Im more interested on how it will look.
I think they could release “special edition” games on HD-DVD. The games could have HD cut scenes and other crap.
I’ll be getting one the day it comes out.
My TV doesn’t have HDMI/HDCP or Component but I connect it through VGA so if they say the big fu I will not be happy. But I will give MS the benefit of the doubht otherwise they didn’t sell VGA cable.
why not put the hd drive in the 360 at launch? just seems like another microsoft cash in on something that should have been the standard on “NEXT-GEN” systems
@Hoffer:
Cut scenes and stuff are already in HD, that is possible without being on an HD-DVD. HD-DVD is only required for feature length films, for games they can still include HD cutscenes on a standard Xbox DVD.
Really though, MS should have built HDMI capability into the 360 from the get go. Then releasing an official HDMI lead would be simple. However since it doesn’t, I can imagine having 2 connections to a TV from the 360 if you have the add-on, HDMI from there and the standard component from the 360 itself. Which sounds sloppy. Boo.
I know they can do HD on DVD disks, but that stuff takes up a lot of space. Look at the 720p trailers you download. A 1-2 minute clip takes up 150 megs. It was just an idea. They do the special editions already. Putting them on HD-DVD would be cool if they did it right.
That doesn’t make much sense, if they have a HDMI cable then your game content AND HD-DVD content will be send through the same connection, no need to have dual connections. I think it’s pretty obvious you will access you HD-DVD content through the 360 main menu (HD-DVD blade perhaps).
This means that the HD-DVD signal will be processed by the 360 and then sent on a single HDMI connection, not out of the HD-DVD directly.
All will be revealed at E3.
Till then…keep wisihing
i don’t know all that much about it, by why can’t the 360 have hdmi output the way it is now without any adapter or whatever? can’t they make a cable just like the component ones that ends in the hdmi connector, or are there technical specs that would not allow that to be possible?
That’s the same i thought so. I hope they will release a Xbox360 to HDMI cable. I only think it doesn’t fit with the standards of HDTV
Don’t quote me, but from everything I’ve read, I was under the impression that all the new HD disc formats were going to require an HDMI connector due to copy protection. There was a huge discussion over at digg.com from people who were pissed when they heard that their older HDTV sets were not going to be able to use the new HD disc players because they’re not equipped with HDMI connectors, only component. So the fact there is news about the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 having an HDMI connector, makes perfect sense.
Here’s the link…found it.
Actually, the HDMI requirement is NOT absolute for HD playback. I quote from Sony’s page for their Blu-Ray player, the BDP-S1:
“If your HD-capable television does not have an HDMI connection, you can still get the Blu-ray experience - the 1080i analog output allows for HD-capable televisions without HDMI to enjoy Blu-ray Disc features.”
So, 1080i will be supported through component video. For the full 1080p experience, you will need HDMI. I believe the same applies on the HD-DVD side of the table… full 1080p will only be supported with HDMI/DVI (HDCP-compatible), but 1080i will be supported at the component level. I’m going to try to confirm this is true for HD-DVD and will post here if I’m able to confirm it.
If so, this is good news for those of us with older TVs that lack HDMI and DVI. I don’t care so much about 1080p; 1080i over component will work just fine for me.
I was prepared for Hdcp so my HDTV has, component, vga and hdmi
I just got an e-mail from monster cable conferming that they’re HDMI to DVI 1000 cable will not drop a 1080p source signal to a lower resolution. This tells me that all you need is a tv that is HDCP compaatible.
Just spoke to Crutchfield a little while ago… the Toshiba HDXA1 HD-DVD player WILL output a hi-def (1080i) signal through the component outputs as long as the publisher of the movie doesn’t impose copy-protection. So this confirms that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are capable of supporting high definition through component video, as long as the movie studios don’t block HD-over-component.