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The XBOX 360 plays HD just fine - as MOST Studios have already backed and plan to distribute HD DVD Content on regular DVDs using WMV format, just like the "T2 Extreme Edition" that was released two years or more ago.
That makes no sense. By that logic, you can claim that a VCR can play DVDs, or a cassette can play CDs. After all, the contents the same...

Excuse me? Do you even have a clue what WMV-HD content is, and it fits on standard Dual-DVD formats now? And it is fully 1080p HD content?

How can someone not get this?

Instead of using the very OLD MPEG2 compression, Microsoft is using an advanced form of their WMV compression format so that HD content fits just fine on regular DVD media.

There are even Pioneer and other DVD players that play WMV-HD (High Definition) content without the need for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray 'capacity' Discs.

Since you don't seem to know how to google something like this, start here: http://www.wmvhd.com/ and then google WMV-HD or WMVHD.

This is now an 'industry' support standard of High Definition content distribution, and even Microsoft released the codecs for this to 'open' sources so that any manufacturer could implment the playback of this content. (Look up VC1 if I remember the corrent open term given to it)

Yes it is true High Definition, and yes it fits on standard Dual Layer DVDs.

So your analogy is borderline crazy, and I suggest you actually look this up before jumping off the cliff of ignorance.

I'd be more impressed by the this if it didn't play like a slideshow.

System requirements for a 720p video:
* Dual 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon or faster processor
* At least 1 GB of RAM
* 64 MB or greater video card

I don't know about you, but personally I don't have dual anything, much less 2.8GHz of it. Mind you, this may change in the future, once they've finished developing the PC version of Quicktime.

Quality-wise, I agree that 720p video is stunning. But does it actually make a difference when shown on a television screen, unless one uses the $5.000 plasma behemoths? In any case, Quicktime isn't alone in having unplayable high-definition video, Microsoft http://www.wmvhd.com/ has something similar.

http://www.wmvhd.com/
System Requirements

Because of the processor-intensive requirements of high definition video, you need a powerful Windows XP-based PC to get the best experience.

Minimal Configuration
(Play 720p video)
Microsoft Windows XP
2.4 GHz processor or equivalent
___

I watch 30fps 720p video via qt 7, h264 codec on G5 (single) 1600

It was a good choice Steve, real good choice!

You're correct - WMV is not broadcast. I don't think you'll be convinced anytime soon, but for a ponter try this one to (all?) nearly 20 movies - http://www.wmvhd.com/ (beware thinly disguised MS hype)

in DRM'd WMV 10 format (mplayer plays them fine)

Could anyone elaborate on this?
Last I heard, mplayer could not do DRM'd WM9 files.
Will it play high-def WM9 files with DRM too?
How about the ones with "phone-home" DRM?
How about the ones on a DVD-ROM like this WMV-HD Italian Job?

Incase you are wondering, why port WM9 to linux?

Some HDTV quality video is only in WM9, and some HDTV-DVD's also. Also for those pay music services that only use WM9.

http://www.wmvhd.com/

I think it's a little strange for MS to include support for DVD format discs now that it's obvious how easy it is to pirate this kind of media. You can buy a dual layer DVD burner for as little as $80 today.

There are a couple reasons they may have decided to do this over a much harder, possibly impossible to pirate proprietary format.

1) They are still counting on the ability to playback Xbox software so need to be able to read Xbox discs.

2) With Xbox 2's extremely high processing capability it will easily be able to playback WMV-HD format video that already exists on DVD media. Current minimum hardware requirements are a Windows PC at 2.4 to 3 ghz (for 720p). With the upcomming squabble between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD that will scare away early adopters, a large installed user base of Xbox 2's combined with WMV-HD capability could make WMV-HD the default winner in the next home video war. Especially if its DRM works which will be a huge plus to the fed-up MPAA.

www.wmvhd.com - Downloadable HDTV.

1920x1080p full resolution WMV clips. But be warned, recommended system is 3 Ghz (though it works) and the files are mammoth at about 150 megabytes for a 3 minute clip. (To play these HDTV clips, you do need the Windows Media 9 player now preinstalled on XP systems)

Hopefully, we can play this under Linux too, now that this technology is licensed:
http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5201352.html

Hi,

Those people who want to see how good HDTV can look, can download video clips from http://www.wmvhd.com (Windoze unfortunately; I think). Several of those look AMAZING....

But you need at least a 2.5 Ghz computer (at least Athlon XP2700+ or Pentium 2.8 Ghz) to play the full resolution 1920x1080p video clips smoothly at a full 24 frames per second. Looks much better than DVD if you play on a good monitor at 1600x1200 or 2048x1536... actually 35mm quality now (I dare you to tell the difference...!)

Also, watch out -- these files are BIG on that site -- something like 150 megabyte download for just a 3 minute video clip!

These clips work fine under Windows Media 9 Player. Some of the lower resolution (1280x720p) clips still look better than DVD and yet plays on a slower computer. But don't bother downloading if you have less than 1.8 gigahertz!

Hopefully it works on Linux too (anyone know of a HDTV compatible WMV player for Linux?)