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Xbox 360 Coming With HDMI Port?
GeekGod writes "Images of an Xbox 360 motherboard with HDMI-port have been leaked on the internet. So it looks like Microsoft will follow into Sony's footsteps and release an Xbox 360 with a digital video output. This might also come in handy for their future HD-DVD addon, certainly when movies will get HDCP-protected."
and is quickly killing off component inputs on new HDTVs, this move only makes sence.
So... there's a screenshot of an HDMI port. From an anonymous source. And the anonymous source says that the HDMI port in the picture is connected to an XBox 360 motherboard. And we're supposed to take his word for it, and that's supposed to be our proof that the XBox 360 is getting HDMI.
Uhh...
I guess it makes sense if Zonk is compelled to publish any XBox 360 related news that comes in, but frankly, I don't find this very convincing.
Meanwhile, I thought it was pretty stupid and asinine that Sony split their market by making you buy an entire new $600 PS3 to upgrade your $500 PS3 to HDMI. I'm gonna consider it pretty stupid and asinine if Microsoft also splits their market by making you buy an entire new $400 XBox to upgrade your older $400 XBox to HDMI.
I hate it when people complain about them "screwing over early adopters". Either it was worth $400 for the console or it wasn't. Quit trying to stop them from adding a feature many of us who don't yet have an XBox 360 want. They're not going to have HD-DVD games, they're not going to up the clock speed, they're not going to add more memory. They are just adding a couple of features that in no way change what games you can play and how they look. Hopefully when they move to the smaller die the XBox 360's will run a little cooler and the fans won't be so loud. That's not "screwing over early adopters". They're taking advantage of new technology when it comes out. The XBox 360's that people have already bought won't lose features.
This is the one guaranteed not to happen. Why? Because, the advantage to game developers of developing for a console over a PC is that you have a known system. You KNOW you're developing for a triple-core 3.2GHz G5 derivative. Now if they bump the speed to 4 GHz, you'd have to develop for two systems. One lower-quality game at 3.2 GHz, one higher-quality at 4. If a developer got lazy and only developed for the 4 GHz model, you'd have original 360 owners complaining about the crappy performance. A console is supposed to be good performance all the time, no frame rate dips. That's the point of a console.
The other possibility is an annoying 'only works on Xbox360 mark 2'. Imagine if Sony started releasing games that only work on the slim PS2, not on the original? Original owners would revolt! (Xbox360 purchasers would be even more mad, considering the purchase price of the 360. HD-DVD upgrade, sure, I can see that (along with the release of an external HD-DVD drive for the original; or a mandate that games only come on original DVDs.)
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Yes, they'd have a PC... except that it would be completely proprietary and locked-down to only run licensed programs.
Make no mistake, this is actually Microsoft's and Sony's wet dream: to finally kill off that pesky "general-purpose" computer whose ability to run Free Software makes it so hard for them to abuse the sheeple more than they already do!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
With Sony you get to decide up front if you really want to support HDMI (a bad idea), or if you want your HD delivered over component cables (you can do 1080p over component and newer HD units with real 1080p displays support this). I did not think the 360 would release a different confiuration later, that's a lot more dishonest in my mind.
If you don't HAVE to use HDMI, why not avoid it and the DRM it entails? Device hookup to-date has been pretty thorny so unlike most digital connections it generally brings more headaches than it solves. And in the process you get to save money.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That's another good reason to use component for HD signals, longer cable runs and much easier to switch (most any old video+L+R switch box will do the trick).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If you ever tried to work with PS2 Linux as shipped by Sony, you'd know how little this really matters.
PS2 Linux only became really usable when the users fixed it up. Sony didn't give a rat's ass about it.
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
Looking at how they shifted their proprietary a/v output jack upwards and squeezed in the HDMI port underneath it, I took a look at how the component cable connects to the back of my 360. The component plug has a good deal of overhang and I'm not all that sure you can connect both it and the HDMI cable at the same time, which you would want to do if you want to use the optical audio port on the component cable. It would have worked better if they put the HDMI plug above the proprietary plug instead of what is pictured. The arrangement might even get in the way of the wireless networking adapter.
So, whatever this is, I doubt it's going to be released to the market as-is. It's been suggested that the proprietary a/v jack might be able to support an HDMI adapter plugged into it, the HDMI port pictured might just be a lead-off from the proprietary plug for development purposes (the submitter said he saw a grand total of 3 such motherboards, and no mention of a shell).