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."

Comments

HDMI

[kaufmanmoore]

I thought that HD-DVD without HDCP would be displayed at reduced resolution as part of the DRM scheme.

so does that mean...

[MyDixieWrecked]

is microsoft planning on releasing a "new" 360 periodically with added features? perhaps faster-clocked processor? more ram? bigger default HD in the more-expensive unit? HD-DVD drive by default? additional ports?

although I don't agree with the idea of nudging users into purchasing a completely new unit every year or two, I strongly disagree with the need to constantly purchase add-ons for the system. (HD-DVD, new harddrive unit, perhaps hdmi, if M$ can figure out how to create an add-on for that).

m$ should realize that this is what happens when you release a console with the hopes of it having such a long lifespan; I believe microsoft wanted it to last 10 years? I know Sony wants the PS3 to last about that long.

I can't really offer a solution to this, except for having a completely upgradable system with plugin daughtercards... but then you just have a desktop computer, again.

ug. something tells me that videogames are starting to move into the lifetime-investment category... especially with this new trend of episodic content and purchased add-ons. it seems that everyone will keep re-purchasing everything (classic videogames, music in new formats, movies in new formats, and now hardware).

Re:so does that mean...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hardware revisions are commonplace in the console video game industry.

From the 2600 and its multiple dip switches to various intermediate iterations of the Nintendo Gameboy/DS. Most of the time features are removed. Such as integrated video on the original Playstation (yes, the multicable was a later addition) to the loss of the parallel expansion port. Or for the PS2 lost the Firewire (iLink) port midstream. And when it went slim PS2 it lost the ability to take an internal hard drive. Or for the GBA SP the headphone jack was removed.

Adding and removing little features that have no impact on game developers has been the status quo for decades before M$ started making video game systems. They hardly invented it!

Re:so does that mean...

[Anonymous Coward]

The truth is there are a lot of ways a system can be upgraded without forcing people to upgrade their system ...

Think about the GBA SP and Nintendo DS Lite; both systems are massive redesigns that were completely backwards-compatible with their previous systems (and game developers only had to consider one platform to develop for). The HDMI interface is a very similar situation because it has nothing to do with the core components of the system.

Even if you were upgrading the resolution, all you have to do is produce a system with more than enough extra processing power on the GPU to handle the games at a higher resolution; if you look at PC graphics cards you'd only need 2x the power (as a guestimate) to change a game from running at 800x600 to 1920x1280 (yet the developers only have to make the game work on the base system). XBox 360 1080P and the Nintendo Wii HD could both end up being made in 2007; I suspect this announcement is just because HDMI is far more common on new HDTVs than component or DVI.

Can't HDMI be added later?

[The-Bus]

My understanding was that Microsoft would release an HDMI "cable" to replace the current one when the tech was ready. If you have a 360 now, with the latest update and VGA cables, your 360 now is upscaling DVD video to 720p. From the shots I've seen, it's not bad.

There is no separate VGA output. There's simply a cable you plug into a specialized port. I would imagine an HDMI cable would be a no-brainer.

I don't know enough about the hardware to know if a special motherboard is required for HDMI, but my guess is that it's not -- it's all in the cable. Maybe someone more adept can answer this question.

HDMI on 1st gen 360s?

[Sephiro444]

Altering the motherboard design to include an HDMI port on the system itself is great, but doesn't the current Xbox 360 use a proprietary A/V-out port (through which your composite, s-video, component, optical audio,etc. are all passed)?

What's to stop MS from just releasing an HDMI video cable that goes through that same port, for the sake of all those without HDMI built in, as well as an XBL or other update to make it possible?

Confusion is yours, though I understand why

[SuperKendall]

You are confusing component with composite. There is a world of difference.

Not at all, I can understand your own confusion because typically those boxes are indeed built to switch composite + L/R audio signals.

However all a component (not composite) cable really is is a cable with three RCA connectors at either end. If you've ever looked at the combo cables that carry a composite signal on yellow plus red & white jacks for audio - they too have three RCA jacks on either end.

I have used said combo cables for years for component signals, even as high as 1080i HD signals (I don't have a 1080p display yet). Composite cables are typically colored with red, green, and blue jacks so from the combo cable to the component inputs on a device I just match red to red, white to blue, and yellow to green (since in an analog component signal green is the lumenence channel).

I have also used those cheap composite/L/R switches you can buy at Walmart to switch component signals icnluding HD video, it works just fine. Component is nice because it's a pretty robust signal and you don't have to worry about signal loss with crappy cables much unless you are going a really long distance (think the max is something like 50ft!!).

Component actually has the virtue of failing more gracefully over longer distances than DVI/HDMI, because beign an all digital signal it can reach a dropoff point where there is not enough information in a signal to keep it alive, causing some really distracting video artifacts.