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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."
I thought that HD-DVD without HDCP would be displayed at reduced resolution as part of the DRM scheme.
and is quickly killing off component inputs on new HDTVs, this move only makes sence.
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).
...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...
This might also come in handy for their future HD-DVD addon, certainly when movies will get HDCP-protected."
All currently available HD DVD and the upcoming Blu-Ray titles are HDCP protected. When they're sent as a digital signal over HDMI or DVI to displays that support HDCP, they're encrypted. The Image Constraint Token (ICT)- part of the standard which halves the resolution when a movie is diplayed over unencrypted DVI or analog outputs- just hasn't been put to use yet, making HDCP non-mandatory.
Maybe their web server is running on an X-Box 360 and overheated!
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
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.
You forgot Universal. And between them, we have what's known as The Big Six - the six biggest movie studo parent corporations, making up the majority of mass-marketed films in the country. One of the few other potentially major players-to-be in the market, the Weinstein Company, has a distribution deal with MGM, subsidiary of Sony. So when you say "a few movie studios", you mean the ones that make almost all the movies that will make it to an HD format, and the ones who people are most worried about using DRM schemes.
THe Xbox 360 was designed with hdmi in mind. If I can refer you to http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=319&prod ucts_id=8540 they have a place holder for an official Microsoft HDMI cable for the 360 to be shipped sometime this fall with the release of the HD-DVD add-on. While they may release a newer version of the xbox 360 the older ones will still work just fine.
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.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Just to come up in the next line with:
Very funny indeed. Just to quote a fIREHOSE song: I must look like a dork!
Film at eleven: Godzilla Apocalypse: Grammar Nazi vs. Spelling Nazi
A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
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).
You could almost just buy another HDTV for that price.
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
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?
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.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley