[AzBat]

Originally Posted by -tkf-

Target was mentioned i think. Walmart is supposedly gonna support HD-DVD heavily. Blockbuster is actively supporting Blu-Ray (HD-DVD not in all stores), and i actually saw a poster promoting Blu-Ray in Blockbuster here in Denmark. With a buy price of $50 (in .dk) many will want to rent the movies until they drop in price.

Yeah, he's thinking Blockbuster. That news of Bluray only was kind of bad deal since it was only for new stores. All existing Blockbuster stores that had HD-DVD were still going to offer them. Plus, I think franchise stores get to make their own choice on the matter since I think the deal was for corporate stores only.

Tommy McClain

[cthellis42]

Originally Posted by Crossbar

I thought some major video rental chain in the US were going blu-ray only for HD content. Are they still doing that?

Blockbuster said they would be only restock HD content on Blu-Ray for their box stores, but would continue to rent what they have of HD DVD for now. I haven't been to a Blockbuster for a while to see how the sections compare at this point, though. There is no change to their online store.

[Dave Baumann]

Another related article that appears to confirm Toshiba and MS are actually working on it:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Console/P4G5C3U2

Seems that MS may be going the licensing route. This will be a media hub, branded by Toshiba but with software by MS.

[Carl B]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Another related article that appears to confirm Toshiba and MS are actually working on it:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Console/P4G5C3U2

Seems that MS may be going the licensing route. This will be a media hub, branded by Toshiba but with software by MS.

How is that another article...? That's the article that started this thread!

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Carl B

How is that another article...? That's the article that started this thread!

Unless I'm missing it, the OP links to articles on Thursday, this is another article by the same publication from Friday. This article actually goes into some details about what the hardware will do (i.e. its not just a 360 with an internal HD DVD drive).

[Carl B]

You're right, my bad - I guess in my mind I've just merged both articles into one; Smarthouse is really giving the one-two punch here it seems in terms of reporting the story. Anyway it'll be interesting to see what ultimately happens. Toshiba's been pushing MS for HD DVD inclusion since before the launch - it didn't come with the Elite, but maybe they'll see fit to do an Elite II or something; I imagine the cost at which Toshiba is able to provide the drives has been coming down steadily. I'm not betting either way on a new SKU or not, but I'd believe either outcome.

All I would say though is that for it to have a tangible benefit, it would have to release very soon, as standalone HD DVD players are already approaching a point in their pricing where even the 360 add-on's savings only come to ~$30. Although I'm sure that there will be some folk that upgrade their existing 360's to the new SKU, at the same time I think these people are most likely the ones that own a 360 add-on already, thus having a transparent effect on userbase increase. Of course it could become a popular SKU among new owners as well, prices of standalones no withstanding.

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Carl B

I'm not betting either way on a new SKU or not, but I'd believe either outcome.

Well, by the looks of it we are looking at an entire media centric device, with dual-tuners, EPG, large swappable harddrives and even the potential for a configuration that will slot directly into a TV.

[aselto]

I would love to see a Toshiba manufactured Xbox 360! There would be finally a quiet Xbox. Plus Toshiba Xbox would probably have some other nice features (other than HDDVD).

[Carl B]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Well, by the looks of it we are looking at an entire media centric device, with dual-tuners, EPG, large swappable harddrives and even the potential for a configuration that will slot directly into a TV.

In terms of that configuration, I just don't foresee it really happening. The US is the 360's strongest market, and here of all places dual HD tuners is something that just doesn't factor in (though I'd love for that to change). Yet as it stands everything is cable or satellite (or Fios) driven - it just wouldn't make sense, for the same reasons that Sony's external tuner peripheral is targeting Europe and not the US.

As for the slot'ing into the TV set, that just starts to get too bizarre... nothing would surprise me, but at this time I would have to think it more of a 'blue sky' project than an actual product plan.

[AlphaWolf]

Originally Posted by Carl B

In terms of that configuration, I just don't foresee it really happening. The US is the 360's strongest market, and here of all places dual HD tuners is something that just doesn't factor in (though I'd love for that to change). Yet as it stands everything is cable or satellite (or Fios) driven - it just wouldn't make sense, for the same reasons that Sony's external tuner peripheral is targeting Europe and not the US.

Keep in mind the article's target audience. There's no doubt a NA model of a media center device would differ from a european one. If they can bring something like this out in the next year at near (current) elite pricing I think it would move quite a few units.

As for the slot'ing into the TV set, that just starts to get too bizarre... nothing would surprise me, but at this time I would have to think it more of a 'blue sky' project than an actual product plan.

I really don't see how it would be that different from TV's that ship with PVRs (other than the issues they'd have to overcome to make it work), I personally don't favor integrated devices but some people like the low profile integration offers. I wouldn't be surprised if Toshiba has been working on some sort of modular integration with their sets and is just conceptualizing adding the 360 to the program. The timeframe of it happening is very limited tho so I doubt we'll actually see any result this generation.

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Carl B

The US is the 360's strongest market, and here of all places dual HD tuners is something that just doesn't factor in (though I'd love for that to change). Yet as it stands everything is cable or satellite (or Fios) driven - it just wouldn't make sense, for the same reasons that Sony's external tuner peripheral is targeting Europe and not the US.

Depends on how the dual tuners are employed. My cable set-top box is "dual-tuner", just meaing that I can record two channels simultaneously. With CableCard systems there's no reason why more off-the-shelf media devices can't integrate with current cable operators - we are selling CableCard devices to ship into pre-built systems that just operate on Media Center.

[-tkf-]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Well, by the looks of it we are looking at an entire media centric device, with dual-tuners, EPG, large swappable harddrives and even the potential for a configuration that will slot directly into a TV.

So a "topset" box with an included 360? Not a bad move considering the 360 could provide the basis for the GUI and already has the software development package.

It reminds me of another console with the same vision

[D3B]

Sounds like a PS3 except Blu-ray works with games and movies.

[Carl B]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Depends on how the dual tuners are employed. My cable set-top box is "dual-tuner", just meaing that I can record two channels simultaneously. With CableCard systems there's no reason why more off-the-shelf media devices can't integrate with current cable operators - we are selling CableCard devices to ship into pre-built systems that just operate on Media Center.

I know what "dual-tuner" is, c'mon now. But the point remains that it's not a very viable business model in the US at this time. CableCard is a solution I looked into for myself a year ago, and what I concluded is that the ecosystem surrounding CableCard is weak, and the public awareness even weaker. Not to mention the cable companies are completely hostile to it. You guys shipping solutions into the Media Center market makes perfect sense, since that's a core area of ATI/AMD participation, but for the 360 and the US... I think the cable companies will make it a tough egg.

If it happens though hey, so much the better. I'm certainly for anything that advances the role of consoles in the home.

Originally Posted by D3B

Sounds like a PS3 except Blu-ray works with games and movies.

Let's try to refrain from 'gotcha' statements like this, yeah?

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Carl B

Not to mention the cable companies are completely hostile to it. You guys shipping solutions into the Media Center market makes perfect sense, since that's a core area of ATI/AMD participation, but for the 360 and the US... I think the cable companies will make it a tough egg.

Cable companies have opened to it on media center, and thats what we are talking about here - another vehicle for Media Center.

[mrcorbo]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Cable companies have opened to it on media center, and thats what we are talking about here - another vehicle for Media Center.

It''ll be more compelling if the Cable Companies, CE companies, and the FCC can work out an agreement for CableCard 2.0 by the time it is released. That and multistream CableCards, since as it stands now with multituner devices you need one CableCard per tuner. I'm not very optimistic, though.

[borowki]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Another related article that appears to confirm Toshiba and MS are actually working on it:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Console/P4G5C3U2

Seems that MS may be going the licensing route. This will be a media hub, branded by Toshiba but with software by MS.

Does that mean there will be Toshiba branded Xboxes? This could give the platform a fighting chance in Japan.

[Shifty Geezer]

That's the idea, but not until the end of 2008, beginning of 2009. And if it's anything like many of Toshiba's other grand technology plans, it won't see the light of day for another 5 years!

[scooby_dooby]

I guess I could see this happening if Toshiba is helping finance the R&D and production.

The 2009 release window does allow MS the time to back out if BR becomes the dominant platform. If these two formats are still competing at the end of 2008/2009, then there will probably never be a true 'winner'.

[Shifty Geezer]

If Toshiba are paying them license fees or whatever, they've no need to back out. Toshiba can go on selling an HD DVD player with inbuilt XB360, and MS can release a BRD add-on if they want!

[Archgamer]

Originally Posted by borowki

Does that mean there will be Toshiba branded Xboxes? This could give the platform a fighting chance in Japan.

Uh, I think not.

[Shifty Geezer]

Originally Posted by Archgamer

Uh, I think not.

Page 2 of the article, first paragraph...

A senior Toshiba executive in Singapore told SmartHouse that "An Xbox with a built in HD DVD drive is critical. They and we are working on it. It also has to be more than a gaming machine. Microsoft recognise this. A version of the device may also be sold under the Toshiba brand name".

[jonabbey]

Maybe this would be the fabled Toshiba CE device with Cell on board.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

Another related article that appears to confirm Toshiba and MS are actually working on it:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Console/P4G5C3U2

Seems that MS may be going the licensing route. This will be a media hub, branded by Toshiba but with software by MS.

I was thinking over the weekend (completely on my own ) that a smart thing for Microsoft to do would be to create a 'xbox compatible' hardware platform. Provide the cheap hardware + media centre* + video/music marketplace + IPTV + xbox 360 compatibility, then hook up with the big players of the HT world.

Here I was going to post my amazing insight and now I just look unoriginal and boring





*now I finally have gotten the damn this working it's awesome - curse you S3!

[Shifty Geezer]

That was a scheme MS have mentioned before. There was a vision yonks back of 'Xbox' being a hardware standard that IHV can create boxes to run, just like MSX of old. The problem with this is profitability for the IHVs. Margins would be razor thin while MS milk the software and content sales. Perhaps if the IHVs were service providers (cable companies) than the fees would justify for them, but because the XB360 is specialised towards being a powerful console rather than a cheap set-top box, the economies seem doubtful to me.