Black XB360 120 Gig HDD + HDMI = $479

[dobwal]

The 360 effectively got a price increase with this announcement.

I would have to be a lunatic to get the Premium when for 80 bucks more I could get the Elite with extra 100 Gigs + HDMI (with free cable) + "cool" black colour especially since there is no upgrade path from the premium to the Elite as far as HDMI goes.

It's the exact reason why nobody chose the "Tard" Core Pack over the Premium. It was Hobson's Choice.

MS has effectively "Tarded" the Premium with the ludicrous $180 dollar price of the HDD and no full upgrade path for the lower models.

I felt the same way looking at my PS2 when Sony released the PSX. I basically had a tard PS2 with no 160mb-250 Gb HDD, DVR functionality, video editing functionality or the ability to sync with the PSP.

I was so incensed that in protest to Sony, I accesorized my PS2 with a cape, a football helmet and a pair of Scooby Doo underwear. However, when its sold so poorly that Sony decided not to release it outside of japan, I again fell in love with my newly non-tarded PS2. Whew... it was a close call.

 

[infinity4]

It's the same thing; the chips overheat due to the heat pumping dynamics of the console. It's not that the components themselves are prone to failure, it's that the components when within the 360 environment are prone to failure.

so its something that is really easy to fix then???

 

[Tap In]

there is no way to tell (AFAIK) the manufacture date from looking at the box..

actually each 360 box has a little door (tab) that if you pop open it exposes the label on the machine with serial number and mnfr date.

 

[Carl B]

so its something that is really easy to fix then???

Well, it's addressable. For example I think after the initial shipments, MS changed the amount of thermal paste they put on the chips. But it's limited to little things like that - they haven't, and aren't seemingly, changing the layout and cooling solutions themselves. It's tight inside that case so their presnt setup is unfortunately probably one of the better ones to choose from. When the chip process goes smaller, the issue will begin to self-correct... the chips will produce less heat, board layou can change, more room resulting to work with... it'll be a cascading effect of good things.

 

[TheChefO]

actually each 360 box has a little door (tab) that if you pop open it exposes the label on the machine with serial number and mnfr date.

Thanks Tap In

Any clarification on the new DVD drive being used in Core/premiums?

 

[AlNom]

Just another question regarding the DVD drive... why don't they use slim drives or tray-less (slot-loading)?

 

[Kaotik]

Is there any facts about "no upgrade path" stuff?
I mean, in the interview @ on10.net (MS's own site), the guy presenting the Elite model did say that they are planning something for the people who want to switch from current XB360 to Elite model, they're just not sure yet on what it'll be

 

[TheChefO]

Is there any facts about "no upgrade path" stuff?
I mean, in the interview @ on10.net (MS's own site), the guy presenting the Elite model did say that they are planning something for the people who want to switch from current XB360 to Elite model, they're just not sure yet on what it'll be

You mean in addition to the transfer cable?

 

[infinity4]

Is there any facts about "no upgrade path" stuff?
I mean, in the interview @ on10.net (MS's own site), the guy presenting the Elite model did say that they are planning something for the people who want to switch from current XB360 to Elite model, they're just not sure yet on what it'll be

for HDD you get given a "user friendly" cable that enables you to transfer info from 20GB to 120GB.
However...

- You cannot do backwards ie from 120GB to 20GB
- You cannot copy multiple HDD to 120GB ie 6x 20GB HDD to one 120GB HDD

if you were also talking about HDMI upgrade for current 360s, why do you think they have added HDMI port??? common sense really. :smile:

 

[Tap In]

HDMI 1.2 spec confirmed

Xbox 360 Elite supports HDMI 1.2 profile. For audio, you can select DD, DTS (at 1.5 Mbps), and WMA-Pro (Microsoft high fidelity multi-channel codec supported in some AVRs such as Pioneer). Since it is not based on 1.3, it will not support output of DD+ or TrueHD (even if it did, mixing would have been turned off).

PCM output is available but only for 2-channels (not 5.1). Please, please, don’t say you don’t like this. There is nothing you are going to say which we don’t know

. Our goal was to provide a digital connection for video which people wanted for some of their TVs. And of course, single cable A/V connection. So if having analog video bothered you before, you can now use digital. If you lacked component/VGA on your TV, you are in business with Xbox 360 Elite.

Keep in mind that the spring software update for HD DVD substantially improves audio fidelity. Per above, you now have a choice of no less than three output formats.

If you are keen on having 5.1 PCM output, I recommend purchasing the Toshiba A2 player which after the price drop, will be much cheaper than Elite.

 

[homy]

I dont know why it is so hard for MS to catch up with the PS3 functionalities.
It came out later and yet still not HDMI 1.3

 

[Tap In]

I dont know why it is so hard for MS to catch up with the PS3 functionalities.
It came out later and yet still not HDMI 1.3

well for one... X360 is not a HD disc movie machine for the majority of the ownership which is really the only reason anyone "needs" (not that many will even use) 1.3. More people probably just watch the 720p HD downloaded content (available from Xbox Live marketplace) than the HD DVDs since you do not need an add on to do so.

no big deal other than for the typical "checkbox fans" to point to and jump up and down about.

 

[AlNom]

Couple questions :

I'm a noob with the HDMI specs, but is it not possible to do a firmware upgrade from 1.2 to 1.3 or are there physical hardware differences?

If I have a TV set with DVI and I use an HDMI <->DVI adapter, how would I get the audio from the X360?

 

[homy]

Here is your answer from the same source

7.1 LPCM is a high rate audio signal and would require more circuit redesign than we wanted to have in this new addition. But at high level, this stuff is not too hard to do compared to all the other electronics in the box. And certainly not an issue of processing power. We are only talking about audio data paths being wide enough.

So you can't upgrade from 1.2 to 1.3

 

[Todd33]

HDMI 1.2 spec confirmed

PCM output is available but only for 2-channels (not 5.1).

Ouch.

 

[pegisys]

Couple questions :
If I have a TV set with DVI and I use an HDMI <->DVI adapter, how would I get the audio from the X360?

in the announcement video it looked if you could still use the RCA audio outs at the same time

I mean, in the interview @ on10.net (MS's own site), the guy presenting the Elite model did say that they are planning something for the people who want to switch from current XB360 to Elite model, they're just not sure yet on what it'll be

the way he was talking it did sound if he was hinting at a trade up program, but afterwards I think they mentioned the transfer cable, so I'll have to watch it again

 

[RobertR1]

Here is Amir's post discussing HDMI 1.2 and lack of PCM 5.1

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10177967&&#post10177967
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10178021&&#post10178021

 

[infinity4]

Xenos can't render games in 48bit deep colour anyway. end of story for me as a gamer and not listening to music or watching films

 

[JardeL]

Thanks Tap In

Any clarification on the new DVD drive being used in Core/premiums?

I don't know about Core or Premium but X360 Elite seems to be Hitachi-LG ;

...

 

[TheChefO]

Ouch.

Odd that HDMI 1.2 wouldn't support DD5.1, but if not, you're right that sucks. Especially since every device on the market right now (aside from ps3) is at or below this standard.

For some reason though I think this report is false seeing as though many recievers on the market currently support this version of hdmi and I doubt they are forcing optical use to gain DD5.1 support ... but I could be wrong ...