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.
Microsoft: Xbox 360 with Built In HD-DVD Drive On The Way?
- Thread starter JardeL
- Start date
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.
Does that mean there will be Toshiba branded Xboxes? This could give the platform a fighting chance in Japan.
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
Legend
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'.
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'.
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!
Uh, I think not.
Page 2 of the article, first paragraph...
I was thinking over the weekend (completely on my own :smile2
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!
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.
Ohh of course :smile2:
The advantage is offset somewhat by the mass production advantage microsoft has. An xbox may not be the most efficient way to play back a high dev movie, but for the price, and what it does on top it's still pretty competitive. The early HD/BR players wern't exactly efficeint either
There is also the subscription model. Most of these boxes can last 5 years, enough time to make the unit price back (one would hope).
Of course sony are walking this path too, no doubt.
(Then you get the people willing to pay $10k for a set of cables.)
The advantage is offset somewhat by the mass production advantage microsoft has. An xbox may not be the most efficient way to play back a high dev movie, but for the price, and what it does on top it's still pretty competitive. The early HD/BR players wern't exactly efficeint either
There is also the subscription model. Most of these boxes can last 5 years, enough time to make the unit price back (one would hope).
Of course sony are walking this path too, no doubt.
(Then you get the people willing to pay $10k for a set of cables.
)
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Well in 2005 it really wasn't an option and unlike Sony, MS doesn't have as much motivation to support either HD format as Sony has for clear reasons. It was very important for MS to launch early and imo it was the right choice for them, when looking at the big picture, some people don't like big pictures though.
I was thinking over the weekend (completely on my own :smile2
I think most of us here remember the disaster that was 3DO...
It'd be smarter for a vendor to use the infrastucture that Microsoft has built. Why reinvent the wheel? Toshiba, in this case, could just pay the same contract manufacturers to make their version of the box.
Maybe in 6 months after this comes out, they will release a newer version with wifi, and so on. Adding components of a next gen console one at a time. They're already doing this with hdmi and now hd-dvd. Think of all the die hards who will be each and every one.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
I think it was smart for MS to wait for HD-DVD inclusion to be affordable. That way they didn't have to charge $600 for their console. This would have killed them worse than Sony has been hurt. I've always thought that one day we would see a 360 and a PS3 for roughly the same price, each with an HD optical drive getting pretty similar sales in the US market. That might have to wait until 2008 when HD-DVD is cheaper and Sony comes into the holiday with some games with strong branding.
Mintmaster
Veteran
Should have been?
Certainly not for a 2005 console. If 360 came out a year later, it would be almost stillborn. We're already seeing how little of a difference a HD disc is making in game content. Very few devs have the budget to generate that kind of content and be truly limited by disc space with no economical method to fit it on a disc.
Toshiba Spokesperson said:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/stuff/20071022/ttc-toshiba-says-no-to-new-xbox-360-hd-d-6017cbb.html
Tommy McClain
Hah. There's only one thing that counts for a next gen console.
Next gen games. I'm back to my 360. Later!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/21434647
Will it arrive after 2 years?
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=26628
Will it arrive after 2 years?
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=26628
