Revolution to have detachable DVD?

[basanti]

Nintendo revealed last year that its next generation console, codenamed Revolution, would be able to play back DVD movies, an option not available on GameCube. The company stated at the time that a small attachment would enable DVD movie-playback. Pundits assumed that the Big N would take a cue from Microsoft and release a separately sold dongle to unlock DVD movie options, as Bill Gates and company did with the original Xbox. This explanation seemed to make the most sense given that Revolution's self-loading media bay would play both proprietary GameCube optical discs and Revolution's 12-centimeter optical discs, which are the same size as standard CDs and DVDs.

But as it turns out, that may not be true.

We don't know if we simply missed it during the hustle and bustle of E3 2005 or of Nintendo has since updated its official documentation on Revolution, but recently discovered wording on the console's DVD solution suggests that it may not use a dongle after all. Take a look at the official description of the console's media capabilities, quoted verbatim from Nintendo's press release.

Two Disc Formats, One Slot: Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content.

It's the second sentence that threw us for a loop. A small, "self-contained attachment" to play movies and other DVD content. Unless we're missing something, a self-contained attachment seems to suggest that Nintendo might sell a Revolution DVD-drive separately.

An odd choice of words in the press release or a vague confirmation that a separate drive is in the works? Let the speculation begin.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/694/694576p1.html

 

[nintenho]

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/694/694576p1.html

The only reason I can think of them doing this for is to avoid having to pay royalties for every console sold. But even then, this makes no sense to me at all.

 

[ninzel]

I think it was a slow news day at IGN. I remember reading that ages ago and even though it seems vague, it wouldn't make any sense to sell a seperate DVD drive.

 

[NANOTEC]

The attachment is not a DVD drive. It's more likely a hardware DVD decoder module or a piece of DVD decoding software stored on a memory card. I'm leaning towards the former.

 

[nintenho]

The attachment is not a DVD drive. It's more likely a hardware DVD decoder module or a piece of DVD decoding software stored on a memory card. I'm leaning towards the former.

Why couldn't this be on the system's own OS though?

 

[Brimstone]

I could see them using the Gamecube optical drive as the default reader in the console. It helps fight piracy.

 

[NANOTEC]

Why couldn't this be on the system's own OS though?

Maybe they didn't want people to hack the console to unlock a DVD app? How does the DVD app work on Xbox 360 core unit?

I could see them using the Gamecube optical drive as the default reader in the console. It helps fight piracy.

The Gamecube's optical drive is just a regular DVD drive with special firmware.

 

[nintenho]

Maybe they didn't want people to hack the console to unlock a DVD app? How does the DVD app work on Xbox 360 core unit?

Oh, didn't think of that one. Did people do that to PS2?

 

[Ty]

Maybe they didn't want people to hack the console to unlock a DVD app? How does the DVD app work on Xbox 360 core unit?

Would Nintendo care that much seeing that DVD players are $25 bucks? What would be the risk to Nintendo if people did hack the Revolution to playback DVDs?

 

[Guden Oden]

I'm leaning towards the former.

And I'm leaning more towards the latter. Look dude. A pentium 2 400MHz processor is more than sufficient to fully decode MPEG2 in software at DVD bitrates. And that includes audio too by the way. Why would it possibly be neccessary to sell a hardware decoder dongle for a system that's undoubtedly going to offer in excess of ten times that kind of processing power? It'd just be a waste of money for them compared to if it's just some kind of minimal flash storage with a set of codecs on them or such.

 

[Squeak]

The dongle is probably only a kind of very simple key, that unlocks the DVD playing software in the Rev. Nintendo has no interest in doing more than absolutely necessary to get a DVD license.
I don’t think it will be long after release before 3rd partys make a region free dongle.
Rev could actually end up becoming quite a good little portable, region free, DVD player – especially with a pointing interface enabled by the revmote.

 

[nintenho]

Rev could actually end up becoming quite a good little portable, region free, DVD player – especially with a pointing interface enabled by the revmote.

Except it won't play HD-DVD or Bluray...

 

[Titanio]

"Two Disc Formats, One Slot: Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs."

I think it's pretty clear there's just one drive that'll play both formats. IGN would appear to be going crazy for the lack of news..

 

[NANOTEC]

And I'm leaning more towards the latter. Look dude. A pentium 2 400MHz processor is more than sufficient to fully decode MPEG2 in software at DVD bitrates. And that includes audio too by the way. Why would it possibly be neccessary to sell a hardware decoder dongle for a system that's undoubtedly going to offer in excess of ten times that kind of processing power? It'd just be a waste of money for them compared to if it's just some kind of minimal flash storage with a set of codecs on them or such.

I'm aware of that...but a piece of software also costs money. How much does the software cost vs a hardware chip? The cheapest retail DVD player on the market is around $25. That includes the drive, cables, remote, PC board, PSU, RCA connectors, component output, etc. How much do you think the hardwired DVD decoder cost? How much did you have to pay to be able to watch DVD movies on the original Xbox?

 

[nintenho]

I'm aware of that...but a piece of software also costs money. How much does the software cost vs a hardware chip? The cheapest retail DVD player on the market is around $25. That includes the drive, cables, remote, PC board, PSU, RCA connectors, component output, etc. How much do you think the hardwired DVD decoder cost? How much did you have to pay to be able to watch DVD movies on the original Xbox?

Ya know that you couldn't watch a movie unless you had the remote that came with the dongle? It was obviously just to make some extra money.

 

[London Geezer]

Oh, didn't think of that one. Did people do that to PS2?

You mean "hacking the DVD function on PS2"?
If so, yes, people hacked it literally a few weeks after release, and DVD Region X was therefore released, which allowed PS2 to play DVDs from any region, and also output RGB output on PAL consoles - out of the box PS2 could only play DVDs through composite or S-Video; RGB gave a green image, thanks to Macromedia.
Then again PS2 got very cool gadgets/hacks in its lifetime. My favourite would have to be the Blaze VGA Adapter - amazing part being the software which forced the PS2 to output progressive scan, which you could then output through VGA at full resolution: fabulous if the game had full res frame buffers but a mess if it didn't. It also had a few issues with some games, but when it worked, it worked really well.

 

[nintenho]

You mean "hacking the DVD function on PS2"?
If so, yes, people hacked it literally a few weeks after release, and DVD Region X was therefore released, which allowed PS2 to play DVDs from any region, and also output RGB output on PAL consoles - out of the box PS2 could only play DVDs through composite or S-Video; RGB gave a green image, thanks to Macromedia.
Then again PS2 got very cool gadgets/hacks in its lifetime. My favourite would have to be the Blaze VGA Adapter - amazing part being the software which forced the PS2 to output progressive scan, which you could then output through VGA at full resolution: fabulous if the game had full res frame buffers but a mess if it didn't. It also had a few issues with some games, but when it worked, it worked really well.

But why would Nintendo have a problem with this?

 

[London Geezer]

But why would Nintendo have a problem with this?

Same reason why they cut pro-scan from their PAL releases? Same for MS? While Sony kept it, but somehow cut it from some games but not some others? The reason is... no one knows.

 

[nintenho]

Same reason why they cut pro-scan from their PAL releases? Same for MS? While Sony kept it, but somehow cut it from some games but not some others? The reason is... no one knows.

Any criteria is an ad-hominem attack...meh.

 

[London Geezer]

Any criteria is an ad-hominem attack...meh.

It's the second time you use that phrase and i really don't know what you mean with it!