Xbox 360 HDMI Capable

[DemoCoder]

MS's goal to compete with BR has always been to allow streaming HD-DVD, this requires a DVI output, otherwise it's pointless. In addition, holmdahl promised it will come, and numerous stores are already listing it in their inventories. Does this really deserve any more discussion?

The picture olisted in store inventories is NOT an HDMI cable. It's a component cable, period. An HDMI cable doesn't have RCA-jacks at the ends, norr 5 end plugs instead of HDMI's one. This Pelican connector looks exactly like the X-Box A/V connector. 5 RCA jacks + port for optical.

 

[wco81]

So your belief is that MS will never release any other peripherals than the ones they launch with? Following your logic, they will never release a keyboard, mouse, camera, 40GB HD, or bigger memory cards.

There are lots of plausible reasons for a delay:
a) maybe the cable is still undergoing QA?
b) maybe they feel that they could confuse ths customer with so many connectors available at launch
c) maybe they prioritized their accessories for launch and DVI cable didn't make the cut, they can only do so much at one time

MS's goal to compete with BR has always been to allow streaming HD-DVD, this requires a DVI output, otherwise it's pointless. In addition, holmdahl promised it will come, and numerous stores are already listing it in their inventories. Does this really deserve any more discussion?

Boy you are really grasping to try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Why not admit the possibility that on this they goofed or at least shouldn't have been touting the HD capabilities along with possible MCE to X360 HDTV streaming?

Yeah anything is possible. Hell even Sony tried to add PVR features to the PS2 years after launch and look how that turned out?

Isn't it likely that if people want HD movie playback, they will simply get an HD movie player rather than getting a MCE PC with an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive and waiting for the X360 to support HDTV streaming? That's a lot simpler than the MCE PC/X360 set up, not to mention a lot cheaper.

Or if they really want to watch movies from a console, look at the PS3, which is probably going to have a lot of Blu-Ray movie support, even if HD-DVD overcomes a lot of odds (less than half the studio support of Blu-Ray, only one mainline CE manufacturer support) and stays a viable format for a couple of years.

If the HD movie market materializes in this way, then MS may not even bother trying to support HDTV movie playback on the X360 because the ship will have long sailed. Really, if they were serious about it, they would have at least put in HDMI ports from the get-go and then taken a chance with HD-DVD drive. If they are confident about their market prospects, they should have believed they could have tilted the format war towards HD-DVD with their console, the way Sony plans to do.

 

[scooby_dooby]

" Why not admit the possibility that on this they goofed "

Cause that possiblity is based on nothing but speculation. I'm not reaching at all, you're the one who's reaching. We have common sense telling us MS will just release a cable, we have Holdahl announcing it will come, we have online stores stockin it in their inventory, we have QA departments assuring us they have this product...and I'M reaching????

As far as them not being "serious" it would have been a huge gamble to unclude HD-DVD, it would've delayed launch and drove the price of the consoel up, or resulted in other parts of the console being scaled back(cpu, gpu, ram) and it was unnescesary for games, Sony has a hidden agenda they're pushing, BR is not required for games and there are other more practical ways to enable HD-DVD support for the X360.

Many people will prefer standalone drives, of course, but existing MCE consumers (and Vista as well) can purchase an HD-DVD(or BR) drive for their PC to allow for HD-r DVD playback on their entertainment centre, if they have an X360 that's just a bonus. So existing consumers of MCE or Vista can have a very affordable HD-DVD player (simply purchase the drive) and if they have X360 they get all the advantages of TiVo functionality from their console as well.

 

[expletive]

The picture olisted in store inventories is NOT an HDMI cable. It's a component cable, period. An HDMI cable doesn't have RCA-jacks at the ends, norr 5 end plugs instead of HDMI's one. This Pelican connector looks exactly like the X-Box A/V connector. 5 RCA jacks + port for optical.

This wouldnt be the first time that a website has substituted a picture of a similar product in place of the actual one for something that isnt out yet. AMazon and JandR are saying no picture available yet. And we're just going to ignore the fact that pelican said they ahve one as well? It's not gospel but imo holds more weight than an incorrect pic on bestbuys site...

 

[wco81]

OK, we'll see if they come out with a cheap cable (not likely since they're pricing all their accessories high and cutting off third parties from offering affordably-priced accessories).

Why wait to come out with it? A lot of HDTVs, especially flat panels, are sold around Christmas and before the SuperBowl so now would be the time for it, not later.

Really don't see a major hardware revision just to support HDMI though. If they redesign the console for cost reduction with cheaper CPU (on smaller process), maybe change the form factor, then they might look at changing the video encoder then. But that's at least a couple of years off. By then, HD players may be cheap enough that it's all moot.

 

[jvd]

Once again why can't they simply make a hdmi cable with an output chip in it and when its plug in it simply by passes the original output chip ?

We know the xenos will put out digital at any res , its the web tv chip that doesn't . So simply skip that chip . It shouldn't be expensive , how much can the webtv chip in digital form cost ? 5$ ? put it in a 40-50$ package and vola hdmi true digital.


Now i don't know how likely this is , but it sounds far less complicated than what many of you are saying

 

[BTOA]

Once again why can't they simply make a hdmi cable with an output chip in it and when its plug in it simply by passes the original output chip ?
you are saying

If MS does, they'll probably charge about $99+ for a damn HDMI cable. Since they are looking to making a profit this gen.

To me, if MS wants to be in the HD era. They have to have HDMI support, if not, they are not marketing the Xbox 360 towards new HDTV owners. Since most if not all HDTV in the future will have HDMI inputs, it will not put the Xbox 360 into the cool HD electronic equipment crowd. IMO.

 

[jvd]

If MS does, they'll probably charge about $99+ for a damn HDMI cable. Since they are looking to making a profit this gen.

To me, if MS wants to be in the HD era. They have to have HDMI support, if not, they are not marketing the Xbox 360 towards new HDTV owners. Since most if not all HDTV in the future will have HDMI inputs, it will not put the Xbox 360 into the cool HD electronic equipment crowd. IMO.

I don't see why they will charge u 100$ the componets are only 40$ don't see why they would charge u another 60$ for them.

As for hdmi , even with hdmi most people are going to be connecting thier cable boxes or thier hd-dvd / bluray players to them . All hdtvs will have component cables though and it still offers great quality for gaming compared to hdmi .

We shall see , either way i don't care as long as both options offer me enough quality for my gaming needs .

I will own stand alone players for my hdtv quality movie fix

 

[wco81]

Don't they charge $100 for a Wifi adapter? Other accessories are overpriced too.

So if they have to put together a kludge like that, it probably won't be cheap.

Besides access to restricted content, the only advantage of HDMI may be to reduce cable clutter. But before that happens, you need TVs to have more than one HDMI port. Or for AV receivers with multiple HDMI inputs to become fairly cheap. Or some other cheap and convenient HDMI switching option.

 

[expletive]

Once again why can't they simply make a hdmi cable with an output chip in it and when its plug in it simply by passes the original output chip ?

We know the xenos will put out digital at any res , its the web tv chip that doesn't . So simply skip that chip . It shouldn't be expensive , how much can the webtv chip in digital form cost ? 5$ ? put it in a 40-50$ package and vola hdmi true digital.


Now i don't know how likely this is , but it sounds far less complicated than what many of you are saying

I agree and keep in mind that scaling has to be done with a digital signal so the video signal is digital all the way up to the point after it is scaled to the user-selected resolution. No saying that that output cant be passed on from that point and not converted to analog.

There's a lot of specualtion on how expensive such a cable would be but do we really know how much the chip required would cost?

 

[jvd]

Don't they charge $100 for a Wifi adapter? Other accessories are overpriced too.

So if they have to put together a kludge like that, it probably won't be cheap.

Besides access to restricted content, the only advantage of HDMI may be to reduce cable clutter. But before that happens, you need TVs to have more than one HDMI port. Or for AV receivers with multiple HDMI inputs to become fairly cheap. Or some other cheap and convenient HDMI switching option.

they did price the wifi adapter at that point.

But then again the component cables are 39.99$ DOn't see them charging 40$ more for cables . They wouldn't sell. Mabye 50-60$ and i can see that . But not at a 100$

 

[wco81]

Even $40 is too much for component cables.

Then again, Monster has been getting away with their BS for years.

So don't be surprised if it happens, especially if they have to add some kind of outboard silicon for it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Once again why can't they simply make a hdmi cable with an output chip in it and when its plug in it simply by passes the original output chip ?

Surely that'd need the chip on the mobo to be replaced though? You've got front buffer > output chip > video out connector > TV. If the video out connector has direct digital output you could stick a chip on the end. If not, you'd need to re-jig the internal workings of the XB360 to provide a digital output.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Don't they charge $100 for a Wifi adapter? Other accessories are overpriced too.

It's a wireless A/B/G adapter. These start at $60 + shipping, and are normaly $70-80. It's overpriced, but not hugely.

I agree the accessories are overpriced, however I don't see the HDMI cable being more than $40 or $50 tops.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Surely that'd need the chip on the mobo to be replaced though? You've got front buffer > output chip > video out connector > TV. If the video out connector has direct digital output you could stick a chip on the end. If not, you'd need to re-jig the internal workings of the XB360 to provide a digital output.

Surely MS has thought of this and devised a solution.

 

[jvd]

Even $40 is too much for component cables.

Then again, Monster has been getting away with their BS for years.

So don't be surprised if it happens, especially if they have to add some kind of outboard silicon for it.

that is allso the price for the xbox 1 and ps2 offical cables

Surely that'd need the chip on the mobo to be replaced though? You've got front buffer > output chip > video out connector > TV. If the video out connector has direct digital output you could stick a chip on the end. If not, you'd need to re-jig the internal workings of the XB360 to provide a digital output.

and that is why i asked the question 2 pages ago which was ignored.

However why can't they just have it pass through the chip unchanged ? I don't know how it works but perhaps it cna be that simple . Just run it through the chip with the chip not touching the signal out to the cable where the new chip scales it digitaly ?

I think that is what hte problem is , the chip converts it to analog while scaling it if it doesn't scale it perhaps it will pass through as a digital signal .

I smiply odn't nkow but that is why i asked

 

[wco81]

You have a lot of faith.

Anyways, I guess they really want the X360 to encourage MCE sales because if they got streaming to work, you have to buy an overpriced wifi adapter (which needs 802.11a for less interference in video streaming) and some kind of workaround to add HDMI to the X360.

Plus they're holding out against Blu-Ray just because it doesn't fit into their MCE and Vista plans as well as HD-DVD, namely because of BD-J instead of iHD.

 

[expletive]

So it seems like all that would be required is something like this Silicon Image chip:

http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=15&ptid=1

They cost about $11.50 each in quantity.

http://www.siliconimage.com/news/press/detailpressrelease.aspx?id=217

Seems like the cost of a cable like this could be as high as $25 when you figure in HDMI licensing fees as well.

The question then becomes can the 360 AV chip take the output directly from the scaler as digital data and send it to the silicon image instead of converting it to analog.

(BTW, an HDMi cable would also allow the 350 to output standard DVDs upscaled to 720p/1080i.)

 

[scooby_dooby]

It's not faith it's called common sense. Unless there is SOME confirmation, or some reason to believe the X360 is incapable of having an HDMI cable then common sense says they wil lrelease one.

Also, you can simply buy a generic wireless router you know....

 

[expletive]

Plus they're holding out against Blu-Ray just because it doesn't fit into their MCE and Vista plans as well as HD-DVD, namely because of BD-J instead of iHD.

No, namely because of MMC and 'no-MMC' in BR.