Yeah; I think it is called the letterbox button, but it turns 4:3 content on my WS 56 inch screen into a showbox size image. Weird. Did not try the button on the full WS image I got, but didn't need to. I am guessing this button is for non-WS TVs maybe. No other ideas :)

Yeah; I think it is called the letterbox button, but it turns 4:3 content on my WS 56 inch screen into a showbox size image. Weird. Did not try the button on the full WS image I got, but didn't need to. I am guessing this button is for non-WS TVs maybe. No other ideas :)
Do you mean shoebox? If so, I still don't understand what you mean.

Does 4:3 content look like this after you press that button, and set your TV to stretch the image to widescreen mode?

http://www.eugbanana.com/files/Pix/Widescreen4x3.jpg

If you already have the TV set to shrink the above image sideways, I could imagine the 4:3 content looking more like a square, with tall thin people (assuming the Xbox 360's new button is doing what I think/hope it's doing).

I can't wait to try this myself, cuz this is what it looks like on my TV if the cable box/movie player doesn't compensate for it...

http://www.eugbanana.com/files/Pix/Widescreen4x3-stretched.jpg

All my 1080P content is widescreen.

QUestion as I can't wade through the 26 pages this minute, but in prep...

I have a 65" sony rp set that tops out at 1080i.

Will this pass through over the component connection I currently have or will I need to connect another way ?

Okay, this is my best recollection at 5:30 AM what it was doing :)

Video:
My Widescreen TV is below with "WTF" being the 4:3 .WMV file:
_______________________
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
_______WTFWTFWTF_____ |


Now, for the image, and this better show up correctly on the forums :D

I hit the button: PRESTO:

_______________________
| |
| |
| WTFWTF |
| WTFWTF |
| WTFWTF |
| |
|__ ____________________|


DANGIT!!! OKay the WTF images should be centered, but that's what it does, it smashes it together, thus letterbox for 4:3 on a 4:3 TV. That is what I am sticking with. DANG you forums, not accepting the correct spacing :mad:

Just make sure you send it a WS image, and you are good to go, with full screen coverage. Thus anyone have a good aggregator encoder that will encode videos to WMV at WS image??? I am not doing that one at a time :p

Okay, this is my best recollection at 5:30 AM what it was doing :)

Video:
My Widescreen TV is below with "WTF" being the 4:3 .WMV file:
_______________________
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
| WTFWTFWTF |
_______WTFWTFWTF_____ |


Now, for the image, and this better show up correctly on the forums :D

I hit the button: PRESTO:

_______________________
| |
| |
| WTFWTF |
| WTFWTF |
| WTFWTF |
| |
|__ ____________________|


DANGIT!!! OKay the WTF images should be centered, but that's what it does, it smashes it together, thus letterbox for 4:3 on a 4:3 TV. That is what I am sticking with. DANG you forums, not accepting the correct spacing :mad:
Heh. The "WTF" was the wrong pic. It wasn't allowing me to link.

Anyways, that behaviour isn't quite what I was hoping. Strange. (I could see your spacing when I replied to your message. Well, more or less, because it seems I'm using a different font in my browser.)

In preparation for the update I downloaded a few of the wmv HD clips on the microsoft site to my PC which is networked with my xbox. I downloaded each in 720p and 1080p so that I could compare the two. I have a Samsung HLS6087 which will accept 1080p signals over all connections. I have my xbox connected via component. I got up early so that I could download the update and try streaming the video files from my computer. I switched my output to 1080p and then started streaming videos. The videos stream very smoothly, "like butter," as one of the earlier posters put it. The 720p videos looked spectacular, however, the 1080p vids were squished into 4:3 aspect. I have noticed that a few other people have had the problem. I switched my 360 settings back to 1080i and the 1080p videos were still squished. Any idea why this is happening?

Would those who have streamed video please make a suggestion as to which video looks the best on their system? So far, "Step into Liquid" has looked the best on mine.

In preparation for the update I downloaded a few of the wmv HD clips on the microsoft site to my PC which is networked with my xbox. I downloaded each in 720p and 1080p so that I could compare the two. I have a Samsung HLS6087 which will accept 1080p signals over all connections. I have my xbox connected via component. I got up early so that I could download the update and try streaming the video files from my computer. I switched my output to 1080p and then started streaming videos. The videos stream very smoothly, "like butter," as one of the earlier posters put it. The 720p videos looked spectacular, however, the 1080p vids were squished into 4:3 aspect. I have noticed that a few other people have had the problem. I switched my 360 settings back to 1080i and the 1080p videos were still squished. Any idea why this is happening?

Would those who have streamed video please make a suggestion as to which video looks the best on their system? So far, "Step into Liquid" has looked the best on mine.
Interesting. I will have to download both the 720p and 1080p versions for clips where both are available.

Link:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

:D

Man...I'm trying really hard to not be to critical here, but I am really aggravated that they didn't include 1366X768 for VGA resolution.......That is the freakin native rez for 90% of LCD montiors and TV's on the market.I mean Ok you skip the whole digital connection thing.....But you give us VGA and fix it so we can upconvert our DVD's and such, but yet you don't provide us with the option to run the 360 at the native resolution of our montiors!!! I mean my set won't deal correctly with the other rez's for VGA without causing significant overscan and such. I just really can't understand this from MS. I mean between this and the 1080P thing they are seriously limiting display options for people who want to keep this console. I mean if you have a 1080i CRT or 720P DLP or LCD rear projection you are OK, but if you don't have a 1080P LCD, you could be forced with always having to settle for a compromise, what was so hard about adding this resolution.

I most definitely feel your pain. However, don't most TVs default to 1360x768? I don't know why it matters, but 1366 is not divisible evenly by 16, hence the 1360. Could somebody explain this?

I never quite understood it either, but my secondary TV is also 1366x768 native, but over VGA it is 1360x768.


Well I know for myself, and many others who have posted across different forums that the 1360X768 option on the 360 doesn't play nice with there LCD TV. My set has options to adjust the picture, but even with that you can't get it right without sacrifices. However when I feed my HTPC with a 1366 X768 my set handles and displays the picture correctly. I have the HD DVD Drive pre ordered and was excited about getting it, but now I am very concerned about having the same display issues with it as obviously it goes through the 360. With other people reporting issues of 1080P over VGA problems on sets that accept 1080P over VGA I am now a little concerned as 1080P LCD set was going to be my Christmas present to myself and the way it looks now is that there might only be a handful of sets out there that you can get 1080P from the 360 on....................

Well I know for myself, and many others who have posted across different forums that the 1360X768 option on the 360 doesn't play nice with there LCD TV. My set has options to adjust the picture, but even with that you can't get it right without sacrifices. However when I feed my HTPC with a 1366 X768 my set handles and displays the picture correctly. I have the HD DVD Drive pre ordered and was excited about getting it, but now I am very concerned about having the same display issues with it as obviously it goes through the 360. With other people reporting issues of 1080P over VGA problems on sets that accept 1080P over VGA I am now a little concerned as 1080P LCD set was going to be my Christmas present to myself and the way it looks now is that there might only be a handful of sets out there that you can get 1080P from the 360 on....................
Heh. I deleted the message because it occurred to me that I didn't even know if 1360x768 was supported. Glad to see it is, although it's unfortunate that it seems for some people there are incompatibility issues.

I personally actually haven't tried it, since I don't have the VGA cable, and I don't use the Xbox 360 with my 1366x768 LCD TV anyways. 1080i on my main TV (CRT) looks gorgeous over component though. :p

I have a Westinghouse 37w1, which accepts 1080p via VGA. Before the update my component signal was better then my VGA, due in large part to the fact that the 37w1 would only accept 1024x768 as it's highest non-1080p input. After the update the picture is noticeably improved via the VGA. DVD's, 720p downloads, and games all look as good (if not a little better) through the VGA now as they do through the component. The true test will come next week (hopefully) when the add-on comes and I can actually see true 1080p content.

I have a Westinghouse 37w1, which accepts 1080p via VGA. Before the update my component signal was better then my VGA, due in large part to the fact that the 37w1 would only accept 1024x768 as it's highest non-1080p input. After the update the picture is noticeably improved via the VGA. DVD's, 720p downloads, and games all look as good (if not a little better) through the VGA now as they do through the component. The true test will come next week (hopefully) when the add-on comes and I can actually see true 1080p content.
You could try downloading 1080p WMV HD trailers/clips from Microsoft and see if they work. However, some people say they've had problems with those clips displaying as 4:3.

Why the heck is 1080p not working for the Microsoft videos?

Is the video compressed in a 4:3 size, even though 1080p is a WS resolution? Is that even possible?

What gives, I must leave work early to test this out...

:p

Although I'm sure the process is pretty streamlined, I don't have it set up near my computer and I'm not sure I want to start messing with it. It sounds like those who have far more expertise then me are having some issues, so I'll just wait for the add-on next week.

Sorry gang if this has been answered, but does the 360 HD drive output 1080i via component? Thanks!

Sorry gang if this has been answered, but does the 360 HD drive output 1080i via component? Thanks!

It's more, does the 360 do it, yes it does.

Seems the addon wont be my first taste of HD after all; I will be streaming my WMV HD copy of Terminator 2 as soon as the update is loaded :)

I tried the disk and it plays like a normal DVD. The HD part need the funky software to run only on a PC. If you've ever explored the disk, all the files are scattered. My "Flight" disk had two large wmv files for 720p and 1080p. Those can be played when I get them off the DVD. Maybe now they can play on the DVD, I'll try that next.

The 360 sees the "Magic of Flight" disk as a "mixed media disk" and then from the Media blade I can browse it and play the 720p files perfectly! Yay! :D

I tried burning the wmv files to a disk and playing them which works great for the 720p clips, but I'm also only getting a 4:3 screen when I try to play 1080p clips from the same disk. I can't even get the TV to fill or zoom the image to full screen. Using the VGA input on a Westinghouse 37w1.

Regarding the lack if support for 1366x768, I believe I read that most cards are only capable of outputting resolutions that are multiples of four - 1360 is - 1366 is not... I do not know if this also applies to whatever card/chip the 360 uses. Think I read it in some HTPC-thread somewhere.

Wow, let me see if I have this correct, T2 has wmv? Thus, I can copy from disk to HDD, and stream to 360? Ahh, heck I have to search through my boxes of DVDs to find the one loan DVD of T2.

Is this accurate?

Regarding the lack if support for 1366x768, I believe I read that most cards are only capable of outputting resolutions that are multiples of four - 1360 is - 1366 is not... I do not know if this also applies to whatever card/chip the 360 uses. Think I read it in some HTPC-thread somewhere.
I had thought it had to be a multiple of 16 (which 1360 and 768 both are), but now I'm reading that restriction (on some cards) is to a multiple of 8 (which 1360 and 768 also both are). 1366 is not a multiple of 4, 8, or 16.

Looks like they've stopped taking preorders at Amazon. I'm glad I ordered mine when I did.

It's apparently on the 13th in Canada. I can't post URLs, but it's up for pre-order at Amazon Canada and says the 13th.
It seems to have disappeared completely from Amazon.ca. I can't find the HD DVD add-on drive on the site at all now.

Called Amazon, sales rep confirms they are NOT taking anymore pre-orders.... sold out of the initial allotment (computer shows 0 availability)

Must be great news for Boo Ray !!

Darn it! Missed out on the Amazon pre-order!

Get it from Robert at VE.

So, in my case, since I dont have a capale 1080p HDTV (max is 1080 i) and since I dont have an HDMI capable receiver, I am missing out on Dolby True HD and 1080p?

Called Amazon, sales rep confirms they are NOT taking anymore pre-orders.... sold out of the initial allotment (computer shows 0 availability)

Must be great news for Boo Ray !!I just took a look and it is still in 11th place even though it is no longer available. I wonder how many units were alloted to them because they were going strong for days. Could it be; they had several thousand players alloted to them. I know my local ebgames store said they were alloted 950 ( I have three of them) and they were sold out in four days.

I just took a look and it is still in 11th place even though it is no longer available. I wonder how many units were alloted to them because they were going strong for days. Could it be; they had several thousand players alloted to them. I know my local ebgames store said they were alloted 950 and they were sold out in four days.
One single store was alotted 950?!? That doesn't seem right.

I believe I was the very first at my local EB Games (Toronto) to order a 360 add-on HD DVD drive, and I only ordered a week and a half ago.

I am guessing so Purduelalum; however, I am also guessing that a lot of people are gonna say that they cannot tell a difference when comparing the two (1080i to 1080p). Time will tell!

But why did we climb that mountain? Why did we travel to the Moon? "Because it was there." Get to the store, and Climb that mountain/Travel to the Moon :p

One single store was alotted 950?!? That doesn't seem right.

I believe I was the very first at my local EB Games (Toronto) to order a 360 add-on HD DVD drive, and I only ordered a week and a half ago. I don't know if this number is right or not. I know I have 3 on order and 950 does not sound to far fetched. Why don't you ask you local store how many they have alloted I am curious to see what they tell you :)

Wow, let me see if I have this correct, T2 has wmv? Thus, I can copy from disk to HDD, and stream to 360? Ahh, heck I have to search through my boxes of DVDs to find the one loan DVD of T2.

Is this accurate?

NO! T2 Extreme Edition has a 2nd WMV disk. It seems though that it is software protected and can't play in the 360 only a PC, if that, it's buggy for many.

One question about h.264 support on the 360. Will this add-on plus an hddvd authored disc be the only way to playback h.264 content on the console?

I don't know if this number is right or not. I know I have 3 on order and 950 does not sound to far fetched. Why don't you ask you local store how many they have alloted I am curious to see what they tell you :)
Well, EB Games has 4500 stores around the world. 950 units per store would be over 4 million right there. :p

Where are you located? Maybe a few specific stores got large allocations. I am also not sure how many stores out of that 4500 are in North America.

Anyways, FWIW, with no inside information whatsoever, I am predicting something north of 1 million units sold by the end of the year.

Judging by the buzz I'm seeing, I'm becoming increasinlgy optimistic on the future of HD-DVD based on the 360 player alone.

Don't ask Eb games/Gamestop anything! You get what you pay for; therefore, those companies don't get much for employees. You don't ask McDonald's employees how to fix a Turkey do you?

Sweep the LEG! You got a problem with that?

This is all very new and confusing to me! "So", If I purchased the HD-DVD player for my X-Box live edition and my TV doesn't have VGA inputs, but only component. Could I use A VGA to component adapter and thus be able to upscale my old DVD collection to 1080i? VGA cable from the console adapted to the component cable and connected to the component input of my display? maybe, hopefully or a pipedream? Thank's People.

I can't say for certain, but yes, that seems plausible. They're both analogue connections.

VGA (which is RGBHV with an HD15 plug) can't be converted to Component (YPbPr) without a transcoder.

Be careful with those vga/component things, make sure it supports 720p. Using the VGA cable will not let you use 1080i resolution. You are stuck at 720p or at least (progressive) I think. Perhaps someone can back me up on this if correct. But your idea may work. 720p=1080i more or less. Upscale your DVDs to 720p via component... :D

But getting a 1080p TV may be your best bet, when or if possible.

SWEEP THE LEG!!!

Yeah, 480p mentioned below by Kalns is correct on DVDs, I forgot about the CCS blah blah blah, BS :mad:

But read up above about my be careful progressive resolutions issue.

you can upscale games to 1080P through component, but DVD's are limited to 480P.

I tried to read through the whole thread but im limited in time this afternoon:

I was going to get an A2 HD DVd player when it was released. Now that it has been delayed im looking at the 360 player. My questions are 2 fold...

1. Will the xbxo HD player upconvert regular dvd? I have the component set up. I also have a 1080p television.

2. Will the Graphics of the HD-DVD player be the same as the HDMI Toshiba A2 meaning should i expect to get 1080 i graphics from the player even though it isnt connected through HDMI?

Thansk

I just got the new down load for my 360. I can select 1080p for component out but my TV will not execpt it. I have a Sony XBR2 1080p which only does 1080i through component.

With my vga cable I can select 1920x1080 (i assume 1080p) but my TV says it is an "unexecptable format, adjust your computer".

Has any one had better luck?

Ok. I apologize for not being the brightest knife in the barrel here, but...

I just downloaded the new 1080p "patch" for Xbox360.

I have the HD component cables for the 360 and my television is a Sony KDS-60A2000, so it does support 1080p.

I need the VGA cables that Xbox sells? Is that's what is going on? I'm sorry if this is an obvious or repeated question. I did use search, but I didn't see an answer.

Ok. I apologize for not being the brightest knife in the barrel here, but...

I just downloaded the new 1080p "patch" for Xbox360.

I have the HD component cables for the 360 and my television is a Sony KDS-60A2000, so it does support 1080p.

I need the VGA cables that Xbox sells? Is that's what is going on? I'm sorry if this is an obvious or repeated question. I did use search, but I didn't see an answer.


Most Sony tvs (all that I know of) do not support 1080p over compnent cables. So yes you would need the extra cables.

PS. I talked to Xbox support on the phone and will state what they said in my next post.

Most Sony tvs (all that I know of) do not support 1080p over compnent cables. So yes you would need the extra cables.

Is VGA 1080p usually better than 720p or 1080i through component? It's only $40.00 for the cables, so even if it's only a little improvement, I'll shell out the cash. :)

So I called Xbox support about my TV (Sony XBR2 46") not working with 1080p over VGA for my game. I got right through to a person (American!) but I end up on the phone for awhile anyway. They were a little (or a lot) misinformed. They could not tell me the refresh rate or anything of importance. All in all it came down to them say that the update was intended for the new HD-DVD player and not for games?!? They told me that my games would not work with 1080p and that not all games were supported. So I asked my self how can “some” games not be supported at 1080p if it does not support 1080p for games? Then it would not support any of them?

Anyway their staff does not have a clue about this update other than it should work fine with their HD-DVD player.

Has anyone gotten 1080p to work for any game?


Here is a link their site about the update.....it says nothing about games specifically but states “video”.


http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2006/1030-novemberupdate-completelist.htm

Is VGA 1080p usually better than 720p or 1080i through component? It's only $40.00 for the cables, so even if it's only a little improvement, I'll shell out the cash. :)

VGA use 1080p60 to transfer 1080i60 video and 1080p24 film content to your display. Component use 1080i60 to transfer exact the same 1080i60 video and 1080p24 film to your display.

In the VGA case, your Xbox360 is doing the 1080i60/1080p24 to 1080p60 conversion. In the component case, your display is doing the 1080i60/1080p24 to 1080p60 conversion.

Which case is better? It is really depend on who has a better scaler.

Is VGA 1080p usually better than 720p or 1080i through component? It's only $40.00 for the cables, so even if it's only a little improvement, I'll shell out the cash. :)




NO! I think VGA is much worse and I use component over VGA (I have both cables still).

The color is very washed out on VGA through the Xbox. My TV is setup (not changeable) to accept a VGA signal that outputs 255 color garment (not sure what the unit is, maybe someone could help me out?) But the Xbox only outputs a signal of 235ish color garment. This makes for a very soft color. There is also a little haloing affect through VGA on my TV.

Ok. I apologize for not being the brightest knife in the barrel here, but...

I just downloaded the new 1080p "patch" for Xbox360.

I have the HD component cables for the 360 and my television is a Sony KDS-60A2000, so it does support 1080p.

I need the VGA cables that Xbox sells? Is that's what is going on? I'm sorry if this is an obvious or repeated question. I did use search, but I didn't see an answer.
If you have a Sony SXRD **A2000 you are out of luck getting the 1080p signal from the XBOX to the TV. Sony's component inputs only accept 1080i and the VGA input's highest resolution is 1360x768.

So I called Xbox support about my TV (Sony XBR2 46") not working with 1080p over VGA for my game.


What is the max resolution your XBR 46 could accept over VGA input? If xbr2 46 has a better scaler than Xbox360, you should get better results using component 1080i60 then 1080p60 VGA input from xbox360.

If you have a Sony SXRD **A2000 you are out of luck getting the 1080p signal from the XBOX to the TV. Sony's component inputs only accept 1080i and the VGA input's highest resolution is 1360x768.

I see. Ok. Well, here's to hoping that the HD-DVD drive comes with HDMI and can somehow push video games' video through that. I think it may already be confirmed this will not happen, but oh well. :) Thanks!

What is the max resolution your XBR 46 could accept over VGA input? If xbr2 46 has a better scaler than Xbox360, you should get better results using component 1080i60 then 1080p60 VGA input from xbox360.

Yes this is very ture and what I planned to do. I was just trying out 1080p over VGA to see how it worked (my Max resolution over VGA is 1080p). In theory if I send my TV a 1080i signal over component it should convert it to 1080p. I don’t really have anyway of telling though.

All in all I was going to use component anyway because the VGA input on my TV is really set up for a computer. When using VGA I loose a lot of my picture controls as well as RBG level controls....which is a no go for me. But if you use a computer all of these things could be set internally in the computer and output to the TV.

I see. Ok. Well, here's to hoping that the HD-DVD drive comes with HDMI and can somehow push video games' video through that. I think it may already be confirmed this will not happen, but oh well. :) Thanks!
Leave your XBOX set 1080i, the Sony TV does a pretty good job of upconverting the 1080i signal to 1080p. And in the case of the HD-DVD add-on, because the material recorded on the disc is 1080p, just because the material is transmitted as 1080i, you aren't losing any picture quality when the SXRD converts it to 1080p.

O.M.G. Is this what I was talking about, or is it something else:

DVD Player

Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies.
Improved support for audio streams on incorrectly authored DVDs.
Better handling of unreadable discs.
Updated count-down timer.
HD DVD player support.
Added zoom support for non-anamorphic content.
Added support to Family Settings to block Unrated Content

Complete list of upgrades. (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2006/1030-novemberupdate-completelist.htm)
Nope. The new Xbox 360 update still does not correct my aspect ratio issues. :(

I have posted a full explanation here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=744036).

Got add-ons today. Initial impression is that the picture is phenomenal thru component outputs or VGA.

Sound is ok, but obviously not matching an A1.

Overall I'm very impressed with it. For $199 if you already have a 360 and a HDTV it's a no brainer.

It's a cheap alternative while the war rages on and features that should be standard become the norm (HDMI 1.3 etc)

Is there ANY reason to choose an A2 over the 360 add-on (& VGA cable)? A2=1080i, 360=1080p over VGA. Both have TruHD sound. A2=$500, 360-$200.

I have both on order but I'm thinking of dropping the A2. Any opinions?

Got add-ons today. Initial impression is that the picture is phenomenal thru component outputs or VGA.

Sound is ok, but obviously not matching an A1.

Overall I'm very impressed with it. For $199 if you already have a 360 and a HDTV it's a no brainer.

It's a cheap alternative while the war rages on and features that should be standard become the norm (HDMI 1.3 etc)

How did you get them early? And how does the PQ match up to the A1? Do you have an SD version of an HD-DVD eg Batman Begins to compare the DD sound?

Thanks

Is there ANY reason to choose an A2 over the 360 add-on (& VGA cable)? A2=1080i, 360=1080p over VGA. Both have TruHD sound. A2=$500, 360-$200.

I have both on order but I'm thinking of dropping the A2. Any opinions?
It all depends on your TV. If your TV accepts 1080p over VGA go for the XBOX add on.

Got add-ons today. Initial impression is that the picture is phenomenal thru component outputs or VGA.

Sound is ok, but obviously not matching an A1.

Overall I'm very impressed with it. For $199 if you already have a 360 and a HDTV it's a no brainer.

It's a cheap alternative while the war rages on and features that should be standard become the norm (HDMI 1.3 etc)
Psst... Are you a dealer? $199 a hit, right?

This is all very new and confusing to me! "So", If I purchased the HD-DVD player for my X-Box live edition and my TV doesn't have VGA inputs, but only component. Could I use A VGA to component adapter and thus be able to upscale my old DVD collection to 1080i? VGA cable from the console adapted to the component cable and connected to the component input of my display? maybe, hopefully or a pipedream? Thank's People.

What is your TV ? Some TVs take RGB over component. Check your TV's specs....

I tried to read through the whole thread but im limited in time this afternoon:

I was going to get an A2 HD DVd player when it was released. Now that it has been delayed im looking at the 360 player.


Where did you see that the A2 was delayed? AFAIK that hasnt been posted anywhere.

It all depends on your TV. If your TV accepts 1080p over VGA go for the XBOX add on.

Put my order In for the add-on today. :)

Is there ANY reason to choose an A2 over the 360 add-on (& VGA cable)? A2=1080i, 360=1080p over VGA. Both have TruHD sound. A2=$500, 360-$200.

I have both on order but I'm thinking of dropping the A2. Any opinions?


Xbox HD-DVD does not out put TruHD. Read carfully...it down streams it to Dolby Digital. You would need a set of anolog outs (6 of them) or HDMI 1.3 to get TruHD out of the Xbox. On the other had Toshiba has no problem outputting Dolby Digital + and TruHD.

Couple questions which I hope were not asked yet

1) Has msft said anything about DD+/TruHD support? An HDMI cable? An Analog Audio Cable? Anything?

2) For those of you who have seen it in action, is fan noise still an issue? Fan noise doesn't bother me when playing games but movies are a completely different story.

3) Is there any difference (better or worse) in image quality between the 360 add on and the A1?

What is your TV ? Some TVs take RGB over component. Check your TV's specs....
I have a Sharp LCD (LC-45GX6U to be exact). IF it takes RGB over componet, does that mean that the x360 add on player will upscale over the component cable by this method (i.e., without having to buy the VGA)? If so, how would I know if my TV can do this?

...or did I completely misunderstand this statement?

Nope. The new Xbox 360 update still does not correct my aspect ratio issues. :(

I have posted a full explanation here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=744036).
The above problem is 4:3 480p material getting stretched to 16:9 on my TV, due to a limitation on the TV. (My TV automatically goes into 16:9 widescreen mode, when it receives any 480p or 1080i input, regardless if it's 16:9 or not.)

Ironically, the Xbox 360 will display 1080p 16:9 material squished into a 4:3 box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8788183&&#post8788183). (Pictures in that link.) I believe this is a problem with the Xbox 360 update, not my TV.

I have a Sharp LCD (LC-45GX6U to be exact). IF it takes RGB over componet, does that mean that the x360 add on player will upscale over the component cable by this method (i.e., without having to buy the VGA)? If so, how would I know if my TV can do this?

...or did I completely misunderstand this statement?

Essentially both VGA/RGB and component use 3 video inputs. VGA uses RGB and component uses YPbPr. So, if your TV takes RGB over component you can take the VGA output from 360 - use a cheap vga to component adopter cable ...

Ironically, the Xbox 360 will display 1080p 16:9 material squished into a 4:3 box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8788183&&#post8788183). (Pictures in that link.) I believe this is a problem with the Xbox 360 update, not my TV.

Well the problem is that the files on the MS site are 1440x1080 and not 1920x1080 which is true 1080p. For some reason the xbox doesn't like this resolution and decides it wants to pillarbox the signal. You can try this site which has some true 1080p videos towards the bottom: German HD Site (http://www.hd-channel.com/535457979d0979003/index.html#53545797ab0ac9930). Thanks to getnate12345 for the link.

They are not the best (the cameraman needs a new tripod), but it is nice to use all the pixels on your 1080p tv. I personally like the berlin video best.

from what i understand these hd-dvd add ons have been preordered through stores online and b&m like HOTCAKES.....


This Is Great News for Microsoft!!!

Anyone know the upc number for this baby? I'd like to research and see when I can expect some in...

Ok. I apologize for not being the brightest knife in the barrel here, but...

I just downloaded the new 1080p "patch" for Xbox360.

I have the HD component cables for the 360 and my television is a Sony KDS-60A2000, so it does support 1080p.

I need the VGA cables that Xbox sells? Is that's what is going on? I'm sorry if this is an obvious or repeated question. I did use search, but I didn't see an answer.

My understanding is the Sony's will not fill the screen via the VGA connection.

Got add-ons today. Initial impression is that the picture is phenomenal thru component outputs or VGA.

Sound is ok, but obviously not matching an A1.

Overall I'm very impressed with it. For $199 if you already have a 360 and a HDTV it's a no brainer.

It's a cheap alternative while the war rages on and features that should be standard become the norm (HDMI 1.3 etc)

Finally....an actual hands-on experience!!!! I picked up my premium system yesterday for $325.00 from someone who did not need a new 360. Now I await my add-on with renewed excitement as I will be using the component connection with my Sony 60A2000 set. Seems like my dream is coming true where one could expect to receive a next generation gaming system along with quality HD playback. I would expect the PS3 to playback HD software with similar quality. :cool:

Is there ANY reason to choose an A2 over the 360 add-on (& VGA cable)? A2=1080i, 360=1080p over VGA. Both have TruHD sound. A2=$500, 360-$200.

The A2 has HDMI output, which means it can output full quality DTHD/DD+ if you have an HDMI reciever/processor.

The 360 is "limited" to Analog video and S/PDIF for audio, so DTHD/DD+ will be downconverted to 640k DD.

Well the problem is that the files on the MS site are 1440x1080 and not 1920x1080 which is true 1080p. For some reason the xbox doesn't like this resolution and decides it wants to pillarbox the signal. You can try this site which has some true 1080p videos towards the bottom: German HD Site (http://www.hd-channel.com/535457979d0979003/index.html#53545797ab0ac9930). Thanks to getnate12345 for the link.

They are not the best (the cameraman needs a new tripod), but it is nice to use all the pixels on your 1080p tv. I personally like the berlin video best.
Sweet, thanks.

This may actually be a good thing for me, because this means that titles like Casablanca and other 4:3 material on HD DVD might display correctly on my TV.

The strange part is that the behaviour for 480p DVD is different.

DVDs have (since the beginning) been a non-square pixel format. They've supported 4:3 and 16:9 with the same 1.5:1 pixel ratio. DVDs are never pillarboxed on the disc.

What it sounds like is that the 360 DVD player, when set to widescreen, simply outputs the data as on the disc. I believe a lot of DVD players do that, in fact, I can't think of a DVD player that pillarboxes 4:3 DVD when set to widescreen (of course I haven't used a DVD player in ages).

HD DVD (and WMV-HD 99% of the time) are, and always will be square pixel formats. There's no anamorphic provision in HD DVD, as such, it appears the 360 does the same thing with that, outputs the data as in the source (when set to widescreen).

The only real problem I see, is that the Microsoft has used some non-standard encoding for some of it's 1080p WMV-HD titles and that the 360 isn't dealing with that. HD DVD shouldn't be a problem though.

DVDs have (since the beginning) been a non-square pixel format. They've supported 4:3 and 16:9 with the same 1.5:1 pixel ratio. DVDs are never pillarboxed on the disc.

What it sounds like is that the 360 DVD player, when set to widescreen, simply outputs the data as on the disc. I believe a lot of DVD players do that, in fact, I can't think of a DVD player that pillarboxes 4:3 DVD when set to widescreen (of course I haven't used a DVD player in ages).

HD DVD (and WMV-HD 99% of the time) are, and always will be square pixel formats. There's no anamorphic provision in HD DVD, as such, it appears the 360 does the same thing with that, outputs the data as in the source (when set to widescreen).

The only real problem I see, is that the Microsoft has used some non-standard encoding for some of it's 1080p WMV-HD titles and that the 360 isn't dealing with that. HD DVD shouldn't be a problem though.
That's good to hear with HD DVD, since it seems at least with WMV that the info that they're square pixels is understood by TV in 1080i. ie. 1440x1080 gets seen as 4:3 content on my TV. However, the same is not true for 4:3 DVD content over 480p. DVDs that are supposed to be 4:3 get get displayed (over component) on my TV stretched to the 16:9 aspect ratio.

My other DVD player compensates for this by sending out a pillarboxed signal to my TV. Or at least that's the way I understand it. There is no way to do this with the Xbox 360.

I don't use the Xbox 360 for DVD playback because of this issue. Your post suggests that the Xbox 360 won't be a problem on my TV for 4:3 HD VC-1 on HD DVD, because the player is sending out square pixels (at HD resolutions). However, this could still be an issue for 480p extras on HD DVD, since I assume the Xbox 360 will switch to 480p mode for these 480p extras. Not sure though. Perhaps HD DVD 480p content is square pixels? Would that matter?

P.S. I wonder why MS's 1080p WMV clips are using non-square pixels. FWIW, even Flip4Mac in QuickTime on OS X understands that these WMV files use non-square pixels, and neither application is a MS product (even though MS distributes Flip4Mac for Mac users).

from what i understand these hd-dvd add ons have been preordered through stores online and b&m like HOTCAKES.....


This Is Great News for Microsoft!!!

You mean Blur Ray...... :p

That's good to hear with HD DVD, since it seems at least with WMV that the info that they're square pixels is understood by TV in 1080i. ie. 1440x1080 gets seen as 4:3 content on my TV. However, the same is not true for 4:3 DVD content over 480p. DVDs that are supposed to be 4:3 get get displayed (over component) on my TV stretched to the 16:9 aspect ratio.

That would be because 1080i is an unambiguous 16:9 resolution, and the 360 will pad content to fit.

DVD'd 480i/p is an ambiguous resolution that can mean either 4:3 or 16:9.

My other DVD player compensates for this by sending out a pillarboxed signal to my TV. Or at least that's the way I understand it. There is no way to do this with the Xbox 360.

My HTPC does that, but I don't think my Pioneer Elite does.

I don't use the Xbox 360 for DVD playback because of this issue. Your post suggests that the Xbox 360 won't be a problem on my TV for 4:3 HD VC-1 on HD DVD, because the player is sending out square pixels (at HD resolutions). However, this could still be an issue for 480p extras on HD DVD, since I assume the Xbox 360 will switch to 480p mode for these 480p extras. Not sure though. Perhaps HD DVD 480p content is square pixels? Would that matter?

I don't know, but since the 480p content won't be CSS protected, it shouldn't be subject to the stupid CSS upconversion restriction, hopefully it will be properly handled.

P.S. I wonder why MS's 1080p WMV clips are using non-square pixels.

The reason we were given was for decoding ease. When they were made, it was determined that full 1920x1080 WMV-HD would not be decodeable on most PCs. Thus the resolution/bitrate was reduced to make decoding easier.

FWIW, even Flip4Mac in QuickTime on OS X understands that these WMV files use non-square pixels, and neither application is a MS product (even though MS distributes Flip4Mac for Mac users).

My uneducated guess is that the WMV decoding is handled by the HD DVD decoder "engine" and that that is not designed to handle non-square pixels.

I don't know, but since the 480p content won't be CSS protected, it shouldn't be subject to the stupid CSS upconversion restriction, hopefully it will be properly handled.
So are you suggesting that 480p content on HD DVD can be upscaled?

Cuz according to this page (http://www.digital-digest.com/highdefdvd/faq.html#faq417), SD content on HD DVD uses non-square pixels.

If SD content on HD DVD were upscaled, it could avoid the stretching issue altogether. Can HD DVD players upscale copyrighted 480p material on HD DVD (even if it can't do so on DVD)?

So are you suggesting that 480p content on HD DVD can be upscaled?

I'm guessing that it's possible, because the reason DVD can't be upscaled is due to CSS licensing restrictions, that 480p is the maximum supported analog output for CSS (or actually Macrovision I think) content.

However HD DVD uses AACS, which has a maximum analog output of 1080i. So it's conceivable at least that AACS protected SD isn't subject to the 480p limitation.

The above problem is 4:3 480p material getting stretched to 16:9 on my TV, due to a limitation on the TV. (My TV automatically goes into 16:9 widescreen mode, when it receives any 480p or 1080i input, regardless if it's 16:9 or not.)

Ironically, the Xbox 360 will display 1080p 16:9 material squished into a 4:3 box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8788183&&#post8788183). (Pictures in that link.) I believe this is a problem with the Xbox 360 update, not my TV.
4:3 content on the HD DVD player will display correctly on your display I believe. It does on mine, and mine stretches 4:3 DVD's to 16:9 by default too. (This is for HD DVD's only, DVD's will still stretch for you)

I'm guessing that it's possible, because the reason DVD can't be upscaled is due to CSS licensing restrictions, that 480p is the maximum supported analog output for CSS (or actually Macrovision I think) content.

However HD DVD uses AACS, which has a maximum analog output of 1080i. So it's conceivable at least that AACS protected SD isn't subject to the 480p limitation.4:3 content on the HD DVD player will display correctly on your display I believe. It does on mine, and mine stretches 4:3 DVD's to 16:9 by default too. (This is for HD DVD's only, DVD's will still stretch for you)
OK, if that's the case with the Xbox 360 with HD DVD drive, I will be ECSTATIC. Which player are you using?

I would still need to keep a separate player for DVDs, but I could easily live with that.

P.S. Is your player upscaling 480p content on HD DVD, or is it outputting a 480p signal, but with pillarboxing?

OK, if that's the case with the Xbox 360 with HD DVD drive, I will be ECSTATIC. Which player are you using?

I would still need to keep a separate player for DVDs, but I could easily live with that.

P.S. Is your player upscaling 480p content on HD DVD, or is it outputting a 480p signal, but with pillarboxing?
I'm using the HD DVD addon :-).

It appears to upscale all SD content to your output resolution.

I'm using the HD DVD addon :-).

It appears to upscale all SD content to your output resolution.
S. C. H. W. E. E. T.

I'm jealous of you guys with the pre-release stuff.

Thanks for the info. So... I'll have to keep a DVD player, a secondary region free player, and an HD DVD player. I can live with that. :)

For you guys w/ the add on already, how loud is the drive?

I'm using the HD DVD addon :-).

It appears to upscale all SD content to your output resolution.

Which connection do you have? VGA or component?

JRad

Which connection do you have? VGA or component?

JRad
Must be VGA, MS has said in several interviews that they will not upscale DVD over component.

I dunno if there have been answers to this question but it's been buggin me.... I know right now there are no region encoding on hd-dvd's, I know they are planning to put that in when it becomes more main stream. Will it affect me in the future if I import a japanese hd-dvd drive rather than a US hd-dvd drive? Are the region encodings already implemented on the drives so that all they have to do is do an update and flip the switch to on? The reason I ask is because I am in Korea and it will probably be cheaper to import it from Japan...( the price is cheaper too). But I don't want to get it if all my future hd-dvds will not run on it later on.

I'm using the HD DVD addon :-).

It appears to upscale all SD content to your output resolution.

Via component or VGA?

Must be VGA, MS has said in several interviews that they will not upscale DVD over component.

Things have been said before as with the Zenith player which I jumped on a couple years ago that upconverts over compnent. :)

You are most likely correct....but we can always hope!!! ;)

Must be VGA, MS has said in several interviews that they will not upscale DVD over component.
We weren't talking about DVD over component.

We were talking about SD 480p material on HD DVD over component.


I dunno if there have been answers to this question but it's been buggin me.... I know right now there are no region encoding on hd-dvd's, I know they are planning to put that in when it becomes more main stream. Will it affect me in the future if I import a japanese hd-dvd drive rather than a US hd-dvd drive? Are the region encodings already implemented on the drives so that all they have to do is do an update and flip the switch to on? The reason I ask is because I am in Korea and it will probably be cheaper to import it from Japan...( the price is cheaper too). But I don't want to get it if all my future hd-dvds will not run on it later on.
The HD DVD discs you buy now will never have region coding.

Your Xbox 360 add-on drive will never get region-locked for HD DVD either. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8775929&&#post8775929)

I'm using the HD DVD addon :-).

It appears to upscale all SD content to your output resolution.Let's see some pics!

The HD DVD option for 360 will decode Dolby TrueHD in 5.1. It will however, re-encode it back to DD on the way out on the optical output. This should result in improved audio quality as the source is "uncompressed" in this case and only goes through one level of compression.
Is this at 448 Kbps? Just wondering.

I don't see how this would be significantly improved over a commercial DVD's 448 Kbps DD though, unless that DVD's 448 Kbps track wasn't done right. OTOH, I could see how it could be better than 384 Kbps DD tracks on some DVD titles.

It was stated earlier in the thread that it would be at 640kbps, which to my understanding is the maximum bitrate DD supports.

It was stated earlier in the thread that it would be at 640kbps, which to my understanding is the maximum bitrate DD supports.
Hmm... I can't find the link, but I see another confirmation of that here. (http://experts.about.com/e/d/do/dolby_digital.htm)

The reason I asked is because when DD 640 test tracks first came out, all sorts of receivers were choking on them. Then again, these days nobody is complaining about DD compatibility issues with the Xbox 360. We would have already heard more about it if it were a significant issue. (That's assuming games are using that high of a bitrate. DVDs are limited to 448 Kbps.)

Dumb question here, sort of a newbie with the hidef stuff. Are people saying that the xbox add on wont be in widescreen, that the hd movies will be 4:3?? All this tech talk has gotten me confused. Thanks for the help

Dumb question here, sort of a newbie with the hidef stuff. Are people saying that the xbox add on wont be in widescreen, that the hd movies will be 4:3?? All this tech talk has gotten me confused. Thanks for the help


no, its just these 1080p wmvhd clips that dont have real 1080p resolution, on the HD-DVD there is JUST widescreen!

oh ok, thanks. Does everyone still think the add on is the way to go instead of the A1

Dumb question here, sort of a newbie with the hidef stuff. Are people saying that the xbox add on wont be in widescreen, that the hd movies will be 4:3?? All this tech talk has gotten me confused. Thanks for the help
Sorry, for the confusion.

No, the Xbox 360 plus HD DVD WILL be in full glorious widescreen.

It's just that the "1080p" trailers and demo videos on the WMV HD website at Microsoft.com were encoded at 1440x1080 instead of 1920x1080. On a computer, those display as widescreen (I'm presuming because of widescreen flags embedded in the files). However, if you burn them to a DVD-R and play them on the Xbox 360, they display as 4:3, because 1440x1080 is actually a 4:3 resolution.

I suspect Microsoft may update that page later to include 1920x1080 versions of the trailers and demo videos.

Sometimes I read all this stuff and feel like an idiot. lol Thanks for the clarification. I havent been on the website to check out any demos. I need to go ahead and get dsl for the xbox so I can check all that out. Thanks for the info guys

If you burn an HD DVD (of HD trailers, etc) to DVD-R, will it play back on the Xbox 360 without an HD DVD drive?

(I'm not talking about a standard data DVD full of trailers. I'm talking about a disc formatted as (a small 4 GB) HD DVD, but just burned on a standard DVD.)

My guess is yes, but I don't have any way of verifying that at the moment. I'll have to ask to see if any of my Mac friends has access to DVD Studio Pro.

If you burn an HD DVD (of HD trailers, etc) to DVD-R, will it play back on the Xbox 360 without an HD DVD drive?

(I'm not talking about a standard data DVD full of trailers. I'm talking about a disc formatted as (a small 4 GB) HD DVD, but just burned on a standard DVD.)

I have just burned 2 ordinary CDs with the clips from microsofts site, and it works great! if that answers anything?

I have just burned 2 ordinary CDs with the clips from microsofts site, and it works great! if that answers anything?
Thanks, but no. I've already done this with DVD-R. Your CD-Rs and my DVD-R burned this way are just plain data discs compatible with any computer.

I'm talking about a DVD-R formatted as an actual HD DVD (UDF 2.5?) complete with menus and everything. I'm guessing that it should work fine in both the external HD DVD drive (of course) and in the built-in DVD drive, but I'm not 100% sure about this.

P.S. If this did work, it could be an interesting way to market the benefits of HD DVD video playback with the Xbox 360, pushing HD DVD add-on drive sales.

Nov. 7 according to Amazon.com, EB Games, and Game Spot. However, Robert says he was told November 14 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8715341&&#post8715341) is the official release date, even though he expects to receive his units Nov. 7 as well.

My local EB Games (Toronto) told me I should have it by Nov. 12, which is exactly 2 weeks from now. Excellent...
Several different Canadians on another site are echoing the Nov. 12 date for EB Games pre-orders in Canada.

So either the Canadians are getting it slightly later, or EB Games in one of the two countries is wrong.

Is this at 448 Kbps?.

The 640 kbps DD maximum bitrate is what MS has previously posted.

Still tyrying to get an answer on this , I have an older sony RP that is 1080i Hi-Scan.

Should I just stick with component for this ?

Still tyrying to get an answer on this , I have an older sony RP that is 1080i Hi-Scan.

Should I just stick with component for this ?


EBGames/GameStop will have 360 HD DVDs shipping on 11/7. The pictures on their web site show an HDMI connector (?) with 2 UBS connectors. Not sure how accurate these pictures are. ebgames.com

Dachawk

EBGames/GameStop will have 360 HD DVDs shipping on 11/7. The pictures on their web site show an HDMI connector (?) with 2 UBS connectors. Not sure how accurate these pictures are. ebgames.com

Dachawk
That is not an HDMI connector. That is the USB connector for the Xbox 360.

http://gearmedia.ign.com/gear/image/article/733/733328/first-look-xbox-360-hd-dvd-drive-20060918032318267.jpg

EBGames/GameStop will have 360 HD DVDs shipping on 11/7. The pictures on their web site show an HDMI connector (?) with 2 UBS connectors. Not sure how accurate these pictures are. ebgames.com

Dachawk

The picture on EB Games website shows two USB and one Mini USB connectors. It does NOT have HDMI.

I want to know what that bracket above the USB ports is for. It looks like something could be added to the HD DVD drive. I'm not even hard pressed for HDMI, i'd settle for Analog Audio otuputs. :)

The brackets are to hold the 360 WiFi adapter, since you would plug the WiFi adapter into one of the USB ports on the add-on, rather than the console.

Has anyone pre-ordered the add-on in BB/CC and see how booked their pre-orders are ?

Do you think M$ will offer an update for the add on once they come out w/triple layer discs? What kind of audio decodeing will the add-on do? No built in decoders to out put as PCM?

Which connection do you have? VGA or component?

JRad
Component.

Let's see some pics!
Of what? The addon? or the movies? If the addon, there are pics of it everywhere.

If you burn an HD DVD (of HD trailers, etc) to DVD-R, will it play back on the Xbox 360 without an HD DVD drive?

(I'm not talking about a standard data DVD full of trailers. I'm talking about a disc formatted as (a small 4 GB) HD DVD, but just burned on a standard DVD.)

My guess is yes, but I don't have any way of verifying that at the moment. I'll have to ask to see if any of my Mac friends has access to DVD Studio Pro.
No. HD DVD format discs, whether they are HD9 (DVD), HD15 or HD30, will only play back in the HD DVD drive.

For you guys w/ the add on already, how loud is the drive?
The drive is effectively silent. There is still the usual fan noise from the 360, but I don't notice that anymore.

Component.


Of what? The addon? or the movies? If the addon, there are pics of it everywhere.


No. HD DVD format discs, whether they are HD9 (DVD), HD15 or HD30, will only play back in the HD DVD drive.


The drive is effectively silent. There is still the usual fan noise from the 360, but I don't notice that anymore.


Did you say the add-on is upconverting standard dvd's to whatever resolution you put the xbox to through component?

oooh, do both drives then play SD dvds?

Did you say the add-on is upconverting standard dvd's to whatever resolution you put the xbox to through component?
No. I said the addon is upconverting SD content (usually special features) on HD DVD discs (which was the original question).

And yes, both drives play SD DVDs, although why that would be an "ooh!" I don't know :)

bkilian, do you have any titles both on SD and HD-DVD to do a direct comparison of the DD track to see if the HD-DVD encode to DD is superior? As we get closer to release I am thinking TrueHD may matter more than I thought especially with titles like Batman and V4V getting good reviews for the TrueHD soundtrack. Its possible to get an HDMI receiver for not too much outlay so I'm really considering an A2. Thanks

No. I said the addon is upconverting SD content (usually special features) on HD DVD discs (which was the original question).

And yes, both drives play SD DVDs, although why that would be an "ooh!" I don't know :)

Personally, I'll use my player for SD DVDs as well. If you're the type of gamer (I am) to leave the same game disc in for days/weeks/months and not take it out, it's nice to be able to leave it in there.

[QUOTE=bkilian]No. I said the addon is upconverting SD content (usually special features) on HD DVD discs (which was the original question).

And yes, both drives play SD DVDs, although why that would be an "ooh!" I don't know :)[/QUOTE

bkilian,

I did not catch the part of the discussion about upconverting SD content on HD DVD discs. Sorry about the silly question.

JRad

Some kid here in Seattle at the W.S. Gamecrazy store just told me the Add-on won't be coming in untill the first week of December.

Anyone eles hear anything like that?

the ooh would mean that unlike the PS3, you wouldn't have to use just one drive to play everything, HD discs and SD discs and games. you could spread out the usage. Less wear and tear.... The PS3 uses just one drive to play them all.... Will wear out quicker, yes?

Just called E B Games (downtown B&M) they say shipping the 7th in store the 8th. Go figure.

I know this is a bit off topic, but I found this rumor very interesting and wanted to share:
http://shsibae.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/gaming-industry-news-rumors/
SHSIBAE has learned that Microsoft is rumored to begin offering downloadable HD movies later this month. At launch time– possibly late November–1000+ hours of video will be available to rent or purchase through an XBOX 360 connected to XBOX Live. Feature length movies will require a short caching period before viewing, which should be just long enough to make some popcorn, grab a beer, and find your favorite blanket.
Rented videos will run about $4. A renter will supposedly have a couple weeks to start watching a rental, and then a day or so to finish a rental that they have already started. Presumably, rental downloads will self-erase, but we haven’t heard specifics. Likewise, we do not know the cost to buy a title, but we except Microsoft to keep their pricing in line with Apple’s selection through iTunes ($10-$15).
The source is questionable, but I've been hearing murmurings of this for a while now. Not to mention the fact that after the new dash update, under the media blade there is a "Video Marketplace" pretty much confirms this is coming.

My main concern, if this is true, is how it will fit on the 20 gig drive. If a 3 minute HD game trailer can run upwards of 350 megs, how big would a HD full length movie be?

Also, @ Bkilian- Can you play games through the HD-DVD?

My main concern, if this is true, is how it will fit on the 20 gig drive. If a 3 minute HD game trailer can run upwards of 350 megs, how big would a HD full length movie be?

Also, @ Bkilian- Can you play games through the HD-DVD?

Not sure if it was on Joystiq or Kotaku, but one of them had a picture from a presentation in Korea or Japan that showed what was on a hard drive. At the top right where it showed the space remaining, it had 58.6 or something along those lines were it looked obvious that it was a 60GB drive. One more thing to make them "even" with Sony.

Deezul

My main concern, if this is true, is how it will fit on the 20 gig drive. If a 3 minute HD game trailer can run upwards of 350 megs, how big would a HD full length movie be?

Somewhere between 15GB and 30GB if you look at HD DVDs.

If a 3 minute HD game trailer can run upwards of 350 megs, how big would a HD full length movie be?
50 GB! ;)

Not sure if it was on Joystiq or Kotaku, but one of them had a picture from a presentation in Korea or Japan that showed what was on a hard drive. At the top right where it showed the space remaining, it had 58.6 or something along those lines were it looked obvious that it was a 60GB drive. One more thing to make them "even" with Sony.

Deezul
The picture was ashowing a 100GB drive.

Deezul is correct, there is a 60GB photo. I'm a new poster so can't put URLs in my post but check "palgn" period "com" period "au" and look at the news for 1 November.

Cheers,
tofo

Let's see some pics!
Downloaded 2 HD-WMVs in 720 P, unziped and burned it on data cd and it works as advertised in the consol. My 360 is connected to my 720P Panny 900 via component.
Anyway ordered 2 add ons thinking that I will be able to usb connect the second one to my HTPC which is connected to my PJ with HDMI. My card is ATI X800 HTCP. Let's hope. Someone is using the HD-DVD driver from Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD right?
Will my card work with the softwear he is using? This is not needed right now since my PJ is 720P but I have over 2200 lamp hours and soon will need 1080P PJ.
DrA
pics are from The_Rules_of_Attraction_720 Trailer

considering that pictures are taken at 1/2sec at ISO 100 with no tripod (but IS lens) 360's 720P quality looks good . I put the projector in normal mode to get brighter pictures but in cinema mode they were better looking. I will take more pics if you find this pictures useful in few days when my HD-DVD add ons come. Which HD movies you like? :) I only have 8 but many are coming on the14th including VE calibration HD-DVD
from Alexander_Trailer_720p

EBGames/GameStop will have 360 HD DVDs shipping on 11/7. The pictures on their web site show an HDMI connector (?) with 2 UBS connectors. Not sure how accurate these pictures are. ebgames.com

Dachawk

Thanks D, But this does not answer my question.

I was trying to figure out, since I have 1080i tv, what run should I make from my 360 ?

I currently use component, but if this is not the best solution, please suggest. I would appreciate the assistance.

I know this is a bit off topic, but I found this rumor very interesting and wanted to share:
http://shsibae.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/gaming-industry-news-rumors/

The source is questionable, but I've been hearing murmurings of this for a while now. Not to mention the fact that after the new dash update, under the media blade there is a "Video Marketplace" pretty much confirms this is coming.

My main concern, if this is true, is how it will fit on the 20 gig drive. If a 3 minute HD game trailer can run upwards of 350 megs, how big would a HD full length movie be?

Also, @ Bkilian- Can you play games through the HD-DVD?

If MS is streaming the movie then they don't necessarily have to have to save the entire movie on your harddrive, they just need to keep enough in cache to keep you well ahead of the stream.

You would'nt have instant access to the entire movie though and it would be better with a larger hdd for sure. Wonder if they would offer some sort of "keep it" price or the ability to order a copy of the movie on disc for renters that wanted it.

I was trying to figure out, since I have 1080i tv, what run should I make from my 360 ?

If your TV is 1080i (or 720p) then you get the max signal you can get from either component or vga connection. The only difference is that you standard dvd upscaling from your 360 with vga whereas with component you have to let your television upscale it.

Hey everyone.

Best Buy has finally setup the preorder on their website. I just finished preordering mine. They have a release date of 11/16. Not sure why they are so far behind GameStop. I still went ahead and order from Best Buy anyway so that I get my reward points. Can’t wait until it comes.

I tried to post the link, but don't have enough posts to do so. Sorry.

Hey everyone.

Best Buy has finally setup the preorder on their website. I just finished preordering mine. They have a release date of 11/16. Not sure why they are so far behind GameStop. I still went ahead and order from Best Buy anyway so that I get my reward points. Can’t wait until it comes.

I tried to post the link, but don't have enough posts to do so. Sorry.
BestBuy.com (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8132095&st=hd+dvd&type=product&id=1158321865239) - Shipping is $5, but if you want next day delivery, it's more, with an estimated arrival date of Nov. 17.

No mention of King Kong at Best Buy with this player.

I don't see it on BestBuy.ca yet.


Just called E B Games (downtown B&M) they say shipping the 7th in store the 8th. Go figure.
So, only 4 more days... for you Americans.

For us Canadians, several of us are still getting a Nov. 12 date from EB Games.

P.S. I'm printing out the EB Games web page on this player to document that it states it comes with King Kong. I'm getting worried that it doesn't for everyone.

Hey everyone.

Best Buy has finally setup the preorder on their website. I just finished preordering mine. They have a release date of 11/16. Not sure why they are so far behind GameStop. I still went ahead and order from Best Buy anyway so that I get my reward points. Can’t wait until it comes.

I tried to post the link, but don't have enough posts to do so. Sorry.

Could it be because they sent out a lot of 12% coupons that expire on the 15th? My friend got one which says see exclusions on the back. Nothing is printed on the back. :confused:

Hey everyone.

Best Buy has finally setup the preorder on their website. I just finished preordering mine. They have a release date of 11/16. Not sure why they are so far behind GameStop. I still went ahead and order from Best Buy anyway so that I get my reward points. Can’t wait until it comes.

I tried to post the link, but don't have enough posts to do so. Sorry.

Good luck with Best Buy....I would not expect to receive this within the first week of release. I ordered my drive from Robert(value electronics)and can expect to receive my order on time...double boxed and ready to play King Kong!!! :cool:

Not sure if this is new but Amazon has the players available for Nov. 7th again, in limited quantities.

Attention Amazon.com customers: Great news Xbox 360 fans - Amazon.com has secured extra allocation of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player and are once again taking pre-orders. Supplies remain limited though, so pre-order yours today.
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HD-DVD-Player/dp/B000JHO4L0/sr=8-10/qid=1162518485/ref=sr_1_10/002-8522974-2211236?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

Ok. So will T2 WMV HD work directly in the xbox 360 now? If not could someone tell me a simple way to get it too work without having to stream from the computer? Thanks

Not sure if this is new but Amazon has the players available for Nov. 7th again, in limited quantities.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HD-DVD-Player/dp/B000JHO4L0/sr=8-10/qid=1162518485/ref=sr_1_10/002-8522974-2211236?ie=UTF8&s=videogames
Is this the 3rd batch, or the fourth now? I know Amazon.com has sold out at least twice, possibly more.

It's still sold out on Amazon.ca though.

I got my amazon order in about two weeks ago.......glad i did.

over the last few days i've been in and out of a few gamestops and each one has told me that they only are getting enough to fill their preorders at launch

Not sure if this is new but Amazon has the players available for Nov. 7th again, in limited quantities.
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HD-DVD-Player/dp/B000JHO4L0/sr=8-10/qid=1162518485/ref=sr_1_10/002-8522974-2211236?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

hey, no mention of bundled King Kong HD DVD, remote, etc. wonder why...... :confused:

Ok. So will T2 WMV HD work directly in the xbox 360 now? If not could someone tell me a simple way to get it too work without having to stream from the computer? Thanks

T2 will not work. Niehter have any of the feature presentations on any of the other WMV HD discs I've tried, which include Step into Liquid and a smattering of IMAX films. I'm assuming this is due to copy protection on the discs since the trailers do work fine.

Will this work? I have a DVI only HDTV. If I get the 360 HD DVD player, can I get a VGA to DVI adapter and connect it to my TV AND still get upconversion of SD DVDs as well as 1080p? Thanks!

Will this work? I have a DVI only HDTV. If I get the 360 HD DVD player, can I get a VGA to DVI adapter and connect it to my TV
Most likely no, unless you spend many hundreds of $$$$ on the adapter.

You don't have component on your TV?!?

T2 will not work. Niehter have any of the feature presentations on any of the other WMV HD discs I've tried, which include Step into Liquid and a smattering of IMAX films. I'm assuming this is due to copy protection on the discs since the trailers do work fine.

I've had mixed success with the ones I have. T2 nothing, a WMVHD demo disk from CES 2004 fails in the XBOX because a message auto plays to put the disk in a computer. Magic of Flight works and identifies itself as a "mied media" disk and I can browse to it and load a file. The demo disks individual files work if I remove them to the had disk of my PC.

bkilian, do you have any titles both on SD and HD-DVD to do a direct comparison of the DD track to see if the HD-DVD encode to DD is superior? As we get closer to release I am thinking TrueHD may matter more than I thought especially with titles like Batman and V4V getting good reviews for the TrueHD soundtrack. Its possible to get an HDMI receiver for not too much outlay so I'm really considering an A2. ThanksNope. I haven't done any comparisions, and I don't have equipment that would make a difference. I'm on headphones and using the 2RCA output. I would suggest choosing the highest quality audio the disc offers, no matter what. Folks have told me that a TrueHD track encoded to DD by the XBox sounds significantly better than the DD track on the disc.
the ooh would mean that unlike the PS3, you wouldn't have to use just one drive to play everything, HD discs and SD discs and games. you could spread out the usage. Less wear and tear.... The PS3 uses just one drive to play them all.... Will wear out quicker, yes?Aah, good point. I never thought of it as an advantage like that.
Also, @ Bkilian- Can you play games through the HD-DVD?The official MS position on that is "No". I haven't tried, but I suspect it won't work.
My main concern, if this is true, is how it will fit on the 20 gig drive. If a 3 minute HD game trailer can run upwards of 350 megs, how big would a HD full length movie be?WMV-HD's fit a 720 and a 1080 version of a movie on the same 9GB DVD. (Admittedly the 1080 version isn't 1920 across, and the movies are usually the shorter IMAX ones). I know nothing about any plan like this, but if it were me, I'd use 720p movies, and you could get those down to 5-6 Mbit on VC1 (or lower), which would pull a 2 hour movie down to less than 5GB. They wouldn't be the amazing pristine HD quality of HD DVD, but they'd probably be as good as DirecTV HD-Lite :)
Not sure if it was on Joystiq or Kotaku, but one of them had a picture from a presentation in Korea or Japan that showed what was on a hard drive. At the top right where it showed the space remaining, it had 58.6 or something along those lines were it looked obvious that it was a 60GB drive. One more thing to make them "even" with Sony.

DeezulThis is pretty normal. Most Dev kits have a 60GB drive in them. It isn't any indication of any future product from MS. Mine currently has 60.1GB free :)

Will this work? I have a DVI only HDTV. If I get the 360 HD DVD player, can I get a VGA to DVI adapter and connect it to my TV AND still get upconversion of SD DVDs as well as 1080p? Thanks!

Maybe. You need to find out if your TV supports an analog DVI signal. Unlike HDMI, DVI has both digital and analog specifications (I think they are DVI-I vs. DVI-A).

Since the VGA signal is analog, you need to match your signal completely.

I've just 'heard' other smart people talking about this around here before.

EDIT: If you go to cablesforless.com and type in "vga dvi" in the search box, you'll get a list of VGA to DVI cables all basically under $15.

WMV-HD's fit a 720 and a 1080 version of a movie on the same 9GB DVD. (Admittedly the 1080 version isn't 1920 across, and the movies are usually the shorter IMAX ones). I know nothing about any plan like this, but if it were me, I'd use 720p movies, and you could get those down to 5-6 Mbit on VC1 (or lower), which would pull a 2 hour movie down to less than 5GB. They wouldn't be the amazing pristine HD quality of HD DVD, but they'd probably be as good as DirecTV HD-Lite :)
How come everyone is assuming HD for the rumoured movie store?

If anything it'd make more sense to release downloadable movies as SD. ie. 640x480 to 854x480. Those could be around 2 Mbps, which would mean about 2ish GB.

That'd make much more sense in terms of average home internet download speeds too.

Ok, a few more questions. Sorry, this thread is too long and Im sure they have been answered.

1) In order to upconvert SD DVDs, one would need to use VGA as it cant be done via component?

2) 1080i is possible via component?

3) In order to output True Dolby HD, you would need to use HDMI?

4) Can you use component for video (to get 1080i) and HDMI for the audio (to get Dolby Ture HD)?

Thanks so much!

Ok, a few more questions. Sorry, this thread is too long and Im sure they have been answered.

1) In order to upconvert SD DVDs, one would need to use VGA as it cant be done via component?

2) 1080i is possible via component?

3) In order to output True Dolby HD, you would need to use HDMI?

4) Can you use component for video (to get 1080i) and HDMI for the audio (to get Dolby Ture HD)?

Thanks so much!
1) Correct.
2) Correct.
3) The Xbox 360 does not support HDMI (or multichannel analogue output). Thus, there is no way to get full TrueHD out of the Xbox 360, without downsampling it first.
4) The Xbox 360 does not support HDMI.

How come everyone is assuming HD for the rumoured movie store?

If anything it'd make more sense to release downloadable movies as SD. ie. 640x480 to 854x480. Those could be around 2 Mbps, which would mean about 2ish GB.Like I said, I know nothing about any "movie store" plan. I was answering the question "How big would a HD full length move be?" as posted by thrustbucket.

I agree it would make more sense to release the movies in DVD resolution, and at a 2Mb average bitrate, they would be good quality, and realtime streamable for people with cable or higher speed DSL.

Maybe. You need to find out if your TV supports an analog DVI signal. Unlike HDMI, DVI has both digital and analog specifications (I think they are DVI-I vs. DVI-A).

DVI-D == Digital DVI
DVI-A == Analog DVI
DVI-I == Both analog and digital.

-MD

I ordered my hd dvd add on for the 360 from amazon. Does it come w/ King Kong and the remote from this site??? PM me w/the answer as well as posting a reply. Thanks.

I have a Samsung 50 inch DLP (HL-R5067W) Which also has the PC Input. It supports 488p, 720p. and 1080i (720p being the native resolution of course) I use my pc on it through the VGA input and I have to say it's a stunning picture.

I've seen there is a VGA Adapter for the 360, Would I get better picture quality with the componet cables that I have now? or would I get a better picture with the VGA Adapter? I wanna get the best picture possible out of what I have avaliable. I also saw that Monster has a set of Componet cables, and if componet is the way to go, I'd probably just get a set of those.

Any opinions would be welcome! Thanks!

I'd have to say for the price being $200 this has the potential to be a sweet little device.
I've been wanting to fully take advantage of what my tv can do for awhile now with movies aside from watching HD via DirecTV. I wasn't willing to shell out $499 for the Toshiba players seeing as I've heard so much mixed opinions of them. I eventually want a stand alone HD-DVD player, but would like to not only see the prices come down, but to see more manufactuers produce the units. That could be a nice little device to tide people over till the stand alone machines come down in price.

DVI-D == Digital DVI
DVI-A == Analog DVI
DVI-I == Both analog and digital.

-MD
So I would assume if the TV accepts DVI-I/A, one could use a VGA to DVI adapter on said TV.

Is the xbox 360 HD DVD player going to output at 1080i/24 or 1080p/24?

Is the xbox 360 HD DVD player going to output at 1080i/24 or 1080p/24?


There are 108024psf and 1080i48/1080p24. I don't think there is 1080i24.
XBox360 will output 1080p60. They might implement the 1080p24 output in the future.

so for movies will it output at 1080i/48 then?

Will this work? I have a DVI only HDTV. If I get the 360 HD DVD player, can I get a VGA to DVI adapter and connect it to my TV AND still get upconversion of SD DVDs as well as 1080p? Thanks!

If you have DVI, you likely do not have a 1080p native set. In which case, use the component cable.

bkilian, thanks for the reply to my question. I guess i'll go with the addon as planned.

How come everyone is assuming HD for the rumoured movie store?




The movie store isn't rumored. Go to your media blade, and notice the new option called "Video Marketplace"....... i.e. "Movie store"

Would a vga to componet adapter work for upconversion on regular dvds on the 360?

So, if my set is DVI-I, it would be beneficial for me to use a VGA to DVI connector so I can get 1080i and upconversion of SD DVDs, no?

So, if my set is DVI-I, it would be beneficial for me to use a VGA to DVI connector so I can get 1080i and upconversion of SD DVDs, no?

You will get 1080i for HD-DVD over component. It just won't upconvert SD-DVDs.

I ordered my hd dvd add on for the 360 from amazon. Does it come w/ King Kong and the remote from this site??? PM me w/the answer as well as posting a reply. Thanks.

It should since MS is doing a promotional of bundling the XB360 HD-DVD add-on with a remote & King Kong for a short period of time.

Hi I just found this article and I though that I'd to pass it out in this tread>
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2006/11/03/emergence-day.aspx

Hi I just found this article and I though that I'd to pass it out in this tread>
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2006/11/03/emergence-day.aspx

This bit scares me:

All 6 of Xbox 360's hardware threads are hard at work while playing back an HD DVD. At the moment, the player software pushes Xbox 360 harder than any other (save, perhaps, Gears of War during some particularly busy parts of the game).

Doesn't bode well for quiet operation considering my 360 sounds like an asthmatic elephant when playing games

Doesn't bode well for quiet operation considering my 360 sounds like an asthmatic elephant when playing games
The noise you hear is the DVD drive, not cooling fans.

Exactly, 99% of the noise from the 360 while playing a game, is the DVD ROM drive spinning a crazy speed.

My fans are still pretty loud even when just messing around in the dashboard. No where near as loud as when spinning a game disk, but still much louder than any other component in my rack.

I'm a little apprehensive about using it as my primary hd-dvd player, but for $200, I guess I can live with it for awhile...

I have heard that the HD DVD is not "loud". I don't think this will be an issue. Especially, with the movie sound...

Seriously!!!

Sweep the Leg!!! You got a problem with that?

The 1080p Microsoft trailers are displayed in widescreen on my 42" Westinghouse when streamed from my media center pc to my 360 (unlike when played from a DVD). I tried playing an HD-DVD file that I burned to a DVD but that did not work as I had hoped.

Would a vga to componet adapter work for upconversion on regular dvds on the 360?
I'm curious about this as well. Anyone?

Probably not, VGA (RGBHV) can't be converted to component (YPbPr) with a cable/adapter.

I'm curious about this as well. Anyone?
Yes it should because as far as the Xbox is concerned, it is still outputting on VGA.

Probably not, VGA (RGBHV) can't be converted to component (YPbPr) with a cable/adapter.
A trasncoder however, can convert them. I assume this is what he meant by adapter.

Any guesses to as when their will be a hdmi or dvi cable for the 360?

I pre-ordered the hd-dvd player from the gamestop store about two weeks ago. I thought that it would be in the store for pickup on the 8th but I just stopped by the store about an hour ago and they said it was pushed back a week till around the 14th. Is this true. According to their website it says it will ship the 8th:

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802558

and Amazon says the 7th:

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-HD-D...F8&s=videogames

Was the gamestop store assistant just wrong. Does a store not get it the same time as online. Someone please clarify when we expect to be getting these.

When i payed mine off the guy [manager] said the 7th or 8th at the latest.Hope that helps

Question.

I have my 360 hooked up with the component cables to my reciever then component out to VGA IN on my projector. will this upconvert my SD DVDs? or do i need to buy like a VGA box and the 360 VGA cable? with a VGA extension cable?

Thanks,
Chris

p.s. i am of course asking about the HD DVD add on as i have this pre ordered.

This release from XBOX regarding an on-line upgrade to the 360 may answer some questions

Complete Dashboard Update Feature List


New Features

HD 1080p video mode support over VGA and component cables.
Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player support.
Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect.
Play video from storage devices such as USB flash drives, Xbox 360 Memory Units, etc.
Play video from CD or DVD data discs.
Xbox 360 Wireless Headset support, including battery level indicator in the Xbox Guide.
Video support for 50 Hz HDTV modes (DVD only).
Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel support.
Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games.
Support for upcoming release of XNA Game Studio Express (separate download and subscription required.)
Stream music, pictures and video from a Zune device.
Xbox Live Arcade

Lightning-fast enumeration and listing of all Xbox Live® Arcade games on the console.
Find games quickly with two new sort options: Recently Played and By Category.
Have all new Xbox Live Arcade games at the ready with auto downloads. Auto downloads optionally adds newly released trial versions of games to active downloads when you enter Xbox Live Arcade.
View full achievement info in Xbox Live Arcade, including icons, achievement point details, and descriptions.
Friends leaderboard: Compare yourself with friends and view leaderboard details right from the Xbox dashboard.
Tell a friend: Send a message to a friend about your newest favorite Xbox Live Arcade game.
DVD Player

Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies.
Improved support for audio streams on incorrectly authored DVDs.
Better handling of unreadable discs.
Updated count-down timer.
HD DVD player support.
Added zoom support for non-anamorphic content.
Added support to Family Settings to block Unrated Content
Video Player

Improved support for extended all black scenes in WMV content.
Added support for Windows Media Video 9 Advanced profile video.
Screen saver now becomes active when videos are paused.
Now shares UI and player controls with DVD player.
Improved video playback while downloading from Xbox Live.
Added skip controls (forward approx. 30 seconds, back approx. 7 seconds).
Improved messaging around unplayable video content.
Added time elapsed and time remaining displays.
Improved playback of high bit-rate HD content on fragmented hard drives.
Improved visual quality of video playback.
Added selectable display modes: default and letterbox zoom.
Localization

New locale setting for China
Improved German translations in console settings.
Improved German translations in memory area.
Improved Japanese translations in Family Settings.
Added localized text for all supported languages in pictures area
Improved Spanish translations in camera effects.
Improved locale-specific decimal denominators.
Added localization support for title menu and main menu in the DVD player.
Added localization support for “Attempting to Read Media” system message.
Memory Area

Added support for Xbox 360 HD DVD Player content..
Added new page for viewing content size by category.
Other System Improvements

Updated support for new Daylight Savings changes coming in 2007.
Improved support for games to better handle host migration in multi-player matches.
Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support for changing room lighting while zooming.
Background downloaded videos appear in video area
Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support while using VGA.
Playing photo slideshows from PC now maintains picture folder hierarchy.
Improved user experience when playing and deleting videos from the Games or Media areas.
Improved handling of invalid characters during Xbox Live signup.
Better handling of watermarks in gamer cards.
Improved text for Windows Media Connect..
Improved UI performance in Media Center Extender
Improved connection support for Buffalo WZR-G108 wireless router when using Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.
Redownload of deleted Arcade Games no longer re-enumerates all games on the Arcade page.
Improved visual display of text in themes.
Improved support for CD playback after signing up for Xbox Live and losing network connectivity.
Improved support for long names of items memory area.
Improved handling of gamer pictures downloaded from Xbox Live.
Improved background download notifications when downloading many small items from Xbox Live.
Improved support for custom backgrounds after returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the Account Management area.
Improved network reliability between Windows Media Center Extender on Windows Vista and Xbox 360 consoles using Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.
Improved voice chat quality in Xbox Dashboard and in-game chats.
Improved messaging when failing to connect to Windows Media Center Extender.
Improved USB keyboard support when using a USB hub.
Improved consistency of user experience when deleting various types of content.
Improved handling of low storage space for background downloads.
Improved handling of Picture streaming from attached Digital Cameras over MTP protocol
Improved error messaging for optional iPod support download when storage devices are full.
Improved handling of multi-key repeating for USB keyboards.
Expanded Family Settings to include support for blocking unrated DVDs and videos.
Added ability to clear space from storage devices in download areas.
Added support for low-speed and full-speed USB keyboards.
Improved CapsLock behavior for USB keyboards.
Improved look and feel in Xbox Live Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade areas.
Added redeem code option to Xbox Live signup.
Removed system message at the start of new downloads. Messages will be displayed for completed items.
Added support for CCV credit card validation field in Xbox Live Marketplace purchase areas.
Updated “More Information” instructions in the Xbox Dashboard for connecting an Xbox 360 console to a Windows PC to stream digital media content.
Added auto-scroll to long text descriptions in Xbox Dashboard UI.
Improved support for DVD insertion while playing a video file.

One last question... My tv tops out at 1080i, will I get better quality (CLoser to 1080p) if I use the VGA cable with a DVI adaptor ?

not sure if it has been posted yet, but Amazon sent an e-mail today saying the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive is back available for preorder. Ships the 7th.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JHO4L0/ref=pe_11480_3652280_emwa_email_title_1

One last question... My tv tops out at 1080i, will I get better quality (CLoser to 1080p) if I use the VGA cable with a DVI adaptor ?

Probably not if you are using it for gaming or HD DVD. The VGA is still an analog signal, same as the component and running it through the DVI port won't change that. The 360 is suppose to upconvert SD DVD thru the VGA, so you may see improvement there. I have both cables and a TV that supports 1080p (thru the VGA), so I'm hoping I'll see a difference (between the two cables) with the HD add on, because I haven't really seen any yet. Certianly not to the point I'd recommend spending the money on the VGA cables if you don't already have them.

"Unlike DVD, where typical players pass the audio data from the disc through to your receiver, HD DVD requires that players mix sounds from menus and such in with the audio being played for the movie. The 360 player software decodes all the above codecs in software, mixes anything that needs to go together, re-encodes it into Dolby Digital and then sends that to your receiver. So, don't be alarmed when your receiver still says "Dolby Digital" even if you've selected DTS in the menus. "

This is direct from microsoft. Full excerpt here: http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archi...gence-day.aspx


The fact that they will convert all Audio to AC3 is seriously bad. It Means those movies with better soundtracks will suffer a loss. A good example of this is DTS audio.. DTS audio is a much larger file format and is less compress than AC3. A good comparison example would be.. DTS = CD Wave and AC3 = MP3.. AC3 is a compressed format. A good DTS audio track found on current dvd's could be for example approximately 1.1 gig, the equivalent AC3 track (dependant on bitrate) would be around 400 MB. While for music many claim MP3 to be the same, for the Low/high frequencies found outside of the music spectrum like what we need to drive our sub and astute sounds in a movie sound track DTS is a much better sound. Basically the Xbox 360 will be compressing the audio mixes to AC3, and from what they are saying because they need to also integrate the sound of the dash/alert popups during the movie, all audio will be recompressed to AC3? I hope this isn't correct, but that means it will take an original AC3 soundtrack and recompress it to another AC3 soundtrack with the addition of the dashboard sounds. Thats like Recompressing an MP3, or a JPG. Lets hope this isn't the case.. But it is bad news for the audiophiles who love their DTS.

Also since the CPU will both be decoding a very CPU intensive H264 video codec while also re-encoding all audio on the fly, the CPU fans will be running loud. if I have no media in my Xbox360, I still find the sound of the fan running demos, or sitting at the dashboard to still be annoying.

The fact that they will convert all Audio to AC3 is seriously bad. It Means those movies with better soundtracks will suffer a loss.

We knew that already, nothing new here.

A good example of this is DTS audio.. DTS audio is a much larger file format and is less compress than AC3. A good comparison example would be.. DTS = CD Wave and AC3 = MP3.. AC3 is a compressed format.

That's a horrible example, it's more like DTS=MPEG-2 DD=VC-1 (or H.264). DTS is a lossy codec, same as DD or MP3.

A good DTS audio track found on current dvd's could be for example approximately 1.1 gig, the equivalent AC3 track (dependant on bitrate) would be around 400 MB.

That doesn't mean anything.

While for music many claim MP3 to be the same,

Nobody claims that, at least nobody sane.

for the Low/high frequencies found outside of the music spectrum like what we need to drive our sub and astute sounds in a movie sound track DTS is a much better sound.

:rolleyes:

Basically the Xbox 360 will be compressing the audio mixes to AC3, and from what they are saying because they need to also integrate the sound of the dash/alert popups during the movie, all audio will be recompressed to AC3?

Yes, as well as all the HD DVD supplimentary sounds, like IME, menues etc, just like every DVD player in existance.

I hope this isn't correct, but that means it will take an original AC3 soundtrack and recompress it to another AC3 soundtrack with the addition of the dashboard sounds.

HD DVDs use DD+ or DTHD, DTHD is lossless, and DD+ is better than DD.

Thats like Recompressing an MP3, or a JPG. Lets hope this isn't the case.. But it is bad news for the audiophiles who love their DTS.

The 360 addon isn't for audiophiles, that's what set top players are for.

"Unlike DVD, where typical players pass the audio data from the disc through to your receiver, HD DVD requires that players mix sounds from menus and such in with the audio being played for the movie. The 360 player software decodes all the above codecs in software, mixes anything that needs to go together, re-encodes it into Dolby Digital and then sends that to your receiver. So, don't be alarmed when your receiver still says "Dolby Digital" even if you've selected DTS in the menus. "

This is direct from microsoft. Full excerpt here: http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archi...gence-day.aspx


The fact that they will convert all Audio to AC3 is seriously bad. It Means those movies with better soundtracks will suffer a loss. A good example of this is DTS audio.. DTS audio is a much larger file format and is less compress than AC3. A good comparison example would be.. DTS = CD Wave and AC3 = MP3.. AC3 is a compressed format. A good DTS audio track found on current dvd's could be for example approximately 1.1 gig, the equivalent AC3 track (dependant on bitrate) would be around 400 MB. While for music many claim MP3 to be the same, for the Low/high frequencies found outside of the music spectrum like what we need to drive our sub and astute sounds in a movie sound track DTS is a much better sound. Basically the Xbox 360 will be compressing the audio mixes to AC3, and from what they are saying because they need to also integrate the sound of the dash/alert popups during the movie, all audio will be recompressed to AC3? I hope this isn't correct, but that means it will take an original AC3 soundtrack and recompress it to another AC3 soundtrack with the addition of the dashboard sounds. Thats like Recompressing an MP3, or a JPG. Lets hope this isn't the case.. But it is bad news for the audiophiles who love their DTS.

Also since the CPU will both be decoding a very CPU intensive H264 video codec while also re-encoding all audio on the fly, the CPU fans will be running loud. if I have no media in my Xbox360, I still find the sound of the fan running demos, or sitting at the dashboard to still be annoying.

No news here, and the DD is at 640kbs so supposedly will sound better than normal DD. amirm has already stated this and bkilian also answered this on page 31 of this thread.

Also hands on reports of the addon from the HD-DVD tour with amirm have said the Xbox and addon combo is very quiet.

bottom line, Will this HD-DVD add on make the last gen DVD's look better on the newer tv's?, and if so how much better?

bottom line, Will this HD-DVD add on make the last gen DVD's look better on the newer tv's?, and if so how much better?

If you connect via VGA it will upscale SD DVD's, I dont use this connection but other have reported the upconversion is very good. How good depends on your TV and the VGA connection working well together and your own opinion.

bottom line, Will this HD-DVD add on make the last gen DVD's look better on the newer tv's?, and if so how much better?

No, it's just a transport, it transports the data on the disc, be it DVD or HD DVD, to the 360.

The HD DVD drive will make no difference WRT DVDs vs the internal DVD drive on the 360.

LIARS, DAMN LIARS, and STATISTICIANS!!!

FIX YOUR LIES FOOL :(

EfJay has posted the correct information!

I think I am gonna go around on forums and post inaccurate information:

They won't raise your taxes, go ahead vote them into office, they are like Robin Hood. Believe what I say, they are a transport!

It appears that the FUD brigade is out in force about the addon and Dolby Digital. Here are some simple facts:

The 360 is advertised as outputting Dolby Digital 5.1
The HD-DVD addon is an OPTION for current 360 owners and is not a standalone player.
The 360 audio output is NOT crippled - it currently (and for the foreseeable future) does not have the correct output terminals for DD+ or TrueHD. BUT it does decode these sound formats on a HD-DVD movie and encodes them to the highest possible output available from the 360 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.

By saying the output is crippled implies the 360 is capable of outputting DD+/TrueHD but has been prevented from doing so intentionally. This is not the case.

If you require increased capabilities the 360/addon combo cant provide there are 2 currently available and 2 more upcoming standalone players for you to choose from. The choice is yours.

But please, no more FUD about the addon. Take the facts and make the choice thats best for you and above all enjoy your HD-DVD experience. From the 8th, thats what I will be doing.:)

WORD!!!

I have already ordered TWO!

Quit misrepresenting facts STANGER! You are a disrespect to a Man Called Sting!

"bottom line, Will this HD-DVD add on make the last gen DVD's look better on the newer tv's?, and if so how much better?"

The Xbox 360 already upconverts DVD's to 1080P through VGA, the HD-DVD add on is not needed to upconvert DVD's.

Why do so many people here seem to think that the harder the 360 works the louder the fans are?

That's silly.

I can't wait for this HD-DVD add-on. Amazon shows a delivery date of the 8th for me with overnight shipping, I hope that holds true.

is there any news or rumors on when or if theres gonna be a fix for 1080p VGA on the Tvs this update doesnt work on ?
XBR2\Sharp37D90U etc

Will the HD DVD come packaged with an update disc? I don't have broadband and I haven't been able to locate any information on an optional way to update the 360 to make it compatible with the new drive.

Why couldn't Microsoft have made it so that the audio gets encoded to 1509 kbps DTS like the A1/XA1? Only having 640 kbps DD doesn't make any sense to me.

Will the HD DVD come packaged with an update disc? I don't have broadband and I haven't been able to locate any information on an optional way to update the 360 to make it compatible with the new drive.

Its supposed to come with the update disc

I just spoke to Microsoft's (supposedly) Swedish support, and not only don't they know when the add on will be released here, they also told me that if I buy it in the USA, I will not be able to use it on my PAL console.

Can anyone confirm this? I don't really trust them, the girl was nice enough, but she had to put me on hold after every question, so I don't really know what to believe.

It would also be nice to know if i simply need another power cable, or if I need more equipment, to change the voltage etc.

It's pretty clear that the drive will not be sold this week by it's absence in all the Sunday ads today.

We'll have to wait and see until next Sunday's ads are out for the following week.

I still don't get the big secret and lack of firm announcement on this thing...is the KGB controlling the MS promo dep't?

Will the HD DVD come packaged with an update disc? I don't have broadband and I haven't been able to locate any information on an optional way to update the 360 to make it compatible with the new drive.


Yes, confirmed by MS.

[QUOTE=efjay]It appears that the FUD brigade is out in force about the addon and Dolby Digital. Here are some simple facts:

The 360 is advertised as outputting Dolby Digital 5.1
The HD-DAVID addon is an OPTION for current 360 owners and is not a standalone player.
The 360 audio output is NOT crippled - it currently (and for the foreseeable future) does not have the correct output terminals for DD+ or TrueHD. BUT it does decode these sound formats on a HD-DVD movie and encodes them to the highest possible output available from the 360 - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
[QUOTE]

Okay sorry i didn't see the posts before. I just wanted to make sure that people understand what it is they are doing. People will be concerned that their DTS audio tracks are converted to DD. The one thing that I can still not understand, is if people are saying that DD+ sounds great, fine, however to me the unit is still re-encoding a compressed audiostream to another compressed audiostream, I can't see how this can't affect the sound quality. If I take a 256k MP3 (which is already compress ie. the original AC3 track) and recompress it on the fly to a 440k MP3 - you will suffer loss, since you are adding compression on something that was already compressed. Please explain to me.

I was also referring to the sound of the Xbox 360 fans, not the HD-DVD add-on.. the add on can be as quiet as a mouse, but it will still be overshadowed by the brutally loud fans of the Xbox 360.

Why do so many people here seem to think that the harder the 360 works the louder the fans are?

That's silly.

Hmmm,

You've never heard of using sensors to throttle back or increase fan rpms to compensate for varying temperatures that result from changing processor load?

That's why.

I still don't get the big secret and lack of firm announcement on this thing...is the KGB controlling the MS promo dep't?
.
.
.
.
Yes, confirmed by MS.

is there any news or rumors on when or if theres gonna be a fix for 1080p VGA on the Tvs this update doesnt work on ?
XBR2\Sharp37D90U etc

Also, did they fix the VGA output to work properly on the tv's it does work on? Did they fix the washed-out look?

They said Mid Nov, it's the 15th.. so i just between the 10 and 20..

Quit misrepresenting facts STANGER! You are a disrespect to a Man Called Sting!


What facts? Like the HD-DVD addon doesn't have any outputs, so it doesn't work any differently than the internal drive for DVDs? (ie upconverting is a function of the 360, not the drive you put the disk in).

Like all HD DVD players have to mix audio, it an HD DVD function. And that (most) HD DVDs aren't using DTS, in general they use DD+ or DTHD, so there's no way to output either without re-encoding.

I agree with efjay, people have been FUD-ing this thing to death, I've been defending the addon from the beginning, defending the use of max bitrate (640k) DD, defending it's noise footprint, etc.

So please, point me to what fact I've misrepresented as I think I agree with you ahd efjay on most point, and I believe I've posted that wy.

:rolleyes:

Okay sorry i didn't see the posts before. I just wanted to make sure that people understand what it is they are doing. People will be concerned that their DTS audio tracks are converted to DD.

I don't claim to be an authority on HD DVD audio format usage, but I can't think of a single HD DVD with a DTS track (and can't find a good way to search for that). So the question is basically moot.

The one thing that I can still not understand, is if people are saying that DD+ sounds great, fine, however to me the unit is still re-encoding a compressed audiostream to another compressed audiostream, I can't see how this can't affect the sound quality.

Not if you choose the Dolby TruHD stream, that's a lossless stream.

If I take a 256k MP3 (which is already compress ie. the original AC3 track) and recompress it on the fly to a 440k MP3 - you will suffer loss, since you are adding compression on something that was already compressed. Please explain to me.

True, but the Toshiba players are exactly the same thing, maybe it's DTS instead of DD, but the end result is the same, a loss in quality.

No, it's not optimal, but I don't think anyone claimed it was. The 360 addon isn't meant to be a reference HD DVD player, it's meant to be an inexpensive, entry-level option for those who can't or don't wish to shell out for a more fully featured alternative.

It has well documented limitations (no HDMI or multichannel analog) and if you're not happy with those, buy a standalone player. But for those who don't wish to make that step/investment, the 360 looks to be a very capable HD DVD player. The limitations are, IMO, very much overblown, especially considering the target market for the device.

And, FWIW, I have one preordered, and look forward to playing with it Wednesday.

I was also referring to the sound of the Xbox 360 fans, not the HD-DVD add-on.. the add on can be as quiet as a mouse, but it will still be overshadowed by the brutally loud fans of the Xbox 360.

If your 360's fan's are "brutally loud", your fans are shot or defective. I can hardly hear mine when the console is running.

The only thing that is "brutally loud" on my (year old) 360 is the DVD-ROM, which obviously won't be a factor when watching a HD-DVD.

To everyone out there that is getting on the case of the add-on because of no analog audio support, no HDMI support.... Just remember one simple little fact... You get what you pay for.

If you own an XBOX 360, and you want some HD-DVD action, but don't wanna spend $500 to get the full experience, then you get the add-on.

Or just wait if you want the out all experience. Odds are, in about 2 to 3 years, stand alone HD-DVD players will be $200 to $300, and probably even out perform the units that are out now for $500. Technology always improves, and gets cheaper as time passes.

So if you want to enjoy some of the HD-DVD experience in it's infancy, get the XBOX 360 add-on, if you want it all, then shell out $500 and off ya go

The only problem is you can get a PS3 for 499.00, hdmi, and get the analogue outs and a successful format. That said I'm getting the 360 add on to tide me over until Universal folds.

xbox 360<the PS3. It's cheaper to get the ps3 for gaming+movies than the 360+hd dvd player. :)

To everyone out there that is getting on the case of the add-on because of no analog audio support, no HDMI support.... Just remember one simple little fact... You get what you pay for.

If you own an XBOX 360, and you want some HD-DVD action, but don't wanna spend $500 to get the full experience, then you get the add-on.

Or just wait if you want the out all experience. Odds are, in about 2 to 3 years, stand alone HD-DVD players will be $200 to $300, and probably even out perform the units that are out now for $500. Technology always improves, and gets cheaper as time passes.

So if you want to enjoy some of the HD-DVD experience in it's infancy, get the XBOX 360 add-on, if you want it all, then shell out $500 and off ya go

I agree. I have been waiting to buy an Xbox 360 since it's release. I finally came to a decision to jump into HD-DVD and Blu Ray. The choice for me is obvious if the add-on is a player that can match the quality of playback found in the Toshiba players from a video standpoint. I have preordered my add-on and recently picked up a new 360 for $325.00 shipped so for me...$525.00 and I can enjoy both 360 gaming and HD-DVD movies. A poster on this forum received his alottment of add-ons and said the video playback is online with the Toshiba players. As stated previously by others, the sound from the add-on will get me by until stand-alone players come down to more reasonable prices. Prices will drop and quality will improve over the upcoming generation players. If you are not into gaming, obviously you would just pick up a stand-alone player but for those wanting the best of both worlds, you cannot beat the price for the add-on. :cool:

The only problem is you can get a PS3 for 499.00, hdmi, and get the analogue outs and a successful format. That said I'm getting the 360 add on to tide me over until Universal folds.

xbox 360<the PS3. It's cheaper to get the ps3 for gaming+movies than the 360+hd dvd player. :)

$25.00 more for me...nothing that is going to break the bank. I will pick up the $500.00 PS3 once I am able to find one. Picked up my 360 and add-on for $525.00. My picking up a PS3 now will depend on it's ability to play Blu Ray movies. I will be looking forward to hands-on reviews from individuals here on this forum. If reports are bad for Blu Ray playback, I will wait to pick up a PS3 sometime next year once some of the games start coming down in price. :cool:

I agree. I have been waiting to buy an Xbox 360 since it's release. I finally came to a decision to jump into HD-DVD and Blu Ray. The choice for me is obvious if the add-on is a player that can match the quality of playback found in the Toshiba players from a video standpoint. I have preordered my add-on and recently picked up a new 360 for $325.00 shipped so for me...$525.00 and I can enjoy both 360 gaming and HD-DVD movies. A poster on this forum received his alottment of add-ons and said the video playback is online with the Toshiba players. As stated previously by others, the sound from the add-on will get me by until stand-alone players come down to more reasonable prices. Prices will drop and quality will improve over the upcoming generation players. If you are not into gaming, obviously you would just pick up a stand-alone player but for those wanting the best of both worlds, you cannot beat the price for the add-on. :cool:

The only thing that scares me about the PS3, is reliability.
Sony hasn't exactly had a great track record with consoles that work well

I was the manager of a GameStop store for 5 years and all I did was replace ps2's that stopped reading discs, Psone's had lots of problems too, I remember people having to turn their systems upside down to get them to read discs.

PSP's having dead pixels out of the box. This time for once Sony even openly admits they expect defects. I know Xbox has had some issues, but Microsoft has always seemed very open with getting them resolved. It took Sony nearly 2 years to finally admit they dropped the ball on PS2 and started doing something about it for the consumer.

I felt pretty confident spending $400 on my 360 at launch feeling it would work well, and even if it didnt, I felt Microsoft would take care of me, I cant say I feel the same about Sony.

If you don't own a 360 or a ps3, then I suppose ps3 isnt a bad choice for a blu-ray player if you want one. Keep in mind though from the start Sony has stated the one of the PS3's main funtions will be a blu-ray player. Microsoft is stating the HD-DVD as an add-on.

I think it's a great value for what it is as a consumer who already owns a 360.

If you we're getting a 360 and the add-on just to have an HD-DVD player, well then ya you'd be crazy at that point.

But to have a great gaming console, and the ability for get hd-dvd playback for $200 is a pretty good value I think

dont forget that the add-on is a 2nd generation player.

Also, did they fix the VGA output to work properly on the tv's it does work on? Did they fix the washed-out look?

Anybody knows this?

I can't seem to find this info anywhere....

Does the 360 add-on still come with a 'newer' remote? I went to a few websites and they could only confirm the free Kong disc.

Hmmm,

You've never heard of using sensors to throttle back or increase fan rpms to compensate for varying temperatures that result from changing processor load?

That's why.

I have heard of that feature, but I was unaware the 360 had it. I've never noticed the fan sound on my 360 changing as I put it through the paces.

The only time I'd call my 360 loud is when I have the Nyko intercooler attached, which I remove during the winter because my apartment is an ice box.

@ All the people nervous about the recompressing of the audio stream: Don't buy the 360 add on then. It isn't meant to compete with a standalone player. If you have the money to burn, get the Toshiba. For those of us that don't have $5,000 audio systems with new receivers that will take advantage of the newer sound formats, we are happy with the 360 addon.

And so far, there has not been one review of the add-on that knocks it's sound quality. So until I read how bad it sounds recompressing the audio stream, I'm not going to worry about it.

Yeah, Nobody Should Buy One!!!

(I want to be able to find one next week)

I'm so ready for my HD-DVD addon to come in from Amazon this week!! I was originally going to hold off on HD-DVD for this drive, but of course couldn't wait and took the plunge on an RCA player, which has been worth the money, now I'm going to use this one for my room...my HDTVs are longing for content to showcase their abilities so now each on will have something to keep them occupied (although the Xbox 360 is in my room and has been putting the HDTV through the paces too)....i'm glad to finally get HD movies in my room. can't wait...only a few more days!

P.S. I sure hope that amazon includes King Kong in the bundle, otherwise I'll be a bit upset......

No amount of audio FUD will make me not buy this add on. I'm no audiophile and I doubt I will be able to hear the difference. As long as the video quailty is as good as I am hearing I'm good :D Just ordered Training Day and Last Samurai and will arrive Wednesday when I get this player :D can't wait.

Don't mean to hijack the thread. Just had to share my excitement.

Question: for movies that are not 1.85:1 but are 2.35/2.40:1 widescreen, how can I get it to fill the screen without super stretching it and losing detail when watching HD-DVDs w/ the add-on? Thanx in advance.

I think you are stuck with the bars at the top and bottom. That is the way the filmmaker intended. However, since it won't be released till next week, but I am guessing that this will be how it is.

Good Luck!

Is anyone ready to try this on a PC?

Chris

Question: for movies that are not 1.85:1 but are 2.35/2.40:1 widescreen, how can I get it to fill the screen without super stretching it and losing detail when watching HD-DVDs w/ the add-on? Thanx in advance.

Watch them in OAR or don't watch them at all :cool:

Is anyone ready to try this on a PC?

Chris


I plan to, the reports that it would "not be prevented" from working in a PC made up my mind to get it.

I plan to, the reports that it would "not be prevented" from working in a PC made up my mind to get it.

I was just thinking about ordering one - figuring I could ebay it if it doesn't work. Have you located any software yet? Do you have a HDCP video card? I guess I'm going to be very quick to purchase. :)

Chris

I plan to, the reports that it would "not be prevented" from working in a PC made up my mind to get it.
What kind of hardware do you have, and do you have software to play back HD DVD?

Well I've got two "potentials".

My desktop:
Athlon X2 4200, Geforce 6600GT (Dell 19" LCD over non-HDCP DVI, and a Dell 20" wide LCD over VGA)
My HTPC
Athlon 64 3400, Geforce 6800, IN76 over HDMI cable (DVI-HDMI from the 6800).

Neither of which are HDCP capable. I've got a couple of analog connection options (I have a VGA cable run to the IN76. I am, at the moment, downloading WinDVD 8 from the Intervideo.co.jp site, which reportedly will play them (although crap, it's not a trial version :().

My ultimate goal is to have my HTPC play HD DVDs, but I figured the HD DVD addon will (initially) get me HD DVD without another device, and later, hopefully get me a cheap HD DVD ROM for my HTPC.

I'll try it on my Macs too, but my Macs aren't HDCP capable either. (FWIW, I have a 7600 GT in my 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo iMac.) I've got the software side covered though (at least with non-protected stuff), as DVD Player (which ships with all Macs) does support HD DVD playback already.

I wish I had a non-DRM'd HD15 or HD30 disc for testing.

Well I've got two "potentials".

My desktop:
Athlon X2 4200, Geforce 6600GT (Dell 19" LCD over non-HDCP DVI, and a Dell 20" wide LCD over VGA)
My HTPC
Athlon 64 3400, Geforce 6800, IN76 over HDMI cable (DVI-HDMI from the 6800).

Neither of which are HDCP capable. I've got a couple of analog connection options (I have a VGA cable run to the IN76. I am, at the moment, downloading WinDVD 8 from the Intervideo.co.jp site, which reportedly will play them (although crap, it's not a trial version :().

My ultimate goal is to have my HTPC play HD DVDs, but I figured the HD DVD addon will (initially) get me HD DVD without another device, and later, hopefully get me a cheap HD DVD ROM for my HTPC.

I'll bet that you really need a Core 2 Duo and a minimum of a nVidia 7600 GPU assist to do the H.264/AVC smoothly on either BD or HD DVD. Without regard to HDCP issues.

Yah I want to do it too.

Bob

Also, did they fix the VGA output to work properly on the tv's it does work on? Did they fix the washed-out look?

I just bought the VGA cable and hooked it into my Panny AE900. I noticed the washed out look right away, but after recalibrating using DVE the picture is great. Not noticeably better than component, but at least as good. I'll play with component and VGA and see what gives me the best picture once I get the add-on.

doh!

i always assumed the run of vga cable to my wall unit in my home theater was 15-pin VGA (i have yet to use it but the previous owner, who did all the wiring, used it for his computer). turns out it's a 15-pin to 9-pin cord! i assume 9-pin won't carry the HD necessary to make it worth using with the xbox360....and i had already ordered a female/female adapter so i could use the 360 vga adapter with the existing setup with my projector....

question is - if i order a new long (25"+) vga cable, is there a good place to order a 15-pin male/female cord so i won't have to use another adapter in addition to the 360 vga adapter to hook it up to my 360? all i am seeing when i look online is male/male, which is fine since i have that other adapter coming to me, but if i can avoid one more link in the chain that would be great.

thanks

I'll be connecting my XBOX HD DVD player to a Panny AE900 PJ as well. Where did you get the VGA cable? Monoprice? How is gaming over the VGA to the Panasonic PJ?

Thanks

P.S. I sure hope that amazon includes King Kong in the bundle, otherwise I'll be a bit upset......

Same here. I sure hope Amazon includes it as well. I preordered one in the second allotment that they were able to get. On the comments and questions section of the HD DVD drive page, someone asked Amazon if Kong would be included but they didn't know if it would or not. They have no information on Kong being included at all. I really really hope it is because that movie is gonna look absolutely fantastic on HD DVD. I know that Jackson wouldn't settle for anything less that a perfect transfer of Kong. That and the fact that it is such a new film means that it should have zero grain on the transfer and be stunning to look at. I really don't want to have to shell out the cash to get a copy when we were told by Microsoft that the initial allotment would come packaged with it. You just know it's gonna probably be $30 when it's released the following week. :o I have been lurking around these forums for a while and decided to sign up.

On another note:
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned something about Universal folding. If by that they mean releasing their movies on HD DVD. That is already happening. The Hulk (distibuted by Universal) is one Universal movie that I know of that is scheduled to be released in December, if my memory serves me correctly. Universal has already decided to back HD DVD. Not sure if they will only back HD DVD now but I do know they are supporting it.

Question: for movies that are not 1.85:1 but are 2.35/2.40:1 widescreen, how can I get it to fill the screen without super stretching it and losing detail when watching HD-DVDs w/ the add-on? Thanx in advance.

Well, on standard DVDs the 360 has a zoom function that actually works pretty well. Time will tell if it does HD-DVDs as well, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

That said, unless you're watching porno or kids' programming, I'm not sure why you'd do such a thing...

Well, on standard DVDs the 360 has a zoom function that actually works pretty well. Time will tell if it does HD-DVDs as well, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

That said, unless you're watching porno or kids' programming, I'm not sure why you'd do such a thing...

Probably because they are bothered by even the smallest black bars shown on screen. A real film buff like myself shouldn't be even the slightest bothered by the black bars. If you have a Widescreen HD TV they shouldn't be that much of an eyesore. When bars are shown on my TV with films that have the wider format they are always very thin.

Anyone know if Target will be selling the addon Tuesday morning? I figure I have a better chance getting one there than anywhere else.

Did they make a ton of these?

When i payed mine off the guy [manager] said the 7th or 8th at the latest.Hope that helps


Hi folks!

I visited all three of the GameStops in my town, and all three of them told me that the HD DVD add-on might be coming out this week, or it might be next week or the week after. None of them were exactly sure. I asked them if I could pre-order one, but they told me no because until they find out an exact release date, they can't take any pre-orders on them at all. Yet, when I pointed out the fact that GameStop's website is listing the release date as 11/8/2006, none of them could explain to me why there store does not have a firm release date for it yet.

Help me out here, please? Does anyone here know what the exact release date for it is?

I'll be connecting my XBOX HD DVD player to a Panny AE900 PJ as well. Where did you get the VGA cable? Monoprice? How is gaming over the VGA to the Panasonic PJ?

I haven't done much gaming with the VGA cable so I'll let you know in a few. I ordered the cable from Amazon.

Hi folks!

I visited all three of the GameStops in my town, and all three of them told me that the HD DVD add-on might be coming out this week, or it might be next week or the week after. None of them were exactly sure. I asked them if I could pre-order one, but they told me no because until they find out an exact release date, they can't take any pre-orders on them at all. Yet, when I pointed out the fact that GameStop's website is listing the release date as 11/8/2006, none of them could explain to me why there store does not have a firm release date for it yet.

Help me out here, please? Does anyone here know what the exact release date for it is?

Yes, according to Microsoft (as of right now) it is still being released on the 7th Tuesday, but some stores might not have it in stock until Wednesday.
Keep in mind that it is possible that the date could change.

Yes, according to Microsoft (as of right now) it is still being released on the 7th Tuesday, but some stores might not have it in stock until Wednesday.
Keep in mind that it is possible that the date could change.

Okay! Thanks for the info! :D
I should know by now not to believe anything the idiots working at GameStop tell me. This isn't my first bad pre-ordering experience with them, I can assure you....! :rolleyes:

My local EB said it was shipping on the 7th, they'd have them in-store (along with Gears of War, Microsoft loves me this week) on the 8th.

I'm gonna pick up MI:3, Gears ,and the HD-DVD add on Wed. What a great day! :D :D ^_^