EDGE report bluray addon for 360

[godslabrat]

I didn't think Blu-Ray sales were all that great.

And with Xbox pushing streaming movies, I honeslty don't see this thing being a genuine consideration...yet anyways.

Maybe if Blu-Ray became the next standard but now? People don't want to spend $2.99 for gas. Why are they going to want to spend $29.99 for one Blu-Ray flick??

 

Actually, BR sales are very impressive in relation to the format's lifespan. It's very similar to how DVD was performing less than three years after launch.

 

I don't think $30 for a movie is that bad, but I do make fewer blind-buys than I did with DVD. And honestly, I rarely pay more than $25 for a BR disc.

[moycon]

Actually, BR sales are very impressive in relation to the format's lifespan. It's very similar to how DVD was performing less than three years after launch.

 

Really? I haven't seen much solid data regarding Blu, but I did recall reading articles like this earlier in the year.

 

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/b...s-been-delayed/

 

I guess I just assumed sales probably haven't picked up much since due to the crap economy.

[MN12BIRD]

So how are they planning to get around the lack of HDCP support over USB? Even the HD-DVD player didn't support HDCP they just got lucky no studios were implementing it on HD-DVD disks yet. No true 1080 on HDCP Blu-Ray movies would be pretty lame.

[Hyper_Eye]

So how are they planning to get around the lack of HDCP support over USB? Even the HD-DVD player didn't support HDCP they just got lucky no studios were implementing it on HD-DVD disks yet. No true 1080 on HDCP Blu-Ray movies would be pretty lame.

 

I guess they don't. I don't think it matters much. I don't think it will be a very successful product for MS. I don't even really believe it's going to come out. I do enjoy my HD-DVD addon though. When I finally must have bluray I will buy a PS3. I always get all the consoles at some point anyway.

[IronMongeR]

I don't watch movies on the 360 because it's so noisey, also one of the reasons I haven't bought many HD-DVD's. But I'd like a Blu Ray player and I love wasting money on crap, so I'll probably get one if it does actually get made.

[MN12BIRD]

I dunno the idea of hooking up an optical drive to a system that has an optical drive is kinda... wasteful? Seriously these new formats were just around the corner when the 360 came out. They should have made it so the factory DVD ROM drive could be pulled off the system, slide out the front and be replaced with a different drive. I mean it could be a simple SATA style connection and that's that. Having a big drive take up more space and eat another power plug hooked up to a gaming system while its own optical drive sits there doing nothing is just retarded. Plus the fact they may not be able to get around the HDCP over USB impossibilities, capping your 1080 Blu-Ray movies at basically 720 (if even that? Anyone know for sure?) is just the nail in the coffin. Give it up MS!

[Hyper_Eye]

I dunno the idea of hooking up an optical drive to a system that has an optical drive is kinda... wasteful? Seriously these new formats were just around the corner when the 360 came out. They should have made it so the factory DVD ROM drive could be pulled off the system, slide out the front and be replaced with a different drive. I mean it could be a simple SATA style connection and that's that. Having a big drive take up more space and eat another power plug hooked up to a gaming system while its own optical drive sits there doing nothing is just retarded. Plus the fact they may not be able to get around the HDCP over USB impossibilities, capping your 1080 Blu-Ray movies at basically 720 (if even that? Anyone know for sure?) is just the nail in the coffin. Give it up MS!

 

I actually agree that would have been a good idea. Dell does this with it's miniature desktop systems and it's laptops. You just pop out the DVD-drive and you can slap a floppy drive in it's place or whatever other kind of drive they make to go there.

[Artlover]

We're assuming lack of HDCP automaticly means this.

 

The founding members of AACS are: IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Matsushita, Sony, Toshiba, Disney and Warner Bros.. Suposidly there is some pact to not impliment the ICT till 2010/2012 or something. If this is actually true, HDCP means nothing and everything will render @ 1080 anyways.

 

Then there could be other ways. Simply build the player to have the neccessary HDCP coding, but filter it off the output. Digitaly lock it to the 360 in another method that is USB compatable. Tho this breaks the rules, but since MS is part of the AACS, I kinda doubt that would end up being a problem.

[JamesD]

I think HDCP means the data must be encrypted all the way to the TV so I would guess there will be a driver that sends the data from the USB drive to the 360 in encrypted form, thus adhering to the HDCP rules.

 

And I would like to buy the Blue Ray add on for my 360 but not if I get the *$%& HDCP issues on my HTPC worked out first. I have a Blue Ray/HD-DVD drive for it but I can't play anything because of Vista driver issues. I might buy the add on anyway once it drops in price a little.

[Artlover]

I think HDCP means the data must be encrypted all the way to the TV

In theory, if you do things the legal way, yes.

 

The whole nutshell of it is handshaking between the player and final playback device (and everything in between) to prevent copying. All you need is something in-line that declares itself to be the final output device and report back propper handshaking, then continue to pass the data on HDCP free.

 

To that end: Spatz-Tech DVIMAGIC HDCP stripper

http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/21/the-cli...iny-red-button/

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/10586-Video-c...-from-HDMI.html

 

The HDCP stripper was intended for legimiate people who just want to get what they paid for. Tho it is illegal under DMCA, HDCP and AACS (and probably why you can't find the thing anymore). The hackers dont care about this approach and are more interested in breaking the 40x40 encryption matrix.

 

Either way, HDCP is just another BS anti-piracy method that only serves to inconvience legimiate users/complicate technology, and does nothing to stop the piracy. It's almost like a modern day macrovision in that it relys on law mandating devices support the specifications required to allow it to work, much like how video recorders are required to have AGC.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't be suprized to see standalone Blu-Ray players with some secret hidden keypresses HDCP disable feature. I'm betting on Samsung here.

[Lord Helmet]

Either way, HDCP is just another BS anti-piracy method that only serves to inconvience legimiate users/complicate technology, and does nothing to stop the piracy.

 

Exactly!