Xbox 360 to get bump to 1080p

[SomeGuyWithDSL]

... courtesy of the fall firmware update. MS has always maintained that the system is more than capable of pumping out 1080p and that it just wasn't an issue. Looks like they've decided to address it.

 

Existing and most upcoming games will be upscaled from 720p, no comment on which (or whether) future titles will run natively at 1080p.

 

Microsoft again said no HDMI, which leaves the 1080p stream coming over component cables. The physical properties of the cables can handle the signal, but no sign of HDTVs that support 1080p over component, and no word on how HD-DVDs from the new player will be played at 1080p if they use the Image Constraint Token over HDCP, which functions over HDMI or DVI only.

 

Multiple sources, here's one.

Edited September 20, 2006 by SomeGuyWithDSL

[MCHufnagel]

MS might be trying to make a HDMI cable that connects to the A/V out port of the X360. Other than that I don't how they can use component if no tv's can do 1080p through component inputs.

[SomeGuyWithDSL]

It appears there are a couple of TVs that accept 1080p over component, namely from Westinghouse, but it certainly is not an industry standard due to the fact that most planned 1080p content will be HDCP-locked anyway.

[JB]

MS might be trying to make a HDMI cable that connects to the A/V out port of the X360.

They can't, though.

They lack digital video pins on the AV out.

And even if they did, the system doesn't have the HDCP encryption chip, so they can't support HDCP.

[Gregory DG]

I wonder if MS will upgrade the built-in DVD with an HD-DVD one day? Who wants another DVD player hanging off of their 360 anyway? I'd rather have an integrated unit.

[Hyper_Eye]

I wonder if MS will upgrade the built-in DVD with an HD-DVD one day? Who wants another DVD player hanging off of their 360 anyway? I'd rather have an integrated unit.

 

They have emphatically denied any intention of doing this. Their stance is that the 360 hardware will not be revised (not in a way that changes functionality anyway) and games will not be released on HD-DVD (as current owners would have to get the add-on to play them.) Of course they can change this stance but they were pretty adamant about it.

[Gregory DG]

I wonder if MS will upgrade the built-in DVD with an HD-DVD one day? Who wants another DVD player hanging off of their 360 anyway? I'd rather have an integrated unit.

They have emphatically denied any intention of doing this. Their stance is that the 360 hardware will not be revised (not in a way that changes functionality anyway) and games will not be released on HD-DVD (as current owners would have to get the add-on to play them.) Of course they can change this stance but they were pretty adamant about it.

They probably won't do it... but if they did...

 

They don't have to put games on HD-DVD, that way people who have the older X360 wouldn't have to worry about incompatibilities. It would just be an additional feature for videophiles. Of course, it'd be a pretty expensive upgrade just to watch HD-DVD movies.

 

Or, if they do decide to put games on HD-DVD, they could change the color of the box to so people knew it was an HD game. Put a sticker on the box, put a giant lock on it so people knew... etc. There's ways to reduce the confusion (but no way to eliminate it entirely.)

 

Personally, I don't care. I won't be buying a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player for many years (until the dust settles.) But it'd be nice if the 360 was on a level-playing field with the PS3.

[MCHufnagel]

MS might be trying to make a HDMI cable that connects to the A/V out port of the X360.

They can't, though.

They lack digital video pins on the AV out.

And even if they did, the system doesn't have the HDCP encryption chip, so they can't support HDCP.

Then why would they even bother to go to 1080p if very few sets can use component inputs for it? There must a reason. Maybe it has to do with the HD-DVD add-on?

[JB]

MS might be trying to make a HDMI cable that connects to the A/V out port of the X360.

They can't, though.

They lack digital video pins on the AV out.

And even if they did, the system doesn't have the HDCP encryption chip, so they can't support HDCP.

Then why would they even bother to go to 1080p if very few sets can use component inputs for it? There must a reason. Maybe it has to do with the HD-DVD add-on?

Bragging rights.

 

And yah, HD-DVD probably factored in. As long as manufacturers hold off on the content restraint flag(and they probably will, if it's treated anything like Macrovision was on DVD), MS is okay. It's only once they start requiring HDCP support for high-def output that the 360 suffers.

[NE146]

Don't matter to me... Hi-def is overrated still at this point in my humble opinion. I wired my plasma for HDMI, 2x Component, Composite, Coax, Cat-5 and I still have this opinion. It's nice. Real nice actually. But not "amazing" like I was expecting.

 

Of course though I wouldn't mind seeing some 360 games in 1080p just to have it. But I'll wager that for most games like Saints Row and what not.. it won't be all THAT much of a step up. Until the next big BIG step up, it's just diminishing returns as far as I'm concerned

[Ze_ro]

Then why would they even bother to go to 1080p if very few sets can use component inputs for it? There must a reason. Maybe it has to do with the HD-DVD add-on?

Bragging rights.

Bingo. It's basically just a bullet point to combat Sony's claims of 1080p from the PS3. Doesn't matter if almost no one can actually use it.

 

Without HDCP though, this is still in the same boat as the cheap PS3. You CAN use HDMI without HDCP, you're just subject to the downsample flag, which could potentially make HD-DVD's very crappy in the future. The plus side is that the system will upsample DVD's to 1080p, potentially making them look as good as HD-DVD's, depending on how good Microsoft's code is.

 

As it is, this whole HD situation is a huge mess, with lots of hardware that may or may not have artificial limitations that most people are unaware of.

 

--Zero

[JB]

Without HDCP though, this is still in the same boat as the cheap PS3. You CAN use HDMI without HDCP, you're just subject to the downsample flag, which could potentially make HD-DVD's very crappy in the future.

Again, that would be dependant on digital video outputs that the 360 lacks.

It's not possible, using the hardware in the unit right now, to have DVI or HDMI output, encrypted or otherwise.

 

As it is, this whole HD situation is a huge mess, with lots of hardware that may or may not have artificial limitations that most people are unaware of.

Yah.

 

Digital TVs of all limitations being sold as "1080i-compatible" and "1080p-compatible," DVI and HDMI products that don't support HDCP, HD disk format wars, HD hardware that only has component inputs/outputs(raw RGB if you grab an old enough product), digital TVs with shitty upsampling that makes all non-native images look like crap... and that's just what I can think of off-hand.

It's definitely a mess.

[Starscream]

Again, that would be dependant on digital video outputs that the 360 lacks.

It's not possible, using the hardware in the unit right now, to have DVI or HDMI output, encrypted or otherwise.

 

I believe this is incorrect. IIRC, when the 360 was first "ripped" apart by all of the techy sites, they did confirm (through ATI as well) the it is capable of HDMI output at any time. A quick check around the net tonight and I have found nothing stating that it can't, most stating it's possible. I know I have read many MS blogs confirming it can but I cannot find anything definite. Maybe CPU knows, but I have never heard, except from you, that it can't. I would like to know so if ya got anything, let me know.

 

I do know about the HDCP chip. The cable itself can be made with the necessary chip to support HDCP along with an update. Toshiba has been working on that scenario.

[CPUWIZ]

Again, that would be dependant on digital video outputs that the 360 lacks.

It's not possible, using the hardware in the unit right now, to have DVI or HDMI output, encrypted or otherwise.

 

I believe this is incorrect. IIRC, when the 360 was first "ripped" apart by all of the techy sites, they did confirm (through ATI as well) the it is capable of HDMI output at any time. A quick check around the net tonight and I have found nothing stating that it can't, most stating it's possible. I know I have read many MS blogs confirming it can but I cannot find anything definite. Maybe CPU knows, but I have never heard, except from you, that it can't. I would like to know so if ya got anything, let me know.

 

I do know about the HDCP chip. The cable itself can be made with the necessary chip to support HDCP along with an update. Toshiba has been working on that scenario.

 

We took a close look at the pinout of the 360 port, it doesn't really look like it could do HDMI to me. But who knows, they may be able to pull off some small external circuit that converts some of the output signals to HDMI, including HDCP encoding. I wouldn't be too surprised though, I believe 2 pins of the pinout are unknown or not connected. Don't quote me on it.