$199 360 HD-DVD, Wingnut Halo, Halo Wars

[cheddar]

Interesting article:

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/060927/092706_column_gaming.html?.v=3

Lots of 360 news in this one. Looks like 360 owners can have HD-DVD playback for $199 extra when the PS3 comes out. And Peter Jackson is doing more than just producing the Halo movie. Wingnut will produce an original Halo game. And Microsoft will make a RTS Halo game.

Too bad we still have to wait for Halo 3 :(.

[zombie boy 2000]

LOL

I read your title and thought our very own Wingnut and Halo were having a tiff:D

[cheddar]

Ya, should have seen it earlier :D.

[Shizelbs]

I wonder just how crappy it will make the movies look. I personally am not expecting much good to come from this add on.

[cheddar]

Well, last I read, it uses a usb connection to the 360 and uses the component out of the console. Not a very future proof solution. Could be an instant paper weight if the studios ever turn the copy protection flags in their discs on.

[lanion]

The actual decoding of the HD-DVD data is done INSIDE the 360 itself, so they avoid any future copyright problems on that end. Now, the lack of HDMI is the only big problem now, which they may decide to add "when the market wants it," which should be right around now, but whatever. Microsoft is being waaaay to tight lipped about that and their new 1080p support over component cables -> ( http://gear.ign.com/articles/735/735860p1.html )

[cheddar]

Well, who knows if the studios will ever turn the image constraint token on. But if they do, it only has to do with HDCP over HDMI. And that isn't something you can add by putting a cheap dongle on the current analog output. So unless people are willing to put out for another expensive add-on, I wouldn't expect the 360 to ever implement a full fledged solution for HD movie content. At $200, it seems a better route to just get a Toshiba stand-alone. At least those players can solve some stuff in firmware updates.

[tommyboy]

waste of money. pass on this one guys and get a real hddvd/blu-ray player. don't forgot about dvds on the ps2!:eek:

[lanion]

hmm, well apparently the dongle would support HDMI / digital video output if they decide to do it. I don't know why they havn't done it yet though.

[cheddar]

hmm, well apparently the dongle would support HDMI / digital video output if they decide to do it. I don't know why they havn't done it yet though.

You have to be careful in what is possible with a dongle. For HDCP to work, the output has to be digital. There is no way to get digital output from a component source, it's analog when it comes out of the 360. You may be able to do some fancy analog to HDMI conversion somewhere like from VGA, but it's still analog at the source. It won't be HDCP compliant unless it's digital all along the hardware chain with the proper HDCP hardware. It's a result of 360 design decisions in the hardware video output options. The 360 just wasn't designed to use HDCP or HDMI to work with HD movies. It's all marketing voodoo if MS says it can.

[scottvamp]

don't forgot about dvds on the ps2!:eek:
The PS2 is what put DVD into the average household, standard part of the system, 20/1 sales over any other game console:confused:

[fireshoes]

He's saying it's a shitty dvd player. ;)

[scottvamp]

That's strange because from the little i used mine, performance was pretty dam good. Actually i remember many people on this forum bragging and saying that it was thier only dvd player in the house. Did it preform as well as my $800 Denon at the time, not really but just really strange PS bashing on this forum.:( PS2 was really big push for the DVD industry in general.......

[fireshoes]

There's no doubt it helped forge the dvd revolution. It just doesn't stack up to more current dvd players that are available for extremely modest pricing.

[scottvamp]

We're talking about one of the greatest gaming systems that entered the market 7 years ago. For $299, a DVD player was one hell of a bonus not mention 2 gens of games.........................

[tommyboy]

We're talking about one of the greatest gaming systems that entered the market 7 years ago. For $299, a DVD player was one hell of a bonus not mention 2 gens of games.........................

Scotty,

My quote had nothing to do with the ps2's dvd being a bonus and having two generations of games. I know the ps2 pretty much jump started dvds to where they are at today.I agree with about all of that. But I only watched very few DVD movies on it because it was so bad. Now I haven't watched any movies on the xbox because I didn't want to pay 30 bucks for the dvd upgrade. but for those who did, is the xbox a much better dvd player than the ps2?

[scottvamp]

Scotty,
But I only watched very few DVD movies on it because it was so bad.
I never heard anything about it being bad. What was bad about it? Like i said thier were plenty of people on this forum even, saying the PS2 was the source of thier hometheater. I bought the PS2 the day it came out and the dvd playback was dam good. The cut scenes for FF were jaw dropping.

[cheddar]

I think its probably best to withhold judgement until November when people can actually see these things (well, maybe spring when mere mortals can get a ps3). But it will be interesting to compare the two approaches by the 360 and ps3. The 360 was designed primarily as a gaming platform and is trying to "add-on" their way into the HD movie market with a $200 player. Sony has delayed the production of the ps3 because they intended it to be a mass market HD movie player as much as a gaming machine. Their decision to delay the machine has allowed them to include both blue-ray and hdmi 1.3 in the final design with the cheaper version cut in price to just above $400 now in Japan.

I wouldn't expect either to compete well with cheap players one or two years from now. However, who knows, they may compete really well with the 1st gen expensive HD players available now.

[cheddar]

Here's the link to halowars if anyone's interested:

http://www.halowars.com/

They've got a trailer...

[scottvamp]

I saw a hi-def trailer for metal storm about 9 months ago and i could not believe the rez and power. People thought no way this was real time game play. A spokesperson for PS3 said yes - but the engine in the PS3 will be faster and with higher rez.:eek:

[Lsi9]

Im not sure about ps2 (never owned one) but the original xbox and the 360 has video quality that my $35 cyberhome dvd player (in the bedroom) can beat. I see the Hddvd add-on as a waste of money for anyone who posts here. I will wait for a hybrid universal HD Player, I'm usually an early adopter but I don't feel like getting burned on this one.

and as far as PS3, it won't do anything much better than the 360, too much money for too little difference. Blueray is a plus but then again why not wait for a hybrid HD player?

[Shizelbs]

The PS2 is visibly worse than both the Xbox and 360.