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[Xbox-Scene]

MS Releases Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator to Help Speed Content Production Posted by XanTium | December 13 21:37 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From the press release: Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator, enabling film studios and disc authoring companies to model the behavior of HD DVD disc content, including encoded video and HDi interactivity, in a virtual environment before committing to burning a single HD DVD disc. This comprehensive tool is among the first commercially available, software-based solutions of its kind, eliminating the need for expensive hardware or time-consuming and costly trial-and-error processes for testing HD DVD titles, helping to ensure that titles ship error-free. The enhanced content and rich interactive capabilities of HD DVD increase the need for an efficient way to troubleshoot coding to maintain the highest-quality consumer experiences. The emulator uses a combination of available hardware (the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player) and specialized emulation software to ultimately enable playback of near-final assets from a network storage share, portable hard drive or optical disc. This allows focused testing of the layout, the menus, and the behavior of the interactivity functionality of a title. Detailed log reports from the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator deliver valuable tracing information to help quickly and easily pinpoint problems with advanced interactivity code that otherwise could take hours of manual debugging. "We are committed to supporting and advancing the HD DVD ecosystem, and the new Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator reflects these efforts by providing developers with the software-based tools they need to efficiently deliver the highest-quality content," said Jordi Ribas, general manager of HD DVD at Microsoft. "Microsoft developed the Emulator to help save studios and postproduction houses time, resources and costs involved with the creation of HD DVD content, and let them focus on what really matters -- pushing the envelope with the format." Sessions using the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator are designed to complement existing workflows so that tests can be run at various stages. The tool offers several choices for how to run a session: directly from a network storage share, from a USB drive connected directly to the Xbox 360 console, or from an optical disc in the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. While the tool enables the testing of content playback on the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player specifically, it effectively eliminates layers in the testing process for other HD DVD players as well. More information on the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator and HDi License Program, as well as a downloadable case study of NetBlender's use of the emulator, is available at http://www.thisishddvd.com/emulator. Full press release: here

[Alex548]

Nice. Hopefully the studio's reduced costs will trickle down to the end users.

[sirsmacketh]

Yes... hopefully this translates to cheaper HD-DVDs. This would increase the software sales as the hardware prices have been coming down reasonably over the last month.

Wonder what Michael Bay will say about this now... mr. conspiracy.

Both formats deliver great picture quality. I prefer the interactive features of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray. The downloadable content for Transformers is awesome!

[Method2kh]

Only $2,999.00 per license, not too shabby.  

[Flagg3]

QUOTE(sirsmacketh @ Dec 13 2007, 11:09 PM)

Yes... hopefully this translates to cheaper HD-DVDs. This would increase the software sales as the hardware prices have been coming down reasonably over the last month.

Wonder what Michael Bay will say about this now... mr. conspiracy.

Both formats deliver great picture quality. I prefer the interactive features of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray. The downloadable content for Transformers is awesome!

Well, to play devil's advocate - the whole point he was trying to make is that Microsoft is keeping HD-DVD viable SPECIFICALLY to kill both formats.

The simple fact is that is impossible for HD-DVD to actually 'WIN' the battle, and it's commonly known throughout the industry.  What Toshiba is trying to do is keep HD-DVD viable long enough to force both standards to take, and create a situation where both are simply encompassed in dual format players eventually - similar to the DVD-R and DVD+R wars.  

Don't get me wrong, Blu-Ray is not winning this war due to any sort of real or perceived format superiority.  It's actually quite the opposite.  Sony has completely botched the launch of blu-ray, and if the war were to be determined by sales of standalone players, HD-DVD would have already won in a landslide.  

The simple fact is that despite Sony being third in the console race, the PS3 is always going to give blu-ray an insurmountable lead in the format wars.  Regardless of how people get them in their homes, if someone has an HD disc player, the vast majority will not buy a different format - especially at the prices that they are now.  As the installed userbase of the PS3 grows, the lead in disc sales will continue to skew more and more towards blu-ray.  The simple fact is that if Toshiba had not paid an exhorbitant amount of money for temporary exclusivity from Paramount and Dreamworks, the format war would have been over by this Christmas.

The hundreds of millions that Toshiba and Microsoft have poured into the format with the exclusivity deals combined with the recent dumping of $99 players at a huge loss have forestalled that temporarily.  The trick for toshiba is to continue for as long as possible until it comes to the point where we actually see whether Michael Bay is right, and both formats lose, or if both formats combine.  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

This post has been edited by Flagg3: Dec 14 2007, 07:19 AM

[g8crapachino]

QUOTE(Flagg3 @ Dec 14 2007, 06:18 AM)

Well, to play devil's advocate - the whole point he was trying to make is that Microsoft is keeping HD-DVD viable SPECIFICALLY to kill both formats.

The simple fact is that is impossible for HD-DVD to actually 'WIN' the battle, and it's commonly known throughout the industry.  What Toshiba is trying to do is keep HD-DVD viable long enough to force both standards to take, and create a situation where both are simply encompassed in dual format players eventually - similar to the DVD-R and DVD+R wars.  

Don't get me wrong, Blu-Ray is not winning this war due to any sort of real or perceived format superiority.  It's actually quite the opposite.  Sony has completely botched the launch of blu-ray, and if the war were to be determined by sales of standalone players, HD-DVD would have already won in a landslide.  

The simple fact is that despite Sony being third in the console race, the PS3 is always going to give blu-ray an insurmountable lead in the format wars.  Regardless of how people get them in their homes, if someone has an HD disc player, the vast majority will not buy a different format - especially at the prices that they are now.  As the installed userbase of the PS3 grows, the lead in disc sales will continue to skew more and more towards blu-ray.  The simple fact is that if Toshiba had not paid an exhorbitant amount of money for temporary exclusivity from Paramount and Dreamworks, the format war would have been over by this Christmas.

The hundreds of millions that Toshiba and Microsoft have poured into the format with the exclusivity deals combined with the recent dumping of $99 players at a huge loss have forestalled that temporarily.  The trick for toshiba is to continue for as long as possible until it comes to the point where we actually see whether Michael Bay is right, and both formats lose, or if both formats combine.  

You're confusing "fact" with alot of guessing and speculating  ..not much different then the crap Michael Bay is spewing.  At least he, being a Movie producer/Director, has some actual influence and insider info on the matter.  What have you got besides a bunch of assumptions?

[Flagg3]

QUOTE(g8crapachino @ Dec 14 2007, 02:52 AM)

You're confusing "fact" with alot of guessing and speculating  ..not much different then the crap Michael Bay is spewing.  At least he, being a Movie producer/Director, has some actual influence and insider info on the matter.  What have you got besides a bunch of assumptions?

A lot more experience than Michael Bay does, who has zero concept or 'inside information' on the retail electronics market, thank you very much.

I have yet to be wrong on any prediction thus far this generation.  Including the creation of the Xbox Marketplace, the launch price and specs of the PS3, and the fact that Blu-ray would outsell HD-DVD a year prior to either of them launching, for the exact reasons I outlined above.  

http://forums.xbox-s...o...7737&st=50#

Blu-ray discs outsell HD-DVD discs by 2 to 1, despite the fact that standalone HD-DVD players outsell standalone blu-ray players by a substantial margin.  That is entirely because of sales of the PS3, and the margin will only widen as sales of the PS3 ramp up.

The simple fact that Sony slipped the blu-ray player into a console that will guarantee them placement into millions of living rooms allowed them to completely bypass the normal timeframe that is required to reach critical mass for emerging technologies.  The fact that they have sold almost 900,000 HD-DVD players (That number includes 300,000 xbox hd-dvd drives) is a remarkable feat in such a short timeframe, and would normally be considered a tremendous success.  Unfortunately, they are up against a competing technology that despite selling far below expectations will still be at almost 10 million units by the end of the year.  

Even if HD-DVD can scrape themselves up to 3-4 million units next year, Blu-ray will easily be at over 25 million units by the end of 2008.  Do you honestly believe there is any possible way that HD-DVD can somehow overcome that massive lead?  Believe me, a tie would be the best that HD-DVD can hope for at this point, and it would be a huge win for them if they can manage it.  That's why they were willing to give $150 million to Dreamworks and Paramount to get an 18 month window of exclusivity.  Considering the fact that sales of Hi def discs are so low that $150 million is far more money than both studios will earn on all sales of hi def discs combined over the next 18 months, the only explanation for such an obscene amount of money spent is because it was necessary to keep the format alive for that long.  

[Seina]

QUOTE(Alex548 @ Dec 13 2007, 07:57 PM)

Nice. Hopefully the studio's reduced costs will trickle down to the end users.

in the form of lawsuits.

[daskrabs]

@Flagg3: As I wrote here:

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=632725

Predicting a winner to the "format war" is an exercise in triviality. Dual-format set-top players will be commonplace/affordable in a year or 2, and both camps will have little incentive to compromise on anything. Both camps now have a solid base of players and titles. Even if Blu-ray sells more, there will be no "winner".

[vacsed]

QUOTE(Flagg3 @ Dec 14 2007, 10:13 AM)

Even if HD-DVD can scrape themselves up to 3-4 million units next year, Blu-ray will easily be at over 25 million units by the end of 2008.  Do you honestly believe there is any possible way that HD-DVD can somehow overcome that massive lead?

Your assumption, which is based on the current situation and information we have, is correct but unfortunately you missed one major point.

This being that Microsoft will most probably start shipping X360s with a HD-DVD instead of a DVD in 2008, to beat Sony/Bluray precisely in this area. I have actually no doubt that his will happen, MS is only waiting for the mass production prices of HD-DVD drives to drop to offer a nicely balanced gaming and media station in one piece for an affordable price... and make Sony/Bluray's fake advantage diminish slowly.

[englishnamja]

I wonder if this maybe another way inside the xbox?
could this be used to run some exploit? at 2,999$ I'll guess we will never know!

[DURDADUR]

Check it out

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/14/addonic...-blu-ray-drive/

not much needs to be said

[bucko]

QUOTE(DURDADUR @ Dec 14 2007, 07:10 PM)

Check it out

http://www.engadget....-blu-ray-drive/

not much needs to be said

Yuk, awful design,

anyway this is good news the emulator, my collection will certaintly all be in HD-DVD even though ill have a blu-ray player by xmas (aka PS3).

[Chancer]

QUOTE(vacsed @ Dec 14 2007, 03:16 PM)

Your assumption, which is based on the current situation and information we have, is correct but unfortunately you missed one major point.

This being that Microsoft will most probably start shipping X360s with a HD-DVD instead of a DVD in 2008, to beat Sony/Bluray precisely in this area. I have actually no doubt that his will happen, MS is only waiting for the mass production prices of HD-DVD drives to drop to offer a nicely balanced gaming and media station in one piece for an affordable price... and make Sony/Bluray's fake advantage diminish slowly.

 It will already behind the Ps3 in those stakes. Sony already has the hardware and now the games are starting to come on stream. You are also assuming that only HDDVD drive prices will drop.


Oh and for information purposes the PS3 is a standalone player. It needs no other connecting device or processing unit in order to play BR movies. You may argue that people buy it as a games machine but that does not stop it being a standalone player. look up the definition.

QUOTE

A lot more experience than Michael Bay does, who has zero concept or 'inside information' on the retail electronics market, thank you very much.

I have yet to be wrong on any prediction thus far this generation. Including the creation of the Xbox Marketplace, the launch price and specs of the PS3, and the fact that Blu-ray would outsell HD-DVD a year prior to either of them launching

 How come we are not posting your news and predictions in here then and you are not a rich analyst. Don't be shy about telling us

[Flagg3]

QUOTE(vacsed @ Dec 14 2007, 10:16 AM)

Your assumption, which is based on the current situation and information we have, is correct but unfortunately you missed one major point.

This being that Microsoft will most probably start shipping X360s with a HD-DVD instead of a DVD in 2008, to beat Sony/Bluray precisely in this area. I have actually no doubt that his will happen, MS is only waiting for the mass production prices of HD-DVD drives to drop to offer a nicely balanced gaming and media station in one piece for an affordable price... and make Sony/Bluray's fake advantage diminish slowly.

Can't happen, at least not in the way that you think.  Ignoring Microsoft's repeated statements that it will never happen, even if it does it will won't be included in anything but a premium priced unit, similar to the Xbox 360 Elite for the foreseeable future.  

The fiasco that resulted from the Sega 32x has assured us that companies are well aware that such upgrades splinter the market, and infuriate the existing userbase.  This is the reason that Microsoft has dug themselves into the hole that they are currently in, which requires game developers to develop games to be able to run without requiring a hard drive, and also the reason that they so vehemently deny that they will never use HD-DVD for anything but movies.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, these limitations will become a factor in the next 2 years, and I wil be very interested to see if they do in fact capitulate to better compete - but even if they do, it certainly won't happen in 2008, which is too long for it to become a factor in the HD disc format war.

QUOTE(Chancer @ Dec 14 2007, 05:11 PM)

 How come we are not posting your news and predictions in here then and you are not a rich analyst. Don't be shy about telling us

Well, for all you know I very well could be.

While I am not, I am very heavily involved in the electronics industry, and people might be very surprised if they knew what I actually do.