Topic: Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon - Can it be used on PC? and more about HDMI (Read 436 times)

Xbox-Scene · « **on:** October 12, 2006, 11:38:00 PM »

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon - Can it be used on PC? and more about HDMI
Posted by XanTium | October 13 01:02 EST

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Quote

Reader Pete was lucky enough to attend a presentation that Microsoft and Toshiba were giving about their respective HD DVD players--Microsoft with a production sample Xbox 360 attachment and Toshiba with their HD-A2 and HD-XA2 second-generation HD DVD players.

"Some things I found out, and can talk about is the 360 HD-DVD drive can be plugged into a PC and it will be recognized as an optical drive, but will not play HD-DVD movies. I asked what if you have the proper HD-DVD software on the PC, to that [redacted] said that he didn't know, it hadn't been tried yet- maybe there's something there...

He toed the old 360-won't-have-hdmi line. He cited cost as the deciding factor when they were developing the hardware. He said that the HDCP and the ICT flag will never be a issue becasue the install base of the 360 HD-DVD drive will be so large (he said millions, mabye tens of millions) that any studio that decided to implement ICT would be roasted alive in the press. They wouldn't say how many HD-DVD drives would be available at launch (Nov 17, i think), but later on during different questions/conversations they said there would be "a couple hundred thousand", and "several hundred thousand" for the holidays. Random 360 HD-DVD bits - all the HD-DVD decoding is done in software, the HD-DVD drive will come with the media remote and the King Kong HD-DVD."

Read More: gizmodo.com

xzenor · « **Reply #1 on:** October 12, 2006, 10:54:00 PM »

Can't wait to get my hands on one of those.

pennywisdom · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2006, 10:22:00 PM »

same here. and hey, king kong wasnt all that great of a movie but if it comes free in hddvd form, then thats awesome!

plus i could always use an external dvd reader for my laptop

asspop · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2006, 10:37:00 PM »

cool, now that you are able to connect it to the pc, maybe once there is software for it, we might be able to connect the pc with dvi-d cables to a tv, and produce better picture quality than component.

Naquadah · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2006, 11:01:00 PM »

you can already get better picture than component, use vga

thats how i have mine connected to my tv, i want hdmi tho... perfect pixel to pixel digital connection ftw!

epsilon72 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2006, 12:04:00 AM »

uh, so from what he said I gathered that if ICT is implemented we're screwed if we use the 360 to play HD-DVD's. What's the point of buying the add-on if you won't be able to buy movies in 4 years? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grr.gif)

I guess the good news is that 11/17 is when we'll get the 1080p dash update (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pop.gif)

stbennet · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2006, 01:13:00 AM »

Stupid question perhaps, but my TV doesn't have a VGA input. So if I use 360 vga output to a vga to dvi adapter to a dvi to hdmi cable, will I get (decent/improved/any) picture?

Caldor · « **Reply #7 on:** October 13, 2006, 02:09:00 AM »

The logic for studios not implementing ICT is flawed. They will eventually do it, when they think enough displays out there in the public support hdcp.

The lossless pure digital benefits of HDMI should not be discounted against the proven fact that digital to analogue conversions result in some artifacting and quantization error.

As too, if HDMI 1.3 was supported it would also mean the ability to support dolby digital plus and trueHD, both of which are mandatory for HD-DVD players yet the crippled XBOX add on cant do it.

throwingks · « **Reply #8 on:** October 13, 2006, 04:50:00 AM »

QUOTE(stbennet @ Oct 13 2006, 02:44 AM)

Stupid question perhaps, but my TV doesn't have a VGA input. So if I use 360 vga output to a vga to dvi adapter to a dvi to hdmi cable, will I get (decent/improved/any) picture?

That is the problem with this generation of High Definition Movies. All the studios assume people will get rid of their old HD TVs for ones that will work with this new tech.

In short, you probably cannot do that. You would need a DVI-A to HDMI convertor. You would have to get a signal convertor. DVI-I is different. It has digital components.
Like this one:
VGA/HD with Audio to HDMI Format Converter
$219

deltop · « **Reply #9 on:** October 13, 2006, 05:32:00 AM »

I actually think they have a good point about ICT, there will be a large installed userbase of component only tv's for a very long time, add in the 360 HD-dvd drive and you've got a great number of people who can't support HDMI. It just won't make financial sense for studio' to use ICT, if ever. They are going to stuggle enough to get people to buy HD discs without crippling them to start with. Besides MS comitment to HD isn't only the addon drive, they have financial stakes in many other areas, they certainly know more about what's going on behind the scenes than we do and wouldn't have released a analogue only drive without being certain it wouldn't be a problem.

Worrying about a digital connection is pointless too, it's entirely down to your display. There is no technical reason why an analogue signal shouldn't give you just as good a picture as a digital one. In fact some tv's will even give you a better picture via analogue than digital. Although it can also be true the other way around! As I said it's all down to your tv.

The audio codec support is a bummer, but seriously if your going to be wanting to experience eveyrthing that the new HD formats bring surely you'll be using a standalone drive and won't be relying on a console addon! I can't see anyone who has the equipment to support Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD using a console!

It's just a cheap way to get into HD, if you need to worry about HDMI 1.3, Dolby TrueHD, ICT buy a standalone this isn't for you.

bucko · « **Reply #10 on:** October 13, 2006, 05:33:00 AM »

Well they probably wont allow it to play movies on the PC so it makes people buy a 360 with it, but if they want HD-DVD more mainstream and cheaper they should do this.

Hopefully people at xboxhacker.net will hack the firmware to bypass this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif). It would be a cheap solution to the £400-£500 blu-ray PC drives (I haven't seen any HD-DVD PC drives in UK apart from laptop ones).

It would also be cool if your gfx card supported HDCP (some do) and DVI (most do) then when ICT becomes mainstream your investment in HD-DVD will still be ok using this drive (if you got movies to play on it).

This post has been edited by bucko: Oct 13 2006, 12:34 PM

deltop · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2006, 05:35:00 AM »

QUOTE(stbennet @ Oct 13 2006, 07:44 AM)

Stupid question perhaps, but my TV doesn't have a VGA input. So if I use 360 vga output to a vga to dvi adapter to a dvi to hdmi cable, will I get (decent/improved/any) picture?

Is your tv 1080p native?

shodanjr_gr · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2006, 06:27:00 AM »

I dont see how you can have the drive be detected and work like a normal one on a PC and then NOT have it play movies... You just need specialized software to do that (Blue-ray or HDDVD editions of popular dVD-playback software have already appeared).

twistedsymphony · « **Reply #13 on:** October 13, 2006, 07:48:00 AM »

wow this is increadably dissapointing

Sure they might be right about ICT but it's pretty poor to bank your strategy on that.

If they knew from the begining that they wanted to release an HD-DVD drive then reguardless of costs it was foolish for them to not include at lesat the provisions for HDMI data output.

I suppose NONE of this matters unless you geniunely care about watching HD-DVDs with your 360.

Personally I wont be buying one, I'm waiting for the market to show a unified direction before I so much as spend an extra penny on hardware for HD movies.

I have better things to spend my money on then hopes and dreams that I made the right choice or that Evil Corp wont induce the ICT down the road due to fear of the media.

iPwn · « **Reply #14 on:** October 13, 2006, 07:15:00 AM »

that would be great if you could use it on your pc

Author Topic: Xbox 360 HD-DVD Addon - Can it be used on PC? and more about HDMI (Read 436 times)