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[ChrisF]

I highly doubt it.  Xbox isn't a scaler and although I'm not an expert in that technology I'm not sure the hardware can handle it (otherwise they'd include the capability to scale 480p games too).  What you likely saw was support for 1080i resolutions (which XBMP has also).  The few people who have tried it reported the picture filling only a proportional area of the screen.  I don't really know how it would compare to HBOHD.  You might try one of the new DVD players that scales and compare.  To be honest, a lot of it has to do with the quality of the source material.  Some DVDs are crap and some programing on paid HD networks is also crap.  Too much variability to make an apples to apples comparison.

[Foe-hammer]

I just thought the higher res options for xbmc and xbmp was for their dashboard menus, not for movie playback.

[ChrisF]

I think you're right.  A few people have played Divx at the higher resolutions but they filled only a part of the screen.  As for playing HD material or other high-res material - most people seem to report playback issues (at least from what I remember seeing).

[Mr Ed]

QUOTE (sewfish11 @ Jan 23 2004, 10:15 AM)

I've seen this mentioned on a few other forums outside of X-Box Scene.   How come I haven't seen more discussion of this here?  Is it true that Xbox Media Center will upscale a DVD to 1080i?  Will this quality compare to watching HBO-HD, etc??

No!  Not even if you buy the most expensive upconverter or 1080i DVD player.

Dude the native resolution of a DVD is only 720x480 so you won't get any added resolution by upconverting them to 1080i.  A DVD can't look as good as HBO-HD.  The only way to get pre-recorded movies in that resolution is with a JVC D-VHS VCR.  Remember DVDs are petty crappy and only hold around 8.5GB of data.  It takes around 50GB to hold 2 hours of HD resolution content.

[ChrisF]

That being said, a lot of what appears on the HD movie channels comes from a poor source.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if they just upresed some of it with a top tier scaler.  Sort of like ESPNHD does since most of their content is not HD.  They just do a high quality job on the scaling and send it out at 720p.  From what I've seen I don't think they are remastering the film for HD and then broadcasting it on many occasions.  I'm not sure exactly what they don't imagine they are doing all the movies the right way.

[sega27]

[{{DEMON}}]

yea, i believe its for menus only.

Xports emulator emu's give those options too and the menus look awsome, but the screen scales when you try to play games on those emu's in that resolution.

When i tried the 1080i option for XBMP and XBMC i get a screen thats super small and takes up 1/8 of my tv screen and movies don't even run in it, though i can hear the sound.

Wierd

{DEMON}

[Foe-hammer]

[hansolos]

This needs verification, but I think I've managed to some how force the MS DVD Player to HD 1080i.  First I set MS DASH to all resolutions including 1080i.  Then boot to MXM with the dvd dongle in and set mxm not to play dvds by default.  Insert Dvd go to dashboard menu and pick MS Dash.  It starts to load MS Dash and changes to HD, but never goes back to progressive scan after the movie starts to play.  I can't say that it looks any better than 480p, but it does look more liquidy.  Like a blur HD signal.

On a similar topic.  Does anyone know if MXM or EVOX can be forced to stay in HD 1080i.  The reactor scene starts when you first turn it on it's in HD, but as soon as MXM or EVOX loads it scrambles the signal and the projector has to resync down to 480p.