There’s a new update available for the HD-DVD addon drive for the Xbox 360 today. Most notably, it improves compatibility with newer titles that are using advanced copy protection schemes, such as Digital Video Essentials, which didn’t play in the 360 drive until today.
You can now also select 2 channel linear PCM as an audio output option if you’re using the Elite. Great, but why give up surround sound for a movie so you can hear crystal clear sound from only 2 speakers?
So here’s a nice little problem with the transfer process for the 120GB hard drive on the Xbox 360 (thank you to a friend who lent me his transfer cable). While transferring data, if you disconnect anything, the process stops and dumps you back to the dashboard. This includes HDMI handshaking when using the Elite.. So if you change the input on your TV or turn off your TV, the process stops. I found out the hard way after an hour of watching some crap on my DVR.
I guess I’ll have to switch over to component video while I’m transferring the data over, so I don’t have to leave the TV sitting with a nice static image for an hour.
Hey Microsoft… can you please make some of these processes easier?
Even though I said I wasn’t going to, I picked up a Xbox 360 Elite today. The black beast is better than I anticipated.
The first thing I noticed was the Elite is very quiet. Much more so than my older Premium console. This is when idle, playing movies (both standard DVD and HD-DVD), as well as playing games. It’s a treat to not have to hear the fans spinning like crazy. The new Hitachi drive helps too.
The HDMI video connection looks fantastic. There is a noticeable difference in colors and black level on my 50″ Samsung 1080p over component video. Don’t take this to mean the HDMI connection produces a much better picture… it’s a known thing with my model of HDTV that HDMI looks way better than component.
I’m waiting on my transfer cable, so I can’t comment on using the 120GB hard drive yet.
Overall, it’s the best 360 console I’ve had. Is it worth the upgrade for most users? I don’t think so. But if you’re looking to replace a broken console and you don’t have warranty, or you just want to pick up a 360 for the first time, definitely take a look at the Elite.
On the heels of the new Elite 360 comes rumors of the next iteration of MS consoles already. Many are skeptical if the Elite will catch on and wonder when MS will drop their real “Elite” system.
Some speculate that this machine will have functionality to link up your Windows Mobile phone, MS Zune, your laptop and even your existing 360 to a master console at the heart of the network, allowing them to share all their files. Perhaps this magical machine will be the much rumored 720.
The current 360 Elite can’t handle 5.1 – 7.1 channel uncompressed Linear PCM audio, reallistically it can only handle 2 channel. This is REQUIREMENT for all hd-dvd movies, unless you don’t value quality. You need hdmi for linear pcm audio, and not including it in the Elite is a mistake by MS. I believe it’s a hardware issue and the 360 doesn’t have enough audio pipes to handle it, while the ps3 does it out of the box with both games and blu-ray movies. Resistence is true 7.1 channel linear pcm. 360 needs to step up their game and skip this silly Elite system and move on to bigger and better things like the 720!
Here is a video that goes over all the Xbox 360 Elite will offer. I won’t lie and say that I don’t like the look, but it just doesn’t offer anything new to anyone that already has a Xbox 360 premium system. I think in order to call this system Elite there should be some hardware upgrades, not just an expanded HDD and a sexy black finish. The Elite offers nothing unique except the HDMI support that it should have originally came with originally and some pre-loaded software (demos and movies) on the 120 Gb HDD.
Yesterday I posted about all the questions I still had about the Xbox 360 Elite. Someone with inside sources at Microsoft from AVS Forum actually got a chance to ask all of those questions.
The 360 Elite will support HDMI 1.2, which means no Dolby Digital+ or TrueHD sound. It will support uncompressed Linear PCM, but only 2 channel. That’s some BS right there. That shoots down my idea of buying one.
Of equal or possibly better news, the Xbox 360 Spring Dashboard Update will see some VGA improvements as well. You’ll now be able to select your video level, 7.5 IRE vs. 0, to get true 1080p from the VGA port. This excites me. No longer will we have washed out colors and such from the 360 with the VGA connection.
Overall, now that these issues have been answered, I am severely unimpressed with the Xbox 360 Elite. I don’t see any point in buying one. I don’t need the 120GB hard drive either, since I’m not storing tons and tons of content.
Read the full post of information…
So I’m debating getting an Xbox 360 Elite for the HMDI connection for true 1080p, but I still have some unanswered questions…
What HDMI version is the 360 Elite going to use? I would assume it’s v1.3, but you know never know with Microsoft.
Will the 360 Elite be able to send uncompressed Linear PCM audio over HDMI from HD-DVD sources? This is the big question for me. If it can’t do this, I’m not buying one. After hearing LPCM audio from my PS3 on Blu-Ray movies and comparing to Dolby Digital, it’s like night and day. I want my HD-DVD’s to sound like this too.
We’ve contacted Microsoft but have not received any official word either way. Hopefully they’ll come out and answer these questions. I’ve seen hundreds of forum posts, comments on official Microsoft blogs, etc. asking these exact same things. My question is, why no answer? To me, the lack of comment from Microsoft on the issue means the only thing the HDMI adapter is going to give you is a single cable connection for digital audio and video, but no next-gen audio signals.
We’ll see what happens…
Looks like GameDaily Biz was right on the money. Microsoft today announced the Xbox 360 Elite, which will launch April 29 in the US for $479. The 120GB hard drive will retail for $179 and go on sale the same day.
Basically, everything that has been speculation is now true. There will be a 120GB hard drive, HDMI port, black everything, and it will include an HDMI cable. Even those pics of the box and such that people thought were fake turned out to be real.
There’s no official word as of yet on whether the current Core and Premium systems will get HDMI ports in the near future. Also, no official word on the 120GB hard drive including a data transfer cable. Looks like I might have to put my XSATA to work again after all.
[Update] Contacting Microsoft, we found that the data transfer cable will in fact be included with the Elite system and standalone 120GB hard drive.
GameDaily Biz is reporting that the Xbox 360 Elite will be formally announced tomorrow by Microsoft. This isn’t that far out of left field, since we’ve seen the production leaks, magazine articles, and stories from Dean Takahashi.
They have an anonymous source in the industry, and they usually are pretty on target with their expectations. Everyone knows it’s been coming, it’s just a matter of time.
From the article:
The black colored console was revealed in the April issue of Game Informer, and while Microsoft has continued to deny its existence, it’s become one of the worst kept secrets in the industry of late. The new model 360 is rumored to come with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI port and cable, but no HD DVD drive. It’s also not clear whether it will feature the same 90-nanometer chipset or the cheaper to produce, more effective 65-nanometer chip, which Microsoft will likely switch over to soon.
We’ll keep our eyes pealed tomorrow. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this press release come across my desk early tomorrow.
More details have surfaced on the new Xbox 360 Elite, which will have an HDMI port and 120GB hard drive. If you’ve been living in a box, Game Informer had the original details of the new version of Microsoft’s console in their April issue.
Dean Takahashi of The Mercury News, and also from the fame of his book The Xbox 360 Uncloaked, has an article about the release of the new SKU from Microsoft. Dean agrees with the HDMI port, black case, and 120GB hard drive, but also adds IPTV functionality to the list of new features.
The new box will go on sale in limited quantities soon for $479. The details may not be precise here, but I believe it will have an HDMI connector so that you can connect at the highest speed to a high-definition TV. It will come with a 120-gigabyte hard disk drive and will have IPTV capability.
Bill Gates announced in January that the Xbox 360 was capable of serving as a set-top box for IPTV, or Internet Protocol TV, which phone companies such as AT&T are using to offer high-definition movies and scores of channels in competition with TV.
Makes sense to have IPTV functionality in the new box. I would suspect to hear an official announcement from Microsoft in the coming weeks, with release in late April. Like I said before, I’m grabbing one of these as soon as I can. Hopefully the new box has support for uncompressed PCM audio over HDMI.
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