Here's what I need to know: We buy HDTV's to watch video in high definition. To get a high-definition output, your cable channel has to be running in HD. To watch a movie in HD, you need either a blu-ray disc player or an hd-dvd player with their respective disks. So my question is: If the Xbox 360 runs on regular DVD's.....how exactly does it output the image in "HD". If regular DVD's can already do this, shouldnt that mean that there are regular DVD players out there which can allow us to watch our existing movies in HD? Also....if the aforementioned is true...then WHATS the point of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD other than "more space"? Someone who truly knows the answer to this (as well as others), please reply. Thank you.
I think you may be unaware that HDTV is one of three extensions of Digital Television (DTV). All the abilites of HDTV are enabled by the fact that HDTV displays are now digital systems instead of analog systems. Know to get an HD "output" the broadcasting channel must be outputing a digital signal. The video stream may be 480i, (standard or SDTV) 480p, (or EDTV or progessive-scan DVD quality) 720p (or what I call HDTV fast motion), or 1080i (or what I call HDTV high-quality). Ok, DVD movies are encoded using MPEG-2 at 480i resolution. The process in completely digital. For example most DVD players today are progressive scan DVD players meaning that it is possible to create full frame video from interlaced source matirial (like the movies on a DVD). It is also possible to "upconvert" a movies on DVDs which have a 480i resolution to 720p or 1080i with the newest DVD players. These upconverting DVD players have all digital connectinos (either DVI or HDMI). But this has nothing to do with the XBox 360. It isn't an upconverting DVD player. The picture you see when using the XBox 360 on an HDTV is truly an HD picture since the games on the XBox 360 contain 720p and 1080i source matirial (images and movies clips). Yet the XBox 360 is a progressive scan DVD player so you can see DVD movies at 480p resolution. The video game resolution and movie resoultion are totally diffrent. The XBox 360 uses regualr DVD-9 (Dual layer) discs because even though the games take up allot more space because they are in HD its still not enough to fill the disc. Yes, storage mediums are simply "bit buckets"! Any type of data can be stored as long as it doesn't exceed the limit of the bucket. Movies take up tons of space since movies are basicly pictures that flash images on the screen at 30 and 60 times a second (in the case of HDTV) for the duration of the feature. HD Video game discs contain short HD clips and high res images that are loaded and used untill a portion of the game is over. With video games its mostly creative code and redundant use of high res images. Another fact is that it isn't possible to add resolution! A 720p or 1080i movie will always look better than a 480i movie being upconverted to 720p or 1080i. At best all an upconverted 480i image can be is a clean evenly scaled image that looks great on wide screen HDTVs (fixed panel displays). I hope I made some sense, Ced
It looks like games that are larger than one Dual layer disc are on the way! I guess Microsoft should have waited and released the XBox 360 with a HD-DVD drive after all. DVD format just too small for XBox 360 games: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/7112.cfm
Thanks. Much appreciated. Its unfortunate that the Xbox 360 does only run on standard DVD's. Considering that a minimum of 2hrs of recorded HD requires 25Gb (roughly) of disk storage, developers are sure going to have a tough time filling up the disc with HD cinematics and video. Oh well. I wasnt planning on buying one anyway. Thanks again.
yeah issnt sad microsoft released a shitty version of the 360 to make more money, only to come out with a better one later? and they are planning on releasing the hd360's next to the ps3 release in spring 06.
HD-DVD equipped XBox 360 is nothing much. It's just for watching HD-DVD movies. No games will be made for it. And if they DO decide to make HD-DVD games then people will think they made a mistake by first limiting it to DVDs or that they're doing badly compared to Sony.
No people will be glad and pissed. People that have a 360 already will have to upgrade somehow and people why buy 360s with HD-DVD drives will be glad they don't have to swap discs anymore. Ced
i heard they remade madden 06 for the 360. they removed all the extra fetures and fun aspects because they hade no space for them.
look, i heard it from my dad. i did some research and found this here. excerpt from http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox-360/madden-nfl-06/669005p2.html "If all you want from Madden 06 is the ability to play some games against your buddies, there aren't many reasons not to recommend this version. However, if you're the type of person who wants a deeper experience, there's a good chance you'll be a bit let down by some missing features. Although the game has a franchise mode, it's missing a lot of the elements that fans enjoy, most notably the minicamp mode. Sorry friends, there won't be any rushing attacks or two-minute drills for you this year. You can't even pretend to be a mini-Jerry Jones, lording over each and every aspect of the franchise, all the way down to the concession prices."
But do they ever say it was because of a lack of space or is it that they coulddn't figure it all out for to work on this new system?
Like said, no games will be on hd-dvd. They can buy a additional hd-dvd drive, if they want to watch movies with xbox 360. This will likely be cheaper than a full hd-dvd player, so it's a considerable option.
It depends. Because if you don't already have an XBox 360 it might be cheaper to get a full HD-DVD player. And most people already agree that Bluray will win the next gen DVD wars unless all the analysts and support it has doesn't matter and the market goes for HD-DVD.
i think the early unfishinighed release came out to sell cheap at the christmas market and then make games but adapters for EVERYTHING like hte did last time around. hell htey didnt even incorperate wi-fi without a 50+ dollar adapter.
Why will no games be in HD-DVD if Microsoft incoporates an HD-DVD reader in the xbox 360? Was that a public anouncement or a guess? Ced
That was a public anouncement. [/i]YOSHIHIRO Maruyama, Xbox Japan's chief of operations, has stated that Xbox 360 games will never be released on the next generation DVD, contrary to rumours circulating. During an interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu Xbox, he answered many of the questions raised by Bill Gates' earlier statement that the Xbox 360 may feature HD-DVD support later in its life, though certainly not on release. During the interview Maruyama appended the comment by saying that it was a possibility that HD-DVD would be added, "but it won't have any relationship to gaming." In a translation of the article by Gamespot, Maruyama answers the question on all of our minds' by saying that the console uses a next-generation DVD drive in the future, it will only be for watching movies on next-gen DVDs. This has provided a succinct response to questions about whether or not the console would suffer a change in media on which games are provided. That will alleviate the fears of many looking into buying the Xbox 360 at launch who had feared that it may later prove incompatible with game some releases.[/i]
you know, the idea for microsoft to release the xbox early and leave out hd-dvd games will be their follie. the loss on this par tshall be great. they should have waited..
