CONFIRMED:HDMI-enabled black Xbox 360 out on April 29!

[quote name='thrustbucket']If I understand his posting's lately, the HDMI port won't carry sound at all.[/QUOTE]

It will carry sound, just not lossless sound. Combining the audio/video into one hdmi cable is one of the features that Amir listed is exclusive to the Elite.
 
It just falls in line with X360 needing to be 100% replaced in the first place because the console lacked basic out of the box features that a serious next generation gaming console should have included from day one. So, for the price of the 20GB PS3 people will now finally get an upped version of X360 that still doesn't include next generation HD optical discs or HDMI 1.3 and a bunch of non-matching accessories. The best part is how excited all the M$ fanbois seem about giving their money away. gotta love this people at cheap ass gamer forums eh!
 
microsoft was just biding its time. Since they were the only competition, they saw it as an opportunity to wait and see what the other competitors could dish out, and see what the market wanted. Now that they've seen the results, they can move on with their plan having already made millions of dollars with their current lineup.



[quote name='Chacrana']Nice. I'll be cashing in my warranty, losing the annoying as fuck power brick that's probably close to burning down my house, and hopefully playing 360 games with less background noise.[/quote]

The Elite is supposed to be a completely separate SKU from the core and premium models, so if you get in on the warranty for your 360, you're gettin the same model back.
 
[quote name='LinkinPrime']Looks like the lossless audio won't be much of an issue. The spring update that should be out in a few weeks will allow DTS which amirm from AVS has said is a big jump in sound from what it is currently and that its very hard to tell the differnce between DTS and TrueHD. I Just hope I can use the HDMI for video and digital output for sound.[/quote]
That is of course an outright lie. Ask anyone who has both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, Lossless sound is a beast all its own, and over 60% of blu-ray discs have it, where as 7 or 8 hd-dvd discs have it. Its due to hd-dvd's bandwidth and space limitations. Also, The Departed had TrueHD on hd-dvd and PCM Lossless on Blu-Ray and the reviews say without a doubt that the blu-ray version sounds superior, even tho TrueHD is supposed to be the same thing.

www.highdefdigest.com

Go read up on it. If anyone is trying to tell you there is no difference from Lossless and lossy, then they are lieing through their teeth. Why would you want to pay for discs that have HD Video and DVD audio?
 
[quote name='blitz6speed']That is of course an outright lie. Ask anyone who has both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, Lossless sound is a beast all its own, and over 60% of blu-ray discs have it, where as 7 or 8 hd-dvd discs have it. Its due to hd-dvd's bandwidth and space limitations. Also, The Departed had TrueHD on hd-dvd and PCM Lossless on Blu-Ray and the reviews say without a doubt that the blu-ray version sounds superior, even tho TrueHD is supposed to be the same thing.

www.highdefdigest.com

Go read up on it. If anyone is trying to tell you there is no difference from Lossless and lossy, then they are lieing through their teeth. Why would you want to pay for discs that have HD Video and DVD audio?[/QUOTE]

Nobody is arguing lossy sounds as good as lossless. PCM is a waste of space though, and there are a lot of indications that BD is doing away with it.

Space is NOT an issue with HD DVD's having lossless sound tracks. It's just a matter of studios implementing it or being lazy. Otherwise, how would a 108 minute movie like Happy Feet get a 5 star PQ rating, and it has lossless, AND it's only single layer (15GB).
 
[quote name='pinoy530']It will carry sound, just not lossless sound. Combining the audio/video into one hdmi cable is one of the features that Amir listed is exclusive to the Elite.[/QUOTE]

Actually it'll carry two channel sound, essentially making useless for any type of surround sound. The excuse they concentrated of HDMI use for video and not audio is rediculous when a majority of the HDMI enabled devices on the market that I can think of at least use 5.1 channel PCM and esepcially most things in the price range of the elite. But according to Amir we all need to rush out and buy the $400 A2 if we're that concerned (not a problem here, but so much for backing the HD-DVD drive)...

Though this is not a huge issue as most don't own a receiver capable of processing sound via HDMI anyhow, but it speaks a bit to failing to "futureproof" the console. My big concern is that currently the only connection for digital audio is on the base of a set of analog cables, so I'm curious if you can use HDMI and digital surrond sound at the same time effectively, perhaps via an additional port digital audio port on the system? I don't plan on getting the Elite put I'm confident I'll replace my 360 before the 3 years warrnty's up, so to me this is important info nonetheless, becasue while my ears suck even I can tell the difference between true surround and two channel stereo (as I'd hope anyone with hearing could).
 
the good thing about PCM is that you don't need any decoders on board....you just pass it right through

Here's what hisses me off about the "Elite" -

1. If you're going through the trouble of respinning the motherboard to accomodate the fuggin' HDMI receiver, add the lossless audio capabilities. Even if HD-DVD were to win, I'd never buy the 360 addon for this very reason.

2. Adding these additional features can't be that expensive..it's a few more components..maybe just one chip (the broadcom decoder).

3. Giving it a paintjob and throwing in a 120 gb hard drive that I have no use for, and adding a useless HDMI port (component does just fine) does not warrant a $480 pricetag.
 
[quote name='gsr']the good thing about PCM is that you don't need any decoders on board....you just pass it right through

Here's what hisses me off about the "Elite" -

1. If you're going through the trouble of respinning the motherboard to accomodate the fuggin' HDMI receiver, add the lossless audio capabilities. Even if HD-DVD were to win, I'd never buy the 360 addon for this very reason.


2. Adding these additional features can't be that expensive..it's a few more components..maybe just one chip (the broadcom decoder). [/quote]
Amir has addressed this on the insider thread. He actually did say that to add lossless would have required more adjustments/reconfiguration of the motherboard than they wanted to do (for cost and risk reasons, I'm guessing). He makes it clear that that HDMI was added because of all the bitching by others about it concerning video/reciever/TV compatibility issues.

I am also left with the impression that if enough outcry were to take place about lossless audio, they may do something about it in the future, but they really don't think that will happen.

3. Giving it a paintjob and throwing in a 120 gb hard drive that I have no use for, and adding a useless HDMI port (component does just fine) does not warrant a $480 pricetag.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. But also keep in mind that you can now get a standalone A2 HD DVD player for over a hundred dollars less than the Elite anyway. So, really, there is very few scenarios in which a person can complain that they wanted to get the Elite for a better HD DVD experience, when they can buy the A2 for a lot less and get all the features you want. Especially when the Elite, clearly, does not offer a better gaming experience.
 
there isn't going to be an outcry over lossless...duh. The only people out there that care are the ones with the hd-dvd addons and that's a very small portion of the 360 population...People have been asking about this from the get go, and MS didn't care, and now they say they don't think it will happen. Come on now..
 
Well the biggest thing for me I'm never paying 180 for a 120 hdd. I mean if the premium with 20gigs is 400 and the elite with 120gig is 480 then the hard drive should be close to around 60 to 80 bucks. I wish they'd just allow us to use any external hdd we might have.
 
[quote name='SpecTrE3353']No built in Wifi? What the shit?[/QUOTE]
Why would I want that? I'd rather use a wired connection, and even if I didn't, I'd want to use the latest wireless "standard"... which is "N", which isn't even a "standard".

So yeah, how about Microsoft DOESN'T put tech that will be obsolute in a year in their console.



My one worry: people will think of the 360 as being $480, not $400.
 
[quote name='PyroGamer']Why would I want that?[/QUOTE]
Because it's convienent? What kind of doofus would turn down stuff like this?


Choose your own answer time!
So yeah, how about Microsoft DOESN'T put tech that will be obsolute in a year in their console.
Click to expand...

ANSWER A: Yes, just look at all the people bitching who own a PS3 and Wii about how they have tech that will be "obsolute" in a year...yet, in what has to be a modern miracle, will still work just as well as it does now and do the job just fine. I'm sure that they would much rather have the Microsoft choice of paying $100 extra for a Playskool-looking antenna.

So yeah, how about Microsoft DOESN'T put tech that will be obsolute in a year in their console.
Click to expand...

ANSWER B: Yeah, like HDMI 1.2.

That news is a hell of a letdown. I'm not going to bitch about it since it's too late for them to do anything about it, but this just makes them look even worse next to the PS3 as a multimedia machine. I know you can't "future-proof" anything, but it would be nice if the so-called elite 360 was at least current-proofed.
 
[quote name='PyroGamer']Why would I want that?[/QUOTE]
Because it's convienent? What kind of doofus would turn down stuff like this?


Choose your own answer time!
So yeah, how about Microsoft DOESN'T put tech that will be obsolute in a year in their console.
Click to expand...

ANSWER A: Yes, just look at all the people bitching who own a PS3 and Wii about how they have tech that will be "obsolute" in a year...yet, in what has to be a modern miracle, will still work just as well as it does now and do the job just fine. I'm sure that they would much rather have the Microsoft choice of paying $100 extra for a Playskool-looking antenna.

So yeah, how about Microsoft DOESN'T put tech that will be obsolute in a year in their console.
Click to expand...

ANSWER B: Yeah, like HDMI 1.2.

That news is a hell of a letdown. I'm not going to bitch about it since it's too late for them to do anything about it, but this just makes them look even worse next to the PS3 as a multimedia machine. I know you can't "future-proof" anything, but it would be nice if the so-called elite 360 was at least current-proofed.
 
I find it interesting that most game retailers are not taking preorders for this dealie. In particular, considering that it is no longer "limited". Anyway, no preorders at EB/GS or Gamecrazy. Since it didn't come out as good as I had hoped (new chips, etc) I didn't feel the need to preorder anyway, so no biggie. I just thought it was strange. I wonder how quickly the first shipments will sell out?
 
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