Comment on X-Box 1080i DVD drivers (1 Viewer)

Sean Oneil · Sep 2, 2001

This was posted on Team X-Box earlier

NVidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed last night, in a press conference, that the Xbox DVD drivers would include support for both Progressive Scan and HDTV output. Both these features are not available on any other console except for the Xbox, which has to be an advantage.

So while I guess we know that the 'Drivers' will support 1080 DVD, all that is left is wether or not the 'software' from Ravicent will support it.
Things keep looking better for the Box.

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Ron Gilbert · Sep 2, 2001

That snippet was originally reported on the now defunct website "Daily Radar" last year or early this year I think. It's disturbing that MS hasn't officially commented on the DVD playback yet. We may have false hopes for progressive scan playback, although I would think that just being able to support HDTV would automatically imply that the feature exists. Plus, before the info was removed from Ravisent (sp) software' site, I clearly remember seeing mention of progressive scan playback on their Xbox DVD specs chart. But as you said, it remains to be seen.

Massimo N · Sep 2, 2001

Today, I was in my local EB and XBOX displays were in full force!! There was 2 sectional wall displays full of game display boxes.
To keep on topic, boxes for all accessories were their as well. The remote pack for the dvd playback said "progresive scan" It didn't say it did 3:2 pull down though.
I'm soo looking forward to the 1st HDTV home console

DVD playback is just a nice bonus ... especially if it outperform my current player.
Mass

Camp · Sep 2, 2001

It's disturbing that MS hasn't officially commented on the DVD playback yet.

I totally agree. We're all super excited about the potential of video scaling but NOTHING official has been announced. What is Microsoft waiting for?

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Sean Oneil · Sep 3, 2001

Nothing in the report indicates it supports 1080i. It just says there is support for "HDTV output". For all we know, that could mean it has component cables.

The CEO of NVIDIA is the one who made the statement, and he specifically makes a reference to the 'X-Box DVD drivers' supporting PS and HD output. That means that the video drivers for the NV2A will support PS and HD output.
NVIDIA is not in the business of making cables.

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Graeme Clark · Sep 3, 2001

When I looked at the boxes for the accessories the other day, I too was hoping it would have some details on this.
The DVD kit says it supports Progressive scan, but nothing else. The High Definition pack just says it has support for 480i/p, 720p and 1080i But that could be just for games of course.
The descriptions on Link Removed are the same as what's on the mock up boxes.
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Camp · Sep 3, 2001

The CEO of NVIDIA is the one who made the statement, and he specifically makes a reference to the 'X-Box DVD drivers' supporting PS and HD output. That means that the video drivers for the NV2A will support PS and HD output.
NVIDIA is not in the business of making cables.

Thanks for the smart-ass response.
I overlooked the obvious refrence but the statement is still nothing more than evidence. Why no facts? You (and all of us along with you) are drawing a conclusion based upon refrences and tech specs. For all we know the nVidia CEO might consider 480p to be "HD" (marketing types can stretch the truth). We don't know until they officially confirm it.
Obviously the Xbox is easily powerful enough to scale video. I wonder if there is some other reason Microsoft hasn't announced this feature yet. What are they waiting for?

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Dave F · Sep 3, 2001

I don't think that Microsoft has touted the HD capabilities for the sole reason that it will divert attention from the main purpose of being a game console. MS is being very careful to present this thing as a game machine first and foremost, to the extent of saying that they will not produce a mouse/keyboard. One of the major criticisms of the XBOX (I won't comment on the validity) is that it is just a PC in a box. Talking about DVD drivers, 1080i, etc... would just give fuel to those saying that they are concentrating on aspects other than games.
-Dave
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DVD List

Sean Oneil · Sep 3, 2001

Camp, I really do not want to get drawn into an argument. I never said that this was difinitive proof of the X-Box doing 1080 DVD scaling. I merely posted that quote to bring news to people on this forum. Also, as I stated, this still does not mean that the X-Box will do the 1080 scaling just because the NV2A drivers will support it, because in the end it comes down to the Ravisent software DVD player taking advantage of those drivers.
I am sorry if you took this news snippet in any other way.
[Edited last by Sean Oneil on September 03, 2001 at 06:46 PM]

Camp · Sep 3, 2001

because in the end it comes down to the Ravisent software DVD player taking advantage of those drivers.

Sean,
I'm only familiar with Ravisent as the supplier of DVD software to Xbox. Are they well known for their DVD software? Is their software the exclusive DVD software for Xbox? I mean, will Microsoft allow other companies to sell DVD software?

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Sean Oneil · Sep 4, 2001

Camp, go to http://www.ravisent.com/index.html for details about Ravisent PC DVD player software.
As for the prosect of others making software DVD players for the X-Box, it's any one's guess at this point. Ravisent are the only players in that area thus far that I have heard. The Ravisent software DVD player is used in many a HTPC, and there is even some small mention of it in the 'secrets of AV science Progressive Scan DVD shootout, part 2' which can be found here Link Removed In short, they mention that a HTPC using the ATI (Ravisent) player had excellent playback performance, including motion adaptive de-interlacing progressive scan in video flagged material. They mentioned that they preferred the WIN DVD software player, but you can also find many opinions to the contrary around the web.
The fact that the NVIDIA drivers will support HDTV output is a good thing, and if nothing else, opens the door for Ravisent to implement 1080 DVD scaling ability into their X-Box software solution, as well as giving rogue developers the ability to port software DVD players like WIN DVD on to the X-Box Hard Drive. I have no idea if that will happen, but the X-Box hardware is not keeping the unit from doing extremely high quality DVD scaling HTPC style -the only thing keeping that ability at bay would be marketing decisions made by Microsoft.
[Edited last by Sean Oneil on September 04, 2001 at 01:22 AM]

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