Xbox 360 may offer HD-DVD support.....sort of (1 Viewer)

[Ken Chui]

According to statements made by Bill Gates in Japan, the 360 may incorporate an HD-DVD drive eventually into its hardware specs. However, in order to meet this fall's launch date, the 360 will be equipped with regular DVD-ROM drives initially, and upon their (HD-DVD drive) availability, will be adopted instead. Also, the HD-DVD drives will support HD movie playback only, i.e. don't expect increased storage for games.

Here's the article.

 

[Citizen87645]

So who thinks this will affect sales at launch? From what little was in the article, I didn't get the impression there would be an upgrade option for those with the launch DVD-ROM version.

 

[ChrisMatson]

This information has been around for at least a few weeks. I still don't see it happening.

If I was interested in a 360, I would wait a few months after launch to see what happens.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I have a feeling that it's not going to be an option that'll be available in a few months, but perhaps after a year or two as an incentive to move the system. At the earliest, I'd say that an HD-DVD 360 will be released alongside the Ps3.

Honestly, having both options available would be the best possible scenario for everyone. The standard 360, and the more expensive "hybrid" 360.

 

[Ken Chui]

You're right, the article's over a month old. :b I'm disappointed in the "Attack Of The Show" crew for reporting this yesterday as current news. I wonder if we'll have something definitive spec-wise when the Tokyo Game Show rolls around....

 

[JoanPablo_T]

Microsoft hinted that the DVD drive is removable. So you would simply buy the new drive, NOT an all new 360.

 

[Citizen87645]

I thought the removable part was the hard drive.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

They would need to release a new model 360 or have some sort of special service where you return the hard drive to implement HD-DVD ability.

However, because the PS3 uses a blue laser for blu-ray, it is quite possible that they could release a firmware upgrade to allow it to read HD-DVD as well as all the current formats it reads.

 

[Ken Chui]

If there are laser experts on this forum, please chime in. (I could sift through the 36-page thread on Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD to find an answer, but I'm not up to the task )

Even if the numerical aperture of the Blu-ray lens can be adjusted to read HD-DVD discs, I think there are other factors to consider which could prevent BR lasers from reading HD-DVD discs reliably, one being disc tilt sensitivity. The BR folks went with a disc thickness of 1.1 + 0.1 (1.1mm thick plastic substrate protected by a 0.1mm surface cover layer) to minimize or eliminate possible disc tilt* issues (* distortion of the laser beam with increased thickness of the cover layer and higher aperture lenses); HD-DVD discs use a 0.6 + 0.6 disc thickness. This is why tilt control is needed in HD-DVD drives; I'm not sure about Blu-ray drives

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The PS3 will be able to play CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. The only real issue is its ability to interpret the data on the discs. Otherwise, the drive should work the same. I'm not sure the tilt control is as big of an issue between the two drives, though.

Either way, it's doubtful to happen because of the Blu-ray/Sony vs. HD-DVD/Toshiba thing.

 

[Dave Lipscomb]

I doubt the DVD drive would be hot-swappable, because otherwise the Live protocol might read this modification as a hack of some sort, and blacklist you.

So, the idea that there would have to be at least a download to update the OS on the hard drive seems like a necessity.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The thing is, the 360 uses a red laser that can't read HD-DVDs. They would need to somehow change the laser to a blue one.

 

[Ken Chui]

Looks like the HD-DVD drive issue may be a non-issue after all (see Ars Technica article). Based on the actual quote from Gates, Microsoft is simply exploring their options and aren't committed to any HD media platform (i.e. HD-DVD or Blu-ray) at this time, even though they have partnered with Toshiba on some HD-DVD projects.

 

[Christopher_P]

Honestly I don't really think I care about the 360 supporting HD-DVD. I mean unless its going to be used for games. If I want HD-DVD support I think I'll buy a stand alone player.

I do have one question though. Has there been any word on backwards compatability? My xbox is a thompson launch box that has some serious issues with DDE's and the like and MS wants $100 to fix it so I've been putting off doing anything about it thinking I'd just get a 360 at launch. If its not going to support Xbox1 games though I guess I'll have to see about picking up a new drive and put it in myself.

 

[Citizen87645]

I read only certain titles will be backward compatible (e.g. the better selling, more popular ones like Halo 2). I don't know how they will decide this as there are bound to be complaints like, "Why isn't _______ on the list?"

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Backwards compatibility: I think MS is going to most likely have some method to make popular games work and also have future games programmed so they can work on the 360 without as much fuss.

 

[Magnus_M]

As far as backwards compability I read an interesting article, unfortunatly I can't find a link for it.

Bottom line was however that by programming compability for one title you could get several others "for free", ie a game as tecnically advanced as Halo/Halo 2 would (when making it work on the 360) create compability for several other games as a positive side effect.

As far as Microsofts in-house games they're more or less guaranteed to work, anything else would come as a real surprise.
The bestsellers should be the same, thus considering all the advanced games that is likely to be "translated" will surely open the door for many others.

 

[Ken Chui]

Xbox IGN's Douglass Perry has an editorial on the issue of backward compatibility which covers Magnus' points to an extent.

 

[Trevor Harveaux]

Lets not forget every PS1 game isn't playable on the PS2, so I doubt every PS1 & PS2 game will work flawlessly on the PS3. Thats just how things work.

I think people are freaking out about nothing at this point. I'm certain all of the best selling titles will work just fine, it's only the obscure stuff that might run into problems.

 

[Ken Chui]

Allard confirms multiple Xbox 360 versions

Allard has an interesting quote regarding the 360's hard drive:
Industry analysts have hinted at the possibility of two flavours of the 360 when it's launched later this year, i.e. one with and one without a hard drive. If I'm not mistaken, Microsoft considered the possible use of high capacity memory cards as a storage alternative to the HD during the R&D stage of the 360's architecture (or was that just a rumour?).

On a separate note, Microsoft plans to charge licensing fees for Xbox 360 peripherals offered by third-party manufacturers; Mad Catz is the lone participant at this time (full details in this article).