Microsoft & Toshiba developing Xbox 360 with HD DVD?
Posted on 23/10/07 11:16 by Seán Byrne                             
Microsoft & Toshiba developing Xbox 360 with HD DVD?

Sony's decision to use Blu-ray with its PS3 seems to be paying off despite the much higher retail price over its competitors.  A recent Sony Brand Wave study carried out in five countries revealed that the Blu-ray player is a key reason that consumers buy a PS3.  As Microsoft backs the rival HD DVD format, but its Xbox 360 does not feature an internal HD DVD drive, it is now trying hard to push the HD DVD format.  To start off with, Microsoft will start bundling the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on with a choice of five free HD DVD movies out of a selection of 13 movies.

Going by this Smarthouse report, insiders at Toshiba claim that Microsoft is working on a new Xbox model that will feature a built-in HD DVD drive.  To help get Microsoft hardware into more living rooms for home entertainment, this Xbox will feature new entertainment software, a dual HD DVD tuner with EPG capability, a large hard disk and an MP3 player docking port.  As Apple's iPod 17-pin docking port currently dominates the market, development is currently being carried out on an open standard docking port that will allow all manufacturers to use the same docking port.

According to a senior Toshiba executive discussion with Smarthouse, an Xbox with a built-in HD DVD drive is critical and that both Microsoft and Toshiba are working on it.  This Xbox drive may also be sold under the Toshiba brand name.  With Toshiba's long experience with building laptops and keeping them running cool, it is also working with Microsoft on ways of keeping both the noise and heat under control in the new entertainment Xbox.  There have been reports of up to a 30% failure rate of the original Xbox 360 compared with under 2% failure rate for the PS3.

This upcoming entertainment Xbox 360 is predicted to be released either late 2008 or at the 2009 CES show in Las Vegas.  So far, Microsoft has not made any comments about this Smarthouse report.

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By DukeNukem, Tue 23 Oct 2007 14:37
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DukeNukemI think that Microsoft's decision not to initially include an internal HD DVD drive was a good one. At the time, the drives were too expensive and the HD market wasn't mature enough. Now they can start making XBOX 360s with internal HD DVD drives. I don't consider this double-dipping, just good business sense. And no, I'm not a Micro$oft fanboy. I am, however, an HD DVD fanboy. Smilie
By Superdynamite (guest), Tue 23 Oct 2007 17:39
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The games that are currently in development for PS3 use 35GB of memory. If a VideoGame company wanted to release a game of that size on the new XBox they wouldn't be able to because HD-DVD does NOT have the capacity to do so. Blu-Ray is 25GB min to 100GB MAX. HD-DVD is 15GB min to 30GB MAX. What is the Problem with Microsoft? Don't they see HD-DVD is a setback? The only way to fit a large game onto a blank HD-DVD is by compressing the graphics. What's the point of having a HD XBox if you have to upconvert? There is no point! It's going to be a big waste of time and money. Unless Microsoft installs a blu-ray drive in the new XBox, they will always be one step behind Sony.
By Cochese, Tue 23 Oct 2007 18:13
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Too bad none of the games will utilize HD-DVD. Microsoft has already stated that they are committed to DVD this gen. If they decided to start putting games on HD-DVD they would be pissing off a lot of people including myself considering that the external drive also cannot be used for games. If it was possible through some sort of update we would have two different speed drives which given Microsofts track record this gen will cause all sorts of incompatibilities amongst games and hardware revisions. GD Microsoft why do you have to have so many good games but be such idiots with your hardware.
By neo1918, Tue 23 Oct 2007 19:09
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It totally is double dipping. This is the version of the 360 that should have come out at the start. With the release of the 'elite' system, we see that the 360's price advantage over the PS3 was really an illusion. The PS3 was more expensive at the start, but all models have HDMI, a hard drive and Blueray which means all gamers will be able to take advantage of those features.
By DukeNukem, Tue 23 Oct 2007 21:34
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DukeNukem@ Superdynamite Yeah, but how much of that 35 GB is filler. I think 35 GB for a game is just crazy.
By Cochese, Tue 23 Oct 2007 22:02
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DukeNukem alot of that data is coppied throughout the disc. This is done to help increase load time. Also having all that extra space is great for games with multiple types of audio or really nice uncompressed surround sound. RPG's like them or not will benefit greatly from the increased size, look at Blue Dragon and it's 3dvd's of multiple audio tracks.
By Cochese, Wed 24 Oct 2007 01:47
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^^^ oops- Help decrease load time
By Zod, Wed 24 Oct 2007 05:59
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ZodI have to think that 35gigs is a little excessive for a game, and that at that size they're doing very little to keep it smaller. I do think that a dvd9 isn't quite enough though.., but I think a dual layer HD DVD would be plenty for this generation. However for not having a HD drive, xbox was out a year early, which meant a bigger base of consumers, which attracted developers. I think they made the right decision to keep hd dvd out, but as a 360 owner, now that prices are dropping, I might be inclined to buy another (I got banned off live, so what not), but they keep upgrading the f'in thing, so at which point do you rebuy? It's too bad they don't make it upgradable. flick a couple of tabs pull out the drive, stick another one, that kind of thing. I guess they didn't think that far ahead. 360 still has more games and better games, so being its a game console and not an HD player, I think its doing ok in that regard.
By DukeNukem, Wed 24 Oct 2007 14:58
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DukeNukemFunny how a PC game has better graphics and takes up usually no more than 8 or 9 gigs.
By Cochese, Wed 24 Oct 2007 21:52
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Funny how Bioshock on the pc is a hog to get running and you can only install it a couple times while all I have to do to play it on the 360 is close my drive tray with the disc inside.

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