Not sure exactly what this means but I thought I' d post...

Apparently the Elite will only have HDMI 1.2, which would lack things like true 5.1 sound. So basically the Elite HDMI just acts to give you an extra connection method rather than provide you with any real benefits the HDMI 1.3 port on a PS3 might give you.

Doesn' t affect me though, since I' m not buying into high-def movies just yet, and I dont have an HDMI TV anyway. Just seems a bit half-arsed and kinda negates the whole point of the ' 1337' edition. But meh...

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/04/02/xbox_360_elite_is_not_hdmi_1.3_compliant/

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=827835 - contains link to original thread.



EDIT: Noticed the reasoning behind the decision:

We are not pushing people to buy stand-alone player. Xbox 360 (Elite or otherwise) provide a superb HD experience. But we simply don' t want to say that we have built a replacement product for stand-alone, player. That was not our goal and if that is what people want, they should go and buy those players.

Recall that in HD DVD, the price of a stand-alone player is already well below that of our game console. The other guys are not so fortunate so if they want to create a mass market, they have to stuff everything in the console. So in some way, they didn' t have much choice here. In addition, they are in the business of promoting new TVs and new AVRs with HDMI, we are not. If customers go and buy such equipment, we will support them, as we just showed with HDMI. But in advance of a market, we are not in as much hurry as they might be in.

Fair enough.

EDIT 2: Also noticed -

Answering other questions, both Xbox 360 Elite and current Xbox 360 units will have a spring (console) update which adds support for different video levels for VGA output (“7.5 IRE vs 0”). And as someone mentioned, using this setting you should be able to use computer monitors in addition to TVs with resolutions all the way up to 1080p with high fidelity and no issues with HDCP handshaking. So for current users, I highly recommend trying this update with your VGA connection to see if it does the job for you. Note that this is a console update and will work for both games and of course, HD DVD. The HD DVD software update is separate from this (and will be available on both Xbox Live and xbox.com).

Not sure whether this means they' ll introduce support for 1680x1050 or whatever ' in-between' resolutions that they haven' t supported so far. Would be nice to play at native res on my screen.

MS loves to cut corners. Looks like we get more bargin bin hardware for the 360.

You already get " true 5.1 sound" with a freakin' optical cable. You got " true 5.1 sound" from the original Xbox and even a couple of PS2 cut scenes. Nintendo hates digital audio so the best they can do is " true stereo sound" . What HDMI 1.2 cannot do is uncompressed 5.1 and greater sound. Instead you' ll have to put up with super-crappy Dolby Digital AC3 5.1 which, as you know, is 100% completely unlistenable despite running at 448kbps whereas real movie theaters are forced to run Dolby Digital at 320kbps (this is why nobody on the planet has purchased a movie ticket in over 10 years). I think you should set your Xbox360 on fire, mail it to Microsoft (along with a whiny letter, they always read those) and then hope the flaming 360 burns down the whole company and kills all their employees teaching them a lesson!

I' m not conserned with quality. Shit, I' m fine with component. It' s just the principle. It' s cheaper and is missing feature that 1.3 has.

Yea like I said I didn' t really know what it meant, and I' m fine with the 5.1 I get through optical. Kinda makes sense that MS aren' t too bothered about it yet though.

And it means they can bring out a super-elite version in a year or so and try and get people part with their hard-earned cash again to buy the ' latest' top-spec console with the higher spec connector.

Most people who have HDMI chose to run TOS-link anyway. Not to mention they supply you with an adapter for just such a purpose, so you can' t say they' re not giving you what you want.

What else can you expect from Microsoft.

Damn - I like your sarcasm

Don' t pet the bloodthirsty tigers.

Like Agent said, its just Ms cutting corners, Its not like you' d get a chance to notice before it breaks down anyway.

That' s fine by me. I' ll need that HDMI port free for when the PS3 comes down to a realistic price point. Component looks great on my HDTV.

I' m fed up with this standard 1-upmanship. Joe, congrats on an awesome post. It' s for a frigging console not the starship enterprise. With technology in " real life" less isnt more, but sometimes it' s just not worth the investment of man hours for very little, niche even, benefit.

Meh, I suppose it isn' t a huge deal, and I won' t say anything for now.

However, if MS hypes up this version a bunch, I will take note. After all, its only a lesser form of HDMI with a decently sized HD that they are adding. Oh, and the color I guess, but I' m really dissapointed with that as I' ve said before. I was really hoping to get an Xbox to match the ps3, not my compaq mouse from 1996