First ever HD South Park episode for free on Xbox Live Marketplace

"One thing everyone is forgetting is that the change from SD to HD will not only improve resolution but it will also change the aspect ratio. They aren't going to crop the original image, they're going to add more to the sides. Should be easy since it's all saved as Maya files. I've heard they've spent the last couple months going through the old episodes and adding the content. I can't wait to see the results."

Damn! I have the first eight seasons of the show on DVD, with the Ninth preordered. And now you're telling me there's going to be better HD versions out there! Arrgh!

I'm already paying arms and legs replacing my SD DVD collection on HD-DVD (And eventually Blu-Ray), and now I'm just going to have to pay more. I'm so glad I didn't buy Battlestar Galactica on SD yet, since Universal said it's coming out on HD-DVD this year (The first season at least)...

James

Not 1080i in BluRay, but that is a different story. Also, just wait until Hollywood decides to turn on HDCP. Don't have an HDMI television, your "deal" of a PS3 suddenly becomes incredibly expensive.

could someone tell me how to use hdmi, if you have a hometheater system as well? once you run the cable to your tv, how do you get the sound to go to the receiver?

You SD lovers should consider at least going widescreen. C'mon luddites!

I have a silver account and I cannot download anything for free; the HD is grayed out as an option, and t6he SD version costs 160 points.

@51. (Dapper Dan)

HDMI carries both video and audio...so to get the sound to your receiver...you have to first send the signal to the receiver...then from the receiver to your tv. Have fun buying those expensive cables. lol. Thats why I'm all about component cables. Cheap and the same image quality as HDMI.

About the episode...this is AWESOME news! How can anyone complain at a FREE south park episode in HD!!! So what if you bought it already...its not their fault! Just be happy you can watch it in HD now.

I for one...can't wait till Tuesday

ummm...how about some "24" in HD :P sw3333t :P

24 is in HD....every monday

"23. Because HDMI is percieved to be better. It isn't superior to component or VGA. It is one of Sony's PR moves that is actually working the way it is intended.

Posted at 1:32PM on Mar 4th 2007 by LaughingTarget"

I disagree, I don't think HDMI is a 'Sony PR move.' No offense, but it sounds a little like a "Microsoft PR move" saying that. HDMI should have been built into the 360 from day one, but we can also look at the numbers and see how excited Microsoft is when they tell us they have the highest 'attach rate' of any system, which is PR talk for 'a lot of people buy our propriatary cables and chargers' and it's clear that they didn't want to use an industry standard like HDMI. I like the way they put the componant cables in the box, something Sony neglected, but HDMI should have been on the 360.

For better (but likely 'for worse'), HDMI is needed for HDCP, which is something many of the content providers likely need to see on the spec sheet when they agree to sign on to sell movies and shows online.

November 2005 - No HDMI on the 360... Cost? Stubbornness? "Choice?" I can't say "choice" was an option - there was no option to get it on the 360, no HDMI cable-connector has been made and from what I see in the technically minded posts on Joystiq and other sites, Microsoft can't make the propriatary connector on the 360 support HDMI... So now we all get our "Choice": buy a new "media center" version of the 360 if that's what you want.

"It's like the difference between VGA and DVI on PC's....it's not worth the trouble and most people don't notice a difference. Guess what...downloaded content from XBLA in HD look better than the Blu-ray movies I bought and played on my PS3 - suicideninja"

DVI and VGA are pretty different when you start getting to larger monitors or TVs... Are you talking about playing games and watching HD movies on your CRT computer monitor? Then you might not notice the difference. Or are we talking about downloadable HD content looking better than the Blu-Ray you checked? On the same system where you can't tell the difference between VGA and DVI? I'm trying to say it seems contradictory.

Either way, I'm not sure I buy it - my friend (a video editor and film-maker with years of experience in digital video) downloaded 'Superman Returns' for his 360 as well as rented the HD-DVD to play on the HD-DVD add-on for the 360... He compared the two and noticed the compression was more apparent on the downloaded one, likely a result of the need to keep the file to a downloadable size... I know this is not a comparision of blu-ray's 'Superman Returns,' but a comparision of HD-DVD's version to the downloadable XBLM version, but I'm pretty confident it's the same - a larger disc-based version versus a smaller downloadable version. Also, if you had a 1080p screen, the blu-ray might hold up better than the same 720p downloadable movie.

In addition, we can compare HD downloadable movies to Blu-Ray all you want... Until that 4th day when your downloadable movie RENTAL expires, or when you need to delete it to fit more movies on your 20gig drive. Or when you want to lend it to your friend to watch. Or when you want to take it on your snowboarding trip. Etc.

Buying movies and downloading rentals is different.

Well, IF "Zephyr" is announced this week (and if the in-store date of 5/1 is accurate, it better be), and IF the price is $499 (as pre-order sheets indicate), THEN I'm not buying one. I just sold off my 360 HD-DVD drive anyway since HD-DVD is looking more and more like Universal's proprietary format.

HDMI is amazing for audio. I just got the Nine Inch Nails Blu-ray disk and it features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track encoded at over 5 Mbps (on DVD, the DD5.1 track is 640kbps). It sounds ungodly. I'll admit that video quality doesn't vary too much between component and HDMI - HDMI looks only about 17% better. But uncompressed soundtracks sound about 300% better. Seriously.

JET

I have a question.

"and will also be available as a free HD-DVD to people buying a new Xbox 360 console or the HD-DVD add-on drive at Best Buy from March 20th through April 3rd."

So, is it an HD-DVD, or is it the file format that the xbox will recognize?? If it is a true HD-DVD (not the HD file on a DVD), then what good is it to be included in the Console? Why not just put it in the HD-DVD Player? I'm betting it's the HD file on a DVD.

South Park in HD? That show's artwork was based on cardboard/construction paper cutouts and figures. Does that really benefit from HD? As for the anime' portion of that episode, that could be very well be another story

If I download it for free this week and want to re-download it again in 3 months, do I have to pay for it then? Or will I get to download it again for free... Or do they always make you pay when you want to re-download HD? I know with standard def. you can re-download for free if you delete the video.

What are Non-Amaericans and English people moaning about?!
I'm English and I got this HD episode pop up the day it was released, was great too!

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