Xbox 360 Elite uses HDMI 1.2; no support for Dolby TrueHD

Hol-ee shit. I was NOT expecting this news.

I know it only affects "1% of gamers" or whatever, but that's not the point - those high-end, must-have-the-newest-everything 1% are the kind of people MS is banking on to pick this thing up.

Really pathetic. I wasn't going to buy it at 480 bucks anyway, but now I think I'll be just fine with my current 360 even when the price on the Elite drops.

So, how long before MS begins the "you don't need 1.3, that's a myth" nonsense? Actually, I hope they do that - that'll indicated that a console with the 1.3 spec will be coming out in 12 months.

People. Get it through your thick skulls that this is NOT about future proofing. In fact, there is no such thing as future proofing. Do you know anyone who can reliably predict the future every time? No, but I know a hell of a lot of marketing "wizzes" who think they can. Most of them work for Sony.

It's disappointing that Microsoft dropped the ball, but multichannel audio is overrated. I find it annoying to see something happen onscreen but the sound comes from the next room, even worse, from behind. 2 channel audio coming from the immediate right and left edges of my TV are fine for me. I'd rather have that data being used for video.

What is this multi-channel 5.1 PCM audio stuff about? I thought that Dolby Digital/DTS over fiber or coax already did this. What is the difference here that's causing all the whining? Is this all just about compressed vs uncompressed?

There are so many people here that are clueless as to why HDMI was added to the 360 and clueless to why v1.3 is superior. Idiots. Here is some info.

HDMI and bigger HDD for the 360 is so they can start adding downloadable 1080p video content. They can also upscale all their 720p signals, game and video, to 1080p for all 1080p HDTV's using Ana. It is that simple. People here also talk as if everyone with a 360 is screwed and has to make a costly upgrade now. That is untrue.

Less than half of 360 owners even have an HDTV. Many of those have 720p sets (myself included). Many also have VGA to their sets. Even more are just fine with the 720p signal being upgraded to 1080p by their TV. If the TV is less than +50", there is hardly a noticeable difference anyways.

Anyone who got a 360 got what they expected and paid for. A very small percentage of 360 users will "upgrade". However, this may make the system more attractive to people who currently have HDMI, larger HDD, and black color as reasons not to buy a 360. All three of those reasons are big ones for a lot of people. The Elite removes those reasons while also providing an upgrade to the most hardcore users, which in turn adds cheap used systems to the market for the poorer. The types of people who would upgrade their 360 are the types of people who make even sillier $2000 purchase decisions. If you bought a 360 and can't stand not having HDMI, you should have read the box.

As for HDMI v1.3, it is mostly just a talking point right now. Nothing supports deep color. Less than 1% of 360/PS3 users even have the sound system to truly take advantage of 1.3. Even if you did, there isn't a monster dropoff using v1.2. It is still going to be badass surround.

But then again, there is no disadvantage to using v1.3 and it is more future proof. I personally believe deep color, Dolby's next "True HD" sound, and 1080p will truly come to being in the next generation with the PS4, 720, and the pII.

"and Deep Color, which again will be more distinguishable in future resolutions."

Are you nuts? What does 48bit color have to do with resolutions? 48bit colors will allow for smoother color transitions/gradients on whatever resolution its on.

People that say this does not matter must be people who arent into audio. I am, and I say that this is a huge deal. Really, how much more would it have cost them? They could have used all that profit they'll be seeing from those hard drives to cover the cost.

This is fucking stupid, why wouldnt you put the newest outputs on your "new" machine? Are they going to offer an Elite II next year that has HDMI 1.3 and a 250 gb hdd? Thanks Microsoft. No worries, your fans will love you and make excuses for you no matter what. Please see above.

I was a Wal mart last night and the 360 on display had the 3 red rings of death. Cracked me up. No, I will not be getting a 360.

Typical apologists.

It's a cost cutting method, granted the total cost is probably less than pennies, but the bottom line is all MS cares about. MS doesn't want to shell out anymore than they absolutely have to and over 75% of the 360 buying public will buy whatever they're told to buy without question. Every one of you that made posts along the lines of "it's too early for this", "most people don't have it anyhow", "doesn't hurt me none" are anti-progress and deserve what you get.


The fact that the technology is available and is the "standard", not some whacky idea that's not here to stay just proves that MS doesn't want to cater to any forward thinking people. They want joe schmoe American that thinks that they're helping their country by not buying something from the Japanese.

Ok, let me get this strait.

360 Elite is black, uses an HDMI cable I do not own and has a bootleg 120 gig harddrive wich is less than my PC default hard drive.

Zzzzzz.

See, this is what I like about the Wii. You get a Wii, that is is. DS and GBA while they had upgraded looks, there was no new featurs. It was just another optional look.

What Microsoft and Sony are doing here with Cores, Prime, Elete and crap is just dividing and confusing the market. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

So... for $20 more, I can get HDMI 1.3 and a Blu-Ray player and Wifi?

What the hell was Microsoft thinking when they priced this?

Future proofing is retarded. By the time 1.3 becomes the standard, the PS3 will be $200 and I'll get to laugh at all the chumps that paid $400 than I did and both of us get to enjoy the same feature at the exact same time. You're just subsidising someone else's enjoyment of the feature.

Don't EVER EVER EVER (I'd keep copy/pasting this over and over again but I don't think anyone would pay attention) pay for stuff you can't use now. It *WILL* be cheaper when you can.

That being said, HDMI is useless today just like a color TV was useless in 1951. Just like there was no point in buying a color TV in 1951 for a huge premium when everything was broadcast in black and white and better color sets were available when broadcasting was in color there is no point in demanding HDMI anything when by the time it becomes a standard a better and cheaper option will be available, making me laugh at all the chumps who paid for nothing today.

x.v.YCC who doesnt want 125% of the NTSC color gamut? really this is just a way for MS to release the next "superlative" 360, w.e i have it, its not on the 360 yet but it appears most dont care about it, as HDMI becomes more pervasive it will matter but for now, ppl are still watching their old sets and not taking advantage of smaller pixels!

i cant wait for 2048p/SED/CNT.

video games kick ass.

Does PS3 support HDMI 1.3a? It doesn't? WTF ANTIQUATED SHIT!!!

By the time Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD become affordable, standalone HD-DVD players (if HD-DVD is even on the market then loool) will cost less than 100$, so what's the big deal here?

I reiterate.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FUTURE PROOFING!

Future proofing is a marketing angle used to create a self-fulfilling prophesy. By subverting an opponent's view of the future, you get the market to adopt your view of the future, there by lowing the resistance to that future.

In other words, you create the future you are supposedly future proofing for. There is no prediction.

The writer of this article is either ignorant for his position or a liar. There are a few differences between the 1.2 and the 1.3; Here's the link from the HDMI site:


http://www.hdmi.org/resourcecenter/index.asp


and here's what the page said...

With the launch of HDMI version 1.3, HDMI continues to increase its overall functionality to meet the needs of the High-Definition marketplace.
HDMI 1.3 will include the following new features:

Higher speed: HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future high definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, Deep Color™ and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.

Deep Color™: HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.

Lets HDTVs and other displays go from million of colors to billions of colors.
Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors.
Enables increased contrast ratio
Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white
At 30-bit pixel depth, a four times improvement would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more.
Broader color space: HDMI 1.3 removes all limits on color selection

Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals
Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately
Enables displays with natural, vivid colors
New mini connector: With small portable devices such as HD camcorders and still cameras demanding seamless connectivity to HDTVs, HDMI 1.3 offers a new, smaller form factor connector option.

Lip Sync: Because consumer electronics devices are using increasingly complex digital signal processing to enhance the clarity and detail of the content, synchronization of video and audio in user devices has become a greater challenge and could potentially require complex end-user adjustments. HDMI 1.3 incorporates an automatic video/audio synching capability that allows devices to perform this synchronization automatically with total accuracy.

New lossless audio formats: In addition to HDMI’s current ability to support high-bandwidth uncompressed digital audio and all currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby Digital and DTS), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new, lossless compressed digital audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD.

apologists go both ways.

PS3 owners have all flip flopped and suddenly just care about hardware specs. funny how when xbox1 was out, hardware didn't matter.

anyone who holds on to the FUTURE PROOF argument is a straight up PR victim. the PS3's videocard and memory were outdated the day came out and no hdmi version can do anything about that.

Deep Color will not be supported by games, nor will the latest Dolby uncompresses standard. isn't there a click in your head when you realize the PS3 hardware was focused for movies not games?



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digital optical and coaxil digital don't support 5.1 uncompressed (to the person who said it did) the sound you hear is actually not true 5.1 its compressed to fit in the optical band width. only hdmi 1.3 can do this.

hdmi 1.3 isn't that important, but my ps3 has it, my toshiba 40" lcd has it, so when technology for 1.3 becomes cheaper such as the recievers i'll already have a compatible system for it.

the xbox 360 elite is a joke. the hdmi is not even worth it if your not going for the new standard, stay at your 360. microsofts digging for your pockets, a hdmi 1.3 version will come out in 6 months.

For exapmle, if you look at this receiver - Denon AVR-5805MkII at $7790.00 http://ca.denon.com/ProductDetails/2994.asp

It only supports HDMI 1.1 (DVI/HDMI Video Inputs – Compatible with 1.1 Spec. – Multi-Channel Audio)

This is a NEW receiver. Now what TV supports HDMI 1.3? If a receiver this expensive doesn't support it chances are no tv does. Well, maybe an extremely expensive on that most people will never have.