Toshiba says 'no comment' to HD DVD Xbox 360

by Alexander Sliwinski on Oct 24th 2007 12:24PM

Although the rumor started by Smarthouse that a non-Microsoft branded Xbox with built-in HD DVD drive sounds improbable, Stuff.tv got UK Toshiba to give a "no comment" on the matter. Despite the Stuff.tv headline saying, "Toshiba says no to new Xbox 360 HD DVD rumour," the word "comment" is actually missing between "no" and "to." Which, in essence, means we're actually right back to where we started -- with this rumor still floating out there.

An HD DVD built into the Xbox 360 is always possible, but even by the original rumor's timeline, the thing wouldn't even be announced until late next year. With so much extra stuff built into it and without Microsoft branding, it sounds like a load of crazy talk. Mind you, we're getting used to crazy talk around here, so anything is possible.

Source

Tags: BluRay, drive, HD-DVD, HDDVD, internal, movies, Xbox-360, xbox360

Reader Comments (69)

Are there Vista/XP drivers for the Ad-On HD-DVD drive yet?

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEyFkZVEEyNPhTZIHr.php

errr yeah, since day 1

lol... Sony'd better have another price drop soon.

wouldn't want to lose the console war and the high def optical format war all in the same stroke =)

As much as I want to bitch, you're right.

Why would they do this? The drive would never be utilized for games, so why would anyone care?

Lol

GO 360 GO!

i mean... i think blu ray is obviously the better format, it's double the space, but consumers don't think rationally about these things... they see a tv advertisement, and that makes the make a decision.

I think it's in gamers and consumers best interests if blu ray wins this format war, but sony is going to have to make steps to make that a reality... why they've allowed hd dvd to secure such a foothold is beyond me... I hope sony recognizes at some point that it needs to make a massive push to kill off hd dvd if it wants those blu ray royalties... the time is now sony...

I don't think so harrison but we can agree to disagree.

But this format war looks like it will drag on for some time I think.

Especially if this is true. I mean companies wouldn't do stuff like that if they weren't truly committed.

@captain

just curious, in what way do you disagree?

If sony wants to end this format war, it's going to need to cut prices drastically on the ps3 in order to get a large install base and thus push the blu-ray format...

Sony needs to act aggressively or it's going to allow hd-dvd to thrive. hd-dvd should be dead by now, but it actually looks like hd-dvd is going to kill blu ray... seriously... what is sony thinking?

harrison_schaerr:

blu-ray doesn't have double the capacity of HD DVD. There are triple layer, 45GB HD DVD discs which are still manufactured with the same equipment DVD's are.

The dual layer BD disc hasn't really seen the light of day yet and only holds 50GB, a whole whopping 5GB more than the top of the line HD DVD disc- which happens to be cheaper to produce.

All in all, it is pretty difficult to call BD disc the clear champion even in features and technology, let alone in consumer acceptance this early in its lifespan (however short or long that may be).

Harrison, if we remember correctly, Beta-Max was technically the superior format, space wise, but people still forgave it for the regular VHS...

So, just because its better tech-spec speaking, doesn't mean its going to be better overall.

Harrison, I don't think it's obvious to support bluray or irrational to support HDDVD.
I have both, but I prefer HDDVD (and, for the record, haven't seen a single HDDVD advert). I think it's better for the consumer because it does away with region encoding. As an American who lives in the U.K., I like to be able to buy the latest U.S. releases and play them on the same machine (ie xbox hddvd drive) as the discs I buy in the U.K. or elsewhere. Not to mention the fact that U.S. prices are much much cheaper; $25 for an HDDVD is the same price as a new DVD release in the UK. This benefits people who live in the U.S. as well, as it broadens your access to all sorts of films that haven't yet been released in the U.S.

The storage debate is irrelevant to me when picture quality is identical between the two. If the experience of watching '300' or any other film is the same, it makes no difference to me whether the disc were 30gb or 50gb.

So please don't bandy about the term 'irrational' like that.

@Spartacus

please explain how the 50gig blu ray disc hasnt really seen the light of day yet. You say this as your talking about a triple layer 45gig hddvd disc that simply does not exist at all. If you mean the 51gig disc, that hasnt seen the light of day.

I was reffering to the fact that there aren't too many 50GB BD discs in the wild. Most movies have been pressed on 25GB discs, which kind of defeats the whole "BD has so much more capacity than HD DVD" arguement. It's theorhetical space, not practical. Same goes with the triple layer HD DVD discs. The point is that space isn't a big bullet point when comparing the two formats.

Forgive me on my 45GB spec. I was simply using math: 15GB per layer x 3 = 45GB. I wasn't aware they eeked out another 6GB recently. Hooray for them.

i was trying to say that more disc space would be better suited for storing video game data, not movie data... it'd be better for pc games too...

I'm all for whichever format has bigger capacity...

i thought that was blu ray... i mean, doesn't blu ray have larger capacity?

i heard they had 100 gig discs out now?

This is all probably for the Next-Gen Xbox coming out in about 4-5 years but if not they shoulda done this from the beginning. That way I could see Trandformers in HD. SD just looks sucky now.

Personally I hope this isn't a new sku for the 360 but even if it is theres several advantages to it.

Of course theres beating sony' and its precious bluray's ass.

But the beauty of this is that MS wouldn't necessarily be forcing HD DVD on the consumers since there are options for those who don't want or care about HD DVD. The Elite is a great package yet it doesn't have a HD DVD drive (as everyone knows)

However for those people who do want an HD DVD we now have the option of having a single machine that can do both.

Depending on how it looks, features, and the stuff that comes with it I'd be tempted to bite in all honesty.

sooo how much money are all of you idiots willing to spend on this system... cause its not going to cost $279 just so you know.

Ignore all this stuff. Toshiba will say anything. They just handed $100M to Paramount and still got outsold in the week Paramount shot their big wad.

Imagine if Toshiba spent this much effort promoting the standard every other company in the industry backed, BluRay. We'd have a great HD disc market right now.

Actually if you ask any Movie buff or visit the AVS forums for those tech buffs you'll find that most prefer HD DVD for it's higher quality video codecs and unified feature set across all HD DVD players. Format storage size will even out (They have a 51 GB HD DVD disc in the works). I'd say that the only people that fall for the Blu Ray side are those that fall for the Sony Propaganda.

i didn't actually know this...

i realize that a dual layer hd dvd would be double the size, but a dual layer blu ray disc is just as feasible... so really it's a 50 gb hd dvd disc vs a 100 gb blu ray disc... right?

i would think given blu ray has more space that it would have higher quality video codecs due to having more room on the disc... i mean... right?

Blu-ray disks are 25GB, the 50GB ones are already dual-layer. However, dual layer HD-DVD's are 30GB, so getting to 50GB would need some kind of three and one third layered disk.

50GB Blu-ray is already dual layer

That 51GB HD-DVD disk this guy is talking about is triple layer

Lunaclown:
You're excused from commenting on the technical aspects.

BluRay and HD-DVD support the same codecs. Some early BluRay discs used MPEG2 instead of VC-1, which meant they were technically using an inferior codec. But they looked fine.

Anyway, that's all a year behind us now, BluRay releases all use AVC or VC-1, which is the same codecs the HD-DVD discs use.

The 51GB disc is not released, it may not be and it's quite likely it's incompatible with current players.

The thing about the "single spec" for HD-DVD players is true, but then again, not all HD-DVD players meet the spec, so it's not as great a thing as it might seem.

HD-DVD is region free, which is nice.

i heard they had a 100 gig blu ray disc? triple layer?

i wish both parties would embrace region free... i mean, why not, it's just a waste of time and money to implement, and an annoyance to the consumer...

Thanks for the info LS2/LS7. I never stated that I was a tech guy. I just have read around here and there. So early releases will look better on HD DVD. Ok..sounds good to me. Basically, from what I've read both formats are about the same. Who knows, maybe the dual disc players will end all this confusion.

often wonder how this console battle and format war might have evolved had MS included the HD-DVD drive from the beginning. it would have been interesting if there had been an original third sku that incorporated the hd drive, maybe HD-DVD's would've benefited from the same early jump-start that the console got.

Yeah Microsoft just pull a Sony and shoot yourself in the foot, yeah that's a great idea!

I really hope they don't do this untill next gen...

This is both a good idea and the dumbest idea ever.

Good: Great move for Toshiba, this would continue the HD Disc wars indefinitely and make HD DVD sales much more comparable to blu ray's "PS3's induced dominance" in sales thus far.
Bad: That is shit worthless horrible for the consumer.

Good: This would allow devs to stop worrying about space restrictions and not compress anything...within 30 GB anyways.
Bad: I thought space wasn't a problem?

Good: Gives them a high def player out of the box no add ons.
Bad: This "forces" consumers to buy an HD DVD player.

Bad: All xbox fanboys give Sony fanboys a hard time because they have been "forced" to buy a blu ray player and milk how Microsoft is thy god because they give you that choice---this eliminates that argument.

Bad: Pulls Microsoft into a format war that it is mostly staying on the side lines for...however, one could argue that they've probably already thrown millions at it already.

Honestly I hope this doesn't go down. If this does, then the HD wars will never end. SOMETHING has to replace DVD at some point, and I wanna know which one that is NOW so I can buy it dammit. If HD DVD wins despite the PS3, bingo there's your winner. But this move will just make HD DVD and Blu Ray into "Mac vs. PC". Neither will ever die, and it all depends on what your preferences are.

I already tore this argument about "forcing" a format onto consumers apart already.

There are plenty of 360 models WITHOUT an HD DVD.

Hence MS wouldn't be forcing anything onto anyone. Only those who want a 360 with a HD DVD would buy it. And chances are MS isn't going to add anything else or make it any different from the other versions.

Brilliant idea CaptainAmericaX...

So you would want to ADD an HD DVD drive SKU to the already large number of SKU's?

Uninformed mother buying a 360 for her kid for christmas walks into the store and sees the Core, Arcade, Premium, Elite, Halo 3 edition, and now the HD DVD model---and at this point, they've probably got 3 different SKU's of the HD DVD model with varying HDD capacities and options. Tears stream down her face as she grabs a cheap Wii and says "I tried...I just...I tried dammit!"

Hopefully this does come out!!! I want one!!!

It's the Xbox 720 damn it.

space is not an issue, right now they have triple layers HD DVD, and even more, Movies are not going to need 75 or 100 gigs anytime soon, so I see HD DVD winning this thing, i have them both and HD dvd, is region free, and gives me more features, I cant get this on Blu ray

If they market it as a HD-DVD player that also happens to play 360 games, it's cool.

Kinda like the PS3? LOL!!

Except we get the option of not being Trojan Horse'd ;)

like the panasonic q was to the gamecube and i think sony did something similar with the ps2

This should have been in the 360 from day 1. Now splitting the amount of data the internal drive handles can only be a benefit for movies, as devs won't deliver games on a format that splits the user base.

the add-on didn't do to well, so its safe to say an newer model built-in, unless the same price, also wont do to well.

Didn't do too well? Source?

"In the HD DVD realm, a Microsoft representative told CNet UK that the company had sold 155,000 units of the Xbox 360's HD DVD player in the States, making it the best-selling add-on in the system's short history. Compare that to the 100,000 standalone players that the HD DVD Promotional Group said had sold through April and you can see that it's primarily gamers driving adoption of the format."

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/consoles-make-up-bulk-of-high-def-movie-player-sales/

didn't do well compared to the 360 user base. And what other add ons are there besides the cooler?

Well that's probably due to the fact that consumers who purchased the 360 did so primarily for GAMES- as that's what a console is meant for. The fact is that the 360's HD DVD drive outsold stand alone players, how does that equate to not selling well in its respective market?

As for add on competition, the cooler is not manufactured by MSFT. Add ons that the HD DVD drive was competing with were 1st party devices such as the 20GB hard drive, memory cards, the Vision cam, etc. So to say it was the most successful add on is saying something.

I can't believe all you 360 fanboys have changed your tune towards the HD-DVD if M$ does it for the 360. Before all you fanboys were saying that Sony is forcing you to buy an Blu-ray player with the PS3 but now when M$ adds it into their systems it's glorious and the best idea ever. If this new RRoD console does come out next year or 2009 then the 360 will have a total of 5 console versions available to the public and only now (if this version comes out) will one have specs closer to the PS3.

Sure Sony brought out the 20GB version which I though was a waste of time but now they are focusing on the 40GB for a more affordable price and the 80GB version for the hardcore PS3 fans. You can also include the 60GB version but soon that will sell out and there will be 2 choices the 40GB and the 80GB for Sony fans.

It really makes me wonder why Sony continues to get bashed over the year on their decisions and M$ gets praised by all there console versions, RRoDs and 2 good games that you can now play on the PC (Gears of War and Bioshock). Don't worry I didn't mention Halo 3 in my list on purpose because it's another generic FPS that I can play on my PC one day if I want too. Sony adds a 40GB console for the PS fans and they are criticized for it to no end by all you 360 fanboys but when M$ does it you all shower them with your thanks and money.

Obviously M$ must be a little worried with the PS3 price drop and they fact they don't have many exclusive games to look forward to. I assume M$ is doing this to try sell consoles and why not, that's what they are suppose to do but I have a feeling they are getting a little scared. If you haven't noticed M$ is trying everything they can to build up the 360 into having similar options that the PS3 has but don't forget the PS3 came out on Nov 2007 with these options already included. No add-ons, no waiting for a new version just loaded up out of the box (60GB) for a price tag that was very close to a premium 360 bundle with all the add-ons and it still didn't have the options the PS3 has. Of course you never hear about that because Joystiq won't post anything negative about M$ and the 360 fanboys agree with everything they say.

**Side note : Joystiq posts the Rachet and Clank glitch for the PS3, not the fact that the game is getting wicked reviews from every mag and website. Where as Gears, BioShock have been patched from the beginning and all you 360 fanboys say "that's normal, it's good for the game, it's necessary" but when it's R&C :FTOD you all say "Sony is garbage, what a terrible developer, who releases a game with a bug?" Just to let you all know the bug is fixed with a one day turn around..I think that's pretty good. It's pretty sad because I think most of you 360 fanboys are blinded by the RRoD emitting from your 360 right now.

Have a good one, sorry for the long post.

Blah Blah Blah.........

My motivation to read your essay dwindled very fast due to various mentions of RRoD (it's old news, and nobody cares, 3 year guarantee) and M$ (ohhh clever!)

I'll come out and say it right now as a 360 fan: the PS3 hardware is better bang for your buck. Sadly that means horseshit when there are not much exclusive games worth mentioning, your online service is inferior, and multiplatform games are delayed and sometimes even look worse/run worse.

If the PS3 had come out one year earlier without that stupid Cell Broadband Engine bullshit and Blu-Ray, I would've loved it. It's very open with it's Bluetooth and hard drive compatibility and support for USB storage, it is rock solid, and it has lots of functions. But all the "Cell" has done is make developing for the PS3 a bitch, and all "Blu-Ray" has done is delay it, raise the price, and cause it to lose market share early on, which then led to it losing exclusives left and right. If only Sony wouldn't have tried to push their two newest "investments" with the PS3, it would've been much better off. What a god damn shame.

I would've loved it if the PS3 had been the dream successor to the PS2, but Sony made too much mistakes with it and opened the road for Microsoft to reign the market.

360 owners aren't changing their tune, they griped about Sony not giving consumers an option to game without an HD optical drive and that is still the case.

IF (and if you actually read the articles, that is a BIG if) this product hits the market, consumers STILL have a choice to either pony up for a gaming machine with an HD optical drive or opt for a cheaper alternative that still plays all the GAMES on the platform. nothing has changed.

Slaziman: "RRoD (it's old news, and nobody cares, 3 year guarantee)"

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG... LOTS of people care. You don't care, so you try to gloss it over every single time you can. I just had to wait for my 360 to get back again, and that sucked. I'm not saying I don't like the 360, exactly the opposite; I love it. But it's dependability is on average awful compared to other products. Too many people have the RRoD problem to act like it's no big deal - it's annoying and it's real. Freely replacing broken 360s for three years is not the same as building a dependable machine.

We don't even need to type the words out, it has it's own recognizable acronym, that's how pervasive it is.

Slaziman:
You bet I care about RRoD.

My 360 blew up AGAIN at the beginning of September, and it took a month to get it back, and the new optical drive doesn't even open right if there's no disc in it. I couldn't bear to send it back because I wanted to play BioShock instead of waiting another month.

So yes, some people care. 360 owners do care.

I don't mention RRoD all the time, I don't find it productive. But it is ABSURD to think that having your 360 gone 1 month out of every year to be fixed as long as you don't have to pay is just as good as having it just plain work right like PS3s seem to do.

couldnt they have sold it under the toshiba brand as an av centre that also plays games like the panasonic q

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