Xbox 360 HDTV 720p/1080i Thread

[GS kid]

Well I decided to start this thread because I am a hardcore gamer who has been playing videogames since my first Pong system in 1976.

We all love HDTV on here and there isn't as much to talk about on here since the digital stations are for the most part, up and running at full power. A forum post slow down has arrived that we all knew was coming.

Now Xbox was the first console to offer games in Dolby Digital 5.1 and in 480p/720p/1080i widescreen. But because of it's limited memory, only a small handful of games had the support for 720p and 1080i.

Go here to see a chart of which ones.

http://www.hdtvarcade.com/

Now a true first is about to happen. Xbox 360 is about to be released on Nov. 22nd, 2005.

It will be the first console in history where All games are MANDATED by Microsoft to be in widescreen and 720p minimum resolution .....with 1080i support optional.

And for people who's HDTV doesn't support a 720p native input signal... relax. Xbox 360 has a built-in video scaler this time. So you choose your ouput in the dashboard the same way you would with an external HD STB receiver.

The specs on the console are here.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/factsheet.htm

There is a $299 core system and a $399 premium bundle.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/xbox360console.htm

The $299 core system includes: Console, Wired Controller and a Composite cable.

The $399 bundle (highly recomended) includes: Console, 2.4Ghz Wireless controller, 20GB removeable Hard Disk, Headset, an all-in-one Component HDTV cable with a additional yellow composite cord and an optical audio out on it as well, ethernet cable and DVD remote.

Getting the bundle saves you $240 if you had to buy the stuff separately.


Extra bells and whistles of the system? Lets you turn on console from controler, let's you voice chat online for free now, has USB ports to allow uploading pictures, video and music and you can stream the same wirelessly ($99 adapter) from a Windows Media Edition PC.

Best websites for all the best Xbox 360 news, forums, reviews and media is.....

http://www.teamxbox.com/

And

http://xbox360.ign.com/

For the best HDTV game trailers of Xbox 360 games... go here and click on the Xbox 360 section.

http://www.gametrailers.com/


To wet your whistle for what to expect from Xbox 360.... here are some direct 720p in-game pictures. Enjoy! (56Kers Warning. Pictures are big.)

Kameo

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/42197/Kameo-Elements-of-Power/

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/42340/Kameo-Elements-of-Power/

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/42345/Kameo-Elements-of-Power/

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/42342/Kameo-Elements-of-Power/


NBA 2k6 basketball.
 Oh my god! Look how real the game looks now!

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/43310/NBA-2K6/

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/43147/NBA-2K6/

A normal res shot.... but I thought the sweat looked cool.

http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen/43146/NBA-2K6/


I will edit this thread for any major updates as needed which isn't likely to be often. I don't want to risk the anger of the MOD gods for taking up too much forum space. You guys get the point.


If you have questions about it, post here and I'll answer what I can. I know quite a bit about 360,  so feel free to ask.


The HD era of videogames is upon us and life is good! :rock:

[Todd Wiedemann]

I will edit this thread for any major updates as needed which isn't likely to be often. I don't want to risk the anger of the MOD gods for taking up too much forum space. You guys get the point.

No worries, brother.

My 360 is half paid for. I'll have it on release day. Happy birthday to me.  

Post all you want. We'll be reading.

[sp44again]

I won one with Mountain Dew. I'll post my thoughts when I get it (November 19) and if I don't sell it on Ebay for a small fortune.  

[StarvingForHDTV]

Thanks for the heads up.  I haven't been playing many vids since I was a kid.  Nowadays I only play poker online.

Do you think the games will be full resolution for the new 1080p DLPs?  Are they created in 1920 X 1080?  I hope so.

[Andrew Grall]

I won one with Mountain Dew. I'll post my thoughts when I get it (November 19) and if I don't sell it on Ebay for a small fortune.  

YOU BASTARD!!!  j/k  

What was your strategy to win?  Or did you just put in an entry and get lucky?

[sp44again]

Got lucky. 20 points spread out over a couple weeks.

[kevbeck122]

I've entered about 60 codes.. still haven't won.  That's the only way I'm getting a 360.  I'd rather have a PS3.

[GS kid]

There will likely be some 1080i games, but the majority will be 720p only. 1080i games would likely have some framerate issues if there was a lot of polygons on the screen, so they stick with the safe 720p. Otherwise there would be some sacrifices to the game to lock in 30fps or 60fps framerates in 1080i. But at 720p, you can get some free (no GPU performance hit) full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) thanks to the 10MB of dedicated high-bandwidth eDRAM right next to the ATI GPU.

The ATI Xenos GPU is a history making chip. It's the first GPU to use a unified shader architecture, as opposed to a traditional fixed shader architecture. Unified means the programmer decides whether a pipeline will be used for pixel shading or for vertex shading.

We won't see unified GPUs in the PC world for at least a year at the earliest. That's how groundbreaking this is.

 As for 1080p support? Well... not likely. Although technically the ATI Xenos chip supports it, Microsoft doesn't. Plus as far as I know, 1080p only works with a HDMI port and Xbox 360 at this time doesn't support it. Microsoft says it might offer HDMI in the future. But I don't expect 1080p support of any real kind until the next Xbox, since it's so taxing on the GPU and only a handful of sets are 1080p.

After 1080p reviews in Sound & Vision magazine, other than sharper text and less screendoor effect, no need to replace your 1080i set anytime soon. Considering their high price and little advantages at this time, I'm happy with my Sony 34xbr800 direct-view.

And by the way... I get all consoles. So I'll be getting a Sony PS3 and Nintendo Revolution as well. :rock:

[Mark Strube]

Choices choices... I know I'm gonna want the Xbox 360... but the consensus seems to be that the PS3 will be even better, coming out in 2006... especially since it has actual next gen technology (the cell chip). The 360 sounds great but it doesn't do too much (beyond the fact that it's built to connect to HDTV's) that a real souped up PC can't do. This is where my problem is. Microsoft seems to be doing what Sony did with the release of the PS2... they're releasing it earlier, but the console coming out later (PS3) is going to blow the earlier released console outta the water.

I'll probably still end up getting it, since most of my friends spread around the country at different colleges will be getting it and will want to play online with me... but I'll be hurting when the PS3 finally gets released.

[StarvingForHDTV]

The 360 sounds great but it doesn't do too much (beyond the fact that it's built to connect to HDTV's) that a real souped up PC can't do.

A real souped up PC is much more expensive.  But if you have already spent the money on the PC, I can see your point.

[GS kid]

Choices choices... I know I'm gonna want the Xbox 360... but the consensus seems to be that the PS3 will be even better, coming out in 2006... especially since it has actual next gen technology (the cell chip). The 360 sounds great but it doesn't do too much (beyond the fact that it's built to connect to HDTV's) that a real souped up PC can't do. This is where my problem is. Microsoft seems to be doing what Sony did with the release of the PS2... they're releasing it earlier, but the console coming out later (PS3) is going to blow the earlier released console outta the water.

I'll probably still end up getting it, since most of my friends spread around the country at different colleges will be getting it and will want to play online with me... but I'll be hurting when the PS3 finally gets released.

Calling Xbox 360's 3.2Ghz 3-core, dual-thread (6 threads at a time total) PowerPC based in-order Xenon processor not actual next-gen technology is just nuts.

The Cell is a new type of chip based on an old concept. It's basically a Power PC chip with 8 DSP units (7 of which are useable) on it that are called SPEs.

Both Xenon and Cell are next-gen technology. It's just that Cell is the more exotic of the two. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. Cell has better floating-point power.

Both are going to be hard to program for due to their multi-cores and in-order processing architecture (today's chips like the Pentium 4 are out-of-order execution CPUs)...... but the Cell is gonna be harder. Doom/Quake creator and id founder John Carmack basically said programming for Xbox 360 is great. PS3... a pain in my rear. He's using the Xbox 360 as his base of development for consoles and the PC platform.

Sony tried to get Steve Jobs and Apple to use the Cell in future Macs. After evaluating the chip and it's future, they declined and went with Intel.

Some developers are now worried about the combination of the difficulty of programming the Cell chip, Sony's new higher standards for software certification and the higher production costs that this will all involve. That has some PS3 devs considering a move to the much cheaper and easier to program Xbox 360 platform.

PS3's main advantages over Xbox 360 is....

Has Blu-Ray drive.

Has dual-HDMI ports for dual-display output and possible 32:9 widescreen support (which will likely get little support)

1080p output (which will likely get little support due to framerate issues and lack of 1080p sets in most homes)

Wireless network adapter built-in ($99 on Xbox 360)

Gigabit ethernet ports (no real biggie)

Has multi-ports for different flash memory types.

I predict that some 1st party games might look a little better on PS3, but overall... most predict that the graphic levels on each console will be about the same in the end.


I'm getting all 3 consoles so I can pickup any game I want regardless of what platform it's on.  

Also... the biggest advantage of making games for consoles instead of PCs is the consistent hardware configuration. They know that every console has the same CPU, GPU and memory. No need to worry about a wide range of different hardware configurations and all the varying performance and driver issues involved that can wreck havoc on your game.

Also... a game console doesn't have to load in a huge general-purpose OS into memory like Windows XP. So you can do more with less memory then you could on a PC. That's why console games run so well then the average game running on different hardware configs in the PC world.

Since the hardware stays the same, they get to know the console hardware like the back of their hand and it shows more and more in the quality of the games as the years go on.

[Mark Strube]

Hmm... Mr. Gates cut you a check lately?

(KIDDING. :wave: )

[GS kid]

Hmm... Mr. Gates cut you a check lately?

(KIDDING. :wave: )

No... but I have an Xbox 360 bias. But bottom line.... I'm a gamer first, Xbox 360 fan second. That's why I get all consoles cuz I'm a hardcore gamer!

I love Sony. I love my Sony 34xbr800 34-inch direct-view HDTV. Loved the PS1.

Hated the overhyped & hard to program PS2 and it's POS quality DVD drive. This is coming from a guy who owns one. I'm giving Sony another chance with PS3, but I'm buying it with a critical eye in the wake of the PS2. :mad:

[Mark Strube]

Totally understand about the PS2. Like I said, I'll end up getting the 360 on or around Christmas anyways... I can't resist it. Just hoping I'll have enough extra for the PS3 when it gets released as well.

[sp44again]

Hated the overhyped & hard to program PS2 and it's POS quality DVD drive.

I don't understand when people say the PS2 was hard to program when they have so many titles! Also the Xbox DVD drive is no work of art either.