Xbox 360 Elite announced

[Pez]

I am a bit puzzled about this. No HD-DVD inlcuded then whats the point??? Yes the hard drive is bigger which is nice but that could have been an accessory. Black is cooler than the current color but more of a gimmick to me. The only real benefit seems to be the HDMI port but without the HD-DVD bulit in its no benefit to me. And they have no foreseeable plans to sell an add-on black HD-DVD drive, just the current color. MS must not care about the format war as including the HD-DVD drive could have had some sort of impact (however little it may have been). Although according to some its already over declaring BR the winner but as far a I know all the big box stores still carry both and HD-DVD players and media has not been heavily discounted to get rid of stock

[Brandon B]

I am a bit puzzled about this. No HD-DVD inlcuded then whats the point??? . . .The only real benefit seems to be the HDMI port but without the HD-DVD bulit in its no benefit to me.

They are hedging their bets. By keeping the drive an external accesssory, if/when HD-DVD bites the dust, they can release an external BD drive in its place. By adding HDMI, they have also added some future-proofing security in that when ICT becomes active, you will still be able to use the machine to play your HD disc media.

Furthermore, HDMI allows you to output the new HD sound formats to a receiver/processor in digital form now.

In a general sense, I think they have adopted the absolute best strategy.

ALso, making the internal drive be a high capacity drive might have tempted someone to release a game using that disc format. A game which all previous purchasers of the system would be unable to play. Baaaaaad idea.

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[PewterTA]

What they should've done is planned this from the start. I mean I'd love to have HDMI on my Xbox 360, but is that and the 120GB HD worth me buying it again and trading in my old one?? I don't think it really is...

[dyazdani]

I don't really get it either. I do like the black case and the HDMI connectivity. I don't see as much value in a 120GB drive unless you're storing a lot of music or something. I still have the majority free on mine.

I guess M$ has a reason for their design, maybe just trying to reintroduce a product to get some incremental sales at minimal incremental cost.

[aud19]

Why only 120Gb too?! :M There are 750Gb drives available (albiet "expensive") but even the 120GB, 160, 200, 250 and 320GB drives have all of a whopping $45 spread in price from top to bottom :roll:

[Alloroc]

Why only 120Gb too?! :M There are 750Gb drives available (albiet "expensive") but even the 120GB, 160, 200, 250 and 320GB drives have all of a whopping $45 spread in price from top to bottom :roll:

The bigger capacity is really only with 3.5" drives. The 360 uses the 2.5" variety - the one usually found in laptops and right now the biggest one that you can buy is 200gb. 160gb is cheaply available and not dramatically more expensive than 120gb so there a point there. That said it think it's a ruse to combat the PS. Ultimatly MS's strategy is for the 360 to integrate with the PC for media streaming with Media Centre. I think it's just their way of saying to Sony, and not very well imo, 'Ours is twice as big as yours'. That said HDMI is a good thing and the black colour is very smart. The external HD-DVD still bugs the hell out of me as well as the fact that they are not going to address the noise the machine makes, particularly when spinning disks.

[Pez]

Brandon - I never thought of it that way but that does make a lot of sense. I guess I will retract a little on what I said but I hate the idea of yet another piece of equipment. Especially considering its an add-on and doesnt even match the color of the new Xbox no less. I may be in the minority but my equipment is fully exposed in my living space and like to keep it as streamlined as possible. Keeping all those wires neat and having enough power outlets is becoming a real problem. Also, my pre/pro doesnt have HDMI inputs so no uncompressed audio for me. :M

[Chris D]

I heard about this before all the details were firm, and I got pretty excited. Perhaps a new X360 with a bunch of new features like onboard HDMI and HD-DVD? I might actually buy one when I get the money.

Unfortunately, though, I've got to say that this just seems like a marketing ploy at this point, just to get the Xbox name back in the headlines. Doesn't seem to have a lot of substance (in terms of new features) behind it. Bummer!

[Pez]

'Ours is twice as big as yours'.

When I saw the size of the hard drive thats excatly what I thought. (that didnt sound very good ops: )

What about this: If MS were to include the HD-DVD with the Elite and that format lost out why couldnt they just as easily make an add-on BR drive. Then you would have a universal player for those that have HD-DVD movies in thier collection and they can still get into BR for not a lot more money. IMO this would make the xbox fairly attractive.

[Alloroc]

When I saw the size of the hard drive thats excatly what I thought. (that didnt sound very good ops: )

What about this: If MS were to include the HD-DVD with the Elite and that format lost out why couldnt they just as easily make an add-on BR drive. Then you would have a universal player for those that have HD-DVD movies in thier collection and they can still get into BR for not a lot more money. IMO this would make the xbox fairly attractive.

In a wierd way, there is a certain logic to their thinking. What I mean is they now have 360 Core, Premium and Elite in the lineup. They all broadly behave the same and can use the same accessories. With the Elite you get built in HDMI (hence it's 'Elite' status' but the 120GB drive can be used on all other players.

However, if they included the HD-DVD inside the Elite, perhaps they reckoned it would be too big a change from the original machine and we'd all revolt and exclaim 'we wasted our money!' and never buy Xbox again.

Just a thought.

[dyazdani]

I'm on the opposite end, I think it's a waste of money to buy the new system if you already have a 360.

I think it's just a way to get the 360 back on the radar screen after the PS3 launch. I wonder what the relative sales numbers between the 360 and PS3 are (since the PS3 launch), could probably find it online somewhere.

[Brandon B]

I think they have done a bit of a misstep though, as if you add the HDDVD to the price of the elite, you are now in PS3 price territory. Kills the Sony is overpriced argument for the marketing people.

How easy is swapping the 360 HDD out?

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[dyazdani]

How easy is swapping the 360 HDD out?

Very. It was originally an add-on to the core system anyway. Just clicks in...

[eddiespaghetti]

Supposedly, the larger HD will be an accessory for owners of the "current" versions of the 360.

[Alloroc]

Supposedly, the larger HD will be an accessory for owners of the "current" versions of the 360.

Yeah. A $179 accessory....!

[Brandon B]

Very. It was originally an add-on to the core system anyway. Just clicks in...

No, I meant swapping the HDD in the microsoft enclosure with a large, say 250GB drive, not adding the new 120 GB drive to an older system.

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[Pez]

In a wierd way, there is a certain logic to their thinking. What I mean is they now have 360 Core, Premium and Elite in the lineup. They all broadly behave the same and can use the same accessories. With the Elite you get built in HDMI (hence it's 'Elite' status' but the 120GB drive can be used on all other players.

However, if they included the HD-DVD inside the Elite, perhaps they reckoned it would be too big a change from the original machine and we'd all revolt and exclaim 'we wasted our money!' and never buy Xbox again.

Just a thought.

I do agree with you and can see the logic MS has. My problem is I would love to get the add on HD-DVD drive. BUT without HDMi on my current xbox it just doesnt make sense to me to get it since I will be losing out on the audio side. Not that I would expect the PS3 or Xbox to have multi-channel outputs but those consoles make it almost impossible to get the uncompressed audio from the majority of receivers and pre/pro's that people have (assuming they havent upgraded in the last year or so). I want it all, audio and video. After all, I dont see the new formats as one sided (audio OR video).

Also, I just assumed MS was in the HD-DVD camp since they came out with the HD-DVD drive accessory. Its mostly for that reason I was so suprised the Elite didnt have the drive built-in.

By the way, with the current xbox how do you get the 1080p video signal when using the HD-DVD drive? I didnt think you could through the component connection because of copy right protection. I know there is a VGA cable but i dont recall ever seeing that on any tv I have owned or looked at. That isnt the same as DVI is it?

[Alloroc]

No, I meant swapping the HDD in the microsoft enclosure with a large, say 250GB drive, not adding the new 120 GB drive to an older system.

BB

Anything is possible when modding but not in this case. I mentioned earlier that the 360 hdd drive is of the 2.5" kind and the largest available to date is 200gb - to the best of my knowledge - and at that, not easy to find. 160gb are and are cheap. The larger capacity 3.5" drives won't work as they are too big.

[Brandon B]

but not in this case.

Don't know if that was a clever double entendre, but either way . . .

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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[Trevor Schell]

I like the idea of the HDMI input.
I will be able to play back 1080p res with my HD-DVD discs.
I love how Blue-ray currently looks on our new 70" XBR2 TV
in 1080p..:drool:

The Stealth Black color of the 360 is also very cool.
I do wish this would have been available at launch.

I wonder if the HDMI is version 1.3 like that of the Sony PS3?

[Chris D]

A Trev sighting! :later: The Upgrade King lives.