Microsoft shows off Ana, says no HD DVD in Xbox 360... ever
Microsoft recently had the guys from Ars Technica over to show how the Xbox 360 compares to the PlayStation 3 on one of Sony's own 1080p Bravias, and of course didn't find much difference except in cases where scaling came into play. They looked at the 360's hardware scaler, Ana, which means while it may lack the advanced digital A/V output of the PS3, it will allow every HDTV owner to play games in HD resolutions over component or VGA. Also of note was their response to questions about possibly putting an HD DVD drive in the console, the answer was a firm no, and even referred to the company's own format of choice as a potential "next Betamax". The lack of HDMI may be resolved soon, but with the high def war still very much in flux don't look for Microsoft to put all of its eggs in the HD DVD basket just yet.
Filed under: HD DVD, Other hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ Jan 7th 2007 2:55AM
Yes, Betamax > HD DVD :)))
JBDragon @ Jan 7th 2007 3:03AM
No need for HD-DVD built into the 360. Why? Well because it would still be for movies ONLY, and it would increase the price of the 360. There's no need to do something like that. Besides you can still download HD Movies. Adding HDMI and a Larger HDD is all MS really needs to do, and that shouldn't raise the price of the 360 since MS is now making money from selling 360's instead of loosing money when it was launched. They don't really need to worry about lowering the price any time soon because the PS3 costs so much. Just doing these 2 thing would be the nail in Sony's Coffin! Blu-Ray would just DIE, and HD-DVD would continue on.
Timothy Tripp @ Jan 7th 2007 3:16AM
I agree with JD. I'd much rather have a bigger hard drive and HDMI and just download the movies I want. While I'm on the subject though, what I DON'T want is to RENT my HD movies, unless it was a flat monthly fee like Netflix, which I would gladly pay $29.99 a month for (I'd suggest $19.99 a month for SD movies only). If I could just have one or two movies "out" at a time I would jump on this and cancel my Netflix subscription. Even though it might take hours to download in HD that would still beat the days it takes to get a movie from Netflix (or the constant out of stock problems with Blockbuster).
I hope someone at MS reads this. I have not rented a single movie yet through the 360 Media Marketplace, although I have bought about 20 TV show episodes (Jericho is really great, BTW!) I would be open to buying HD movies outright like you get with the TV episodes, even though I'd prefer the monthly charge as stated earlier, but I will NEVER rent a movie pay-per-view. I'm not saying take away pay-per-view just add either a purchase or monthly way to buy the content and MS can have even more of my money :D
tv @ Jan 8th 2007 3:04PM
Your idea is grand, but I'd rather not see a seperate/higher price if you want both types (This doesn't happen at any (IIRC) movie rentnl places). If something only came in one or the other.. well, you wouldn't get it.
Also, I think your pricing is a bit high.
I'd like to see 19.99 (All types of media), limit 3-4 movies per 24HR period or something to that effect.
Not to nitpick, just sharing thoughts..
Mike @ Jan 7th 2007 3:18AM
I wish they would have a built in HD DVD..they can set it so games won't come out on HD DVD but it would look a lot nicer not to have an add on on the tv stand...and it puts more HD DVD's in homes. I think MS is just trying get a better deal on HD DVD drives from Toshiba.
Mark @ Jan 8th 2007 1:01PM
Well, I would love to try out a HD-DVD movie in my XBox 360, but at the moment it's nigh on impossible to source one of these drives in the UK, without resorting to payine rip-off prices on ebay, which I refuse to do!!! Grrrr, come on Microsoft, get your finger out!