There's some hysterical outrage out there right now over the New Xbox Experience's HD Netflix HDCP restrictions -- apparently it only works with HDCP-compliant digital displays, which is prompting a lot of hand-wringing about copyright restrictions and whether older 360s will get "locked out." Well, we're here to make it all better -- that's our NXE-equipped 360 connected over component, happily playing back HD Netflix at 1080i. See? Works fine. The problem is that some older LCD monitors don't support HDCP over DVI, so if you're in the minority of people using an HDMI to DVI adapter to drive an older display that doesn't do HDCP, HD Netflix won't work, since it can't authenticate. That's not the best situation, but DVI isn't a default supported 360 output, so we wouldn't expect 100 percent compatibility -- and besides, you can
always run VGA. We're waiting on official confirmation from Microsoft of all this -- we want to get things absolutely right -- but in the meantime you can console yourself with another shot of HD
Heroes over component after the break.
Update: Yes, it works with movies too -- we just tried it with
The Orphanage, and it looked great. Pic after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
UnnDunn @ Oct 30th 2008 1:09PM
*Phew*, that's a relief.
This seems to be a similar situation to most cable boxes, where *IF* you use the digital output (HDMI or DVI) then it *REQUIRES* HDCP support, but there's nothing stopping you from dropping back to Component output.
Michael @ Oct 30th 2008 1:44PM
How are you guys streaming Netflix already??? I'm jealous! Why can't WE get it until Nov 19th?
squiggleslash @ Oct 30th 2008 1:54PM
Any other comments?
What's the quality like? Do you have to stream it live or can you buffer the movie first, for those of us without 10Mbps connections? What audio options are offered?
DeadPlasmaCell @ Oct 30th 2008 2:09PM
Amen. What's the HD selection like as well? How does it work? Do you view the HD selection from the Xbox or do you have to Queue it up @ Netflix.com? hows the quality and is it 5.1?
aaron @ Oct 30th 2008 3:25PM
agreed.... nobody is getting out good information about these 2 aspects.
which movies are going to be in hd and what is the quality like (with screenshots preferably)
TrentD @ Oct 30th 2008 3:19PM
Do you have to be a Netflix subscriber to view HD Netflix movies through the Xbox360? What I mean is, if you're not a member, can you pay a per-title fee and avoid a subscription?
bizket @ Oct 30th 2008 4:19PM
You *must* have both an unlimited Netflix subscription and Xbox Live Gold to stream any videos from Netflix to your Xbox 360.
Patrick @ Oct 30th 2008 4:15PM
I've read from several sources that HDMI is really no improvement over component on the 360, picture-wise.
Johnny Neat @ Oct 31st 2008 3:17PM
This is not true, HDMI is crisper picture over the smoothed out (a tiny tiny bit fuzzy to some) Component picture. I owned a pre-HDMI 360 & an Elite and I tested them out more than once with others around to give me input and all agree it was as I saw it.
Bill @ Oct 31st 2008 11:05AM
I have a projection home theater with a 1080p Epson projector on a 106" screen. My 360 is an older one with only VGA and component. At 1080p output, VGA looks noticeably sharper than component. In fact, an HD-DVD over VGA looks just as good as a Blu-Ray over HDMI from my PS3. So VGA is a very workable solution provided you have that input on your television.
steven @ Oct 31st 2008 5:38PM
I wondering if Netflix HD streaming will work for closed captioning?
ben @ Nov 3rd 2008 7:33PM
Heroes Season 1, what about those jackass's that bought it on HD-DVD? Damnit that was me....