HD-DVD Really Pushing 360 Hardware

KennyBhoy · 6 Nov 2006 at 17:41

1up.com said:
HD-DVD Really Pushing 360 Hardware

Microsoft says Gears of War's the only game that comes close.
by Patrick Klepek, 11/06/2006

The reason backwards compatibility became such a challenging issue for Microsoft on Xbox 360 was because of approaches to hardware design. There was no way to incorporate Xbox components into the machine, so software emulation became the only viable route and one that takes time to implement. With HD-DVD, Microsoft's forced into taking a similar approach.

"Other players on the market have specialized chips (called DSPs) that decode things like H.264, MPEG, VC1, DTS, Dolby Digital, and other codecs," explains Microsoft employee Shaheen Gandhi, who works on Xbox 360's HD-DVD team. "Much like how backwards compatibility for Xbox 1 works on Xbox 360, the heavy parts of HD DVD are all done on Xbox 360's triple-core CPU."

Who would've thought playing a movie took so much work? "All 6 of Xbox 360's hardware threads are hard at work while playing back an HD DVD. At the moment, the player software pushes Xbox 360 harder than any other (save, perhaps, Gears of War during some particularly busy parts of the game)."

Microsoft will test the next-generation DVD waters later this year; their HD-DVD add-on's coming this month for $199.99 and free copies of Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Don't know if i like the thought of some movie murdering my 360 :eek:

TriedandTested · 6 Nov 2006 at 17:43

Why couldnt they fit the 'specialised chips' in to the HD-DVD drive? It's big enough.

Ultra_Extreme · 6 Nov 2006 at 17:45

Overtaking at 80mph really pushes my car....big deal, its within limits. Using the CPU/GPU more intensively will not kill you console (generally speaking).

What more annoying is that current games use so little of the 360's potential.

KennyBhoy · 6 Nov 2006 at 17:51

My only concern is not all games will push the 360 to it's limits constantly...Surely depending on level demands and such, the load on the 360 will vary?

Whereas a HD-DVD will be running constantly for anything up to or over 2 hours.....Thats a fair bit of stress :eek:

JUMPURS · 6 Nov 2006 at 17:54

KennyBhoy said:
My only concern is not all games will push the 360 to it's limits constantly...Surely depending on level demands and such, the load on the 360 will vary?

Whereas a HD-DVD will be running constantly for anything up to or over 2 hours.....Thats a fair bit of stress

Yeap thats what i was thinking 2, It said GoW during a particularly busy section, imagine watching as you say a movie for 2 hours, or even you sit down for a day of Star Wars goodness!

Also that is gonna be chucking out loads and loads of heat, even when watching a movie.

Kainz · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:10

Flippin heck. There was me thinking the hd-dvd drive had a bunch specialised decoders onboard to do the processing. Now we're told that the 360 is rendering the video using software? :eek:

Thats enough to sway my thoughts on purchasing one early next year.

KennyBhoy · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:12

Kainz said:
Flippin heck. There was me thinking the hd-dvd drive had a bunch specialised decoders onboard to do the processing. Now we're told that the 360 is rendering the video using software?

Now we know why it's relatively cheap :eek:

mmj_uk · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:45

Oh well, at least Sony won't skimp on hardware, you get what you pay for as they say.

Puzzled · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:54

The 360 handles HD material through media centre easily, far far better than what my pc can do.

So the HD-DVD should be ok, and software can always be updated.

TheMagicPirate · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:00

Thats really put me off the HD-DVD drive.

I dont like the idea of stressing my 360 for 2 hours at a time.

Abooie · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:07

Well, MS are a software company and I know they have their detractors but in my opinion they are one of, if not the best software company on the planet.

So it makes perfect sense they came up with a software solution over a hardware solution.

I can't believe people are finding a way to criticise MS over this. They've got a flexible, internal solution that lowers the over-all hardware cost. Fantastic.

ramirez · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:29

stressing?

running prime95 or folding or whatever is probably no better to your pc.
i'd be perfectly happy with my pc folding months on end, so this is a great idea imho.

Energize · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:35

As if the 360 wasn't loud enough, at full load it'll be so load you can't even hear the film.

Ultra_Extreme · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:35

If your 360 fails after any amount of 'stressing' then its a faulty product. Loathe to use another car euphamism but the people worrying about this are the people who never get within 2k rpm of their redline in any gear aint ya? You do realise that using something at 100% is not dangerous right? 110% might be but even then we're talking like what? 90% of capacity with this? no different ill betcha to loads of games.

Even if im wrong, MS's decision to do this will no be un-considered, there will be 360's being stress tested for months on end right now to make sure none of this happens

Steve Watford · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:44

Well, the amount of code used to decode the HD-DVD is actually amazing. Check this out Clicky

Wyrdo · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:46

Energize said:
As if the 360 wasn't loud enough, at full load it'll be so load you can't even hear the film.

Because it's going to magically get louder? Remember most of the noise on the 360 is the DVD drive spinning as mine is very quiet until that monster spins up. The HD-DVD drive may be quieter.

JUMPURS · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:48

Ultra_Extreme said:
If your 360 fails after any amount of 'stressing' then its a faulty product. Loathe to use another car euphamism but the people worrying about this are the people who never get within 2k rpm of their redline in any gear aint ya? You do realise that using something at 100% is not dangerous right? 110% might be but even then we're talking like what? 90% of capacity with this? no different ill betcha to loads of games.

Even if im wrong, MS's decision to do this will no be un-considered, there will be 360's being stress tested for months on end right now to make sure none of this happens

But the thing is though i redline my car regularly, but under certain conditions. And i wouldnt drive it for 2 hours bouncing off 6.5k rpm though, and i doubt even you would.

Which is what this article seems to be saying, all through an HD-DVD it is constantly using the processing at full whack. An it says only GoW comes close at points

I also wouldnt worry about running something like Prime95 etc on my PC, but my PC doesn;t have a known track record of over heating, unlike the 360.

Also the cynic in me is wondering if this will be released just after the warranties for all the launch consoles expire

Energize · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:51

wyrdo said:
Because it's going to magically get louder? Remember most of the noise on the 360 is the DVD drive spinning as mine is very quiet until that monster spins up. The HD-DVD drive may be quieter.

No because as the load increases the power consumption increases thus the heat increases thus the fan has to spin faster. See how that works?

Wyrdo · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:51

This is going to do no more harm to your 360 than sitting and playing games on it all day.

Edit: Or suddenly make it louder.

Wyrdo · 6 Nov 2006 at 19:59

Energize said:
No because as the load increases the power consumption increases thus the heat increases thus the fan has to spin faster. See how that works?

I'm well aware of how that works thank you very much, do try to lose the patronizing tone though.

It's still not going to make the 360 any louder than it currently is, if it does I shall eat my pants.