Xbox 360 to support 1080p! software patch

dazsly · 20 Sep 2006 at 08:29

At their pre-TGS press briefing in Tokyo today, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will support 1080p content through a software upgrade. The "p" stands for parity.

Microsoft's announcement -- which effectively parries Sony's bold claims regarding the merits of 1080p high definition content or, as Sony calls it, True HD -- is their latest move seeking to blunt the impact of the oncoming Sony PS3 hype-train. With the True HD cat de-clawed, Microsoft's mantra of choice will appear even more appealing. It's another bullet point taken out of the next-gen console war equation.

Joystiq spoke briefly with Shane Kim, General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios, about their announcements in Tokyo today. First off, Kim clarified that, while the software patch would upscale all content to resolutions as high as 1080p, Microsoft themselves had no plans to produce gaming content taking advantage of this ability. He was similarly convinced that very few other developers would see the value in producing 1080p games, with the singular exception of Sony's first-party studios, eager to validate the value of the capability.

Similar to the way the Xbox 360 upscales original Xbox games from 480p to 720p/1080i, you'll be able to enjoy your existing Xbox 360 games at the new resolution. As if you needed more proof that Microsoft's adoption of high definition HD-DVD is little more than a strategic move to limit Blu-ray's potential sphere of influence, Microsoft's 1080p software upgrade will also remove some of the value of their upcoming HD-DVD add-on by upscaling your existing DVD movies to HD resolutions, including 1080p.

So, Microsoft just announced that the Xbox 360 will play your existing DVDs back in high-definition -- in addition to being able to play back legitimate HD-DVD content if you're interested -- and they're gonna do it in 1080p. In the bullet point war, Sony better hope that extra Blu-ray disc space is worth it; they'll have a chance to prove it at TGS this week.

source is http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/20/tgs-xbox-360-to-add-1080p-support-ps3-to-lose-bullet-point/

DaveyD · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:01

Interesting, though got a link to the source? I'll be a bit wary of it, as not all games are designed to run on 1080i as well as 720p, and if any games would work or look any different on 1080p, will have to wait and see I guess.

Cronox · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:07

It’s being reported in a few places:

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/20/tgs-xbox-360-to-add-1080p-support-ps3-to-lose-bullet-point/
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/733/733658p1.html

Not really that huge a move in my opinion as 1080p TVs are still a fair way from the main stream but its nice to know support is their in the future, although they say that games probably won't run natively at 1080p.

Kohaashi · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:17

Should look ace on the Dell monitors though

L33 · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:21

Am I the only one that does not see the point? According to MS, all 360 games are rendered at 720p internally before being scaled by the video encoder, so what difference is it going to make whether the xbox or the monitor is scaling the image?! :confused:

the Xbox 360 will play your existing DVDs back in high-definition

Not really, the source material is still the same, what is the benefit of upscaling?!

Cronox · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:27

L33 said:
Am I the only one that does not see the point? According to MS, all 360 games are rendered at 720p internally before being scaled by the video encoder, so what difference is it going to make whether the xbox or the monitor is scaling the image?!

Not really, the source material is still the same, what is the benefit of upscaling?!

I don’t know too much about HDTV but my understanding was that the upscaling in many of them was fairly poor, which is why expensive upscaling DVD players seem to have become very popular. So assuming the 360 does a decent job of this it should look better than it would if the TVs did it themselves.

$anch3z · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:29

L33 said:
Am I the only one that does not see the point? According to MS, all 360 games are rendered at 720p internally before being scaled by the video encoder, so what difference is it going to make whether the xbox or the monitor is scaling the image?!

Not really, the source material is still the same, what is the benefit of upscaling?!

If you have a HDTV you will definately see a difference when watching a DVD, so its great news for those of us who own a HDTV or use a capable monitor. I personally think its great news it'll save me money on an upscaling dvd player

Kohaashi · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:32

$anch3z said:
If you have a HDTV you will definately see a difference when watching a DVD, so its great news for those of us who own a HDTV or use a capable monitor. I personally think its great news it'll save me money on an upscaling dvd player

Aye im looking forward to it too!

Was an ETA atall given?

$anch3z · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:41

Chadd said:
Aye im looking forward to it too!

Was an ETA atall given?

All i can see in the articles and news is 'a Fall software update'...so around the release date of the ps3 i presume....no great surprise there then :rolleyes:

This could dent the sales of the PS3 in europe i reckon due to the massive delays recently announced

JUMPURS · 20 Sep 2006 at 09:50

quick question but why does it say P is parity? is tis not true 1080p but MS trying to make it seem like it is?

Phil99 · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:06

JUMPURS said:
quick question but why does it say P is parity? is tis not true 1080p but MS trying to make it seem like it is?

I'm guessing the person writing the article is in idiot as I would have thought anyone who was even remotely interested in HD would know it means progressive...I doubt it's some wierd format that MS have come up with.

JUMPURS · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:08

Phil99 said:
I'm guessing the person writing the article is in idiot as I would have thought anyone who was even remotely interested in HD would know it means progressive...I doubt it's some wierd format that MS have come up with.

lol yeah i was wondering but you can't always be sure, especially when MS are involved lol
and the fact they went out of there way to say what the p stood for lol

fini · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:15

$anch3z said:
All i can see in the articles and news is 'a Fall software update'...

I'd presume it would be on the same day as the HD DVD drive's launched - so November 17th in Japan.

With the 360 now doing 1080p and having a HD DVD drive (which can be bought with the console for less than the cost of the ps3) they really are making the excuses for the ps3 being late look really stupid. HD DVD uses the exact same diodes that bluray uses - Sony are the world's largest manufacturer of these diodes - so how is Microsoft getting hold of them in large numbers when Sony cant?

fini

Werewolf · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:21

I thought it was a third party who supplied 80% of the current blue laser diodes? (and they are/were having problems with a very low yield).

If so it could be that Sony originally planned on using another company to produce their diodes, but they are having the same problems the main company is?

Mr Latte · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:27

Chadd said:
Should look ace on the Dell monitors though

Yeah maybe though I'll not mention anything about a 52" 1080p HDTV then

Guys the article is NOT saying games will appear in 1920x1080
A dashboard update that allows an UPSCALED 1080p output, this will improve over the 1080i but its really only benifical to owners of 1080 displays and maybe some using monitors.

The main benifit is for the HD DVD now being 1080p, this is big news as Toshiba's 1080p HD-DVD model will retail for approx £800. Fingers crossed X360 plays HD DVD movies really well...

Be nice to see it but lets have a HDMI version of the system or a special cable....

Other note is 99% of current HDTVs wont accept 1080p signal.

Caustic · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:35

I think the reason for p = parity is because it means the 360 will have parity with the PS3. Yeah, dumb journo trying to be overly clever.

But this is huge news. I think most people would prefer an upscaling DVD player to an HD-DVD/Blu Ray at the moment, so its great news. I can't wait.

Werewolf · 20 Sep 2006 at 10:49

Werewolf said:
I thought it was a third party who supplied 80% of the current blue laser diodes? (and they are/were having problems with a very low yield).

If so it could be that Sony originally planned on using another company to produce their diodes, but they are having the same problems the main company is?

Quoting myself for a reason.

Apparently a company called Nachia currently makes about 80% of the worlds Blue laser diodes needed for blu-ray and hd-dvd drives, and are (or were) reporting major problems getting the supply sorted out (30% yields and problems getting more production lines up and running).

Sony make less than 20% of the diodes, and by the sounds of it were being overly optimistic in their expected yeilds from their own production lines (sounds oddly familiar).
If that is the case, then it wouldn't suprise me to find out that Sony had no contingency plans (or options) to buy in large numbers of the diodes, or are unwilling to pay market price to buy them in (which would push the PS3 costs up, as it's usually much cheaper if you can produce a part in house).

Kohaashi · 20 Sep 2006 at 12:03

Mr Latte said:
lets have a HDMI version of the system or a special cable....

HDMI is no better than Component is it ?

JUMPURS · 20 Sep 2006 at 12:06

Chadd said:
HDMI is no better than Component is it ?

Yeah it is, as far as i know HDMI is digital and component is Analogue.
Also HDMI carries sound through it

da_mic_1530 · 20 Sep 2006 at 12:08

iirc my tv only does 1080 i so im not fussed, but i suppose its a boost for the 360