Black Xbox360 Official

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » March 28, 2007, 5:13 am

Dumb, dumb move.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=74661

Now Black Xbox + HDDVD Drive is about the same price as a PS3!

Way to make the PS3 look competetive, assholes

Post by **pyrella** » March 28, 2007, 5:22 am

From the article:

Xbox 360 will relaunch in the US on 29th April with a 120GB hard disk drive and a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port. It will retail for US$ 479.99

In the US, the lower-end PS3 unit retails for US$ 499

If anything, it makes the people who were in the market for the 'low end' PS3 consider the Xbox with enhanced bells and whistles, no?

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 28, 2007, 7:08 am

The thing is that it doesn't really have enhanced Bells and whistles over and above the premium except for HDMI, the HDD and the finish.
I'll break this out on my feeling in Pro, Ambivalent and Con.

PRO:
Here's my view of it. In and of itself, it's not a bad deal for people that need HDMI, live in the US where the video marketplace is open for business already live or just plain wanted a big HDD and (this is important) don't own a 360 already and wanted to get one.

MS could've gone HDMI at launch but then they would've been stuck at version 1.1 or 1.2 and would've missed out on the 1.3 features that Sony currently uses with the PS3. the spec for HDMI 1.3 were only announced in June 2006, 6 month after the 360 launched. Sony will not be able to change up to HDMI 1.4 or 2 when that launches unless they go into another SKU of their own so at least in that respect they are on equal footing. http://www.hdmi.org/press/pr/pr_20060622.asp

There was also no guarantee back then that HDMI was going to be as strong a standard as it is today, so they're just following up with what they've been saying that if it does become standard, they'll support it.

Includng a way to transfer data between the old HDD and the new one is a fantastic move as well. Good on them for not forcing people to get a memory module and moving everything manually or re-downloading.

I also like that my current setup won't be invalidated because of HDMI since they will be including an adapter that you can use in the propriately A/V port to get your optical from that source and HDMI from the HDMI jack.

And hey, HDMI, composite and component cables all in the box. Good job on that.
Ambivalent:
The price of the HDD is somewhat steep for my tastes. Although nowhere near the screwjob that the 20GB drive was at 100$, this is still pretty steep. While I understand that the drive is most likely profit driver for them, a little compassion for the current owners of the 360 would've been appreciated.

Con:
The pricepoint of this package is getting awfully close to the pricepoint of the PS3 and the PS3 includes the apparent winner of the HD disk-based format AND wi-fi in the box. Once the PS3 gets a couple more appealing titles, MS will be losing marketshare to Sony for the small price difference.

They need to cut the price on the elite to the 399$ pricepoint, bring down the premium to 349 or 299 and kill off the core ASAP.

Also why does this thing not yet feature the 65nm processor tech? WTF is up with that?? While I know that the chip will go in all flavor xboxes, this would've been a golden opportunity to re-vamp that reliability issue and boost customer confidence in the platform a great deal.

---

Frankly, if you own a 360 and don't require the bigger drive or HDMI, there's absolutly nothing to see here(unless the color black gives you a massive hardon that will make you spend 480$ US).

I personally won't even be considering the bigger HDD until the movie download service comes to Canada.

Since I down own an HDTV yet, when I am in the market for one this unit will broaden my TV choice significantly. No more need to look for a TV with VGA input since I wasn't keen on using component to hook up to an HDTV anyways. If I do get an HDTV with HDMI and want to use it, I can start investigating upgrading my 360 with MS or inquring about tradeins at EB or something. In the end of the day however, it does appear that I will be spending about as much as a PS3 costs without getting a disk-based HD movie player if I do decide to move to this unit..

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » March 28, 2007, 9:06 am

pyrella wrote:From the article:

Xbox 360 will relaunch in the US on 29th April with a 120GB hard disk drive and a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port. It will retail for US$ 479.99

In the US, the lower-end PS3 unit retails for US$ 499

If anything, it makes the people who were in the market for the 'low end' PS3 consider the Xbox with enhanced bells and whistles, no?

Except you have to add the price of the HD-DVD drive to the cost of the 360 to "match" the capabilities of the PS3.
And the wireless add-on if you want to be really picky.
That makes it damn close in cost to the PS3. But the PS3 is more powerful and is an all-in-one solution rather than needing a bolt-on DVD box.

I think a price-cut on the existing models would have been a better move.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 28, 2007, 9:58 am

vn_Tanc wrote:
pyrella wrote:From the article:

Xbox 360 will relaunch in the US on 29th April with a 120GB hard disk drive and a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port. It will retail for US$ 479.99

In the US, the lower-end PS3 unit retails for US$ 499

If anything, it makes the people who were in the market for the 'low end' PS3 consider the Xbox with enhanced bells and whistles, no?
Except you have to add the price of the HD-DVD drive to the cost of the 360 to "match" the capabilities of the PS3.
And the wireless add-on if you want to be really picky.
That makes it damn close in cost to the PS3. But the PS3 is more powerful and is an all-in-one solution rather than needing a bolt-on DVD box.

I think a price-cut on the existing models would have been a better move.

HDMI was a must in my mind for the 360, as well as the larger HDD with the way they're diversifying their Marketplace service and with the IPTV stuff coming soonish.

I think to remain competitive and not bail on the 360 in the same timeframe they did with the original xbox, they didn't have a choice.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » March 28, 2007, 12:06 pm

It's always been microsoft's plan to release upgraded 360's, Although I was expecting a little more than a machine that is wholly inferior to a PS3 for basically the same price. It's a very stupid thing to do and is indicative to how out of touch MS is with the console market.

Their first mistake was releasing two SKU's that perform differently, already forcing developers to limit their games to the lowest common denominator machine without a hard drive. No Xbox 360 developer is going to waste their time supporting 1080p if only a tiny section of their market is going to have HDMI, just like no dev supports the HDD other than using it as a giant memory card.

It's nice to see that the "premium" 360 I bought not even a year and a half ago is already obsolete though. My only consolation is that mine should be breaking any day now (it already keeps dropping HD resolution and flashing back to standard, and sometimes flashing red lights when I boot it), so I'll be able to buy a new one to replace it.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 28, 2007, 12:24 pm

Why would you want to replace it if you hate the thing so much?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 28, 2007, 1:19 pm

Calm down people. Microsoft will make 479.00 on the initial demand for the Black 120GB Xbox and then reduce it to 399.00 later in the Fall.

This will prevent the lamers that like to exchange old Xboxs for new ones from doing so, while in a few months within 30-90 days of purchase. After the initial time period, Microsoft will have made their initial $$ on the fanboi demand and then reduce it to 399.00 without losing more on exchanges from old boxes.

Not having the .65 CPU is kind of lame though. I'm more interested in that and noise levels in a new version.

Post by **Xouqoa** » March 28, 2007, 1:41 pm

kyoukan wrote:It's nice to see that the "premium" 360 I bought not even a year and a half ago is already obsolete though.

I just got mine in December.

My TV won't do 1080p over a component connection either, so I'll be missing that HDMI connection. Oh well.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » March 28, 2007, 2:29 pm

Animalor wrote:Why would you want to replace it if you hate the thing so much?

Unsure what you are going on about. It is actually possible to own and enjoy two different consoles. I know it's a pretty big step for you to wrap your head around that concept, and I'm willing to give you some time to allow it to sink in.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 28, 2007, 2:52 pm

Microsoft will continue to offer the Core pack despite the long overdue announcement of the Elite version of the 360, a company spokesperson has confirmed.

Following recent speculation from the German retail sector, it seemed that Microsoft would be using the arrival of the Elite pack to quietly drop the Core model of the 360. However, when we spoke to Microsoft today the company denied that it harboured any such intentions, stating that it would continue to offer its entry level model alongside the hard drive equipped Premium and Elite versions.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 28, 2007, 3:32 pm

kyoukan wrote:
Animalor wrote:Why would you want to replace it if you hate the thing so much?
Unsure what you are going on about. It is actually possible to own and enjoy two different consoles. I know it's a pretty big step for you to wrap your head around that concept, and I'm willing to give you some time to allow it to sink in.

Oh I understand the concept just fine. I for the record intend on getting the PS3 once the price becomes accessible to the mortal man with responsabilities(if that ever happens) and there are still some titles there worth playing that are not on the 360.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » March 28, 2007, 3:37 pm

I will be picking one of these up - I will just sell my existing 360 to a friend that is looking to get one anyway for about 250 probably.

It's not a big deal to me, because I am not being "forced" to buy it. I could choose to keep my premium if I wanted and would not be stopped from playing any games, etc.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 31, 2007, 3:05 am

Animalor wrote:I also like that my current setup won't be invalidated because of HDMI since they will be including an adapter that you can use in the propriately A/V port to get your optical from that source and HDMI from the HDMI jack.

Re: "Will there be an HDMI cable released for us early adopters? If not that kinda sucks.

Unfortunately there will not be an HDMI adapter released for the original 360. The HDMI spec is basically a 2-way street and requires the specific port on both sides to be enabled. This is why we had to change the box.

Not sure if you're talking about the same thing. I am HD illiterate.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 31, 2007, 4:54 am

The thing with HDMI is that it was designed to be used to run both Hi-Def Cideo and Sound (7.1 audio etc.).

The current 360's run both audio and video on the same port currently. Through those red/White/Yellow cables for video and stereo sound or through optical connectors. The issue that I was concerned about is that the optical connector is a port on the current video cable as opposed to a port on the actual concole. I was concerned that if you did go with HDMI, you wouldn't be able to use optical audio out for the 360.

What they went ahead and did is created dongle that they'll be packaging with the elite that you can put in the proprietary A/V post to get either stereo audio or optical to your TV is that it your preference.

Here's the end of the audio dongle.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/majornelso ... 031749742/

And the back of the new 360.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/majornelso ... 031749742/

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » March 31, 2007, 8:27 am

Sweet, I can't wait to replace my 360 w/ shitty HDDVD drive for the smae crap w/ HDMI. Actually the picture quality of the HDDVD is ok, just that the connect is still component and the damn thing is HUGE.

That, and the MS Menu or whatever the fuck it is is slow and tedious--especially when there is already a game in the core unit and you want to watch a DVD/HDDVD in the addon drive.

OH SHIT!!! It comes in black!!!1!!

Tyek · Post by **Tyek** » March 31, 2007, 12:17 pm

This thread is not complete until Winnow informs us how brilliant MS is for making this move. Of course it he must also prove it by showing us quotes from highly respected sources, Like Bob from Amarillo.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 31, 2007, 7:22 pm

Once you go black, you'll never think back to those white ones with the little hard drives ever again.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 1, 2007, 8:23 am

Elite supports HDMI 1.2 as opposed to 1.3

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... st10176889

Xbox 360 Elite supports HDMI 1.2 profile. For audio, you can select DD, DTS (at 1.5 Mbps), and WMA-Pro (Microsoft high fidelity multi-channel codec supported in some AVRs such as Pioneer). Since it is not based on 1.3, it will not support output of DD+ or TrueHD (even if it did, mixing would have been turned off).

PCM output is available but only for 2-channels (not 5.1). Please, please, don’t say you don’t like this. There is nothing you are going to say which we don’t know . Our goal was to provide a digital connection for video which people wanted for some of their TVs. And of course, single cable A/V connection. So if having analog video bothered you before, you can now use digital. If you lacked component/VGA on your TV, you are in business with Xbox 360 Elite.

The post is longer than this but the rest deals with HD-DVD since this guy works with that mostly within Microsoft.