Arstechnica: the Xbox 360 and the next generation Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Arstechnica: the Xbox 360 and the next generation Posted by XanTium | January 3 13:53 EST

From arstechnica.com: [QUOTE] Microsoft is confident enough in their position that they invited me to New York to see how the Xbox 360 stacks up against the PS3 when both are hooked into the same 1080p display and using the highest-quality connection possible. For the 360 that means the VGA cable, which is currently the only way the system can output 1080p; the PS3 is hooked up via HDMI. * The hard drive problem The Microsoft team defends the drive by talking about how you can delete a television show and redownload it later to save space, but it's clear that these solutions are a workaround. It's a problem, and if Microsoft wants to really get people into buying more content through the 360 and Xbox it's something they're going to have to fix. And I'm not going to be happy if I end up paying $200 for a 40GB HDD. * Microtransactions and you EA has recently angered a lot of gamers with their new habit of putting up what amounts to cheat codes online for pay, and "tutorial videos" for Madden that also cost money. "Vote with your wallet!" I'm told. Fair point, but the fact that these things are being sold at all makes the microtransaction system itself look pretty bad. * Ana is a bot It's time to put the systems in the room to the test and check out how the games look and how the Xbox 360 and PS3 handle upscaling. "If you really wanted to be mean you would have run these tests in 720p or 1080i," I say, referring to the issues that Sony is having with those two resolutions. They realize what I'm talking about, and Scott Henson opens a small package and shows me what's inside. "Is that it?" I ask. He nods. "We call it Ana. This is the scaling chip that's in the 360," he tells me. The PS3 has no internal hardware scaler, which means games that are 720p native can only be shown in 720p or 480p; there is no scaling up to 1080p or 1080i. "It was a critical design decision; we wanted the 360 to be high-definition, not just 1080p or some other standard. That's why we included component cables in the box; there is no HDTV that doesn't have a component in," said Greenburg. They assume that Sony didn't include a hardware scaler to keep costs down, but get a little cagey when I ask how much it costs to put Ana into the 360. "This isn't a $1,000 scaler," Henson says, "but it's a good one." * Mission Impossible 3: the search for an equal resolution We popped Mission: Impossible 3 in the 360's HD DVD drive, which is external, and we also put in the Blu-ray version for the PS3. Both systems were hooked up at the same time, so we could flip back and forth effortlessly to compare the video quality. In this case, both systems were outputting in 1080p, so there was no advantage in terms of resolution. [/QUOTE] Full Story: arstechnica.com (3 pages)

[dabigdilla]

hmm, hard to draw a conclusion from that, but sounds like they were trying to bash the 360.....

[stezo2k]

there is no HDTV that doesn't have a component in

actually most sharp tvs dont have component...

[dark0]

Where did you get the bashing from? If anything they were just stating the facts.

[nectar12]

actually most sharp tvs dont have component...

are you talking about new sharp tvs? for a while component was the only way to get a high def signal.

[gottastopdrinkin]

Complaint after complaint.

Where did you get the bashing from? If anything they were just stating the facts.

Maybe not bashing, but definately complaining...

This post has been edited by gottastopdrinkin: Jan 3 2007, 08:08 PM

[incognegro]

very unbiased and accurate. I swear if i have to hear the EA transaction's belly aching again, im gonna kill somebody! In life I think something is a rip off I dont trash the store (cause its their choice to do so) I just don't shop there out of principle. Actions speaks louder than words. If its that bad don't blame the marketplace, just dont anything you think is a rip off!

HOW LONG DO WE EXPECT TO BE SPOON FED? make a smart choice and stop whining!

[mister.shine]

...the PS3 can't show a Blu-ray movie in 720p.

The most popular HD res and the PS3 won't do it? So not only do you have to pay through the nose to get 1(most likely upwards of £400 in the uk), but most people will need to upgrade their TV as well(another £1500ish) if they want to watch HD movies. Seems pricey to me.

[bff_foeva]

pwnt, xbox 360 ftw

[wirelessdeo]

The Microsoft team defends the drive by talking about how you can delete a television show and redownload it later to save space

I dont like having to plan on when I may or may not want to watch a show that I have payed for. Give either a bigged HDD or let us offload it to another dive already!

[comradpoplin]

i think it was a fair comparison of the 2 consoles and the problems stated with the 360 are legitimate ones.
i also noticed there was alot of good things said about the console.
what i will say is that he seemed a little weary that the xbox may peak to early but i think we have no worries there.
and another thing is that i think it is a bad move not to "build in" the hd dvd drive later on down the line.
hd dvd looks to be the format tha may just take the crown as the new format to have its a progression dvd sl /dvd dl then hd dvd blu ray comes across to me as a leep to the other side of the formats and i think microsoft would make good buissnes practice to try and make this the standerd format this would also help push down the cost of the format as it becomes more wide spread.

just my thaughts lol!

This post has been edited by comradpoplin: Jan 3 2007, 09:48 PM

[spinr34]

this is the second article i've seen about microsoft trying to impress the press with the 360 (the other article being on cnet). i think it is a good idea but, i think microsoft is going about it the wrong way. microsoft seems to be trying to push that the 360 is leagues ahead of the ps3. while i think the 360 is ahead of the ps3, it isn't leagues ahead and the ps3 has a lot of potential (i have both consoles). so the people that microsoft brings to these "demos" are a little disappointed because they think they are going to see this huge difference between the two consoles and be completely blown away by the 360. basically, what i'm trying to get at is, if microsoft hasn't realized how they're pitching the 360 to the press in these "demos" isn't the right way, they need to realize it and, realize it now. they are trying to sway public opinion by hyping the press but, the press just comes back saying the 360 inched out a little bit here and there but didn't blow the ps3 out of the water. that is a problem for microsoft. unfortunately, the real advantage that microsoft has which is achievements and more advanced online play, can't be really demoed. you can't truly explain achievements to someone and when a friend asks me the difference between the two i tell them that they need to sit down at my house and seriously take time to play both machines. after they figured out the dash and got into live, got into a game and played for a while they understood what i was talking about. and now this post is getting long so i'm just going to stop because i've lost my original path

[vileknave]

this is the second article i've seen about microsoft trying to impress the press with the 360 (the other article being on cnet). i think it is a good idea but, i think microsoft is going about it the wrong way. microsoft seems to be trying to push that the 360 is leagues ahead of the ps3.

They aren't trying to prove they're "leagues" ahead of PS3. In fact the interview was more to prove that they aren't leagues BEHIND Sony for being out 1 year earlier. A year is a big difference in computer technology and the fact that the 360 performs at a similar level to the PS3 speaks volumes. Their tactics as far as I've seen is to cut down the BS that is Sony's Hype machine rather than create their own hype to counter it. And I think it's a good strategy that doesn't leave them looking like asshats as Sony has recently done.

[kesava108]

In fact the interview was more to prove that they aren't leagues BEHIND Sony for being out 1 year earlier.

i agree, and i thought overall it was rather unbiased

[somecreepyoldguy]

my confusion is where they say that you can only do 1080p through vga, but my tv says it recognises it through component cables and actually says 1080p at the top.