Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Update Tomorrow Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Update Tomorrow Posted by XanTium | May 15 00:00 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From teamxbox.com: [QUOTE] Amir Majidimehr, the corporate vice president of Microsoft's Consumer Media Technology Group, announced on the AVS Forum that a software update for the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player is scheduled for release tomorrow: "It is my pleasure to let you all know that the HD DVD update for Xbox 360 is slated for release on 5/15 (i.e. tomorrow!). So when you wake up in the morning, you should be able to upgrade your software. And me free from telling you when are going to get it . Hope you all download it and provide feedback on what you think!" Here's what the HD DVD audio update will include on May 15th: * Fix DD being stuck in "Night Mode" which is essentially Dynamic Range Compression leading to the sound sounding very flat * Option to output ALL HD DVD audio as DTS 1.5Mbps (list includes DD+, TrueHD, DTS, and any other audio option offered on HD DVD discs I may have missed) * Option to output ALL HD DVD audio as DD 640Kbps, (which it currently does, but will be fixed from the Night Mode bug), list includes DD+, TrueHD, DTS, and any other audio option offered on HD DVD discs that I may have missed. * Option to output ALL HD DVD audio as WMAPro (768Kbps I think), (list includes DD+, TrueHD, DTS, and any other audio option offered on HD DVD discs I may have missed) for those receivers that support WMA. * Option to enable/disable Night Mode (with the default set to off) * Fix a number of disc incompatibilities (including DVD Essentials) as well as a number of Lip Sync issues. [/QUOTE] Full Story: teamxbox.com

[sniceguy]

VIVA LA TrueHD!!!

[mva5580]

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but it's not REALLY going to be TrueHD, the TrueHD stream will be downgraded to DTS. DTS is still good, but it's not TrueHD.

TrueHD will never happen on the 360 as it currently sits because A) It can't be processed through optical, and The Elite doesn't have HDMI 1.3. Brilliant MS, BRILLIANT!

[brywalker]

VIVA LA TrueHD!!!

Yeah, well if it actually output TrueHD that would be something to celebrate. The best we are going to get is DTS 1.5M. Even though Amir raves about WMA Pro, there are only a handful of recievers that can decode it.

On that note, it's about time! It's only been 6 months since the problems were reported.

TrueHD will never happen on the 360 as it currently sits because A) It can't be processed through optical, and The Elite doesn't have HDMI 1.3. Brilliant MS, BRILLIANT!

Sorry, that's a BS cop-out. Explain how the Toshiba HD DVD players output TrueHD without HDMI 1.3. It's a software thing, pure and simple. The HD-A1 launched with TrueHD but only 2 channel. The v2.0 firmware update brought it to 5.1. It has nothing to do with the interface, it's all software.

This post has been edited by brywalker: May 15 2007, 04:34 AM

[sniceguy]

Damn! So TrueHD is limited by the cable? I figured that there was a way to upgrade to truehd just like MS upgraded to 1080p output.

[brywalker]

Damn! So TrueHD is limited by the cable? I figured that there was a way to upgrade to truehd just like MS upgraded to 1080p output.

The only way you can transfer TrueHD is through 5.1 analog outputs (not on 360) or HDMI (on Elite but no software support).

[devilstrider]

Looks like ill be picking up a elite.

[bobbyblaze]

actually guys, there's no reason the elite couldn't output TRUEHD because although you need hdmi 1.3 to output these HD sound formats HDMI 1.2 can output uncompressed hi def sound so if the elite decoded the sound tracks from Dolby and DTS HD and then outputted them as uncompressed PCM sound to your HDMI receiver then all would be good. The only difference would be the elite doing the decoding and not your amp (this is how the toshiba players get around not having HDMI 1.3) so all those with the HDVD add on and an elite and a HDMI 1.2 or above amp should be nagging the shit out of microsoft right now.

This post has been edited by bobbyblaze: May 15 2007, 08:16 AM

[Sgt_Yates]

Ok, so how the bloody hell do I upgrade? It is 10:05am on the 15th where I am...Do I have to choose to update? or wait...no, I just tried putting an HD disc...nada. Any words or help would be greatly appreciated. Later

[biosehnsucht]

You need HDMI 1.3b (most things so far are 1.3a, so no dice) to transport the raw TruHD or DD+ streams to an external decoder (i.e. AV receiver). However, since this is totally useless in advanced mode discs (nearly all HD-DVDs) because the menu sounds and commentary tracks need to be mixed in, this doesn't matter.

All you really need is HDMI (1.1? 1.2? I can't remember) that can carry 5.1 or more LPCM, and a receiver that supports said format.

UNFORTUNATELY they didn't redesign the audio portion of the Elite from the previous models, just hooked the existing digital out circuitry to the HDMI chip so all you can get out of it is the same thing as toslink - DD up to 640kbps, DTS up to 1.5mbps, and WMA Pro up to 1.5mbps.

Having said that, already the (night mode afflicted) DD+ transcoded to DD sounded amazing, so I imagine having night mode disabled and going into DTS or WMA Pro (if you have a Pioneer receiver that handles it) will rock your face off. Most of you probably don't even have sound systems capable of noticing the difference at that point.

Hopefully a later revision will bring true LPCM surround to the product lineup. Probably about the same time someone releases a HDMI video card with actual 5.1 / 7.1 LPCM audio output (not this silly toslink pass thru, even the new ATIs are effectively the same, only bonus being the stereo / DD/DTS pass thru sound 'card' is built in).

[bobbyblaze]

just crappy toslink equivalent from the HDMI on the elite, eh? What a load of toss That is just shoddy. I wish they'd put analogue sound outs on the HDDVD drive as that would be better for most people anyway. MS were the people who were saying analogue was good enough. maybe when the rumoured bluray drive comes out (though I sincerely doubt it).

[avatar1976]

Well my xbox360 just fragged itself, this may or may not be a coincidence to this update. I saw no prompt to update however I was connected to xbox live roughly around the time the update would have been available here in Australia. I've had my xbox for 1 year and two months (roughly) so I'm just out of warranty period.
It locked up on me whilest connected to media center, and then never powered back on properly (three red lights).
Tried ringing xbox support but got a recorded message saying that their hours are 9:00am to 11:00pm (it was 9:45pm when I rang).
F@#% you microsoft and the horse you rode in on.

[devilstrider]

Ok, so how the bloody hell do I upgrade? It is 10:05am on the 15th where I am...Do I have to choose to update? or wait...no, I just tried putting an HD disc...nada. Any words or help would be greatly appreciated. Later

I just got the update. Put in a movie and it will say there is a update out. I did this at 8:18 EST.

[ypsilon]

Well my xbox360 just fragged itself, this may or may not be a coincidence to this update. I saw no prompt to update however I was connected to xbox live roughly around the time the update would have been available here in Australia. I've had my xbox for 1 year and two months (roughly) so I'm just out of warranty period.
It locked up on me whilest connected to media center, and then never powered back on properly (three red lights).
Tried ringing xbox support but got a recorded message saying that their hours are 9:00am to 11:00pm (it was 9:45pm when I rang).
F@#% you microsoft and the horse you rode in on.

It is not possible for the two things to be connected. Your box's failure could not have been caused by the update. It was always going to fail.

That sucks about MS not answering their phones though...

[avatar1976]

It is not possible for the two things to be connected. Your box's failure could not have been caused by the update. It was always going to fail.
That sucks about MS not answering their phones though...

Yeah I thought as much, it has to prompt you before updating doesn't it?
Yeah that was the thing that annoyed me the most about the whole experience.
Looks like I'll be setting up the old homebrew champion xbox1 again for a while.