X360’s New 1080p Support Crippled?
With the confusion of the next-generation of gaming, it’s easy to see why most people just don’t bother updating their TV sets to HD. If you don’t know the difference between 720p and 1080i then why spend your life’s savings on a TV or LCD screen when you don’t know what does, but hopefully by the end of this article you should have a better understanding of different HD formats, and why some people believe that the Xbox 360’s New 1080p Support system is flawed.
At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft announced that they would be adding 1080p support in Xbox 360 games and movies, upgrading their latest console to support what is currently the highest grade of High-Definition resolution available. The part of HD which most people know about is the HDMI cable, basically yet another wire that connects a console and the TV. It has the ability to send both audio and video signals in a digital format, something that other cables previously haven’t been able to accomplish. Due to this, it is able to support HDCP / AACS, a new copy-protection technology that will some day be required for playback of Blu-ray/HD-DVD at full resolution, hence why Sony have added HDMI support for their next-generation PS3 consoles.
This is where Microsoft seem to have let us down. As the Xbox 360 doesn’t have HDMI support you may not be able to playback copyrighted HD-DVD’s at full resolution, as only a limited number of 1080p-capable HDTVs can accept the HDCP / AACS signals through analog inputs. HDMI is the standard for HD TVs and for that reason most TV manufacturers have built 1080p HDTVs that are only able to accept the high-resolution 1080p via HDMI cable. Very few 1080p HDTVs will accept an analog 1080p signal via VGA, but this usually requires the use of a VGA-to-DVI dongle – making 1080p without HDMI very difficult to achieve.
An interview with Microsoft on how they plan to have 1080p support for all games without HDMI support turned out inconclusive, with IGN still waiting for a proper response from Microsoft. Sure, the Xbox 360 will support 1080p games, but due to the lack of the HDMI cable most 1080p HDTVs won’t display the signal – possibly ending in disaster for 360 owners who have purchased HDTVs without analog 1080p signal support. Lets hope Microsoft pulls something out of the bag in order to sort this mess out soon.
Via IGN
With the confusion of the next-generation of gaming, it’s easy to see why most people just don’t bother updating their TV sets to HD. If you don’t know the difference between 720p and 1080i then why spend your life’s savings on a TV or LCD screen when you don’t know what does, but hopefully by the end of this article you should have a better understanding of different HD formats, and why some people believe that the Xbox 360’s New 1080p Support system is flawed.
At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft announced that they would be adding 1080p support in Xbox 360 games and movies, upgrading their latest console to support what is currently the highest grade of High-Definition resolution available. The part of HD which most people know about is the HDMI cable, basically yet another wire that connects a console and the TV. It has the ability to send both audio and video signals in a digital format, something that other cables previously haven’t been able to accomplish. Due to this, it is able to support HDCP / AACS, a new copy-protection technology that will some day be required for playback of Blu-ray/HD-DVD at full resolution, hence why Sony have added HDMI support for their next-generation PS3 consoles.
This is where Microsoft seem to have let us down. As the Xbox 360 doesn’t have HDMI support you may not be able to playback copyrighted HD-DVD’s at full resolution, as only a limited number of 1080p-capable HDTVs can accept the HDCP / AACS signals through analog inputs. HDMI is the standard for HD TVs and for that reason most TV manufacturers have built 1080p HDTVs that are only able to accept the high-resolution 1080p via HDMI cable. Very few 1080p HDTVs will accept an analog 1080p signal via VGA, but this usually requires the use of a VGA-to-DVI dongle – making 1080p without HDMI very difficult to achieve.
An interview with Microsoft on how they plan to have 1080p support for all games without HDMI support turned out inconclusive, with IGN still waiting for a proper response from Microsoft. Sure, the Xbox 360 will support 1080p games, but due to the lack of the HDMI cable most 1080p HDTVs won’t display the signal – possibly ending in disaster for 360 owners who have purchased HDTVs without analog 1080p signal support. Lets hope Microsoft pulls something out of the bag in order to sort this mess out soon.
Via IGN
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