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TXB interviews Todd Holmdahl on the X360

N

newsguy

Member
http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1190/Xbox-360-Interview-Todd-Holmdahl/p1/

All those connections (composite, component, s-video and VGA) have one thing in common: they carry the video signal in an analog format. What about digital connections such DVI or HDMI? Will there be A/V packs with DVI and/or HDMI connections? If not, will you consider offering that in the future?

Todd Holmdahl: Xbox 360 will support HD component video output, which is compatible with nearly every HD-ready TV on the market today. We’re poised to hit the sweet spot of the HD market at launch and as the market matures, and we will provide an HDMI for our customers when it makes sense. The reality is, you don’t need HDMI for HD gaming.
Click to expand...

In the specs, it is always mentioned 4X MSAA, but can developers choose a higher order anti-aliasing for their games?

Todd Holmdahl: The hardware supports up to 4X MSAA. However, developers can perform supersampling and hence render to a larger frame buffer as an alternative. This would be done in software. An important thing to understand is that most games end up turning anti-aliasing off due to the performance penalties from standard architectures. With Xbox 360 we designed the GPU from the ground up so that enabling anti-aliasing would not create any performance hit for developers.
Click to expand...
 
What he MEANT to say is that there is a 5 percent hit for 4x AA (2x is free). Don't worry, it must have escaped his mind. ;p

BTW, how exactly are they gonna support hdmi after the fact w/out screwing early adopters?
 
Xbox 360 will support HD component video output, which is compatible with nearly every HD-ready TV on the market today. We’re poised to hit the sweet spot of the HD market at launch and as the market matures, and we will provide an HDMI for our customers when it makes sense. The reality is, you don’t need HDMI for HD gaming.
Click to expand...

That quote almost sounds like Nintendo.

The market doesn't want DVD...
The market doesn't want online...
The market doesn't want HD...

The market doesn't want HDMI...
 
Odysseus said:
That quote almost sounds like Nintendo.

The market doesn't want DVD...
The market doesn't want online...
The market doesn't want HD...

The market doesn't want HDMI...
Click to expand...

The difference is:

we will provide an HDMI for our customers when it makes sense.
Click to expand...

Atleast they leave open the possibility of future support.
 
Odysseus said:
That quote almost sounds like Nintendo.

The market doesn't want DVD...
The market doesn't want online...
The market doesn't want HD...

The market doesn't want HDMI...
Click to expand...


Not really. They're supporting the feature which is HD gaming, they're not supporting a wire. YET. Because in that same paragraph you quoted they also said they're willing to add the feature if demand grows high enough. Maybe you missed that.

"to todd, hdmi makes sense..right..about..now"

your market demand analasys < important than Microsoft's
 
Bah, this really sucks. I can't believe MS puts so my emphasis on the HD Era thing and won't put a few more dollars to add a HDMI output to the system at launch.
It could also mean that the system won't be allowed to upscale dvds, and that would be MORE THAN STUPID !
Jimbo: They may be willing to add it later on, but I doubt the early adopters will have a way to get HDMI on their system since it seems the TV encoder chip only supports analog.
 
Regarding DVD movie playback, will you upscale standard definition DVDs to 720p or 1080i like modern DVD players? Will the Xbox 360 play WMVHD DVDs?

Todd Holmdahl: Xbox 360 will play high definition video in VC1 (WMVHD) format. We are currently evaluating upscaling standard definition DVDs, but have not yet confirmed it for launch.
Click to expand...

It seems they're working on it.
 
Odysseus said:
That quote almost sounds like Nintendo.

The market doesn't want DVD...
The market doesn't want online...
The market doesn't want HD...

The market doesn't want HDMI...
Click to expand...


Wow, that is EXACTLY like Nintendo! GOOD CALL, BRO!
 
golem said:
to todd, hdmi makes sense..right..about..now
Click to expand...
how many TVs do you know that have a digital output to someones tuner, in a price range that is actually human? That is why HDMI doesn't make a lot of sense right now. While is will become the standard for video, the audio components have been slow to accept it as an input.
 
can you use say component for one tv and composite for another tv at the SAME time on one xbox 360? i remember reading a rumor that instead of having split screen multiplayer just have multiple screen multiplayer. any truth to this?
 
PhatSaqs said:
Damn. TXB really grilled him. Good job on that interview.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they sure did. Microsoft are really sticking to their guns about their GPU having more "real world" power. I can't wait to see how the RSX/Xenos war pans out with developers in the years to come.
 
element said:
how many TVs do you know that have a digital output to someones tuner, in a price range that is actually human? That is why HDMI doesn't make a lot of sense right now. While is will become the standard for video, the audio components have been slow to accept it as an input.
Click to expand...
its getting there though, and as a percentage of higher end hdtv's it will be increasing fairly soon. at the very least an hdmi output should allow for a dvi and optical out box to be made, which would also be useful.

ex. the new panasonic consumer plasmas have hdmi in and optical out and are quite affordable.. 2.4k for the 37" and less than 4k for the 50"
 
golem said:
ex. the new panasonic consumer plasmas have hdmi in and optical out and are quite affordable.. 2.4k for the 37" and less than 4k for the 50"
Click to expand...


You realize those prices are probably still out of range for most people, right? You and I, being enthusiasts, could give a shit less, but for the majority of people out there, that's still a little too much. Once those prices drop about 1-1.5k, then I think your point will be magnified.
 
No HDMI is not a big deal. Xbox 360 can't play hi definition movies anyway. What does slightly bother me is that MS is undecided on whether or not the 360 will upscale dvd movies. This seems like a no brainer to me. They practically have to have that feature in with PS3 incorporating Blu Ray.

Since you select the resolution from the Xbox 360 system, VGA will support 720P as well? I'd like to use VGA port on a DLP or LCD RPTV I get this fall. Also, with the VGA cable adapter, can you hook up 5.1 sound as well? I can't tell from the pics.
 
Re: 1080p, I wonder if he meant they would support it in the future on the Standard X360 or on some 2nd edition or something. Steve Ballmer said in the past that they will support HD-DVD or BluRay at some point this gen which obviously needs a new drive. So that points to a media edition of some sort being released in the future.
 
element said:
most people will never spend more then $500 on a television
Click to expand...
i guess nintendo is on the right track then ;)

personally my preference for connections would be something like this

component hookup: cable/sat set top boxes (aka compressed video sources)
dvi/hdmi: game systems/hd dvd systems (pure hd video where bandwidth from provider is not a great cocnern)
 
Chiggs said:
You realize those prices are probably still out of range for most people, right? You and I, being enthusiasts, could give a shit less, but for the majority of people out there, that's still a little too much. Once those prices drop about 1-1.5k, then I think your point will be magnified.
Click to expand...

my tv was $1000 and it has hdmi
 
golem said:
to todd, hdmi makes sense..right..about..now
Click to expand...


Isn't the deal that the Xbox360 output analog only? That's the current thought at the B3D forums. That is, DVI and HDMI are not supported. Sure you can get one of those crazy expensive converters (I remember Drbot back in the day with the Apple Cinema displays), but that's not going to do much as the only reason for those was to hook up a digital only display.

Sure they could probably modify the 360 graphics chip to support it, but I really don't see that happening unless they really got killed PRwise for not having it.
 
i mean like good good ones.

i just plunked down $1500 cdn for a new 720p 23" Samsung LCD HDTV.

It's hot, but still it's quite expensive.

The prices will start falling very fast very soon. Considering all other TVs will soon be phased out of the market.
 
PhatSaqs said:
Damn. TXB really grilled him. Good job on that interview.
Click to expand...
It was a good interview, but they only really "grilled" him with Sony PR points, to which he responded with MS PR points.

Until we have 3rd party analysis of the PS3 as a whole and X360 as a whole (and not just the supposed sum of their CPU/GPU parts), it will always be PR vs. PR.
 
sonycowboy said:
Isn't the deal that the Xbox360 output analog only? That's the current thought at the B3D forums. That is, DVI and HDMI are not supported. Sure you can get one of those crazy expensive converters (I remember Drbot back in the day with the Apple Cinema displays), but that's not going to do much as the only reason for those was to hook up a digital only display.

Sure they could probably modify the 360 graphics chip to support it, but I really don't see that happening unless they really got killed PRwise for not having it.
Click to expand...

That was the question, and his reponse was they'll support it in the future if demand is high enough.
 
Do Xbox 360 games require the detachable HDD to be plugged in for them to work?

Todd Holmdahl: No. Xbox 360 games and Xbox Live do not require the HDD or a Memory Unit.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that he means not all games will require the HDD or a memory unit. It would be rather impossible for an MMORPG to work without one or the other.
 
Dude that is just odd.. why the hell would they not support DVI or HDMI OOTB and then make the marketing focus "it's the HD era"..... WTF!
 
golem said:
guess what, it has hdmi ;)
Click to expand...


Yeah, but why do you need it for X360? It doesn't play hi def movies. BUY A PS3. :lol

But I do agree HDMI should be an option. HD ERA talk and no HDMI support is weird. MS is giving Sony too much fuel for the upcoming PR Blitz. MS needs to cover their bases better.
 
Chiggs said:
Not any decent ones. And please don't link to a refurbished RCA set, please.
Click to expand...


Hey did you guys see that RCA DLP projeciton TV that's on 7 inches deep! You could get a 60" for 4 grand or under...

That's not bad considering to get a true flat panel LCD for 4 grand you only get between 32 or 40 inches... something like that.
 
What does slightly bother me is that MS is undecided on whether or not the 360 will upscale dvd movies. This seems like a no brainer to me. They practically have to have that feature in with PS3 incorporating Blu Ray.
Click to expand...

All BRD players/recorders will have the option to upscale regular DVDs.....it is part of the BRD spec....
 
Kleegamefan said:
All BRD players/recorders will have the option to upscale regular DVDs.....it is part of the BRD spec....
Click to expand...


Well that's good to know if MS doesn't come through. It'll save me from buying another DVD player when I get my TV.
 
Damn this interview was more like a boxing match. good show!

We also believe Sony’s PS3 teraflop calculations are wrong, and that their performance is actually closer to ours when we do the math. This gives us greater integer performance, greater memory bandwidth, and greater floating point performance on the GPU with much better utilization.
Click to expand...

Bold bold words...
 
I don't know about you guys, but I route all my digital audio connectors directly to my receiver.

HDMI am crying.
 
seismologist said:
Most HDTVs only have one digital input so your gonna want your PS3 or HD tuner in that spot anyway.

I've got my PC plugged into mine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll leave that slot unused for the PS3 to devirginize. No point in using it since the 360 is the only console for at least the next 6 months. [sarcasm]
 
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