Elite Xbox 360 SKU Announced
Yep, here you go – worst kept secret ever. It’ll be interesting to see how this SKU sells in comparison to both the Pro 360 SKU and the PS3 60 GB SKU. It’s a lot more similar to the latter, and really, the biggest difference that might matter to people is either HDMI or interest in high-def movie playback. If you don’t want either you can shift the price point significantly by picking up the Pro. For what it’s worth I’ve had a prototype Elite for a few months now with HDMI – was helping with the testing. I honestly don’t see any difference between component or HDMI visually. The biggest benefit I’ve found from using HDMI is simply that I can reduce the number of cables and use my A/V receiver to switch all HDMI signals. So more simplicity than visual fidelity, in my opinion. <shrug>
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>Microsoft’s biggest problem this gen is the three rings of death.
Isn’t that a problem that is mostly solved now…i.e. the first batch of 360’s had the problem, but the newer ones don’t.
Also, some perspective is needed: avg joe consumer has no clue what the rings of death are, or were. it’s a non-issue.
I don’t know why people would be upset about a new SKU – makes no sense to me. You knew it would happen eventually. From day one MS pointed out how flexible the 360 was, how they’d make it grow, etc.
For me, having the latest/greatest would be cool, black is nice, HDMI is nice however I don’t really need the thing. I still have plenty space on my 20GB drive even.
End of the day, the core, premium and elite 360’s all play the same games, at the same quality… so why ***? People were bitching when a bigger drive wasn’t available, and now that one will be people are still bitching.
Reading that there won’t be a suitable HDMI option for us early adopters, I’m wondering if Microsoft will offer some sort of "good faith" trade in program so that we aren’t stuck paying another $480.
Any chance of that happening Oz?
i would like to chime in with the others who are asking about HDMI and LPCM or other HD audio streams. no one in authority from MS has mentioned anything about this and its really very important. thanks!
What I find a little insulting though, is how in the past when MS was asked about HDMI, they said they were not supporting it because of lack of demand and seemed to imply they could if they wanted… now we get a story about how they didnt support it because the tech specs were not finalized and told they can not offer hdmi as an add on option… they could of said that from the get go.
IMO, M$ should of replaced the premium SKU with the Elite and offered it at the same price as the premium.
Oh well, I will be sticking with my current 360 and when I get the extra cash pick up a Wii. Like so many others say the Elite doesnt offer much to make it an "Elite" box or merit spending more money. I may get a hard drive if/when IPTV comes out and depending on how the IPTV turns out.
Blimey, the Elite’s only been announced 5seconds and everyone’s piling in on the ‘doesn’t offer much’ bandwagon. Personally I think it could be good, but I’m worried if we get to Elite-only content ala Live Gold (can’t see how it could, but you can’t beat being paranoid!).
Us Brits of course aint gonna get a chance to get one till later in the year, by which team hopefully it’ll be clearer whether it’ll be worth it or not. I think IPTV is the future, and Apple(TV) should be starting to feel a little worried now.
MS definately on a roll these days tho. We had the PS3 launch over here last week, and it generated such a laughable buzz (did they advertise? never saw any!) that many people I know realise that 360 is the viable option for at least the next few years; I read this the other day that they even have God on their side! …
http://blog.teamsumpter.com/2007/03/god-wants-me-to-buy-xbox360.html
I agree that this is a bad move by MS. It’s leaving 10 million early adopters out in the cold and making them look stupid for flip-flopping on the whole "who needs HDMI" subject.
Not to mention that $180 for a 120gb HDD is a complete rip-off. Will they at least lower the 20gb model to a more reasonable price now? And have you heard of the disadvantages of transferring data from the 20gb model to the 120gb model? It’s almost not even worth it at all. If the 360 is so flexible, stop making it so I can only use your damn proprietary equipment to do standard stuff… especially when the cost of that equipment leaves me with a horrible taste in my mouth.
Thanks for taking Sony’s lead in trying to bend me over the highway railing during rush hour for everyone to see, MS.
The PS3 was released two weeks ago here in cold Europe and what the media wrote about and what people talk about is that the PS3 is THE consol were you watch the next dvd format and full HD and that the games are also HD. That’s the big selling point. And polls says that as soon as the price drops a bit people will buy a PS3. The thing is that people don’t know that the 360 is highdef, but they do know the about the online service and the software. And MS still got the biggest ace left, Halo. Software will be the key for MS this christmas. No doubt.
I think the idea of the Elite SKU is a good one, but the execution has a lot left to be desired.
First, the price. $479 for what is essentially a larger hard drive and HDMI. For those who say HDMI is better because it’s pure digital, I think it’s a matter of opinion. VGA and component look as good, and the difference is negligible. And the larger hard drive is much welcomed, but at a premium? These should have just replaced the Premium SKU price, and dropped the price of, or eliminated, the others.
What else do we get with the Elite? Not the smaller, cooler chips. Which tells me the failure rate might be just as high as the current models. Which tells me I should just wait until the inevitable Elite price drop to $400, where it should have been all along, when those chips are included.
I think the $179 price for the 120GB HD is insane. I know there is some proprietary casing, but the drive itself is nothing more than a PCMCIA HD, and retail those go for a third of what MS is charging.
Now, early adopters always get screwed, it’s just something we live with. But as with the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
Again I think half the people are missing the point here. If you do not own a separate upscaling DVD player, the XBOX COULD have been the solution with HDMI. I have a premium and am using component outputs since my Samsung HD does not match up correctly colorwise with VGA. I can’t upscale dvds with this setup, but I could with an HDMI output.
If they want to be able to challenge PS3 on the media center front, they need to solve the upscaling issue for those of us without separate dvd players.
$179 for HDD is robbery. The price should be adjusted down to $129. Where’s the loyalty to those of already have purchased the 30 and numerous periphals? I know you guys want to make money, but give me a break, I can get a Wii for $250 the HDD should cost no more than a DS.
Stilllllll waiting for some sort of confirmation about the HDMI LPCM issue….
Mr. Oz if you have addressed this questions I apologise but I am very curious.
I understand you may not have any "control" over how the 360 is designed, and marketed to the masses. However it is begining to seem like Microsoft has abandoned HD DVD and is taking a more wait and see approach to the "High Def. DVD war". I like MANY others "thought"…ok they have said over and over there will be no games on HD DVD only high def playback! Fine! Building an internal HD DVD drive into a 3RD sku(black of course) however, WOULD BE THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP. If I were in a high position at Toshiba I could live with NO HD DVD GAMES as long as there was a HD DVD Trojan horse disguised as a 360. How can I possible stay competitive with Blu ray if I don’t get my Drive into a 360 SKU? The last couple of days has certainly given the impression that Microsoft has abandoned the HD DVD format and despite PS3’s "slow sales", Blu Ray will win the war by default.
How do you feel about the statement Microsoft has abandoned HD DVD?
What do you think of Blu Rays future in PS3 compared to HD DVD’s future as an Add on?
If in the future all three Sku’s may have the same motherboard with HDMI, is the elite’s only purpose a larger HD on entry, and a color change?
Thanks,
Why would you want the Elite to have an HD-DVD drive? I’m not 100%, I’m just guessing, but I bet the HD-DVD drives are overall slower than the current 12X DVD in the 360…
so, unless you crave longer load times, I’m sure this is why they won’t put in a slower HD-DVD drive to replace the 12X DVD
Yes, I believe a HD-DVD drive is only capable of 8X -DVD right now. Current 360 drives are 12X – DVD, so yes it would increase your load time. A hard drive would help, but the point give me the choice! As a consumer I would like the choice.
They are introducing HDCP into the product line, how soon before it enters the content chain? Alarm bells should be ringing.
When the number of HDMI equipped units outnumber the non-HDMI equipped units we could find ourselves out in the cold. Todays early adoptor is tomorrows castaway.
the point? the point is about giving the consumer a choice which will not hurt them in the long run. As a game dev, I can tell you we expect a console to be able to load at a given rate. If a faster drive comes out, that is fine. But a slow drive would break games that expect a minimum load time for it’s data.
for example, a game that uses level streaming (like all the FPS games on the 360) will break if the drive is slower – i.e. the player will be able to move into an area that isn’t loaded yet. causing all sorts of bad stuff…
MS isn’t stupid – they have valid reasons for including, or not including, a given feature.
Wat the use if got HDMI but don’t had HD-DVD or B-Ray disc on the games!?
Somemore can’t tranfer old HDD data into the Elite system.
totally suck !
What version of hdmi has the 360 Elite ? Is it 1.3 or 1.2 ?
for example, a game that uses level streaming (like all the FPS games on the 360) will break if the drive is slower – i.e. the player will be able to move into an area that isn’t loaded yet. causing all sorts of bad stuff…
MS isn’t stupid – they have valid reasons for including, or not including, a given feature.
Ok then. Say we can’t include a HD DVD in any current model of the 360 because the drive is not fast enough. Problem solved, confusion overted, questions answered… What was Microsoft’s approach?
There is also that 3xDVD system, which is a 15GB (per side) DVD that is red laser but read in a HD DVD drive. What I want to know is if there would be any chance of that becoming part of the DVD drive itself since it doesn’t require Blue laser technology.
DVD could use an upgrade again, and if it were to be 3xDVD then there would be more space and its still compatible with the HD DVD drives (but not bluray).
What’s with the price on the hard drive? I could get a Seagate 500GB SATA hard drive for 40$ less than what you are charging for the Xbox 360 drive. I’m looking at 250 gig HDs right now on NewEgg and some of them are 70$.
So you’re taking advantage of the fact that most of your consumers don’t know squat about computer hardware by overpricing your peripherals. I’m a little disgusted. It won’t be long before the mod scene finds a surefire way to get other hard drives working.
Now after bashing HDMI and 1080p you release a redesigned box that throws in these features in their entirety 0_o. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Xbox 360 and have been a fan since the original Xbox, but I don’t understand why you would do such a thing now and not from the start.
No problems
but think on consider this:
no hdmi for us? maybe coulda be a nice idea start thinking on DVI cable, just looks like the vga cable that already we use. We will able to have digital video output with dvi cable and audio one is just the same optical connector we have on vga cable.
of course, native resolutions for many monitors would be great with dvi cable
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).
Re: Unfortunately there will not be an HDMI adapter released for the original 360…….
Errmm….if conversion boxes exist to do this,http://www.cypuk.com/cyp_techpage.php?product=109&&parent=0 , then why can’t MS put the necessary circuitry into the cable itself? There must already be some for the TOS link.