Boo, personally I was hoping for the built in HD DVD player. If it had that, plus the 120GB hard drive, I would have been very tempted.
But to add the HD DVD drive bumps the price up to ~$750, in which case, I'd rather just wait and get a PS3. (Yes, I want Hi Def movies.)
Plus, no wi-fi. :(

Who cares?

MS created the XBOX to play games, with watching movies not a priority.

Since the announcement of the Elite's price, the PS3 may NOW have the perception of better value, but we should look at it this way:

SONY has a huge investment in the BD format. They are losing BIG$$$ for each console sold and they are gambling that a huge installed base would practially guarantee success for their format. Makes sense. So what better way to accomplish this than by including BD technology in the new PS3 for "free"?

Somehow, I dont think PS3 buyers would be shedding any tears at the cash register if they knew how much money SONY was losing.

MS on the other hand, does not have a tremendous stake in the format wars so they didnt see the need to include an HD-DVD drive. They promised a next-gen gaming, not movie, experience if you bought a 360. For the most part, they delivered.

I suppose that the year headstart and 10M+ owners later, MS seems to know their market pretty good. HD-DVD will not be included in the Elite.

But imagine if it was? Would MS be willing to sell each console at a loss like SONY? No they wouldnt. They would just have the most expensive console in the market, featuring technology that wont help make better games, gathering dust on store shelves. All those who criticized SONY for forcing BD on PS3 buyers would be doing the same criticizing towards MS with HD-DVD.

I think the Elite is targeted towards those who are already on the fence about which console to buy so they can PLAY GAMES first and foremost.
The inclusion of a larger HDD, HDMI and cabling (all in the black chassis) is MS merely attempting to sway buyers in their direction.

Besides, MS realizes that those primarily looking for watching next-gen movies will be buying a PS3 anyway. If I was, I would too. A BD player that can also play games? Thats great value. Except that I would have to buy an HDMI cable.

I disagree with the statement that Microsoft doesn't need a HD format for gaming. The guys from the studio Factor 5 are creating a game for the PS3 called Lair. In a interview with EGM they where asked if this game could go on the Xbox360. They responded saying yes but approximately only 2 levels of the game since there is soo much detail on everything. they would be limited to the 8.5 gig disk. so I think in the future if companies keep making games that look like Lair they will be limited to what they can really do, unless they move to a larger format of storage. Something the PS3 already has (50 gig). I'm telling you that game is going to kick some serious Xbox A$$ when it comes out !

Personally, I don't see any incentive for going for the Elite. I'd love to have HDMI as I've said from day one, but the Elite is falling well short of the PS3 to warrant an upgrade... so for now, 1080p through component, which works fine with my Sharp LCD, will have to do... and I'm keeping my current 360

Btw does anyone know if it would be possible to get video on HDMI and audio on optical? Did they add a separate optical port? That could be another thing to check out when considering the Elite if you don't have an HDMI capable a/v receiver

Also, the announcement does not seem to mention a release date

Isn't the release April 29th?

I wonder how long until someone has a "do it yourself" upgrade to 120 GB. This may help bring down the price on the add-on.

I dont believe that its going in sale at 549 can $

Im so close to buy a PS 3 right now at 659 can $ and all Xbox in montreal are at 499$ can with COD3 ( premium bundle i dont want the core system).

Im sure MS will sell the elite 600$ can.

It will be $549.
It's written on the official Xbox Canada site (linked in my previous post).

Hey,
Just wondering, it says on the site that Elite will have out of the box DVD playability and upscalling functions. So, will the Elite do DVD upscalling through HDMI?

Thanks

Isn't the release April 29th?


April 29th for the US.
May 4th for Canada.

will the Elite do DVD upscalling through HDMI?My guess would be yes, since that is allowed under the terms of the Macrovision license.

It will allow DVD upscaling up to 1080p via the HDMI port.

It will allow DVD upscaling up to 1080p via the HDMI port.
i think it would upscale to 1080I not 1080P. i think you need a HD/BD DVD player for it to be 1080P.

There are a few DVD players that upconvert to 1080p.

^^ Not true... you can set the 360 to output 720p, 1080i or 1080p already. Its just the current cables that restrict it.

It's not the cables per se.

Component on the 360 cables support 1080p, but not for DVD (480p limit) or HD-DVD (1080i limit). This is a S/W restriction.

VGA cables also support 1080p. I'm not sure if they are also restricted for HD-DVD but they do support DVD playback at 1080p.

for me I am selling my premium now. Buying a 20gb used hard drive for 49.00 form ebgames. Then I am going to buy the elite pop in the 20gb drive and sell the 120gb one. shouldnt cost much to upgrade this way. I use my xbxo to play back all my high def transport streams so to me it is worth it. Hopefully the xbox will also support loseless audio format from the hd-dvd drive add-on. if so I think it may become the best hd-dvd player on the market!

The HDMI 1.3 port on the Xbox 360 Elite will allow up to 1080p for games, DVD and HD DVD playback.

I think M$ would have been better off dropping the price on the current 360 versions, rather than releasing a new model that inches closer to the PS3, minus the next gen optical drive.

HDMI should also become standard on all the versions.

I agree. the cost of the elite you would thinkg they would add the HD drive. it would be nice to have it all in one setup. now the hd dvd drive doesnt match the new system :o