The Secret HDMI Pact

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raz0red
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The Secret HDMI Pact

Post by raz0red » Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:58 am

Team Xbox recently posted an article that essentially states that HDMI might not be necessary to view HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies at their highest resolutions:

http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/160 ... I-Pact/p1/
A week after E3, a German newspaper spilled the beans on a supposed secret pact between Hollywood studios and consumer electronics manufacturers to disregard the implementation of AACS’s “Image Constraint Token”. This would mean that the lack of HDMI would not prevent HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc hardware from playing high-definition content over analog connections at full resolution.
In the article, they also show images of Microsoft's HD-DVD drive, which lacks the HDMI plug. If this is true, then maybe the PS3 core system isn't such a crippled machine after all.

--Raz.

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Post by dragon57 » Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:23 am

That is interesting. Perhaps I will reconsider getting a PS3 or 360 after all. So far, I have held off on the new systems until things shake out with the PS3, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, the standalone HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players (not that you can buy a Blu-Ray player yet). Although I have to say of all the new consoles, only the Wii gets me excited. The 360 has been underwhelming to me, but that is for another thread. :)

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Post by raz0red » Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:43 pm

Yeah, the 360 hasn't really had any killer titles yet. But, I have had quite a bit of fun playing with it. The whole Xbox live arcade, the ability to have a friends list, always connected communications, etc. (even when you are switching games) has been great.

The titles I have had the most fun with have been Geometry Wars (goes without saying I guess), Call of Duty 2 (could have played on the PC, but more fun on the big screen), PGR3 (great racer), Condemned (I was one of the few, but I really dug this game), and most recently Rockstar's Table Tennis.

I guess the thing I like most about the 360 is the achievements, ability to instantly compare high scores with your friends or worldwide. Takes me back to the whole "high score" thing that I did in the arcades back in the day.

Hopefully soon they will have some must have titles. I am really looking forward to Lost Planet and Bioshock.

--Raz.

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Post by dragon57 » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:00 pm

Yet another person who tells me Geometry Wars is a must have on the 360. What kind of sense does that make? I have other friends that bought 360's and just play Live Arcade stuff. They bought a couple of 'normal' 360 titles, but Live Arcade is their favorite way to use the 360. I just don't get it.

That is the reason the Wii gets me excited. I look forward to playing the old titles more than any new title. That and the new way of interacting with the Wii is why I so look forward to it. Don't get me wrong, cutting edge graphics and polygons are great (I do 3D work myself), but most of the current crop of games are just more of the same (sort of like Hollywood stuff).

Oh well, I promised myself I wouldn't hijack this thread and make comments like this here. Bad, bad (slaps hand). :)

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Post by raz0red » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:17 pm

Yeah, this is probably best left for another thread. But, just to make things clear. I will be getting a Wii as well, and am really psyched about it.

However, I do like playing some of the more modern FPS (and the third person ones as well) games, etc. I know I won't be getting that on the Wii, so for me the 360 + Wii is a good combination. I also like to play games that aren't solely made by Nintendo. Maybe the Wii will have more 3rd party support, but at least for the current gen, that definitely is not the case. I used to play a lot of those types of games (FPS, etc.) on my PC, but after upgrading my graphics card for the upteenth time, I decided to move to playing almost all games on consoles. The 360 gives me a close to PC gaming experience at the price of a middle to high end video card.

My biggest concern about the Wii is game variety with the controller. I have seen some stuff that leverages the controller well, but they are mostly quick pick up type games (Wii sports, etc.). It remains to be seen whether the controller will work well on other types of games. From what people are saying that played it at E3, it didn't work well on Zelda or Super Mario Galaxy. If they end up producing a lot of those games for the standard controller, then I will truly be disappointed. It remains to be seen if the Wii will live up to the hype. I hope it will.

But, everyone that is saying it is this or that who hasn't played it is really jumping the gun (insert favorite Nintendo-biased podcast here). I would say that they have moved into fanboy territory. Until the machine is out, we can only guess at what it will ultimately be. Others can attempt to pump up people all they want, but until I am playing it in my living room, I reserve judgment.

As far as the PS3 goes, I know we have made fun of the press conference (Ridge Racer, etc.). But, I also reserve judgment there. If they adjust their price, produce some quality games, etc. I might end up buying it as well. Right now it doesn't look promising, but if that changes, I have no problem buying it.

I guess my point is after that ramble, is that I am unbiased. I play what I find fun. If it is Microsoft or Sony or Nintendo, or Brand X, I don't care. If I enjoy playing what is on it, and I think it is worth the money, I will buy it. But, that is completely a personal decision. It isn't something I want to push onto everyone else. At the end of the day, it is all about having fun. For me, arguing about companies, or promoting someone's product isn't fun for me. I will leave that to other podcasts... :D I am too busy playing games and having fun to do it.

--Raz.

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Post by msaeger » Fri Jun 09, 2006 5:40 pm

From what I understand there is a flag the content provider can set on the blu-ray/hd-dvd disks that determins if the movie will play a full resoulution via a non copy protected output.

Right now they keep saying they are not going to require HDCP on blu-ray and hd-dvd but the option is still there so they could change their minds at any time and do you really trust these guys.

So then you get the non hdmi ps3 and in a year they turn the flag on now you can't play new blu-ray movies at full resolution.

I'm glad I don't watch movies so all I care about is the games playing at full res.

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