Look on the box, confirm HDMI, make purchase
by Dustin Burg 
{ Aug 10th 2007 at 11:30AM }
We know everyone who's in the market for a new Xbox 360 wants a fancy schmancy HDMI port in their Premium, but may not know how to identify these new consoles. Well, good news for you, because it's quite easy to identify them in the wild. Xbox-Scene found an Xbox 360 Premium box that featured the HDMI connection and confirmed that under the contents section of the box it lists "HDMI port" as a console specification. No, it isn't as obvious as a huge reflective sticker plastered on the front of the box as we expected, but at least you don't have to play the guessing game when it comes to identifying a HDMI Premium.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TORO @ Aug 10th 2007 11:49AM
The HDMI cable will still run you $60! So that's about $410 total with the current sale price Premiums.
Might as well spend $450 for the Elite, which comes with M$ Official HDMI cable and 120GB HDD. Either way, this is still better than my older 360 :(
Neeko @ Aug 10th 2007 11:49AM
UMm who cares.. we all know you cant see a real difference with HDMI upgrade. But i like how the industry treats us like LEMMINGS and dangles this crappy over hyped carrot in front of our faces....
ForceUnleashed @ Aug 10th 2007 11:51AM
Actually some people don't really know or care about HDMI. They're just gonna see the box and buy it and be absolutely happy with their purcahse.
Its good that you want people to be informed but sometimes it seems like you want to make MS out to be the bad guy (or at least Joystiq does).
As if MS is trying to trick people into buying a 360 that doesn't have an HDMI port.
Tony @ Aug 10th 2007 11:54AM
If you look around even a little on the Internet you're not going to spend $60 on an HDMI cable.
TX2Step @ Aug 10th 2007 11:56AM
Nice response ForceUnleashed, i totally agree. People are just happy just to make the purchase and us hardcore people can just continue to be anal on the little things :D
gibber9583 @ Aug 10th 2007 11:58AM
haha $60 on an HDMI cable? Only if you are an uninformed consumer. You can get an HDMI cable for $10 that works for its intended purposes and you will not be able to tell the difference between it and a Monster HDMI cable.
DjDATZ @ Aug 10th 2007 12:01PM
I knew there was a marking on the outside of the box. I was gonna go to our local electronics stores to see if I could find it...I guess someone already beat me too it.
Toph @ Aug 10th 2007 12:01PM
HDMI counts on the HD sets 35' and up for sure!!!
Bravo6 @ Aug 10th 2007 12:14PM
I've got a core 360 hooked up via component cables to an HD tv, and an elite hooked up via HDMI to another HD tv - I see no difference at all.
Oh, and you're a complete tool if you pay $60 for an HDMI cable these days.
Bryan @ Aug 10th 2007 12:15PM
I see the name "Zephyr" on the sticker picture up there. Isn't that the same as the Elite's codename? It's odd to me to see HDMI being added to the 360's while no sign of a 65nm CPU/Second Heatsink.
Justin @ Aug 10th 2007 12:29PM
there's an 8 dollar HDMI cable sitting right next to the PS3 peripherals at my local walmart.
gibber9583 @ Aug 10th 2007 12:31PM
@6,
35 feet? Really? Where can I get one of these?
gibber9583 @ Aug 10th 2007 12:32PM
oops, meant @8
Knight Marquise @ Aug 10th 2007 12:46PM
Bravo:
I have 360's hooked up to my various HD sets all component, and of course via HDMI on the Elite, and you're right, I simply can't see any difference between the two. Hell, the only reason I bought an Elite was to see what all the hype was coming from the playstion camp, and I just don't see it. I've tested component vs HDMI at 720p & 1080p.
dabilee01 @ Aug 10th 2007 12:50PM
i just bought a 6' hdmi cable from amazon.com for freaking less than $7 ($.69/cable + s/h...the s/h was more than the cable!). anyone who's paying $60 for one should be hung, tarred, and feathered for being a complete idiot.
TORO @ Aug 10th 2007 1:03PM
Bite my head off fackers...I wouldn't pay that much either. I did pay $30 for an Fiber Optic Cable though :)
GregA @ Aug 10th 2007 1:08PM
I think the reason for the HDMI upgrade is to eventually get rid of the expensive propritary AV cable, then only package the cheap standard HDMI cable with the xbox.
Also, currently on the Amazon ranking, both the Xbox and PS3 are significantly beating the wii. So it looks like the wii fad is coming to an end.
ryan @ Aug 10th 2007 1:23PM
Umm, people the HDMI is only for the HD-DVD drive. When you watch an HD-DVD with/without the HDMI then you can see a slight difference in clarity.
AND it's an inferior HDMI output with it's version 1.2 VS. PS3's standard version 1.3.
Again this is only for MOVIES not GAMES.
GregA @ Aug 10th 2007 1:54PM
#18,
Wow, One of the things that is apparently driving the PS3 price up is that they are running transport mechanisms that the video card can't saturate. Seems beyond foolish and expensive to me to add the 32bit deep color capabilites of 1.3 when your console can only do 24bit color.
No wonder sony is getting their ass kicked so bad this generation.
Bob's Uncle @ Aug 10th 2007 2:32PM
Yeah, actually xbox-scene has nothing to do with these photos. They were posted on NeoGaf:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7348944&postcount=532
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7348582&postcount=499
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7348624&postcount=503
TORO @ Aug 10th 2007 2:32PM
Greg owns Ryan
ryan @ Aug 10th 2007 3:15PM
Heh, Greg didn't own anybody. 1.3 HDMI is superior to 1.2.
How PS3 uses 1.3 is their problem. The weird fact is why the 360 did not use version 1.3.
Could it be because it can't handle it as well?
Certainly something to think about.
Regardless you still have to purchase an HD-DVD player attachment to take advantage of th HDMI output.
What I'd love to see on the box is some confirmation of a 65nm chipsize. Not something that I don't care about.
jkdoug @ Aug 10th 2007 3:48PM
I'd file this post under 'D' for 'Duh?' Of course, they're going to list the HDMI port as a feature on the outside of the box. I've no idea why everyone's been talking about serial numbers or cracking open the case to look inside. Just read the advertising on the cardboard, people! :D
GregA @ Aug 10th 2007 4:09PM
Continuing with the theme of Pwnage of Ryan...
I was going to give a long technical discussion of why hdmi 1.3 on the ps3 doesnt matter, but then I noticed... hdmi 1.3 does have features over 1.2, but those features are not for you! They are for Sony!
Did you know that hdmi 1.2 doesnt support hdcp, and hdmi 1.3 does?
Pwned.
tobin92 @ Aug 10th 2007 8:40PM
There is no big difference between HDMI 1.2 and 1.3..... HDMI 1.3 supports lossless audio...Which the Xbox 360 or PS3 doesn't have...Not to mention....It is EXTREMELY hard to hear the difference.
Video wise.... HDMI 1.3 extra bandwidth is useless on TVs as even HDMI 1.1 and 1.2 allowed 1080p.....1.3 allows 2560x1600...which is useless.
GregA @ Aug 10th 2007 5:13PM
What no reply after an hour?
I guess its time to teabag you a little bit then.
Do you realize that MS omiting hdmi 1.3 from the xbox is MS giving a huge middle finger to the MPAA and their anti-consumer policies?
This is the largest single next gen movie player dealer saying to the movie distributors, go ahead, engage that downsampling bit, we dare you.
OMG, betweem this and Universal, this is the fricking end of ownerous DRM, on Music AND movies.
MS + XBOX FTW!!!!!!!!
ryan @ Aug 10th 2007 7:43PM
Hmm... you seem to be under the impression i was supporting SONY.
Well, you stated yourself that HDMI 1.3 is superior to 1.2 so i guess we finally agree on that. Sheesh.
My last post before i stepped outside, if you read, i said that it is "SONY's problem".
Man, weird how one slip of "superior 1.3" and "PS3" can get people's panties in a bunch*.
*To avoid further confusion, this is a figure of speech and by no means implies that one wears women's clothing. Void if prohibited. Viewer discretion advised. =)
Rob @ Aug 24th 2007 5:25PM
Anyone that claims that there is no visible difference between HDMI and standard Component video need to buy better Monitors and actually try some HD content.
People who think all HDMI cables cost $60 are just idiots.