DailyTech - Xbox 360 Software Update Improves HD DVD Sound Quality, Compatibility

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Hardware Xbox 360 Software Update Improves HD DVD Sound Quality, Compatibility
Marcus Yam (Blog) - May 15, 2007 9:00 AM

18 comment(s) - last by MGSsancho.. on May 18 at 2:16 AM

How to navigate the new software using the controller

New digital audio settings give a choice for downmixed audio

Control how the HD DVD player will snack on cookies

New functions on the display make up for the lack of buttons on the remote

Xbox 360 HD DVD drive now with better aural pleasure

Last week, the Xbox 360 received its Spring Dashboard software, and today the console gets a software update for its HD DVD add-on peripheral. The most notable in this update are improvements to the player’s ability to decode audio streams.

Prior to the update, the Xbox 360 HD DVD player had difficulties decoding Dolby TrueHD audio, leading some titles, such as Nine Inch Nails: Beside You In Time and Poseidon, to exhibit “static popping” and “clipping” during playback. The new software resolved all such audio issues.

While the HD DVD player supports all audio formats for the spec, the Xbox 360 hardware itself is unable to output the true lossless Dolby TrueHD stream. Instead, the Xbox 360 downsamples the lossless stream into a lossy bitstream that can be outputted via the console’s optical toslink connection. Added in the new software update is a full bitrate 1.5 Mbps DTS and WMA Pro as an option for downmixed audio output, along with the previous 640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 option.

Even movies without Dolby TrueHD tracks will likely get a boost in audio quality. The original software for the drive ran the audio in a perpetual “night mode,” which dynamically compressed the range of the soundtrack. The update now allows the user to disable the dynamic range compression, leading to a greatly expanded aural experience.

“[The old software] 360 HD DVD audio is reducing dynamic range and that makes the sound worse than it needs to be,” explained Amir Majidimehr, corporate VP at Microsoft’s Consumer Media Technology Group. “The new software unlocks the dynamic range and will give you a pretty big boost in performance.”

Tests of the HD DVD add-on’s playback before and after the update demonstrated that the new software does indeed resolve all known Dolby TrueHD decoding issues. The audio from the Nine Inch Nails concert disc sounds noticeably better after the update, though audiophiles would still be able to identify differences between the downmixed track and a lossless Dolby TrueHD track from a standalone HD DVD machine. Majidimehr is confident that the improved audio options offered by 1.5 Mbps DTS and WMA Pro streams will make the compressed streams nearly indistinguishable to all but the most dedicated audiophiles.

Compatibility of the player has also been improved, fixing certain disc-specific issues. Some users reported that the audio would fall out to of sync with the video on certain Dolby TrueHD titles, such as Batman Begins, though all those issues are now said to be resolved. “Let me say that we have fixed all the lip sync issues reported. So there should be no concerns about that in general,” assured Majidimehr.

The last bit of noticeable change in the new software is the additions of subtitle, camera angle and audio buttons – functions that do not exist on the Xbox 360 media remote. Now users can toggle those settings from the display button rather than having to navigate through the disc’s software menu.

The new Xbox 360 HD DVD software is available now and is automatically downloaded as soon as a user is connected to Xbox Live and attempts to play a movie. Along with the great strides in audio, Microsoft has also improved image quality for those using a VGA output on the Xbox 360, helping the console match up even better against standalone HD DVD players.

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Right Equipment

By MGSsancho on 5/16/2007 8:13:44 PM , Rating: 2

IF you one of the people who have a receiver capable of accepting tru HD and have the speakers and room capable of playing this remarkable sound quality, then you are not using the 360 to watch movies. The Toshiba X-A2 is an awesome piece of equipment. However the xbox360 does not tailor the the audiophile crowd. they have like $10000 in speakers a $5000 receiver and probably paid a pro to set it up. again those people wont be using the 360 for videos. I know my home rig cant take Tru HD but my Onkyo SR804 is onkyo's second top model. its not crap. not the best I admit. but the xbox360 is targeting people who probably have any ware to $200-$1500 home theater systems in a box. these are not necessarily poor people. but not rich either.

However I welcome the update. If you want tru HD sound the buy the XA2 then get a home theater system and calibrate it so it would be worth your while. who knows maybe in 5 years said equipment will be cheaper and we call and enjoy it

RE: Right Equipment

By Anh Huynh on 5/17/2007 12:00:54 PM , Rating: 2

The Onkyo 804 can take LPCM (multi-channel PCM). Just have the XA2 decode the TrueHD track and output it as LPCM and you'll be able to enjoy TrueHD sound through the receiver's DACs.

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RE: Right Equipment

By MGSsancho on 5/18/2007 2:12:35 AM , Rating: 2

i was thinking the same today. the XA2 has very good DACs in it. A good solution would be to upgrade the audio spec so tru hd can go over spdif. hell i would love to have a toslink connector for video and 1 for audio on all products. usb is cool, it provides power. but for like display port. everything fiber. oh well im dreaming.

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NIN

By gramboh on 5/15/2007 10:33:27 AM , Rating: 2

How is Beside you in Time on HD-DVD? I've contemplated buying an HD-DVD drive for my PC just for that title. Unfortunately my PC speakers (Klipsch Promedia 4.1) and phones (Sennheiser HD570) are not good enough to enjoy the audio of it properly.

RE: NIN

By BillyBatson on 5/15/2007 11:40:47 AM , Rating: 2

HAHA i love it! I own it and watched it on my 47" LCD 1080p using my HD-DVD addon for the 360. LOOKS GREAT! All the times I have put it in I have never heard a single pop or crackle that some people complain about and i have not yet installed the spring update or this hd-dvd update.
I too do not have the proper autio though I have a Sont 5.1 600w setupt hat is positioned around the room but it is a $200 system so not sure how much I am losing. I also output optical to the system.

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interesting

By DingieM on 5/15/2007 11:18:16 AM , Rating: 2

hmmm this HD-DVD add-on is becoming more interesting to me, unlucky for me that I have to buy a new AV receiver that has optical inputs...

RE: interesting

By Shadowmaster625 on 5/15/2007 2:03:34 PM , Rating: 2

if your receiver has any kind of digital input you should be able to convert it using something like this:

http://www.trianglecables.com/pof-830.html

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Dynamic range

By aos007 on 5/15/2007 1:59:14 PM , Rating: 1

I always felt there was something fishy about sound when watching HD-DVD movies using Xbox360. I needed to muck about volume and decoding settings more often than with other sources. Now that we find out that they were compressing dynamic range all the time, I am surprised. It is hard to take Microsoft seriously as a force in home theatre when they implement features this way. In the end, I guess the HD-DVD add-on is just a neat toy. Good value for money, but you do get what you pay for (you don't pay for video/audiophile expertise, you don't get it).

Sony is not off the hook either. For all their HDMI 1.3 talk and despite owning the SACD format, the PS3 doesn't even pass DSD stream (which is HDMI 1.2) to the eligible receiver. They do offer high definition PCM conversion for SACDs but that defeats the point of SACD (whether you believe their 1-bit encoding has merit or not).

I know that these products are targeting mass market and not connoisseurs per se. But who do they think is the majority of their customers right now, given the prices of not only their products but of ancillary stuff such as HDTVs and receivers as well?

RE: Dynamic range

By LatinMessiah on 5/15/2007 2:05:44 PM , Rating: 2

It's like they think money grows on trees.

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RE: Dynamic range

By Crazyeyeskillah on 5/16/2007 8:54:30 AM , Rating: 1

at the rate of inflation in the US, the ps3 will roughly equate to the price of a can of pepsi in 2-3 years ;)

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Btw why is this the "top story"?

By aos007 on 5/15/2007 7:47:35 PM , Rating: 1

Barely anyone has commented on this story and I know sound issues - as long as they're not glaring - gather far less interest than say video issues. How can it suddenly become a "top story" out of nowhere? Number of clicks or is "top story" simply the editor's pick?

RE: Btw why is this the "top story"?

By Crazyeyeskillah on 5/16/2007 8:55:43 AM , Rating: 3

YOU WILL READ WHAT THEY TELL YOU TO READ, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!?

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Dolby TrueHD

By casket on 5/16/2007 1:42:33 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
The actual sound quality even can't comparable with CD. It is still suck compare with 24bit/192KHz lossless Dolby TureHD output!

How many CD players support a "Dolby True HD" output? Most CD players are analog, right? Some CD players have Digital Outputs.... I would think most of these are not 24bit/192Khz.

RE: Dolby TrueHD

By MGSsancho on 5/18/2007 2:16:18 AM , Rating: 2

there are CD players and there is dvd audio which is multi channel 24/192. but good luck affording the player, receiver amp, and setup. we can only dream T_T

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Why no MC PCM again?

By deeznuts on 5/15/2007 3:28:37 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
While the HD DVD player supports all audio formats for the spec, the Xbox 360 hardware itself is unable to output the true lossless Dolby TrueHD stream

This is not that big of a deal, there are not that many receivers that will decode a TrueHD or DTS-HD stream, maybe one or two high end models.

What is a big deal is the 360 not decoding the TrueHD stream itself into a Multi-Channel PCM signal and passing that through HDMI. Do that and you're golden. Why have they not done this?

3x bandwidth! nice!

By casket on 5/15/2007 4:30:00 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
1.5 Mbps DTS and WMA Pro as an option for downmixed audio output, along with the previous 640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1

I've always wondered why dts wasn't supported to begin with. Finally, they update there software.

Maybe they can eventually improve the picture as well. There dvd software is fine, but it could be better.

Spring Update Broke My Media Box

By Learn2play007 on 5/16/2007 12:52:59 AM , Rating: 2

I am active military and I have a canadian fiancee who lives 35 minutes from the US Washington Border. Spring update and all of a sudden none of the downloadable content works. "This content is not available in your region". My fiancee brought this for me. It has lived at her house forever and now micro$oft forces me to take a fancier looking mod/update that HAXORS all of my attempted downloadables. No help from microsoft on this either. Licensing yadda yadda Rights. FTC where are you. I want a full refund since my Wii is my primary gaming sytem and this 360 box is now completely useless to me conveinently 5 months after I bought. Im so tired of this. When I first bought it I couldn't buy points until I called in. Then all was fine until this stupid update SPRUNG into my box. They might tell you to make a new Player ID in the region you are in ie Canada or Japan. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME! Canadian player ID's have a total of approx 10 downloads combined games and videos. Maybe it has to do with the CRTC that everything needs to be english/french in canada, I have no idea. I have a feeling everywhere else is much worse after all Canada is N.America last time I checked. I will place this on as many sites as I can as long as I am ticked off. Nice one hollywood. Screw your troops when they most likely have nothing else to do for some much needed relaxation behind enemy lines.

1.5Mbps DTS or WMA Pro are still lossy compression!

By EclipsedAurora on 5/16/2007 4:37:20 AM , Rating: 2

1.5Mbps DTS or 1.5Mpbs WMA Pro are still lossy compression. The actual sound quality even can't comparable with CD. It is still suck compare with 24bit/192KHz lossless Dolby TureHD output!