DailyTech - Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update Due October 31

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Gadgets Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update Due October 31
Brandon Hill (Blog) - October 30, 2006 12:57 PM

26 comment(s) - last by dijuremo.. on Oct 31 at 10:11 AM

Xbox users to get a host of new goodies for Halloween

Microsoft's Fall Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360 is going to be released tomorrow according to Engadget. Microsoft posted a complete list on its Xbox website today outlining 84 updates/fixes to be addressed with the update.

Some noteworthy additions with the Fall Dashboard Update include:

HD 1080p video mode support over VGA and component cables.
Xbox 360 HD DVD Player support.
Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect.
Play video from storage devices such as USB flash drives, Xbox 360 Memory Units, etc.
Play video from CD or DVD data discs.
Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games.
Support for upcoming release of XNA Game Studio Express (separate download and subscription required.)
Stream music, pictures and video from a Zune device.
Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies.

It looks as though Microsoft wants to make sure that its heavyweight is fighting form when the PlayStation 3 and Wii drop next month. This dashboard update along with the upcoming HD DVD player, Wireless Racing Wheel, Wireless Headset and Gears of War should make the holiday season quite merry for Xbox 360 gamers.

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RE: no its not

By Wolfpup on 10/30/2006 1:45:23 PM , Rating: -1

Though it's a moot point, since most 1080p sets only accept 1080p through HDMI...

and more to the point, the 360 usually renders internally at 720p (aside from Project Gotham Racing that does a bit lower). All this new setting does is have the 360 upscale it instead of your TV.

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RE: no its not

By Doormat on 10/30/06, Rating: -1

RE: no its not

By therealnickdanger on 10/30/06, Rating: 0

RE: no its not

By aos007 on 10/30/2006 5:10:41 PM , Rating: 2

The first thing is, most sets can't resolve full 1920x1080 in the first place. Those few (very expensive ones) that do, usually only accept it through HDMI. Quite often those sets do not even have VGA inputs or can't accept the full resolution through it (e.g. Sharp D62, Sony V2500). And sets accepting 1080p through component input are very rare as far as I know (which is sad).

This 1080p thing is important for people who want to use the HD-DVD attachment. It is not needed for gamers at all, unless you believe that xbox360 does a better scaling job than your TV (which it might).

But such a high resolution over VGA is not really something to be excited about. Remember running even 1600x1200 on your old CRT? Not very sharp picture, was it? You'd need a hell of a cable and hell of a good electronics to have VGA look like HDMI (I might be wrong on the extent of difference but I can't believe it would be much of an improvement over what we had few years ago - the limit is physics, not chip speed). Component on the other hand, even though analog, should fare better (but hardly anything accepts it).

But if HD-DVD content was recorded in 1080p, then 1080i will be all you need anyway, as TV can do inverse telecine transform and present you with full original 1080p exactly the same as if it came via 1080p. Only games would benefit from 1080p but x360 does not have enough power to do so (as almost no video card does).

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RE: no its not

By willow01 on 10/31/2006 12:09:58 AM , Rating: 2

I am currently using a Dell 24" (1920x1200) using vga on my work computer. The image compared to DVI-D is negligible (I have to look very closely) although I could imagine on anything larger it would start to look a lot worse. On other pc's around the place it is quite noticeable (for me anyway) over vga but using a more recent video card and analog it is much better.

Does anyone know if hdmi will be added with the HDDVD drive coming, if they are going to be doing hdcp somehow I guess they would need to.

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RE: no its not

By brystmar on 10/31/2006 4:54:46 AM , Rating: 2

the funniest thing about alot of the 1080p-capable TVs out there is that they cannot accept 1080p over HDMI. only sets using the latest rev (v1.3) HDMI connector can accept a 1080p HDMI signal.

so, the only way to get 1080p content to almost every 1st and 2nd 1080p-capable RPTV was to use VGA :)

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