Xbox 360 Premium now features HDMI

360 News | Core to miss out.

Shacknews reports that Microsoft has confirmed all newly manufactured Premium Xbox 360s will come with HDMI. These new models are gradually flowing through the retail pipeline and can be identified by a unique sticker.

No plans have been made to introduce the HDMI port to Core models, yet another move suggesting that the Core's lifespan is limited. Neither will Microsoft comment on whether or not the new models contain the new 65nm chipset, citing the challenge of talking about updates to all 1,700 individual components within the Xbox 360. One would think it'd be pretty easy for them to know whether or not the core internal fabrication has changed, but we digress.

Implications of the new model to those experiencing the famous "red ring of death" are unknown thus far, as some claim to have received a brand new model including HDMI after sending their malfunctioning console to Microsoft to be repaired. Historically, Microsoft has simply shipped refurbished units to those experiencing reliability issues. As these claims have yet to be validated, take them with a grain of salt.

Unfortunately, there's no news yet about when the new models will make it to PAL regions. Given that Elite has yet to arrive in Australia, Europe, or New Zealand, we could still be in for a long wait, not to mention the time it may take to clear the existing retail pipeline.

Related Content

Sony responds to Xbox 360 Elite
28 Mar, 2007 They're quick off the mark.

New Xbox 360 on the way?
06 Jan, 2007 Codenamed Zephyr.

UK retailers snip 360 Core System price
22 Aug, 2006 Microsoft denies involvement.

Page12 Next

37 Comments

TheAnswer

4 years ago

Well this is interesting news, although you are right in saying there is no idea when Australians will get premium 360s with HDMI output or if we're getting them at all.

ugh the boot

4 years ago

yEa what next? Premium/Elite's shipping with built in Wifi or HD-Dvd drives? These things should've been included with the machine at it's launch....just further proof Microsoft rushed it out to retail.

Also I guarantee these new machines don't have chips, wanna know why? Cuz Microsoft won't admit it doesn't so as not to stifle it's sales. If they don't comment....it's up to the user to take the risk. I guarantee that once the new chips do go into the 360's Microsoft will be all over it and promoting it like crazy!

Honestly my 360 is starting to look kinda gimped in light of all these new features/models and the machine has barely been out a year. Wonder how many more revisions are to come?

ittekimasu

4 years ago

Well while i'm glad they've made improvement i wan't to hold back to see if these new machines have inherited the faults of its previous versions, once i've confirmed that its a safe machine which won't die on you or scratch your disks' then i'll probably make the move to purchase one.

DrTim

4 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

Wonder how many more revisions are to come?

How long is a piece of string?

ugh the boot

4 years ago

What I would like is a new model with the new chips (65nm or whatever), built in wifi and hdmi. I would actually trade in my old model for those features. I don't need a bigger hdd or hd-dvd compatiability but I think those other features should be included in all consoles.

And just get rid of the core.....make an executive decision.....but I doubt it seeing as that's a major selling point for 360....cheap/customizable.

LeonJ

4 years ago

Yeah true. 360 hardware is a mess. But I'm happy with my set up and don't need a bigger HDD. Even if movies came to OZ, I don't have the broadband plan to download 3 gig movies.

I think they will annouce the new xbox in 2 years time anyway.

ittekimasu

4 years ago

well it seems like australia or new zealand won't be seeing these models for a while now.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/patience-is-a-virtue/australia-dont-hold-your-breath-for-that-hdmi-360-287596.php

while i'm not too sure if 360 is region free i'm starting to consider in importing one if the hardware is fixed.

TheAnswer

4 years ago

ittekimasu wrote

not all titles are region free for the 360, some are though which is how you can get cheap 360 titles from play-asia etc

Marka

4 years ago

I can understand revising hardware , but adding features is punishing early adopters.

NegativeZero

4 years ago

Apparently the HDMI-enabled 360 premiums are from batch 0728 and onwards, with manufacture dates of July 2007 or later. That's printed on the box so if you absolutely have to have one you might want to make friends with some staff at your local games retailer...

Alternatively, assuming you don't mind the sewage green-brown colour, you could get the Halo edition 360. We know for sure that that has HDMI. More importantly, if you hunt down one of the HDMI-enabled premiums you know that you'll be getting one with the added cooling and a quieter DVD drive.

EDIT: Also, it's hardly 'punishing' early adopters to add HDMI. You paid for it when it didn't have that feature. If you actually needed the feature then you shouldn't have gotten one. No one was holding a gun to your head and forcing you to adopt the system early. It's like bitching that you have the 07 model of a car and the 08 model adds something new. Tech companies revise the features of their hardware all the time.

Now, if you had gotten one now and found out that Microsoft had stealthily removed a feature, you would be well within your rights to complain about it.

Capoeira

4 years ago

Marka wrote

I can understand revising hardware , but adding features is punishing early adopters.

Early adopters are gluttons for punishment

They don't mind getting screwed over, at least they shouldn't mind. It's kinda obvious that stuff gets better over time...

Infested Jibbs

4 years ago

Early adopters?

The thing has almost been out for two years(?).This is prime time for hardware revisions and the such.

ugh the boot

4 years ago

^ Yea but 1 feature here and there is hardly a revision it's a fix! Like a band-aid solution. Maybe they should hold off and start releasing machines with the HDMI port once the new chips are also being added. That's the part I don't like.....they're drip feeding us these features because they should've been there in the first place. First it was a quieter dvd drive, then a cooler running machine, then a hdmi port and then a new chip. Sheesh! Pop all those features into a new model then you can call it Xbox 360 ver 2 or something. Anyways that's just how I feel because all those features in one machine is definately worth me forking out for another one. I just think it's silly because there are so many different configurations going around it just seems like it was all done on a whim and not very thought out.

Skiller

4 years ago

NegativeZero wrote

EDIT: Also, it's hardly 'punishing' early adopters to add HDMI. You paid for it when it didn't have that feature. If you actually needed the feature then you shouldn't have gotten one. No one was holding a gun to your head and forcing you to adopt the system early. It's like bitching that you have the 07 model of a car and the 08 model adds something new. Tech companies revise the features of their hardware all the time.

Yes but if people had known there'd be an elite model they might have held out for that instead of playing right into microsofts hands with their old "release a crap version and wait for x million sales, then release the real one and cash in on the 2 sales per person" scheme.
If I had the option of waiting a bit and getting the elite 360 I'd definatally have waited. Sony at least did that much right, they've included all the essentials I could want in the original release so even if they bring out a new and better model all the essentials are there and it wont be such a blow.

SMASHED

4 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

It may not be the same, but Id prefer it if sony had released rumble from the beginning...its just..annoying I guess.

Xbox division just can't seem to grab a hold of things at the moment, man and they need to hurry up, the wii just passed the 10 Million mark and Sony has some killer games coming. I just can't help ,but think...its a last place position for Xbox if this whole situation doesn't fix itself.

ppjim3

4 years ago

[quote="Skiller"]

NegativeZero wrote

Sony at least did that much right, they've included all the essentials I could want in the original release so even if they bring out a new and better model all the essentials are there and it wont be such a blow.

What exactly makes HDMI 'essential' to an XBOX? I've never heard of a TV that has HDMI and not component so there's no factor there. The only reason it could be 'useful' is for 1080p but considering nearly no one had a compatible TV and the game support is extremely low this isn't valid. I don't want to go into the PS3 because it's too easy to nitpick about it but rumble, lack of HD cables, and lacking online/os integration can be pointed out as 'yet to be implemented features' at launch.

NegativeZero

4 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

That's the part I don't like.....they're drip feeding us these features because they should've been there in the first place. First it was a quieter dvd drive, then a cooler running machine, then a hdmi port and then a new chip.

Welcome to the world of consoles. This is what every manufacturer does. The components get updated as cheaper ones become available or as older components go out of production. As a pertinent example, the original PS2s had a DVD drive that was so bad at layer changes that it could take up to 2 seconds to realign the laser. That's one of the reasons that even now you rarely find games on DVD-9, and if you do they have a whole pile of redundant data that's duplicated in both layers. Most developers that exceeded the capacity of a DVD-5 will tell you that they basically had to develop it as if it was spread over two discs.

The only reason people care about this is that the original 360 is so horribly unreliable and it's taken them so long to get off their asses and do something about it.

LeonJ

4 years ago

If they added a HD-DVD drive, in-built wireless, bigger HDD and HDMI port I'd probably sell my 360 and buy that.

ugh the boot

4 years ago

^ Man i'd buy that even if it didn't have a Hd-Dvd drive.

Smashed - Yea rumble in the Ps3 controller is a biggie I agree....but there was a reason for that and that was the lawsuit with immersion. With the 360...what was it? Laziness? Cost cutting? Rushed? Take your pick.

ppjim3 - while some of those points are valid you have also listed a lot of software updates which are free and quite easy to download. Not adding things like a HDMI port etc are actually hardware features some people will never have just because they bought the console early.

NegativeZero - I've basically bought every console at launch since the Ps1 and I can't remember a single revision of one where they included a feature which I actually wanted. Most of these sorts of changes were aesthetic or just touch-ups.....whereas these 360 add-ons are actually things that are integral to the proper running of the console (cooler running, 65nm chip etc) aswell as having a next-gen feature a lot of us would like to have (HDMI). For example I can't think of a single game i've bought that i'm unable to play on the launch Ps2 properly. You make some good points there though.

So while it's not a huge issue, I think Microsoft of all people should be a little more conservative.

Let's see there are now 3 different packs to get (core, premium and elite) 2 of those have revisions with a quiter dvd drive and cooler running chips, so that put's it upto 5 different types (you could even split that even further because not every machine that has the cooler running chips also have the quiter dvd drive....but we'll consider that 1 revision for arguments sake), then we have these premiums that have HDMI and that makes 6, then we'll have the new machines with the 65nm chips and that will make 9. So 9 revisions in around 2 years? Yikes!

Skiller

4 years ago

ppjim3 wrote

I have a 1080p HDTV with a spare HDMI port and 1 too many devices using component (have to keep swapping them around

ppjim3 wrote

I don't want to go into the PS3 because it's too easy to nitpick about it but rumble, lack of HD cables, and lacking online/os integration can be pointed out as 'yet to be implemented features' at launch.

Personally I wish MS dropped rumble from their controllers too, I hate it, worst invention ever (excluding windows) and thank god for no online/os integration as it slows down my 360 unbelievably badly due to heavy traffic, and windows has similar os/internet integration and that too is a nightmare. But apparently I'm the only one who feels that way so ignore that

.

Everything you mentioned can be upgraded, if you did buy a launch PS3 and those feature were added to a newer model you can just pay a little extra to get it if you want/need it. The launch 360 *CAN'T* get HDMI no matter what, there's no way to retrofit HDMI onto it so it's not fair to early adopters who would have preferred to have those features.

SMASHED

4 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

Smashed - Yea rumble in the Ps3 controller is a biggie I agree....but there was a reason for that and that was the lawsuit with immersion. With the 360...what was it? Laziness? Cost cutting? Rushed? Take your pick.

Can I pick all 3?

I don't really care for extras if the price of it is atleast a little higher. But the perk of being an early adopter is...being able to enjoy the product for more time. Im pretty sure the early adopters would know everything changes eventually. Such as the DVD-wii and the well whatever PS3 can do more lol.

NegativeZero

4 years ago

Skiller wrote

Personally I wish MS dropped rumble from their controllers too, I hate it, worst invention ever

Just as well you can turn it off then. PS3 owners who do want it can't do the opposite.

ittekimasu

4 years ago

^true,

people seem to want what they don't have but while some say that rumble don't make a whole difference to their gaming it does take the option of being able to use it when the time does come to affect.

on another note, since its starting to sound like that they've fixed the internal hardware (just speculation atm) do you have to pay to play online or is it just needed to get extra's and such?

Marka

4 years ago

NegativeZero wrote

You act like people are supposed to know that MS were goin to add HDMI. No other console I ever bought has had such major feature just added out of the blue. It is punishing early adaptors. This also has absolutly nothing to do with cars, they arn't alike in any way so don't compare.

Page12 Next

View as forum topic

Add Comment