Xbox 360 cheaper; must buy with Halo 3!

[phyco126]

http://tech.msn.com/products/articlecne ... d=10013777

This is great, I always hated how systems these days are so expensive. Not as expensive as Nintendo when it first came out when you add inflation, I'm sure, but eh. I miss the old days of the PSOne being $129... and there was no PS2, or Xbox, or anything for that matter. The sega was selling for $29.99. Ah, those where the days when gaming was affordable.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Of course, the $199 Xbox 360 is really stripped down as it lacks a hard drive (which apparently is required for backwards compatibility with the first gen Xbox) and only has 256MB of built-in storage -- not much for people who like downloadable content. If you want a hard drive for it, it's another $100 for the 20GB version. Thing is, I don't know offhand which games require a hard drive and which games don't. Oh, and figure another $100 if you want a wireless network adapter too. That brings the price to $399, which is the same price as the 80GB PS3 which includes a wireless adapter.

I guess the $199 entry point is tempting, but it's such a stripped down box at that price point that I'm wondering if it's even worth it -- especially when you pile on accessories that may be necessary to make it useful.

For the sake of full disclosure, I just got a PS3 myself (as much for BluRay/Upscaled DVD as gaming), so maybe I have a little bit of "new purchase fanboyism" going on here, even though I'm trying to avoid it -- especially as I'm getting more and more impressed with some of the hardware design decisions Sony went with in designing the thing...

[phyco126]

I didn't realize that the $199 was a completely stripped down version. I wonder if there is a way to buy that and just slap in a spare HDD and find a copy of the Xbox OS. *contemplates*

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Sadly, you can't as the Xbox 360 uses non-standard hard drives. You're stuck shelling out the cash for Xbox-approved external HDs.

[phyco126]

Sadly, you can't as the Xbox 360 uses non-standard hard drives. You're stuck shelling out the cash for Xbox-approved external HDs.

Hmmmm, I'm sure someone out there knows a way to do it. Modding game systems is becomming popular, ranging from slapping a larger HDD in it to turning it into a super laptop. *shrugs*

Hey, how is the PS3's blu-ray and what tv do you use with it?

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Haven't tried any Blu Ray stuff yet (don't own any BluRay disks either, but it was time to replace my regular DVD player). It does do a very good job of upscaling regular DVDs, though. As far as the TV I use it with, it's a 52" Samsung LN52A650.

[phyco126]

Huh, so blu-ray players are backwards compatible with standard DVDs? That was a major concern of mine, with blu-ray disks going for upwards to insane in pricing, I can't afford to replace many of them (especially since many of them will likely never be released for blu-ray, such as Firefly). Not exactly sure what you mean by upscale. How good is that TV of yours? Does it have good color, no blurring from it being an LCD?

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Yeah, Blu Ray players are backwards compatible (at least the PS3 is -- I'd be surprised if other ones weren't) with standard DVDs and CDs. I understand where you're coming from too -- I don't plan to replace any of my DVDs with Blu Rays unless I happen to come across them in a "bargain bin" or if my DVDs somehow become lost or damaged. I'm more along the lines of buying Blu Rays for new stuff as I move forward.

"Upscaling" is basically converting the DVD's image to something that's closer to HD. For example, your typical DVD is recorded at 480p resolution, which means 480 horizontal lines per frame and the "p" stands for "progressive," which means all 480 lines are updated every time the picture updates on the screen. Non-HDTVs typically max out at 480i resolution -- the same 480 lines, but the "i" stands for "interlacing," which means every other line is updated per screen update. Upscaling converts that 480p image to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p (the standard HD resolutions -- depending on what your TV supports, of course) so that it looks sharper on a TV that supports those resolutions, though not as sharp as if it was originally recorded at those higher resolutions.

As far as my TV, well, it did win a CNet Editor's Choice award back in April or so, which was a good sign. I've tested it with some game demos (free downloads from PlayStation Network), a few DVDs, some HDTV content (including fast-moving sports) and I couldn't notice any blurring. It also had the best color, IMHO, of any other TV in its price range when I comparison shopped -- nice and bright and rich without looking overbright, if you understand what I'm saying.

[phyco126]

See, VHSs lasted for nearly 30 years (or so) while DVDs have only been out for, what, 10 - 12 years? Already they are being phased out, so I am leary in upgrading to the newest media (which will have to happen as DVDs get phased out) when that'll likely be replaced by Red Ray and HHDDWDDBVD (curtousy of Red Vs Blue Go Go Gadget episode) in nigh 10 years. I have well over 60 DVDs, my mom alone has somewhere around 200 (or more, I'm afraid to count). Heh, ironically, my mom was a late adopter in DVDs. HAH!

Anyway, yeah. Backwards compatibility is a good thing, I seriously doubt that Firefly would ever be released on Blu-Ray format.

The other issue is cost, The cheapest Blu-rays I have seen are $24.99 (during a sale no less) and are only of movies no one cares to watch anyway. Their DVD equivalents are $4.99. Most of mine came from the $4.99 piles brand new. I just can't justify that kind of price. Only will an uber epic movie get me to spend $19.99 on release (such as Live Free or Die Hard, and the upcoming A Dark Knight). Most of the time, I just wait a few months and then they hit three different marks depending on their sells: $13.99, $7.50, and $4.99 XD

As for scaling, is there any issues with tearing or stretching of the picture?

[Dragonmaster Lou]

See, VHSs lasted for nearly 30 years (or so) while DVDs have only been out for, what, 10 - 12 years? Already they are being phased out, so I am leary in upgrading to the newest media (which will have to happen as DVDs get phased out) when that'll likely be replaced by Red Ray and HHDDWDDBVD (curtousy of Red Vs Blue Go Go Gadget episode) in nigh 10 years. I have well over 60 DVDs, my mom alone has somewhere around 200 (or more, I'm afraid to count). Heh, ironically, my mom was a late adopter in DVDs. HAH!

Well, DVD is technically Red Ray since it uses a red laser. But anyway, yeah, VHS kicked around for a bit, but then again, there was nothing really compelling other than laserdisc to compete against it -- especially since the TV formats didn't change at all during those 30 years. The impetus for Blu Ray as opposed to DVD is that there was the change in TV formats from SD to HD. Of course, if anything does kill Blu Ray, I doubt it would be a new disc format but internet downloads instead.

Anyway, yeah. Backwards compatibility is a good thing, I seriously doubt that Firefly would ever be released on Blu-Ray format.

Agreed. Given the huge number of DVDs out there, they'd be stupid not to support backwards compatibility.

The other issue is cost, The cheapest Blu-rays I have seen are $24.99 (during a sale no less) and are only of movies no one cares to watch anyway. Their DVD equivalents are $4.99. Most of mine came from the $4.99 piles brand new. I just can't justify that kind of price. Only will an uber epic movie get me to spend $19.99 on release (such as Live Free or Die Hard, and the upcoming A Dark Knight). Most of the time, I just wait a few months and then they hit three different marks depending on their sells: $13.99, $7.50, and $4.99 XD

Well, when DVDs first came out, they were also $25/pop too. The price should drop as Blu Ray gets more entrenched. Right now, it's mostly a case of the early adopter tax, just like I paid when I got my first DVD player (which cost about $450, believe it or not) about 10 years ago.

As for scaling, is there any issues with tearing or stretching of the picture?

Not at all -- at least not with the PS3 (other players may vary). It looks really smooth to me.

[Werefrog]

I didn't realize that the $199 was a completely stripped down version. I wonder if there is a way to buy that and just slap in a spare HDD and find a copy of the Xbox OS. *contemplates*

Yes. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-enterta ... 231670.php

DM Lou is right in saying that you can't just throw in any old hard drive. However, the 360 uses a standard notebook laptop. Keep in mind though, as with any hack, you're taking a risk even though it doesn't look that hard.

[Kizyr]

Anyway, yeah. Backwards compatibility is a good thing, I seriously doubt that Firefly would ever be released on Blu-Ray format.

Firefly will probably be released on Blu-Ray soon enough.

Serenity was already one of the first movies released in Blu-Ray format. KF

[LuciaOne]

Actually, picking up the stripped down 360 is a great idea. A lot of the hardcore 360 fans will probably jump on the newer, larger HD's, and therefore trade in their old 20 gigabyte HDs. That'd drive down the value of the used 20GB's, so you could pick up a stripped down 256mb 360, wait until it's almost full, then go to a GameStop or any sort of local used video game store (they tend to be cheaper than GameStop, because GameStop sucks- I worked there for 3 years).

[GhaleonOne]

I'll second what Lou said about upconverted DVDs. They look great! And I've already begun growing a collection of Blu-Ray movies. I can say that Planet Earth on Blu-Ray is absolutely gorgeous! I got the entire series for under $60 (12 full episodes I believe). Narnia looked awesome on it, Harry Potter, some of the IMax nature shows are awesome (Alaska was amazing), etc.

And FYI, Phyco, if you hit it at the right time, you can get Blu-Ray movies for 20 and under. I got all 5 Harry Potters for less than $100 total by waiting for sales. I've also bought Blu-Ray movies for as little as 15 on Amazon and by waiting for Best Buy to put some on sale. They haven't had as many lately, perhaps because of HD-DVD's demise, but I've seen a lot of good movies on sale for less than 20.

[phyco126]

Firefly will probably be released on Blu-Ray soon enough.

Serenity was already one of the first movies released in Blu-Ray format. KF

!!!!!!

Are you freaking serious?! Serenity is on Blu-Ray?! I knew HD DVD, but I didn't know for Blu-Ray. I gotta find it and buy it!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S ALSO ON UMD?! Dear god, I can't afford a PSP... screw it, serenity is worth it.

It'll complement my Special Edition and Standard Edition DVDs quite well. XD

Anyway, hopefully in the next 3 or 4 years Blu-Ray will be down to $5 for crap movies anyway. XD