BigKid.com.au

Only Microsoft can make a failure into good publicity for their console. They must have been getting plenty of publicity over the last month.

In short… If Microsoft could be bothered we’d have HD support. They quote sales numbers but don’t take in to account that some folks may not have bought an XBox because they were holding off to see just what it’s HD support was like.

Now the XBox is a nice unit but they’ve been advertising it all along as HD capable. The Connexant chip in it is certainly capable of outputing the needed resoultions.

Their claim that, “The HDTV pack does not enable HDTV in Australia since the highest resolution in Australia is 480i”, is total rubbish as anyone at all involved with HD in Australia would know.

You have to also love, “The progressive scan modes aren’t enabled on the Australian system, so you can’t get to the level of expected benefit here.” So ENABLE them already!

Provide us with a patch that loads to the internal HD or something so that they can be enabled. It really can’t be that hard.

OK I’m not Joe Norm but I’ve got access to a HD capable projector (only bit I actually own), scan converter, HD settop box, and a HD capable VCR. You have to love having a brother whose an engineer at CH9. :)

The absolute best image I have been able to get out of the XBox is by putting it through the scan converter. The problem is I shouldn’t have to do that, the XBox should do the scan conversion internally. It has everything onboard it needs to do it. In fact it should be able to do a better job then the external scan converter I’m using.

As for the US standard vs ours… My projector takes what you throw at it. I could care less if it’s outputting a US standard. I’d imagine that is the case for most HD capable sets sold here as well.

I’m just glad my brother paid for the thing and not me or I’d be even more peeved then I am now. The “customers could swap the pack for an Avanced AV pack and a free game” grates a bit too. How about “customers can return the XBox and all related peripherals and games for a full refund because it doesn’t perform as we advertised”.