Major Nelson: Fix on the way for Xbox 360 1080p problems
By Richard Lawler 
posted Nov 6th 2006 11:41AM
posted Nov 6th 2006 11:41AM
Microsoft just rolled out the much awaited update to the Xbox 360 dashboard including -- among other things -- support for 1080p over VGA and component but for some gamers and error screen was all they got. The company still hasn't said exactly what it believe is causing the issue, although some have said it may be due to either frequency supported by the VGA cable or the way it syncs with monitors, but Major Nelson confirmed on his podcast this morning that engineers are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. The TVs that suffer the problem appear to be some Sony (most notably LCD XBRs) and Samsung models that should be able to accept the 1080p input but as of yet, don't. Affected owners should hopefully have their mere 720p experience rectified soon, but will it be in time for the HD DVD player launch?
Quick question:
Even if you have a 1080p tv, there isn't any 1080p content on the 360 right now, so everything is just being upconverted to 1080p. If you have a tv that does a good job with this, wouldn't it be better just to output the Xbox's 720p content as 720p and let the tv do the upconverting?
I have a 65" Mitsubishi 1080p DLP set and I noticed over the weekend that the 1080p patch didn't work for my set. I've noticed that this specific set hasn't received much attention tho'.
- a C r -
i also have a mitsu 65" 1080p (WD-65731) and the 1080p model on the xbox just brings up a black screen. 1080i works.
LOL! Xbox is a joke!
1080p over component is currently working with my 42" Westy (although Westy doesn't claim to support 1080p over component). I hope any fix doesn't break it.
Kevin,
Anyone who buys the HD-DVD drive should eventually benefit from the Xbox supporting 1080p. As far as games, I doubt we'll see any 1080p games anytime soon so you may be right. Users can just see for themselves, not that most people will be able to tell any difference.
Hey Big Sam,
We have the same tv!! Games look great on it at 720p. Can't wait for if/when games are made in 1080p so the Westy can really shine.
Why do you guys keep failing to mention that the Sharp's also are showing the VGA problem. The 37D90U in particular. Microsoft please include the sharp's in your fix.
I'm with you Jason I have the same HDTV and I can't get it to work as well. Are you using the Xbox 360 over component or the VGA to DVI adapter. I'm currently using it via the adapter but I'll give component a try before I do anything stupid.
Jason and Maverick-DBZ-, the Sharp 37D90U does not accept 1920 x 1080 RGB (analog) signals to it's DVI input, so using the XBOX 360's VGA cable with a VGA-DVI adapter will not work with this TV. There is nothing that can be done to the XBOX 360 to make this work; it's a limitation of this TV and it's DVI input. It has been confirmed by someone on the AVS Forum for the 37D90U that the TV does accept 1080p signals to it's component input(s), so try the XBOX 360 component cable instead.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=706466&page=28&pp=30
Actually there is 1080p content out on the 360 right now.
Dont try to fix it! It is worthless!
Question, I have a 2000 Mitsubishi 1080i 42" w/ a VGA input - any ideas what I might see in difference if I switch from the RGB to the VGA? I know I won't see 1080p - but I have an unusual 1080i w/ VGA.
Thanks!
What cable do you use for output? I have the component cables, will they handle a 1080 signal?
Ben you are incorrect as the DVI does accept an analog 1080p connection. I also frequent the AVS forums and even within that thread you quoted are pics with guys using there PC's and sending a 1080p signal via the DVI port. Don't spread misinformation the Sharps are a great display and deserve to have the full 1080p vga signal from the 360
I have a hp 6580 dlp tv it can do 1080p ,component ,vga, and hdmi. component is at 30 fps, Anyway i have the xbox 360 hd dvd and the vga cable, when i try to set the xbox to 1920 x 1080 the screen stays blank for the 10 sec. when i use the component cable it does the same thing when i try to pick the 1080p setting in the xbox menu. i have read that the 360 can not do 1080p through component but can with vga. i guess my question is are they still trying to fix the problem with the 360's 1080p issues, i think there are more tv's that wont work with the vga 1080p claim's than they know.
I won't hold my breath. Considering that I got the entire system for HD-DVD and not for gaming, I have a week before the refund policy expires. Then it's Blu-Ray for me. Believe me that a lot of people who got this drive last week will be doing the same thing.
people are so uninformed.
you will not get 1080p over COMPONENT on any tv. this is not an xbox issue.
I am right now. Who is misinformed?
With any of the DLP models of TVs it is not physically possible (in terms of the Mitsubishi's) to get a native 1080p resolution, currently, only LCD and plasma and LCos and D-ILA are the formats that can use native 1080p which is 1920 x 1080 scanned progressively. current DLp tvs only support an internal native resolution on their DMD of 960 x1080 but accomplishes 1920 x 1080p be a technique called wobulation (there are many articles that exist about this) if you look in the manuals of the Mitsu tvs you may or may not notice that on the video inputs, it only has 1080i, this is because other than the way the lines are scanned, it is the same resolution, I unfortunately before buying a WD-52627 did not know this and was very very disapoointed about finding out about it, but was relieved to know that no DLp TV can support a native 1080p signal (and please correct me if I am wrong, because there may be a newer model that does so. If so, please do not call me an idiot, I am simply explaining the technology, not the models available and their features, if you want a list of specs, go to a website and look em up like on cnet. anyway, I tried the same thing with my WD-52627 )which was the first 1080p tv that came out by mitsubish. Thus I do not believe that via component from Mitsubishi that you can utilitze the 1080p via component. The issue is that not all manufactureres will tell you due to the ACSS that exists on HD-DVDs, I recently bought some cables for my PS3 and guess what? They say that they support 1080p and yes, they are component. Seems like an evil mass conspiracy among the studios, manufacturers that make these decisions on a whim and affect us all and makes us run around frantically trying to sift through the ignorantnet to figure it out. I have also encountered reviews in which Mistubishi does not respond to questions regarding their TV, which begs the question, where is the support and even if it could accep 1080p via component, would they tell you due to legal/liability reasons? not to mentions "their offical stance" in other words, even if they knew, due to internal corporate confidentiality and proprietary info, they may not tell you.
Lastly, If you were able to utilize component on your tv to achieve 1080p hypothetically, you would have to use a high quality shielded cable such as provided by Monster, because only a high quality connectors etc. could effectively keep a HD signal over analog lines. One wicked idea is....... HOW ABOUT USING THE VGA CABLE THEN BUYING A VGA FEMALE TO HDMI CABLE? that may work on those TVs supporting only 1080p via HDMI vs. component and also if the tv does not have VGA like mine. Still mine does not support 1080p via HDMI anyway, so my question to you all is, if I were to take a 1080p connection would my TV downgrade it only to upconvert it again? And if so... would that still be better than 1080i due to the native signal coming in and how that is processed? If anyone can tell me, please do so.
I have an sony 50" sony sxrd (1080p).. I have an xbox 360, just installed the update, so the xbox 36o could be viewed in 1080p.. Im using HD componet cables and it will NOT work.. The screen stays blank for 10 seconds, then goes back to 1080i, microsoft stinks.
I have the Mitsubishi 73" DLP WD-73727. Got the 1080p update, but discovered after I tried to use 1080p and wasn't getting a signal that I can't see the 1080p signal with component video. However, I can't verify that I would be able to get 1080p using my HDMI connections either - the manual is very confusing... says 1080p DLP television, but does not say what connection to hook up a 1080p device with. HDMI doesn't mention 1080p as a supported signal either. Anyone have experience with this model television, or have the time to quickly look at this manual - http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/img/221144/WD-73727%20Owner's%20Guide.pdf - and tell me if it's worth my time buying converters to get this to work?
I'm driving a 37" Acer LCD TV at 1080p over Component from my xb360 with no problem whatsoever.
So I find it interesting indeed to hear that 1080p over Component isn't possible.
I'd better have a stern talking with my setup and tell it to stop doing the impossible, thankyouverymuch.
Damnable reality-ignoring electrical gear.
Question for you XBox360 experts:
Will the Xbox360 using only the built in DVD Drive(i.e no HD-DVD Drive connected) upconvert standard 480p DVDs to a higher resolution like 1080i or 1080p? I have a 1080p Westy LCD and would like to use my Xbox360 as a Upconversion DVD Player. Its not clear to me if the Xbox can do that w/o thr HD-DVD accessory.
Thanks for your help.
-Minesh
Hey ML,
I have the HD DVD drive add-on, and when I play DVDs on it the system automatically changes the 360's resolution to 480p to play the disc, and then switches it back to my selected resolution when I stop playback from the DVD for any reason. I was kind of hoping the same thing (that it would up-convert) even though I already have an upconverting DVD player. What I found is that even though the picture still looks great watching a DVD on the HD DVD, the upconverting player I have gives better black levels... though aside from that the playback is identical (resolution, etc.). Hope this helps. (Even though it currently doesn't upconvert your DVD collection - no saying they won't have an update to give it that functionality - I would still recommend picking one up. The picture on these discs is amazing, along with the sound and the interactive content. I am really impressed with what I've seen on HD DVD, and it's only the beginning.)
Thanks for the tip, are you using component cables or the VGA cable? This article seems to indicate that using the VGA cable will allow DVDs to be upconverted:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/09/21/xbox-360-hd-dvd-playback-maximum-1080i-via-component-1080p-vga/
"Even after the software upgrade this fall, via component cables, the Xbox 360 will still only upconvert DVDs to 480p, and will play HD DVD movies at a maximum resolution of 1080i. To get 1080p output for movies, you must use a VGA cable, which is not subject to the same copyright restrictions"
I have the 57" Mitsubishi 1080P and get a black screen when trying to go to 1080P. Rats...
My PS3 works great in 1080p, with the hdmi..
I have the 57" Mitsubishi 1080P and it plays 1080p just fine with the VGA cable. I use a VGA to DVI converter and i looks great on the tv. The DVDs are upconverted w/o the need of the HD-DVD player.