Forums | MacLife

Hey, how many of y'all with the older 360 (the one with the holes in the tray) have had problems with them?

Though mine is still under the warranty, I somehow got one of these older ones when I purchased a 360 a few months ago. 

The drive is incredibly loud, but I haven't noticed any of the many problems I've read about yet (except constant disc access on old xbox games).

I'm just wondering if I should try to get a different one or if most have been without problems...

I've had a few disc read errors, but nothing too troublesome or consistent. Might be better to lay the unit flat; 'all' my errors have been with the unit vertical... drive is kind of noisy, but with earphones in, obviously not audible to me. Don't know offhand which orientation is better for heat, but the closer to the floor, the better. (Except for warranty reasons I'd open it up, carefully redo their heatsink attachments with a liquid metal compound and substitute primo fans. The design is probably alright, but a little marginal for mass [rapid] production. Those changes would probably make all the needful difference).

Anyhoo, some updateage...

Xbox Live Video Marketplace Unleashed

Xbox gets downloadable video on its first birthday

Microsoft announced earlier this month, Xbox Live Marketplace will now provide gamers with easy access to hundreds of full-length TV shows for download to own and movies for download to rent from CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, TBS, UFC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment with more content rolled out through Xbox Live Marketplace every week.

Examples of the download-to-own TV shows and download-to-rent movies available on the network on Nov. 22 include the following:

• "CSI," "CSI: Miami," "CSI: New York," "NCIS" and "Star Trek" from CBS
• "Chappelle's Show," "Drawn Together" and Emmy and Peabody award-winning "South Park" from COMEDY CENTRAL
• "Pimp My Ride" and "Punk'd" from MTV
• "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" from Nickelodeon
• "Skyland" and "Invader Zim" from Nicktoons Network
• "Chinatown," "Star Trek VII: Generations," "Patriot Games," "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," "The Sum of All Fears," "The Untouchables" and "We Were Soldiers" from Paramount Pictures
• "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," "Frisky Dingo," "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law," "Sealab 2021" and "The Venture Bros." from Turner Broadcasting
• Some of the most intense fights from Ultimate Fighting Championship
• "Breaking Bonaduce" and "Hogan Knows Best" from VH1
• "Perfect Storm," "Poseidon," The Shining," "Three Kings" and "V for Vendetta," as well as "The Nine" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" along with the CW show "Veronica Mars" from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Xbox 360 gamers in the U.S. can access Xbox Live Marketplace with a free Xbox Live Silver subscription or a paid Xbox Live Gold subscription and a broadband connection. High-definition TV shows will be 240 Microsoft Points per episode, and standard-definition TV shows will be 160 Microsoft Points per episode. New release movies in high definition will be 480 Microsoft Points, and standard- definition new release movies will be 320 Microsoft Points each. Classic feature films in high definition will be 360 Microsoft Points, and standard definition will be 240 Microsoft Points. After purchasing a high-definition TV show or movie, gamers can download the standard-definition version at no additional charge.

Microsoft Points can be purchased at retail or via Xbox Live. For example, gamers can get a 1,600 Points card at retail for $19.99 or 1,000 Points through Xbox Live for $12.50.

See Joystiq for more images from the service.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5037

Links in article.

Donkey Butter wrote:

if they offer splinter cell free with the xbox I may cave in and get one.  I was planning on getting one when Halo 3 comes out but splinter cell may have me buying a 360 sooner then I had planned.

I've boycotted all games that have in-game advertising with no consumer benefit

Earendil the Mariner wrote:

So that makes it...
$6 for a high-def new release rental ($4 for standard-def)
$4.50 for a regular high-def rental ($3 for standard-def)
$3 for a high-def TV show ($2 for standard-def)

I guess that's fairly competitive with iTunes, but not with my local video rental place.
And those high-def WMV files must be huge, and take forever to download.

I don't think it is fair to compare HD movie downloads on Marketplace with local video rentals for two reasons:

- Video rentals aren't on demand.
- Unless you are renting HDDVD or BlueRay movies, you aren't getting true HD.  I know there are DVD players that will upconvert to HD resolution, but the DVD source is still SD.  The reviews I've seen comparing HDDVD to upconverted DVD indicate the jump in quality isn't huge but it is noticeable.  Example:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/lastsamurai.html

IMO, aside from some slight MPEG compression artifacts, the movies i've seen on HBO-HD in 720p recorded and later replayed on my PVR cable box look much better than the same movies played in 480p on my non-upconverting DVD player.  I've tested The Island and Revenge of the Sith so far.

The only equivalent services available right now for on demand HD movies are from the cable/satellite companies that offer them.  iTunes doesn't offer movies in HD resolution for download as far as I know.  I have Adelphia with a hard drive PVR & HD service, and they don't offer any on demand movies in HD.  Their SD downloads are a more expensive (but only by a dollar) than what Microsoft is offering.  I'm not sure if other cable/satellite companies offer on demand HD movies, but in my area at least M$ has the market cornered.

What I'm really interested in and couldn't find any info on is the audio format for the downloaded movies.  I hope they don't convert all audio to Dolby Digital like they are doing with the HDDVD player software:

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/ … e-day.aspx

Unlike DVD, where typical players pass the audio data from the disc through to your receiver, HD DVD requires that players mix sounds from menus and such in with the audio being played for the movie.  The 360 player software decodes all the above codecs in software, mixes anything that needs to go together, re-encodes it into Dolby Digital and then sends that to your receiver.  So, don't be alarmed when your receiver still says "Dolby Digital" even if you've selected DTS in the menus.

I have a 6.1 setup and the rear center channel does make a difference in the movies that support it.

Can you download a purchase multiple times?

bratboy wrote:

Hey, how many of y'all with the older 360 (the one with the holes in the tray) have had problems with them?

Though mine is still under the warranty, I somehow got one of these older ones when I purchased a 360 a few months ago. 

The drive is incredibly loud, but I haven't noticed any of the many problems I've read about yet (except constant disc access on old xbox games).

I'm just wondering if I should try to get a different one or if most have been without problems...

Here ya go...

Quiet Your Xbox 360
Build-It: The Xbox 360 is one of the noisier console systems on the market, and the biggest culprit is the loud whirring of the optical drive during gameplay. We crack an Xbox 360 open to see if we can reduce the noise with a few minor adjustments.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1 … 860,00.asp

http://www.extremetech.com/slideshow/0, … 415,00.asp

» Microsoft Has Success With Xbox 360 Movie-TV Downloads

Despite a rocky launch with massive slowdowns in downloads for the first couple of days, Microsoft's addition of movie and TV episode downloads for the Xbox 360 console is showing signs of success. This Variety story reports that while exact figures have not been revealed, Hollywood studios are saying that video and TV downloads are doing as well or better on Xbox 360 consoles than similar services like CinemaNow, Movielink and Amazon's Unbox service, which are available on more widely available PC platforms. Analysts suggest that the Xbox 360's ease of use, its connection to TVs, and its support of HD downloads are part of the reason for its success. Even though it takes several hours to download an HD movie or TV episode via Xbox Live, the article states that more people choose the HD version over the standard version.

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsart … chid=13682