facebook rss twitter

Xbox 360 set for official 3D update

by Stephen Coleman on 31 August 2011, 11:41

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa623

Add to My Vault: x

According to a report on msxbox-world.com, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is set to receive a stereoscopic 3D update that will help put the Xbox on an even keel with Sony's rival Playstation 3.

The update, said to be made available in a matter of days, will initially offer stereoscopic 3D in a range of titles including Batman: Arkham City, Gears of War 3 and Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary.

The site's also carrying a snapshot of the Xbox 360 dashboard that reads: “Enable 3D to use stereoscopic 3D in games and experiences that support it.”

We're not quite sure which experiences Microsoft has in mind, but this could suggest that the Xbox 360 will deliver 3D multimedia from a library of content providers that includes Sky, ESPN and Netflicks.

Source: msxbox-world.com

HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Posted by directhex - Wed 31 Aug 2011 14:44
So long as it works on old non-HDMI consoles.
Posted by s_kinton - Wed 31 Aug 2011 15:13
directhex
So long as it works on old non-HDMI consoles.

I thought you need a HDMI 1.4 cable? At least thats what the PS3 states. Not sure whether other connection types will have the bandwidth for it…hmmm
Posted by Terbinator - Wed 31 Aug 2011 15:15
s_kinton
I thought you need a HDMI 1.4 cable? At least thats what the PS3 states. Not sure whether other connection types will have the bandwidth for it…hmmm

The PS3 doesn't have 1.4 HDMI spec though ;)
Posted by Irien - Wed 31 Aug 2011 15:49
I believe HDMI 1.4 is only needed for the “best” 3D formats (ie. highest resolutions for each of the two frames). Some of the 3D formats (possibly side-by-side, although it is a while since I checked) use the standard bandwidth etc but composite the stereoscopic frames into one frame, resulting in loss of resolution. However, some say this loss is much less noticable than one would think…

These “lesser” formats are possible on older HDMI interfaces, since essentially the output is the same as normal - the TV just has to recognise the format and handle it appropriately.

As for non-HDMI support… I don't believe any TVs support 3D over anything else. I suspect it could be achieved over the non-digital connections (in a similar lossy way as described above) but the TV would need to support that, and I don't *think* any TVs support 3D over analogue. About the only 3D effects possible for analogue inputs are the artificial ones that some TVs support to “3D-ise” 2D content.
Posted by directhex - Wed 31 Aug 2011 16:19
s_kinton
I thought you need a HDMI 1.4 cable? At least thats what the PS3 states. Not sure whether other connection types will have the bandwidth for it…hmmm

Declaring 3D support requires HDMI. Buy you can just send side-by-side images (halving the resolution) down the wire, and set the TV to manual 3D mode. As long as the console can transmit SxS 3D, it'll work over Component. In theory.

SEE NEWER »