Report: Xbox 360 to get Blu-ray drive

[Randomus]

I just posted the article Report: Xbox 360 to get Blu-ray drive.

Speculation over a possible Blu-ray drive add-on for the Microsoft Xbox 360 have floated around since the Toshiba-backed HD DVD format died in January. Numerous unconfirmed reports have popped...

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/15112-Report--Xbox-360-to-get-Blu-ray-drive.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/15112-Report--Xbox-360-to-get-Blu-ray-drive.html)

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Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.

[Randomus]

I’ll believe it when I see it!

CES obviously receives a lot of publicity from international media and bloggers, but I think trying to have something to compete with Sony this holiday season would make sense.

And then Ballmer can still hype the Blu-ray drive during CES.

(Of course, this is assuming the rumor is true, and the Xbox 360 will be getting a Blu-ray drive.)

[Crabbyappleton]

I have read the XBox cannot decode Bluray as it does not have the power to do so as it was built for games not movies. If this is the case, then the “external drive” will need to have a built in decoder. I wonder if the drive would be possible at the price point mentioned in this article - 100 to 150 dollars. Or possibly, this is “one” of the problems…

[Zod]

Xbox had enough power to decode HD-DVD, and deep down inside they use h264 in both. Actually old blurays used mpeg2 didn’t they, so they even need less power. 360 has plent of power to decode blu-ray. BTW I won’t believe this until i see it either, this article looks like all the other ones claiming a bluray addon, but offers no proof or source.

[Crabbyappleton]

Bluray= Data transfer rate 36 to 48 MBPS average - capable of up to 54
HD DVD= 36 MBPS (Megabits per Second)

It is my understanding that the Xbox struggled to decode HDDVD - it did it- but it was barely able to. Perhaps a resident expert here can tell us for sure. I am not sure of the capabilities of an Xbox and how well it can decode Bluray in software. (or HD DVD for that matter)
My feeling is that thhis is one reason that we have not seen a Bluray external drive as MS would not want to admit that the PS3 could do something the Xbox could not. Having said that- if this was true- you would think Sony would be crowing about it, so i do not know for sure what is true.

[guest]

I’m going to say this sounds like B/S. The 360 has more than enough power to decode Blu-Ray but I don’t think Microsoft will bother with a format that still is a failure even though it outlived HD-DVD. Blu-Ray sales are a joke so why waste development costs on a format that will die long before it’s preceeding format.

[FreqNasty_RiseS]

Maybe it’s because certain game developers, notably ID, have said they can’t fit their upcoming game onto one dual layer disc. This might become a more common problem in the next couple of years as developers release more extravagent games. I did read the next dashboard update will allow games to be saved to the hard drive. Good move.

[Grrrrl]

Yes but they can still fit more data on one disc, that’s a benefit for sure!

[psychoace]

Uh what could be the factor in botched playback is that the drive was crap. A system like the xbox 360 with a high end gpu and 3 cpu’s can easily handle the load but if the drive is like any other xbox 360 drive it compromises on quality. So just hope the drive is good on this one cause the usb cable can handle 480Mbs and the system can handle the decoding (remember it also upconverts reg dvd’s to 1080p) the bottleneck is the drive.

[Randomus]

Got a “no comment” response from Microsoft representatives, as expected.

[Zod]

I don’t think bluray has been around long enough to be a failure yet? Early DVD adoption wasn’t much faster. Once the masses have adopted HDTV’s and bluray prices fall, it seems like it would catch on to me? There’s no rush to replace bluray, it does 1080p quite well, and for anything to need a higher resolution, that average TV size is going to have to superbig. I think that gives bluray quite a long time frame to exist.