One of the secret pleasures of having a decent home cinema system is running games through it. Hook up a PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube or Xbox, – or in our case, all three – and you can enjoy a spectacular audiovisual experience.
Unfortunately, existing systems have never really kept pace with the home theatre revolution. Sure, it's possible to illegally-modify an Xbox in order to squeeze a 720p output (from a handful of games) and install a cannibalised version of Microsoft's Media Center, but the solution is far from ideal.
Thankfully, the first next-gen console to hit the market intends to reverse the trend. Not only does the Xbox 360 output 720p and 1080i high-definition pictures straight from the box through component, but it's also a fully-rounded piece of home entertainment kit, and the clearest example yet of Microsoft's intent to effect global home convergence via its Windows Media Center platform.
The company has managed to gazump Sony and its forthcoming PlayStation 3 by more than half-a-year.
With Nintendo keeping tight-lipped over release dates for the Revolution (rumoured to be sometime in 2007), there's a great opportunity for the 360 to seriously advance Microsoft's ambitions.
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| Xbox 360 comes in two different flavours: vanilla, and Core System. |
Aesthetically, this machine is certainly geared more for living room use than its predecessor. Gone is the geeky, un-friendly black behemoth look of the first Xbox. Instead, this is mostly off-white, with the sides and DVD tray in glistening silver, and sleekly styled. It's much smaller too, and can be stood upright or laid horizontal. The 360 is available in two versions: the basic Core package priced at $499.95, and shipped without a hard drive, and the Deluxe edition, at $649.95. With the latter, there's no prospect of ugly wire trails from the front, as the controller (only one is supplied in the box) is wireless. Opt for the cheaper package and your controller is tethered.
The model offers limited customisation. The faceplate can be changed using optional, additional designs, including our favourite – teak panelling.
Around the back of the machine is a proprietary AV slot to plug in whatever connectivity is suitable for your display. Currently, there are no plans to allow for digital video connections (DVI or HDMI), which means the machines rely on analogue cables to deliver HD pictures.
Supplied with the Deluxe HD version of the machine is an interconnector with component and composite video outputs and analogue stereo jacks, although a VGA lead and RGB Scart are available separately. As with the original Xbox, digital audio support is provided, and the 360 will be able encode 5.1 digital surround on the fly.
Incidentally, the Dolby Digital experience from Xbox games should prove superior to the 5.1 heard on commercial DVDs. Most discs have a ceiling of 448kbps. Xbox games can utilise extra space in the codec (fully compatible with existing Dolby Digital hardware) up to 640kbps. Nice.
The only other connectivity (apart from the proprietary memory unit slots on the front, which will remain largely unused with a hard drive installed) is an Ethernet port for connection to either a PC or broadband router and a USB 2.0 input for media archiving purposes.
It is these latter sockets which, alongside the in-built Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g), are of the most interest to home entertainment buffs. While there are future plans to introduce 720p and 1080i upscaling for conventional DVDs to the 360, it's currently only progressive scan-enabled for movie watching; not likely to replace any conventional kit then. But the fact that this console doubles as a media centre extender is very exciting indeed, especially as no Microsoft extenders have been available in Australia before. When connected via Ethernet or Wi-Fi to a PC running Windows XP or MCE 2005, the Xbox 360 allows you to stream video, TV, music and on-demand movies stored on your PC's hard drive. It can even stream high-definition content, although only via Ethernet due to the bandwidth required.
