Amir Majidimehr, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices Division has revealed that the recently announced Xbox 360 Elite console
will not be HDMI 1.3 compliant, unlike Sony's PlayStation 3. Instead the X360 Elite will be complaint with the HDMI 1.2 specification.
This will mean that Xbox 360 Elite owners will miss out on lossless multi-channel HD DVD audio formats like Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD if they're using the HD DVD add-on drive. Instead, lossless audio tracks will be
down mixed in the same way that they already are on the Core and Premium versions of Xbox 360.
Majidimehr admitted that if you want to experience lossless audio formats in HD DVD movies, you're going to have to look elsewhere.
"If you are keen on having 5.1 PCM output, I recommend purchasing the Toshiba A2 player which after the price drop, will be much cheaper than Elite."
However, he did say that the X360 Elite's HDMI port will support 2-channel PCM audio.
"Our goal was to provide a digital connection for video which people wanted for some of their TVs. And of course, single cable A/V connection. So if having analog video bothered you before, you can now use digital. If you lacked component/VGA on your TV, you are in business with Xbox 360 Elite."
He also revealed that you won't be able to select the output video format yourself with the console connected via HDMI. This is because the connection relies on a handshake with your TV in order to select what it deems the appropriate RGB/YUV settings.
