Base PS3 Lacks HDMI

[Woochifer]

I was waiting for your reply.
I actually don't disagree with the 2 tier system release. However, MS got it right on the money (in my opinion) and Sony got it wrong. Here is why. With the 360 there is no native HD-DVD player. As you correctly pointed out in our earlier "debate" that the 360 does not offer HDMI support.

Well, I don't like either company's approach to this. The $300 base X360 is so stripped down that hardly anyone buys it from what I've heard, so realistically the X360 is a $400 gaming console. However, if they really want to make a play for market share, all they have to do is lower the price of the full featured unit to $300 right around the time that the PS3 gets introduced, and this has been speculated all over the place. It seems that the base PS3 is more functional than the base X360, but at $500, it had better be.

HOWEVER, with the lower priced PS3 there is NO chance for HDMI support down the road. I think you hit the nail on the head that Sony is trying to stave off a run for a "cheap" Blu-Ray player.

Well, that's pure speculation on both of our parts. I think that Sony's caught in rough spot because they're trying to launch two platforms at roughly the same time, with one (Blu-ray) trying to maintain a high profit margin at launch, and the other (PS3) willing to subsidize hardware costs to recoup market share.

Without knowing anything about how the player is connected or what outputs are provided, I'm not so sure that there's NO chance for a HDMI connection with the base PS3. If an add-on option is offered, I'm sure Sony will make it worth their while ($$$).

With the 360 HD-DVD add-on player both the lower (core) and higher (premium) can enjoy HDMI connection. Currently there is not confirmation as to HDMI support or not for the add-on player.

Frankly, it would be stupid of them not to include a HDMI connection with the HD-DVD player because those high res audio formats require the HDMI 1.3 connection in order to output the audio without a downconversion.

IF MS puts HDMI 'outs' on the stand alone player, it will be a winner. Still cheaper than the premium Sony, and offer HDMI that some people are looking for.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I think at this point MS may have a lead, and if they can get the HD-DVD player out on time for the hoildays, it is a no-brainer buy for $100 (speculated)

But, the problem is if the HD video from the gaming does not go through whatever HDMI output might be provided through an add-on player. Would this entail having to use two separate video outputs from the same player? Or would the output require a redundant analog-to-digital-to-analog conversion that degrades the video signal?

If the add-on is indeed $100, then it might be a good buy, that is if the HD-DVD format can maintain the limited studio support that it has garnered to this point. Blu-ray has much more extensive studio support (all the majors except Universal are on board), and that advantage very well might be the dealbreaker for HD-DVD. Plus, Blu-ray will support 1080p right away.

Also the article that I referenced in the above article was pretty interesting. It does show that Sony is having some trouble. By now they should have had the HDMI connected, and running. Production will take at least 6 mo. to get adequte supplies to market. If they don't have it running by now, there are some problems. I think that was the gist of the article.

I've read elsewhere that mass production will start up in late-summer, and that should allow plenty of time for the PS3 to include the final HDMI 1.3 specs. I'm pretty sure that there will be problems at the outset, just as there have been on the X360. That's why I don't plan to buy a PS3 right when they come out. There won't be a lot of PS3 games at that point anyway.

If anything, the wild card in all this very well might be the Nintendo Wii. Sony might have stolen some of Nintendo's thunder by also including a motion-sensitive controller, but the Wii seems to have a lot of buzz on its side because of that two-handed motion controller and the lower costs on both hardware and software development (about 1/3 what it costs to develop games on the PS3 and X360).