Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Microsoft announced this week the release of the Xbox 360 Elite. For $480, you can buy a supercharged version of the Xbox 360, with a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable and a 120 GB hard drive. These features are not geared towards gamers, but rather are an attempt to make the Xbox more attractive as a media center extender for high definition content. The Xbox 360 Elite offers the both the capability of streaming HD content from a Vista Media Center (and keep it digital) and the ability to purchase high definition content from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

It is not a coincidence that a Xbox with a HDMI-out was released about the same time as CableCARD-ready media centers became available to consumers. Users can now take advantage of keeping content completely digital while employing the Xbox as an extender of their Vista media center. This was not possible with the first generation of the Xbox 360, which only had an analog connection. In addition, the Xbox 360 is the only available extender for your CableCARD content until this holiday season, when more Media Center Extenders are scheduled to be released by third-party vendors.

The larger hard drive essentially lets you buy stuff from Microsoft, specifically the Xbox Live Marketplace, which offers a wide variety of video content from gaming and movie trailers to television programs and HD movie rentals. The whole point for the larger hard drive is for Microsoft to sell your movies and TV shows and have them stored on your Xbox. Microsoft is also pushing more digital content and is signing agreements with studios to release content via the Xbox Live Marketplace. From Missingremote.com:

Further capitalizing on the success it has seen with Xbox LIVE, one of the leading distributors of high-definition gaming and entertainment content in the living room, Paramount Pictures, for the first time on Xbox LIVE, will offer its feature films for download in high definition. Available titles will include “Braveheart,” “Team America: World Police,” “World Trade Center” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” Also, for the first time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing its direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox LIVE simultaneous with their availability on DVD, starting with “Sublime” and later “Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.”

This new Xbox is the next step for Microsoft’s bid to ingrain itself in your living room. If you are not interested in using the media capabilities of the Xbox 360, stick to one of the cheaper versions.