XBox 360 DVD drive and HD Drive


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ok so im getting a new tv and im trying to sort out all my AV equipment and i dont realy want a dvd player when my xbox can play them, what is the quility of the dvd player and does any body els use it as a main player.

second,

How good is the HD Drive as im getting a HD tv so was thinking about this

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The DVD player on the Xbox 360 is amazing. It is a very rare occasion that you get jumping on a disc. It also remembers the last point where you watched the DVD if you take it out and do something else (provided that you don't view another DVD).

As for the HD-DVD drive, I have no idea how good it is. I've heard a lot of praise on the Xbox Forums, so head on over to there.

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As for the HD-DVD drive, I have no idea how good it is. I've heard a lot of praise on the Xbox Forums, so head on over to there.

The HD-DVD drive works wonderfully. At least in my PC it does.

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I agree, the DVD player on the Xbox 360 is great. It's the only DVD player that I have in the house now as a result and I use it ALL the time.

I just got the HD-DVD addon for Christmas, and while I've only tried out the King Kong movie that it came with, it's amazingly quick to load and the picture quality is crystal clear. I don't think you'd be disappointed at all with it. Plus, having the two drives allows me to keep game discs in the main drive and use the HD-DVD drive for all movies (DVD and HD-DVD) and reduces the amount of disc swapping that I used to have.

All in all, I think it's well worth it.

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The Xbox will display DVDs in 480p over a component or VGA connection (that's the native dvd resolution, not upscaling). The fall update enabled the ability to upscale DVDs to HD resolution over the VGA connection only.

v0ltage789: I wouldn't be surprised if some of the higher-end players are capable of better picture quality, that is an advantage of designing the hardware around doing one specific task that the xbox 360 can't meet, but still, some of us, myself included, do think that the 360 does a decent job at playing DVDs without the need for 2 pieces of hardware.

Really, unless you have a need to have a seperate dvd player, or are a videophile, the xbox 360 should work out just fine for you.

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The Xbox will display DVDs in 480p over a component or VGA connection (that's the native dvd resolution, not upscaling). The fall update enabled the ability to upscale DVDs to HD resolution over the VGA connection only.

v0ltage789: I wouldn't be surprised if some of the higher-end players are capable of better picture quality, that is an advantage of designing the hardware around doing one specific task that the xbox 360 can't meet, but still, some of us, myself included, do think that the 360 does a decent job at playing DVDs without the need for 2 pieces of hardware.

Really, unless you have a need to have a seperate dvd player, or are a videophile, the xbox 360 should work out just fine for you.

Yea I mean, I just think it looks really bad, like washed out and grainy.. I am using component cables, maybe its my TV or something.

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the 360 hd dvd drive is great. I have it and am already up to 8 movies so far and I bought it around christmas. It was definately one of my best purchases, I only wish the 360 had hdmi so i could atleast enjoy the movies @ 1080p.

(tv doesn't accept 1080p w/ vga)

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the 360 hd dvd drive is great. I have it and am already up to 8 movies so far and I bought it around christmas. It was definately one of my best purchases, I only wish the 360 had hdmi so i could atleast enjoy the movies @ 1080p.

(tv doesn't accept 1080p w/ vga)

YOu should e able to play HD DVDs at 1080p through a composite cable as long as your TV supports that resolution over composite. I know that SONY TVs dont support 1080p over composite, they do it only over HDMI.

I so far have 10 HD DVDs and I love it, its way better than the upc-onverting dvd player I have.

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YOu should e able to play HD DVDs at 1080p through a composite cable as long as your TV supports that resolution over composite. I know that SONY TVs dont support 1080p over composite, they do it only over HDMI.

I so far have 10 HD DVDs and I love it, its way better than the upc-onverting dvd player I have.

You mean component. Very different.

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The HD-DVD drive works wonderfully. At least in my PC it does.

I've been thinking about doing that myself.. Just because i don't got the money for the xbox360 yet..

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Upconverted DVD's via VGA look AMAZING. If it wasn't for that, I probably would be buying the HD-DVD drive.

actually upconverted DVds are not exactly the same quality of originial HD-DVd source video that is displayed plus you dont get all the content the exstras and stuff as HD-DVd offers but agian DVD videos upscaled are not exactly the same quality as HD-DVd movies

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YOu should e able to play HD DVDs at 1080p through a composite cable as long as your TV supports that resolution over composite. I know that SONY TVs dont support 1080p over composite, they do it only over HDMI.

I so far have 10 HD DVDs and I love it, its way better than the upc-onverting dvd player I have.

yeah but i get the shaft for that too, a really nice 61' sony tv (kds-60a2000).. and only 1080p through hdmi.

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actually upconverted DVds are not exactly the same quality of originial HD-DVd source video that is displayed plus you dont get all the content the exstras and stuff as HD-DVd offers but agian DVD videos upscaled are not exactly the same quality as HD-DVd movies

I totaly agree. I have the Panasonic DVD-S97S which is one of the best upconverting DVD players. It cost me $220 to get it and it doesn't come close to the quality of the real HD DVD. Yeah its way better than the regular DVD player but HD DVD gives you so much more detail.

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actually upconverted DVds are not exactly the same quality of originial HD-DVd source video that is displayed plus you dont get all the content the exstras and stuff as HD-DVd offers but agian DVD videos upscaled are not exactly the same quality as HD-DVd movies

I know that, and that was never my point to begin with. I can go to Best Buy every week and buy a 4.99 DVD compared to a 24-30 dollar HD-DVD and enjoy some very nice quality. I'd much rather have 5-6 upscaled DVD's than one HD-DVD. If I want to watch HD movies, I'll use my HD DVR from my cable company.

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only when it's reading games at 12X, with movies it's really quiet...

Reading a disk for a movie PLAYING at 1x (Human Eye Watchable :p) spins at 1x? Is that correct?

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I know that, and that was never my point to begin with. I can go to Best Buy every week and buy a 4.99 DVD compared to a 24-30 dollar HD-DVD and enjoy some very nice quality. I'd much rather have 5-6 upscaled DVD's than one HD-DVD. If I want to watch HD movies, I'll use my HD DVR from my cable company.

using your HD-DVR unit from your cable provided is still not the quality of an HD-DVD as the the HD-DVR is Mpeg 2 based and while the quality is good it is upscaled or reencoded Mpeg 2 DVD, while HD-DVDs are VC1 content default HD codec and all from the original source tape not DVDs being copied to be reencoded to send to your DVR box. <<< that is for the Mpeg 2 e reenoced DVds on cable video streams is my understanding how they work atleast how Comcast and other companies do it

as for cost i know what you mean but. if you want best quality why not also you can rent like with blockbuster onlien and rent the HD-DVDs and pay only $18 for 3 movies out ata time then go to Blockbuster in store when doen and exchange them for 3 more while you wait for the new ones to arive in the mail.

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using your HD-DVR unit from your cable provided is still not the quality of an HD-DVD as the the HD-DVR is Mpeg 2 based and while the quality is good it is upscaled or reencoded Mpeg 2 DVD, while HD-DVDs are VC1 content default HD codec and all from the original source tape not DVDs being copied to be reencoded to send to your DVR box. <<< that is for the Mpeg 2 e reenoced DVds on cable video streams is my understanding how they work atleast how Comcast and other companies do it

as for cost i know what you mean but. if you want best quality why not also you can rent like with blockbuster onlien and rent the HD-DVDs and pay only $18 for 3 movies out ata time then go to Blockbuster in store when doen and exchange them for 3 more while you wait for the new ones to arive in the mail.

Not all HD channels do that. I have many shows/movies I watch that are recorded using HD cameras and are AMAZING in quality. I will admit that a native HD resolution kills anything that a regular dvd can do (I record music and edit video for a living), but I still prefer keeping my money. Also, the blockbuster/netflix idea is good, and actually I do have an amazing deal that BB doesn't give out anymore, just as long as I don't cancel my account. However there are other reasons why I don't rent them, and those reasons I won't announce online. :devil: Unless of course this becomes a little more mainstream

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I've been thinking about doing that myself.. Just because i don't got the money for the xbox360 yet..

Buy the drive and remove it from its case and slip it into your PC. There's some drivers for XP floating around that allows it to work wondefully. Picture quality is amazing.

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