Just purchased an HD-DVD drive for my xbox 360


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Got approved for a new credit card yesterday...so now what... maybe I should go spend some money I don't have yet.

Purchased a 32" HDTV a few weeks back, and thought I should get an HD-DVD drive to experience some movies in High Definition. If you already own an xbox 360 you really can't beat the price of the HD-DVD drive add-on. This thing has already been out for awhile with plenty of reviews so I'm going to make this short and sweet with just some pros and cons that I see:

Pros:

* Easy to setup

* Plays back HD-DVD discs

* Plays back DVD discs. I really like this as I like the DVD playback features of the 360 and the upscaling it does for my VGA cable makes a really good quality image. At the same time, I didn't like how I was constantly using my game disc drive for DVDs as I am always worried about putting in a dirty disc or just wearing out the drive prematurely.

* Comes with a remote (although I already had purchased one prior to getting the drive).

* Comes with 2 USB 2.0 ports. It uses one USB port on your XBox 360, so in the end you are only up 1 USB port.

* There is a notch to connect the WiFi adapter as the HD-DVD drive stole my WiFi adapter's USB port. Although I am of the opinion that Microsoft should have given us more USB ports in the back of the 360 from the beginning..oh well.

* Scanning controls work as well as they do with DVD playback (which is perfect).

* The drive will work on a PC with Windows, apparently.

Cons:

* On my 32" LCD HDTV @ 720p I wouldn't call the difference between DVD and HD-DVD very dramatic. I can see the difference, don't get me wrong.... I just didn't think the difference was as dramatic as I was hoping for. The difference between broadcast SD and broadcast HDTV is huge. Differences between DVD playback and HD-DVD playback is not so big. I think that the differences may be more apparent on a larger HDTV with a higher contrast ratio. My contrast ratio is 800:1 BTW. Anyway, I would compare the difference between HD-DVD and DVD to 5.1 surround vs 2.1 stereo. Nerds and entertainment center enthusiast might get excited, while everyone else will just roll their eyes at it.

* Came with a crappy movie. I would have preferred a better movie or even better yet, no movie and a cheaper price tag.

* With currently no HDMI output option for the 360, the setup is "crippled" compared to other HD-DVD and Bluray players. Although at my 720p resolution, I doubt there would be much difference. People who have already laid down the cash for a nice big 1080p set may want to lay down a little more cash for a standalone player with true 1080p digital output (HDMI).

* No zoom image option in HD-DVD playback like there is in DVD playback. I like to zoom the 16:9 movies a few clicks to fill my 16:10 screen in DVD playback. Why isn't the option there for HD-DVD playback?

* The design of the drive isn't very good. It has the same colors as the XBox 360, but isn't shaped the same way. The face of the drive is this dark grey while the xbox 360's face is white. They could have made it look a lot better if the style of the hd-dvd drive mimicked the style of the XBox 360 a little better. I've hidden my HD-DVD drive on the shelf that has my DVD's on it (luckily the USB cord was long enough). When the two are side-by-side they don't look as good as I thought they did looking at pictures on the net because the HD-DVD drive has its own slightly different style.

* The interface in the XBox 360 console is kind of weird. I thought they would have 2 bars, one for the standard drive the other for the HD-DVD drive. Instead there is a single bar that has a circle next to it where you have to select which drive to "look at." It is functional, but not how I would have designed it.

* Can't use the drive to play game discs. This would be a really nice feature for users who are having problems with their console's disc reader and their 360 is out of warranty.

Yup... i'm glad I purchased the drive even though I seem to have more cons than pros. But thought I'd share my thoughts with everyone who may be considering the drive.

-Shadrack

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* Came with a crappy movie.

Are you referring to King Kong as Crappy?

That movie is the BEST PQ on HD DVD and a VERY GOOD movie I feel!!!

No zoom image option in HD-DVD playback like there is in DVD playback. I like to zoom the 16:9 movies a few clicks to fill my 16:10 screen in DVD playback. Why isn't the option there for HD-DVD playback?

There is Zoom on WB movies.

+++ MAJOR CON - BluRay is Winning the format war right Now!

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Are you referring to King Kong as Crappy?

That movie is the BEST PQ on HD DVD and a VERY GOOD movie I feel!!!

There is Zoom on WB movies.

+++ MAJOR CON - BluRay is Winning the format war right Now!

Keep the Sony bashing in the other thread, we don't want a gang of morons bitching in this thread as well.

As for the HD-DVD and Blu-ray, people have said that the difference between DVD and HD 720p isn't that much, but the difference of DVD compared to HD 1080i/1080p is.

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* With currently no HDMI output option for the 360, the setup is "crippled" compared to other HD-DVD and Bluray players. Although at my 720p resolution, I doubt there would be much difference. People who have already laid down the cash for a nice big 1080p set may want to lay down a little more cash for a standalone player with true 1080p digital output (HDMI).

I get 1080p with VGA.

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We know that, but VGA isn't a digital connection.

You are acting as if it isnt 1080p. I gurnatee you if a 360 had HDMI and you watched something in 1080p over HDMI, and then someone switched it to vga you wouldnt see a difference.

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Cons:

* On my 32" LCD HDTV @ 720p I wouldn't call the difference between DVD and HD-DVD very dramatic. I can see the difference, don't get me wrong.... I just didn't think the difference was as dramatic as I was hoping for. The difference between broadcast SD and broadcast HDTV is huge. Differences between DVD playback and HD-DVD playback is not so big. I think that the differences may be more apparent on a larger HDTV with a higher contrast ratio. My contrast ratio is 800:1 BTW. Anyway, I would compare the difference between HD-DVD and DVD to 5.1 surround vs 2.1 stereo. Nerds and entertainment center enthusiast might get excited, while everyone else will just roll their eyes at it.

That's because your 360 was already upconverting your DVD movies, so it is expected that the difference isn't as jaw-dropping as you would expect from a standard DVD playback to HD-DVD playback.
* Came with a crappy movie. I would have preferred a better movie or even better yet, no movie and a cheaper price tag.
I actually enjoyed King Kong. I thought it was a great movie and it is an excellent choice to show off HD quality movies in terms of PQ.
* With currently no HDMI output option for the 360, the setup is "crippled" compared to other HD-DVD and Bluray players. Although at my 720p resolution, I doubt there would be much difference. People who have already laid down the cash for a nice big 1080p set may want to lay down a little more cash for a standalone player with true 1080p digital output (HDMI).
Yeap, exactly why I'm selling my current 360 for the newer version that will have HDMI. Also, you won't really notice a difference between 720p and 1080p unless your screen size is 42"+ more. You'll notice it more and more as you increase screen size.
* No zoom image option in HD-DVD playback like there is in DVD playback. I like to zoom the 16:9 movies a few clicks to fill my 16:10 screen in DVD playback. Why isn't the option there for HD-DVD playback?
Your TV should have some sort of zoom option. It's usually called "Zoom" or "Aspect" or something along those lines on the remote itself. Depends on the quality of the TV though, I guess.
* The design of the drive isn't very good. It has the same colors as the XBox 360, but isn't shaped the same way. The face of the drive is this dark grey while the xbox 360's face is white. They could have made it look a lot better if the style of the hd-dvd drive mimicked the style of the XBox 360 a little better. I've hidden my HD-DVD drive on the shelf that has my DVD's on it (luckily the USB cord was long enough). When the two are side-by-side they don't look as good as I thought they did looking at pictures on the net because the HD-DVD drive has its own slightly different style.
I agree, I think the drive is pretty ugly. I don't like how much grey is on there and, to me, it looks "fat". Meh, just asthetics though, I wouldn't care as long as HD-DVDs looked good on it.
* The interface in the XBox 360 console is kind of weird. I thought they would have 2 bars, one for the standard drive the other for the HD-DVD drive. Instead there is a single bar that has a circle next to it where you have to select which drive to "look at." It is functional, but not how I would have designed it.
I actually like it, I think it's a clever idea. Remember, if they would have used two bars side-by-side then it'd be awkward for those that have the HD-DVD player on the "opposite" side of their 360 than it is on-screen. Two bars on top of each other, I think, would make the interface look at lot more cluttered and confusing.
* Can't use the drive to play game discs. This would be a really nice feature for users who are having problems with their console's disc reader and their 360 is out of warranty.
This is personal preference. I guess it would be nice, but I think costs (in terms of the software dev required to enable the HD-DVD player to play game discs) would go up. I think it makes more sense this way anyway since you can stick to playing movies on one drive and not have to take out your games on the console itself. Makes for a lot less effort required, IMO, in terms of switching discs all the time.

Also.. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I remember reading that you can't PAUSE movies. WTH? That's ridiculous if you ask me. I pause movies all the time (answer phone, get food, talk, etc) and this would be a huge nuisance if true, so I hope it's not. Bleh, maybe a software update would fix it, but doesn't matter to me either way because I'm not shelling out money on a next-gen disc player until I know what the fate of either format is. Plus, with the countless ways to download movies in HD now, I really don't see a point.

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You are acting as if it isnt 1080p. I gurnatee you if a 360 had HDMI and you watched something in 1080p over HDMI, and then someone switched it to vga you wouldnt see a difference.

That is yet to be seen :/. On my 720p television you are probably right. Is VGA an option with the PS3? Has anyone compared the image between HDMI and VGA w/ a Blu-ray disc yet?

On my 1280x1024 19" monitor for my computer I can tell a difference between VGA and DVI connections. The DVI has more defined edges especially with text that is black on white.

With video I can't really tell a difference at all, so you are probably right in your assertion that the differences would be pretty marginal.

Still, I stand by my statement that it is yet to be seen in practice.

+++ MAJOR CON - BluRay is Winning the format war right Now!

I hate to respond to this as I don't want this to become a thread of Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD or 360 vs PS3 BUT...

As far as selection of movies go, the two formats are pretty much at par with each other. As far as quality goes the two formats are pretty much at par with each other, from what I've seen anyway. When it comes to the price, HD-DVD players are currently cheaper than the Blu-Ray players. When it comes to advertisements I see more things advertised to be available for Blu-Ray than HD-DVD when I watch the boob tube.

Ultimately, I'm afraid that what is advertised the most aggressively has the best chance of winning this format war. However, we could end up seeing both formats do well in the market for several years with out either one dominating the other. If this happens it won't be too long until we see hybrid players coming out and at that point no one will really care.

-shad

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I got one over here in the UK when it very first came out, I still love it myself!

Compared to DVD in my 360 I deffo notice the difference on my 26" 720p TV, I feel imo the picture isn't that much sharper than the upscaled DVD, however the colors are alot more vibrant, no distorsions in the darker areas of the TV and I really like the interactive menu system.

I've got King Kong with it too, however it hasn't even come out of its shrink rap :p I can understand why you're happy with your purchase there even though there are more cons, really the cons with the drive arn't really massive problems (Except HDMI obviously, but dosn't really matter that much for 720p TV's) The system as a whole seems very reliable! I've never tried Blu-Ray myself, however I kinda wish either one of the formats would win already, or the film companies take Warner & Paramounts tactic of releasing all their movies on both.. Unlike damn companies like Universal, Sony and Fox to name a few...

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We know that, but VGA isn't a digital connection.

So? You realize the only difference is the content protection on HDMI, right?

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