Xbox 360 HD DVD drive hitting States for $200
By Paul Miller 
posted Sep 27th 2006 2:25PM
posted Sep 27th 2006 2:25PM
posted Sep 27th 2006 2:25PM
The percentage of sales people that recommend Samsung HDTVs.
Salespeople are also becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Anyone know if this drive will work in a PC? Perhaps a HTPC? Media center? I do not own an xbox and do not intend to buy one. Since it's just a USB HD-DVD drive it should work *in theory*. Be a great addition to my HTPC as the price right.
I am picking one up at this price for the 360 in the bedroom.
I'll wait till some people start reviewing the drive to see how well it performs on the 360. The current internal DVD and decoding software could use some work. If they improved that with the HD-DVD drive then I would definately pick one up.
clipped from AVS Forums
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8503607&&#post8503607
TheLion: Nevertheless I would just LOVE to get an answer to my question...PLEASE Amir...or at least a hint when we will get to know (hopefully before a geek is ripping the poor, little addon apart and does all kind of objectionable experimenting on it...)
AmirM: OK, simple answer is that we are not selling a drive. We are selling a complete HD DVD playback solution. And right now, all of our energy is focused on getting it working on the 360. We don't want to target the PC with it, without having tested it that way. The desire is there internally to market the drive for PC use but we simply don't have the bandwidth to do so (hard to imagine Microsoft being resource constrained but we are ).
TheLion: Thank you very much for the response. I understand that. I never expected Microsoft to officially support the HTPC usability of this drive/solution. But since it has physically a USB2 interface and possibly a drive inside with standard IDE/SATA interface it should be easy enough to make it recognizable for Vista driven PCs. Nobody expects a complete HTPC playback solution from MS with this drive. But to unofficially making it technically work as external USB2 drive for PCs (without any further support) would be a huge thing for the whole HD-DVD cause. So again, what will UNOFFICIALLY happen if you connect the drive to a MS Vista PC?
Taxidermista: Excuse me, if you don't mind... maybe the question can be asked (and who knows? answered) in reverse.
amirm, has Microsoft any particular desire in placing physical obstacles on the HD-DVD "add-on" to discourage potencial uses besides the intended one?
AmirM: Good question. Simply put, we have done nothing to make it difficult to use the drive on a PC.
CandyRocket786: Note to self..... must pickup extra 360 HD-Drive
Also on AVS Forum in the HD-DVD player forums
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8526455#post8526455
I'm interested in the following;
Given the following assumptions 1-4:
1) The drive is just a USB2 HD-DVD drive and can read HD-DVD just fine when connected to MCE2005/Vista and it is $200 or less.
2) Intervideo and/or Cyberlink HD-DVD playback software becomes readily available and is not prohibitively expensive
3) HDMI/DVI-HDCP video cards become readily available and you can walk into blah retailer and pick one up off the shelf.
4) cases 1-2-3 all actually work and allow fairly easy setup of an HD-DVD 1080P playback HTPC.
then the poll chioces are
94 votes thus far
33 (35.1%) [A] Would buy the Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon for use with my WINMCE2005/VISTA box
22 (23.4%) [B] Would buy the Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon for use with my Xbox 360
19 (20.2%) [C] Would buy one for both
20 (21.3%) [D] Don't care
Looks like Ben will be buying. ;)
LOL, yep. And although I wanted to wait a while, for $200 even I'll buy one. Including a movie (which I'll probably sell on eBay), the remote, plus a USB hub puts it over the top.
EdwardA stole my comment.
Looks like someone lost the bet.
Well that UK price is significantly better than the £199 that had previously been rumoured.
Regardless, I wont waste my money on an Xbox 360, so I cant see myself wasting £129.99 on an HD-DVD add-on ;)
So you get no advanced audio codecs, no HDMI, no 1080p except for VGA, all at the same price as the PS3 that supports (at least) Dolby TrueHD and HDMI 1.3? Okay...
Sweet. I'll wait until someone actually gets it working on a PC before I buy one. Good to know MS is not actively limiting it to just the xbox.
Do we really need a HDCP video card? I thought that they were keeping that open (the whole HD downrezzed on component thing) until 2010 or whatever. My video card has both DVI and component HD outs and is not HDCP. I currently use the component HD as my TV only has 2 HDMI already populated (one for cable STB, the other for my upscaling Denon DVD player).
Thanks!
Sure, a core+hddvd or premium+hddvd is the same price as a PS3.
But for those of us who are waiting out the next-gen format war, but who want a next-gen console now, having that $200 high-def charge be optional is quite nice.
I'm not planning on picking one up for my PC or my 360. I'd rather spend the money on games :)
Keep in mind, the Xbox 360 console will likely see a price drop soon anyway, this will keep the combined package of the 360 and HD-DVD drive lower than the Blunder-Beta-Ray equiped PS3 anyway. And the Media Center extender functionality and Xbox Live features of the 360 outweigh the PS3 on their own anyway.
I own an Xbox 360, and I'd like to see HD-DVD emerge as the dominant HD media format; spurred on by sales of this add-on. However, I must agree with those that say the Xbox 360 lacks the fundamental hardware necessary for TODAY'S HD media.
Yes, it's good that the add-on is an "option", and that those interested in only gaming can opt out of it. This is an advantage that Xbox has over Sony. However, for those (like me) who want to use our Xbox for gaming AND HD-DVD, this add-on leaves a lot to be desired.
Think about this: As an excuse for not having HDMI, Microsoft says that only a relatively tiny group of people have HDTVs, and that an even smaller number have HDMI equipped TVs. Smaller still are the numbers of people with 1080P TVs. This is all very true.
But chances are; the tiny tiny number of us who would be interested in the HD-DVD add-on are the tiny tiny number that have the few HDMI equipped 1080P TVs. I can imagine that those that don't have the necessary hardware won't be interested in the add-on anyway.
So for us; the few people with advanced TVs and sound systems who'd like to use our gaming systems for HD movies as well; the PS3 MIGHT make more sense. I for one will be buying this add-on, and NOT buying the PS3. However, I will always be looking over my shoulder, because I know the grass isn't just greener on the other side, it also looks & sounds better.
Most of this arguing seems senseless. The difference between 1080i and p on a set that correctly and fully displays 1080i are nearly indecipherable according to several sources.
The ICT is the only wildcard, but all indicators are that companies won't be invoking this in the near future, so by the time the ICT matters, better and much cheaper players will be available.
Also, chances are that the video playback on the 360 add-on and the PS3 will be sub-par when compared to dedicated players.
The only difference is that it looks like you will be able to configure your PC to interact with the drive, which gives it an edge in my book. Since my old HDTV doesn't have HDMI connectors, doesn't matter to me.
Just wondering... What would prevent MS from creating a USB to HDMI connector?
Because USB to HDMI connector is impossible. Completely different protocol for completely different purposes. USB to HDMI adapter box is possible (although it won't be cheap) but USB to HDMI connector is never going to happen.