me want!

Microsoft Xbox 360, Microsoft Xbox 1, and Nintendo WII.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=748426&page=1&pp=30

Read the thread. U-Control is not working properly yet that I can tell, but iHD/IME is working it seems. Also this setup was with HDCP video card and HDCP LCD monitor. The Cyberlink HD-DVD/Blu-ray advisor shows it passing the HDCP check to the monitor properly. The main point though is that you cannot get 1080P HD-DVD playback on PC yet. But with proper software you probably could. You CAN definitely playback current movies but only at 960x540P until Cyberlink or Intervideo releases new software.

I wouldn't call it a hack. There is no real hacking needed at all to get this working. Just knowledge about Windows XP, software installation and hardware compliancy.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8880622&&#post8880622

Thank You MadPoet for the confirmation of it working and what was needed.
Thank You CandyRocket786 for the great tips especially on how to order WinDVD8 Platinum from Japan!.
Thank You Monkeyboy1010 for the Blueprint UDF 2.5 driver for XP.
Thank You Microsoft and Toshiba for HD-DVD, the Xbox 360, All the great software (looking forward to Vista) and the Addon! Special thanks to AmirM and the MS AVS presence
Thank You Universal/Warner/Paramount for giving us awesome HD-DVD's
Thank You AVS for all the great information and for the Circuity City coupon bringing the total price down to $173 for the HD-DVD addon + king kong HD-DVD + remote

Link to Circuit City Coupon.

Below is a link to CandyRocket786's guide for ordering


CONFIRMED!!!! It's working with Batman Begins HD-DVD =)

It works and it works great!

Audio: Dolby TrueHD can be selected. When I have Intervideo WinDVD menu/setup/Audio Tab/Audio Output Configuration set to Analog sound card it does work but appears to be 2 channel only. When I switch to Digital S/PDif out to external processor which is what I typically use for DVD's, then i get nothing but static noise. Normal Dolby Digital works fine though with Digital S/PDif to ext proc.

Video: Looks great but not perfect =( Under Setup/Performance there's a slider for decode quality/compensation. Unfortunately it appears we are only getting 960x540 progressive right now? This had better be fixed by Intervideo soon. But for now I'm happy that it works. Software always gets better in the future. The video quality did look better from the HD-A1 and the Xbox 360 with HD-DVD addon connected. At this point definitely better than SD-DVD but not yet 720P or 1080I/P. Can anyone confirm what Cyberlink PowerDVD outputs?

Playback: Startup takes 30-45 seconds depending on what sequence of startup you use. From no disk in drive to first video (studio opening logo) it's about 37 seconds for me. If for some reason the drive decides to do a double read from autorun + WinDVD autostart it seems to add 5-10 seconds. With disk in drive and WinDVD program already opened but not playing it takes like 11 seconds =) Menuing system is instantaneous. Just as responsive as Xbox 360 and more responsive than Toshiba HD-A1. However I couldn't find how to operate U-Control within WinDVD. Maybe this is why it's not out in the USA yet? Just a side note, the Xbox 360 + HD-DVD addon is still the fastest startup from no disk in drive, 7-9 seconds for me.

DON'T run the Cyberlink Advisor if you are playing WinDVD HD-DVD at the time. The video in WinDVD disappears =( sound keeps working though. Stopping and restarting the player (without closing it) fixes it.


Related Software used:

MS Windows XP Pro SP2 (note this isn't WINMCE2005 or Vista atm but will upgrade to Vista later)
Intervideo WinDVD 8 Platinum ordered from Japan as per the above link.
BluePrint UDF 2.5 inf file for Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon drive (you may or may not need this driver)

*some screenshot software*

Related Hardware used:

Gigabyte K8N-UltraSLI motherboard
Enermax Liberty ELT-620AWT power supply
Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (Manchester core)
4 gigabytes of RAM PC3200
800 gig local HD (5 terabytes networked storage)
Creative Labs Audio 2 ZS Platinum Pro
ASUS EN7950GT (Nvidia Geforce 7950GT with HDCP support)
Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon drive connected via USB2 on Motherboard

Westinghouse LVM-37W1 1080P LCD connected via DVI1 (HDCP compliant) 1920x1080 32-bit 60hz

The below are 1920x1080P 32-bit screencaps, Jpegs though so some artifacts as you can tell from the full desktop capture. But the important thing is everything works =)

Report from WinDVD Setup/Information tab

Version:
7.5 B42.052
Navigation:
Type: HD-DVD
Region: None
Drive: H:
TV System: Unspecified.
Macrovision Level: 0
CGMS Level: 3
Video:
Hardware:
Vendor: Nvidia
Connection type: MEDIASUBTYPE_YUY2
Downstream renderer: CLSID_DisplayServer
Stream:
Type: VC1
Bitrate: 18.999 Mbps
Framerate: 29.970 Hz
Resolution: 960x540
Aspect ratio: 16x9
Audio:
Hardware:
Audio Device: directsound
S/PDIF: Present
Number of speakers: 8
Stream:
Type: DD+
Bitrate: 640 Kbps
Number of main channels: 5
LFE Channel: Present
Sampling Frequency: 48khz
Bits Per Sample: 16
Output:
Sample Rate: 48 KHz
Bits per Sample: 16
CPU:
Name: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+
Family:15(Gen:15) Model:11 Stepping:1
Standard Feature: 0x178bfbff
Hyper-Threading: Not supported, Not enabled
Instruction support:
Intel MMX: Enabled
Intel SSE: Enabled
Intel SSE2: Enabled
Intel SSE3: Enabled
AMD 3DNow!: Enabled
AMD Enh 3DNow!: Enabled
AMD 3DNow! Pro: Enabled

Tomb Raider Legends

Netflix HD-DVD

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

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

and the month before it was 8 HD-DVD to 1 Blu-Ray

supposedly it sold last month at like 11 HD-DVD's to 1 Blu-Ray