Snag an NEC HD DVD drive for just $120

If you've been waiting to get your hands on one of NEC's HD-DVD HR-1100A internal HD DVD drives, now's your chance. A seller on CDFreaks is offering one of the drives, which reads HD DVD discs at 2x, for a mere $120. That seems like quite the deal, given that the first home HD DVD players are clocking in at about $500 -- and won't be available until at least next month. Of course, we can't really think of anything you can actually do with this drive -- though it is backwards compatible with DVDs and CDs, so you can always use it for your old media and software discs. But where's the fun in that?

[Via HD Beat]

[Daniel Eber @ Mar 29th 2006 8:21PM]

i have a feeling that this drive is just a regualar dvd drive with "hd dvd" photshopped only a few points. He'll probably just cancel or not check the email after he's sold a few and not respond to complaints that it won't play the new hd-dvd'sthat'll be coming out. just a prediction. also, he may have actuallywritten hd-dvd onto the drive rather than photoshopped htem so when the buyer gets it, it won't be too obvious. remember, just a prediction, if you have $120 to throw in the toilet, go for it, i'm gonna wait to see wether hd-dvd or bluray goes big before i buy a 5.25 inch drive.

[S!mon @ Mar 29th 2006 8:31PM]

It takes at least 18 months for a new technology to mature. Unless you've got the HD display rearing to go, there's not much reason to jump on this. I mean, not even "The Matrix" is out yet, and I saw that on imax, the HDis not adding much.

[Mike @ Mar 29th 2006 8:41PM]

I tend to agree.... sounds a bit fishy.... I dropped him an email to see if I could get any further info.... I'll let you know if I get anything.

[Richard Lai @ Mar 29th 2006 8:58PM]

Made in September 2005... Quite possibly a batch of rejected prototypes if they are genuine...

Further googling lead me to a Japanese website - posted on 4th October 2005 - saying that this model was exhibited in CEATEC JAPAN 2005 (a tech show, I think), and by then hundreds of samples were already manufactured for evaluation. This is the website: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20051004/109273/

So maybe this product is genuine after all.

[Vicken J. @ Mar 29th 2006 9:06PM]

Is this....legal?

[murc @ Mar 29th 2006 9:10PM]

I got a Crutchfield a few days ago, and it had a HD-DVD player for sale for $500...and its available now.

[murc @ Mar 29th 2006 9:11PM]

I got a Crutchfield a few days ago, and it had a HD-DVD player for sale for $500...and its available now.

[KH @ Mar 29th 2006 9:33PM]

The NEC HR-1100A HD-DVD is real... Must be some of those pre-production batches.

http://www.i4u.com/article5008.html

[torkhum @ Mar 29th 2006 9:45PM]

120$! What a deal! Is that what we suppose to think and email and/or text our friends to get on this great deal and buy it???
Umm, I highly doubt it. If it will cost about $500 when release next month -and now you can buy it at about 70/80% off! Sounds like a dead mouse.

[jnasato @ Mar 29th 2006 9:48PM]

I once bought a CD-R drive from eBay, that had a serial number etc. pic like that. ACTUALLY, what I got a was a CD-Rom drive, with a serial number that was something like CDR3874...

HA'! Bastard. "8x CDR drive"

[Kevin Fox @ Mar 29th 2006 9:52PM]

"Of course, we can't really think of anything you can actually do with this drive"

Don't worry. The porn industry is always ahead of the curve: http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=pirates%20HD-DVD

[Kevin @ Mar 29th 2006 10:17PM]

This is not a deal.. DVD and HD-DVD use the same type of laser. HD-DVD and BluRay DVD are MUCH different the DVD and CD's today. The specification for the DVD and CD are simple, and straight forward. The Specification for HD-DVD and BluRay are NOT. The ability to read data stored ON a disc is not what you are paying for when you buy a HD-DVD player or a BluRay DVD player...

This is where I wish the writers of Engadget would do more then report news and go to trade shows. You need someone who works in the industry, develops content, builds gadgets!

anyhow you are buying a device that will read a HD-DVD disc, not a big challenge since it's the same type of laser.. the ability to play back a HD-DVD with out the interactive layer can be done on a Mac today and on Windows machine. NO big deal...

[threEchelon @ Mar 29th 2006 10:17PM]

Now I can get my wank on... WITH PORN IN HD! YES!

[Cullen Dudas @ Mar 29th 2006 10:34PM]

The admin took the page down :( Good thing I already snagged one ;)

[Cullen Dudas @ Mar 29th 2006 10:49PM]

so your saying this wont read HD-DVD movies?

[slow news day @ Mar 29th 2006 10:54PM]

An HD DVD drive for sale before they're generally available? And for almost 1/5th the price? Did this fall off the truck somewhere?

I'm be careful on this one. Even though I would love to have an HD DVD drive, how are you really going to verify that it's a working HD DVD drive?

[Mike @ Mar 29th 2006 11:22PM]

a lil update for you all, he got back to me.... offered a full refund if it doesn't work when the hd dvd's are available, and he offered for me to pay by either paypal or western union (paypal being the obvious choice w/ the danger of fraud) I'm going to sleep on it and perhaps order one tomorrow.

Heads up to anyone else who talks to him.... his english is terrible.

all in all, I'm cautiously optomistic.

[Richard Lai @ Mar 30th 2006 2:33AM]

Dear Mike (#17),
Even though a refund is promised and PayPal is used, the man can still ignore your complaints and empty his bank account before he moves to another country to fool more people (and by then PayPal wouldn't be able to do anything for you - trust me, PayPal isn't god either).
Do bear in mind that there is still a length of time before the official launch of the product. I'd just wait for the real thing as these are probably prototypes, and changes are bound to be made to the product before the official launch.
If my comment doesn't deter you, make sure you check with the guy for the driver as well. When the product is officially launched, there might not be an official driver for the prototype.

[Mike @ Mar 30th 2006 2:45AM]

Believe me, I know paypal is flawed.... I've been an ebay seller for far too long. There is definitely an element of risk here. Regarding the product itself, it's definitely a prototype (see post #8), but the price is tempting. As for device drivers, I suspect the standard windows dvd/cdrom driver will work, it's the firmware you've gotta worry about... and I suspect as soon as more drives become available someone somewhere will manage to get other firmware working on this drive. That fact doesn't eliminate the risk involved in a somewhat shady purchase like this, but it is another fact to take into consideration. I'm still undecided, but I do appreciate your concern and any feedback anyone else may have, by all means fire away.

[EdZ @ Mar 30th 2006 3:00AM]

Zoom in on the image of the label. Either there is some very weird artefacting going on, or all the straight lnes look like they were handrawn without a ruler.

[Richard Lai @ Mar 30th 2006 4:07AM]

I agree with EdZ about the funny text, but then I thought maybe it's just my eyes. But hey, anyone can produce a label like that, right?

Mike: the fact that the deal will be made privately worries me - you may either receive a fake HD-DVD drive, a faulty hence rejected HD-DVD drive (he did say he has loads of them, right?), or never receive it at all! I'd be less worried if it is done over eBay (with a good, genuine user feedback rating) and together with PayPal. Well, good luck anyway if you do decide to gamble with your $120. (Personally, I'd use the money to buy a 300GB hard disk (8MB buffer, 7200rpm, SATA), which is about 10 times as big as a dual-layer HD-DVD (30GB, right?)) ;)

[Jason @ Mar 30th 2006 6:01AM]

NEVER buy pre-production-batch drives. Even if they mechanically flawlessly right now, which is a big question, you are unlikely to be able to push firmware updates onto them. So you will miss out on any last minute changes to the spec, or any patches the manufacturer releases later to cover hardware faults that only come out in the field.

[jared @ Mar 30th 2006 6:58AM]

you have to remember that even if it is an hd-dvd drive that no current operating systems and only 1 available video card have hdcp enabled as an option. also, the display that you're watching it on must support hdcp as well. so, even if the device will output a high definition signal, odds are you wont be able to view it, unless you have windows vista and that sapphire/ati vid card with hdcp.

it is true that the manufacturer of the film has the choice of whether or not to implement hdcp as a protection scheme, but most will for the full hd experience. i believe both sony and universal have decided to only limit output resolution to the current 480p standard if the hdcp chain is incomplete... but this is the exact same performance as current dvd technology... but for pc users, such as myself, waiting for a true hd cinematic experience, it looks like we're going to have to wait for both windows vista and hdcp enabled video cards.

[David @ Mar 30th 2006 12:37PM]

Wow. So much mis-information.

Kevin (12): "DVD and HD-DVD use the same type of laser."

No they don't. DVD uses a red laser with a wavelength of 650nm. HD-DVD (and Blu-ray) uses a blue-violet laser with a 405nm wavelength. (CD's, by the way, use a 780nm infra-red laser).

The smaller pits on a HD-DVD cannot be red with the DVD's red laser. No current device can read HD-DVD or Blu-ray content.

The only similarity between DVD and HD-DVD lasers is that they are both focussed on a substrate layer 0.6mm deep. (Blu-ray's substrate is 0.1mm deep, much closer to the disc surface, which necessitates the scratch-proof coating.)

Jared (23): "sony and universal have decided to only limit output resolution to the current 480p standard if the hdcp chain is incomplete"

You're talking about the Image Constraint Token (ICT) which is part of AACS, not HDCP. If enabled (and this is done on a disc by disc basis) output over a non-HDCP connection will be down-sampled to 540p.

Sony, Universal and pretty much everyone other than Warner have announced that they will not enable ICT on their initial releases and will leave it disabled for the foreseeable future. (How long the "foreseeable future" is remains to be seen.)

Should a studio decide to enable ICT, it must be clearly labeled as such on the cover (just as current DVD packaging must show region, aspect ratio, PAL/NTSC/SECAM and other info).

[Nightmare @ Mar 30th 2006 5:43PM]

i am the seller.

i cant tell you how i get those drivers.
but i promise it's real thing,if you guys dont belive,just ignore this.

:(

[Ron @ May 3rd 2006 12:22AM]

Lets see a url to get on of these lovely 1100a drives