Xbox HD DVD drive to connect to PCs via USB

While we've got our eye on that new Xbox HD DVD drive that's about to drop next month, one thing we didn't know is that it'll be able to connect to your regular ol' PC via USB -- so that basically means you can get a sweet external HD DVD drive for $200. But here's the catch, Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom isn't including a Windows HD DVD driver so that your PC can actually play those next-gen discs that you're lusting after. But of course, given that its HD DVD player is manufactured by Toshiba, it would appear there's a good chance some enterprising fellow (or software company) will figure out how to make it work pretty quickly. That said, even if someone does get a driver working, there's still that irksome issue of HDCP to get around, assuming your disc requires it for digital output. But maybe now that these devices are getting cheaper and eventually more widespread, that theoretical HDCP hack we heard about earlier this year may become reality.

[Thanks, Mack]

[Nitz @ Oct 17th 2006 6:07PM]

I ask again, how am I going to have this hooked up, as well as My XBL Vision Camera? How do I play Totem Ball?!

Heh. I give it a week after it drops. :]

[M.Kaltner @ Oct 17th 2006 6:19PM]

Nitz, you do know there's three (3) USB ports on the 360, right? Ever push open that little flap on the front?

- Mike

[Geoff @ Oct 17th 2006 6:47PM]

Not only are there two USB ports on the back of the HD-DVD drive, but there is an indent and holes for snapping the Wireless Adapter onto the back of the drive. Drive plugs into back of 360, camera and Wireless Adapter into back of drive.

[Tonicboy @ Oct 17th 2006 9:00PM]

@Nitz- Also, we're talking about standard USB here. Which means that there are about a gazillion USB hubs available to increase the number of ports. Powered, non-powered, big, small, pink or purple, there's a USB hub for your need.

[Scott @ Oct 17th 2006 6:09PM]

I have an HDCP Monitor. Therefore the Winner is Winner

[Alex @ Oct 17th 2006 6:18PM]

Cyrus, I believe you forgot something in the end of the article; ...may become reality in the near future.
This will be hacked, no question, the only one remaining being when

[Nitz @ Oct 17th 2006 6:22PM]

Haha, yeah. It was just a bit of dry humor. However, It would prove difficult for those who have the back taken with the Wireless adapter, then the camera in the front port. {I know, it doesn't need to be connected for everything, but still, you get my point} :D

[HiredGeek @ Oct 17th 2006 6:24PM]

On the there is at least one if not two USB ports on the back of the HD-DVD drive itself to allow you to dasiy chain devices similarly to any USB hub would allow you.

Photos here
http://gear.ign.com/articles/733/733328p1.html

[Claude @ Oct 17th 2006 6:28PM]

Nitz: I would not be surprised if the HD-DVD drive itself had 1 or 2 more USB ports on its back.

[Mikami @ Oct 17th 2006 6:38PM]

Claude: If I remember correctly, It does.

[iceatcs @ Oct 17th 2006 7:08PM]

No thanks, I'm rather to have internal drive. Since there is no room on my desk.

[Ed @ Oct 18th 2006 6:49PM]

iceatcs wrote "No thanks, I'm rather to have internal drive. Since there is no room on my desk."
You don't have room for something that is as thick as 2 DVD cases and that you can put standing up or laying or on top of the Xbox 360??? And it's only $199.....???????

[JimJimBinks @ Oct 17th 2006 7:20PM]

Hrm. I'd much rather have the drive on my media center PC than my 360. My media center is currently running Vista RC1, looking forward to seeing what happens when I plug it in.
What I'd really like Microsoft to do is implement a feature in XBOX Live, so when you're watching a DVD it'll say so on the "Now playing" section on the friends lists of all your friends online. Right now it just says "XBOX 360 Dashboard" in the section when you're watching a DVD I believe.
It would be even cooler if it showed them the title of the movie you're watching.

[bubba shrimp @ Oct 17th 2006 7:29PM]

Wow! That's huge news. That's very much added value to an already very well priced add on considering the cheapest HD-DVD player is $450. This sort of functionality is what could be the death of Blu-Ray. If someone creates Windows Drivers for this thing, then anyone with a Media Center PC hooked up to your living room TV will be able to have HD-DVD playback for $200.

[Sam @ Oct 17th 2006 7:59PM]

This would be extremely sweet when coupled with the DVI connection on my vid card/TV, but having said that, I'll already have a Blu-Ray player when the PS3 comes out. Do I really need two formats to watch HD content in? Especially when there really aren't that many movies out In-HD anyway? If microsoft could make this thing an HD-DVD BURNER then it would be an insanely good deal, but think about this for a second folks. For 450 you get an aesthetically pleasing box, a video scaling chip (very important, and the Xbox 360 doesn't have one), Lots of inputs on the back of the device, and remember, console add-on media players have always, ALWAYS been crappy.

I think MSoft should have waited till after the PS3 launch to put this thing out. All it says to consumers is "Well, you can have our system for 400, but if you want HD movies you will pay 600, so you might aswell have got a PS3" and that isn't a very good marketing strategy.

[Fezmid @ Oct 17th 2006 8:40PM]

Actually, there are a lot of HD-DVDs available -- over 100 if you include the preorders for the next month or so:
http://www.thedvdwars.com/index.cfm

They're also selling like hotcakes -- check out the sales ranks of Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. I doubt PS3 will do much to change that.

As for studio support - Lions Gate will be announcing HD-DVD support by the end of the year, and it sounds like Disney is on the fence as well. Sony's watching market share slip away every day.

As for Microsoft's marketing strategy -- they're moving it towards people who already have an Xbox, and they (MS and the studios) know that every one they sell will be used for movies, unlike the PS3 where you have no idea if people are going to use it for movies or not. In addition, the picture quality on Blu-Ray has been crappy compared to HD-DVD, although it's getting slightly better.

I agree with you on the scaler -- but I guarantee that the PS3 won't be as good as a standalone player either.

For those interested, the standalone HD-DVD player actually costs LESS than $400:
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HD-A1-DVD-Upconverting-Player/dp/B000E1PTGK/sr=8-1/qid=1161131938/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-4060629-9872729?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

[Shawn @ Oct 17th 2006 8:18PM]

This is great b/c currently there are no titles that require support for HDCP.

[Nitz @ Oct 17th 2006 9:03PM]

Heh, I was just trying to make a small joke, sorry, my humor is a tad dry from time to time :]

[BatteryAcid @ Oct 17th 2006 9:04PM]

Microsoft A** hol*s. Their just asking fr us to hock?Is their a catch? But hey, Who cares, $200 HDVD Drive!

[BatteryAcid @ Oct 17th 2006 9:05PM]

Microsoft A** hol*s. Their just asking fr us to hock?Is their a catch? But hey, Who cares, $200 HDVD Drive!

[h0ss66 @ Oct 17th 2006 9:39PM]

This may be an obvious question but will this work on macs running OSX? I guess time will tell and Im assuming there will a driver either from toshiba or some other hack. Just wondering...

[ScooterJP @ Oct 17th 2006 10:34PM]

I'm not so fussed. I just splashed $40 on a dual layer DVD burner and am happy enough until HD-DVD gets reasonably priced. HDDs are keenly priced per bit vs recordable media + burners, and are a better choice for many uses, though I admit that somebody somewhere has to rip the HD content (which is why HD-TV is so popular).

These v1.0 drives might scoop some early-adopter cash but I predict knock-offs will be under $100 by mid-2007 and burners for similar money before long.

[Scott @ Oct 18th 2006 7:48AM]

It's possible, but I think it might be too early in the License for the true "Cyberhome HD-DVD Player"

[Chris Chance @ Oct 17th 2006 11:03PM]

INCORRECT REPORTING
"Windows HD DVD driver";

The driver is built into windows update and windows vista

What isnt included is HDDVD playback software you will need a program to play back videos, windvd etc... the same thing that happened with those retail bluray drives that are selling for 900$

[StreetStealth @ Oct 17th 2006 11:34PM]

As soon as someone hacks it to play movies on Windows, you can bet MS will release a "security patch" to "fix" the "problem."

Of course, if an enterprising hacker would get it to work on Linux, then we wouldn't have to worry about that...

[Eric V @ Oct 17th 2006 11:37PM]

Thinking towards the future... and then some...

If I hooked this HD-DVD player via USB to a PC or Mac and wanted to play a HD-DVD with HDCP invoked would the video card on the computer need to support HDCP? If so then someone buying just the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player to hook up to their computer would have to invest in not only the player and HDCP TV, but also a compatible video card. I hope and pray movie studios never invoke HDCP, but fear that too much money has been invested for them not to in the next 5 years. Keep in mind though that in 5 years there will be a successor to all current hardware, consoles, and TVs. You'll be saying, "Man I'm thinking about selling my left kidney for that 2560p TV!"

[Shmoe @ Oct 18th 2006 1:44AM]

Eric V.
Actually, HDCP is already in use, what you don't want to see invoked is the Image Constraint Token, or ICT.

[Wellinformed @ Oct 18th 2006 2:24AM]

Let's say you have everything you need to make the HD-DVD player to work with or without the Xbox 360. What will your sound be like? None of the advanced codecs will play. LMAO!

You choices are standard DD/DTS 5.1 from the Xbox 360 or a silent movie on anything else. Too funny! ...but it's a bargin! ROFLMAO

[Shade @ Oct 18th 2006 8:23AM]

Sooo is there any chance it will work with a mac aswell? ;p

[WASD John @ Oct 18th 2006 9:06AM]

I would say since the device is USB plug n play then in theory it can work on any computer just as long as it has driver support. I think the community "should" be able to develop drivers for it. This is really going to make my HD-DVD purchase just that much more valuable.

[tiuk @ Oct 18th 2006 10:12AM]

Wow, I think this is a huge step for HD-DVD over bluray. Good move, Microsoft.

[Joseph Castillo @ Oct 18th 2006 11:13AM]

I agree that this increases the value of the drive, but that is only if it could play movies. With no software, drivers, or even a definitive answer as to whether or not you need to have an HDCP capable system to even use it, way too many question marks exist. In addition, it cannot burn HD-DVDs so its usability is strictly limited to playback. I'm personally still leaning towards the PS3 and Blu-ray. One just can't ignore the fact that once Sony starts mass production of the consoles, there will be an enormous installed base of Blu-ray users.

[Scott @ Oct 19th 2006 11:45AM]

I have an HDCP Monitor, so It's all good

[octocypher @ Oct 30th 2006 10:09AM]

Personally I think I'd like to rather have the HD Drive externally than just build into the console like PS3. Not only give me more choices, ( with or without HD drive), but also if my HD-DVD drive goes bust, I don't have to replace the whole console.

[Petar Smilajkov @ Mar 2nd 2007 3:08AM]

Vista includes the drivers out of the box for Microsoft's Xbox HD-DVD Player! You can download the drivers and the video players too now.

Check out: http://www.vistajuice.com/2007/03/probably_the_best_way_to_play.php

Cheers,
Petar
www.VistaJuice.com