Well looky looky here, we landed an
Xbox HD DVD drive. We're already all well aware of what it can and can't do; we just know you want the pics of the unboxing, it
sitting next to the Xbox, and maybe a few bonus shots next to a real life HD DVD player. Hell, we'll even throw in some pics of it next to the competition (you know
what we're talking about). Click on, enjoy!
Ah, that familiar sight.
There we go, that's what we were looking for.
The back.
The top, sorta.
Crack that one open, too!
Remote! Adapter! USB cable!
Stacked up on top.
The hardware in the box, unpacked.
Okay! Now, we're SO not taking responsibility for that sticker up on the back. Normally we just leave stickers on while photographing (unless it's on the facade, like that white one) but for whatever reason our unit came with the remnants of some badge, torn off and sticky gross, unable to be removed. We'd assume your retail unit probably won't have the same issue.
Flipped.
USB ports and WiFi adapter groove.
Facade sticker removed.
Ruh roh!
That's a big HD DVD player.
The shot we know you've been waiting for.
posted November 9th 2006 2:09PM
I wish they had included the Xb360 PSU in that last shot. Would have shown how bulky the 360 system really is
I find it strange that pictures were taken, but none posted of the interconnectivity between the add-on HD DVD drive and the 360 console, or between the display and this add-on. The basic question isn't being answered regarding how does Microsoft plan on transporting HDCP-enabled content (e.g. HD DVD movie) from the disk to the customer's HDCP-enabled display?
im an xbox fanboy and when i saw the last picture of the ps3 next to the 360 + hddvd all i could say was OUCH... im gonna get the ps3 end of next year methinks i guess im not an exclusive fanboy... ;)
It would be nice if they added a Wii to the end of the lineup, for comparison.
Can any say if know what power inputs will have HD-DVD drive AC Adapter?
Multi-region one like Xbox 360 Wireless Headset(100-240v) or region locked like Xbox one et 100-130v?
Returned from a trip on Thursday to find the XBOX HD DVD player at my doorstep. Could not resist connecting it immediately. Super easy setup.
Watching King Kong an a 110" screen simply confirmed how amazing HD can be.
I frankly do not understand the criticism of the HD drive design. I can only assume that most complaints may be from people that have not yet actually seen it and held it in their hands.
The added benefit of 2 USB ports was a nice surprise.
Returned from a trip on Thursday to find the XBOX HD DVD player at my doorstep. Could not resist connecting it immediately. Super easy setup.
Watching King Kong an a 110" screen simply confirmed how amazing HD can be.
I frankly do not understand the criticism of the HD drive design. I can only assume that most complaints may be from people that have not yet actually seen it and held it in their hands.
The added benefit of 2 USB ports was a nice surprise.
For the folks that have it already, how loud is the drive? And how loud is the 360 while playing movies?
As it sounds like the 360's doing a ton of work in software (decoding, and so on), I'm curious if the 360's going to run as loud as it does when I'm playing a game. Gears looks great, but the fans in my 360 have to work hard while I'm playing it.
actually its really quiet as far as i noticed. Watched king kong last night and i couldnt hear the drive or the xbox
@Andrew
The 360 doesn't seem as loud to me - when watching HD-DVD movies - and I don't hear the drive at all. I've watched the King Kong disk that came with it and I'm now watching Mission Impossible. So far, I'm very pleased with it. The picture looks good and the start up time isn't much longer than a regular DVD.
"NO. this wont start happening until 2012-2015 IF EVER!!! and current HD DVD players or DVD dont have this"
Actually. I remember the studios saying they would not turn on ICT for 3 years.It is merely a waiting game for the format to take off. All current BluRay and HD players already support ICT. They have to, it is a big part of the specification. Read the manual for a current HD-DVD player. I posted a quote back a few pages. Clearly states if a movie has ICT you will not get greater than 480p unless it is out the HDMI connector mating with an HDCP enabled device.
I picked this up yesterday. It came with King Kong. Not the greatest of movies, but I played the HD version and standard version. The only difference I could notice was at the splash screen for the startup of the movie. Guess I will have to try a different movie. With my tv when I go from HD to sat I can see a differance. I was expecting to see some differance.
I also watched King Kong last night and the noise was not bad at all, certainly not as bad as playing games. The connectivity to the 360 is USB and it has it's own AC adapter (not nearly as big as the 360). The cable lengths are decent, obviously much longer for the power. Long enough that you could put it on another shelf instead of your Xbox depending on the spacing of your entertainment rack.
Here we go again.
The PS3 and ALL blu-ray players are capable of using VC-1, mpeg4 AVC, and Mpeg2. It is up to the content providers as to which encoding they chose.
Bill, I thought that was clear it was a quote from another source. Not my words. I agree with you. They have the sentiment correct, but they are not precise on exactly what is needed. HDMI/DVI are essentially the same thing, either can have HDCP protection. But I suspect the number of TV's with DVI+HDCP is quite low. Most TV's will go the route of HDMI+HDCP.
I was quickly trying to address how AACS/ICT/HDCP interact. Most discussions only mention HDMI connectors, it is for the savvy reader to realize that DVI + HDCP is the same thing.
The Gist:
All HD-DVD and Blu Ray devices are subject to obeying the ICT token when the studios enable it. The initial plan called for day one, but given large numbers of legacy TV's they decided to hold off for three years to allow greater market penetration first.
When the ICT token is eventually used, you will not get greater than 480p out any connection unless you are using HDCP enabled connections at both the source and destination.
That is why the PS3 is slightly more future proof than the Xbox with HD-DVD.
I strongly suspect that next year will bring an Xbox with integrated HDMI to address this. After all microsoft has long been specifying HDCP enabled connections for Windows Vista. You can bet the Xbox will follow suit.
Im sorry I wasnt trying to argue your point. I agree with your point. I just wanted to clarify for the lesser informed that SOME DVI HDTVs will have HDCP.
I agree, the design does not compliment the original console at all, it has a very "tacked-on" look to it and that's enough to keep me from buy it.
Sticker + GooGone = Bye Bye
I can't believe Microsoft would bother releasing this if they didn't have a copy-protection solution up their sleeves. Chances are the drive has the HDCP chip in it and there will be a HDMI cable available for the 360 long before it becomes necessary. Or the drive simply ignores the ICT token.
Has anyone received an Xbox HD DVD unit from Amazon yet? Amazon initially promised me a Nov 7 ship date when I pre-ordered but they have now pushed this back to Nov 14. Best Buy down the street said their first units would arrive on Nov 22.
Just got one today, it's great!!! Load times are quick and the picture is one you just have to see!!
I can tell you that the load times of the Xbox 360 HD-Dvd unit are very short in comparision to the PS3 Blu-Ray which is slow. Almost as bad as the Psp's umd load times. I think that people are in for a shock once they get their hands on the PS3.
You guys seriously make me laugh. Lets stack the HD DVD drive vertically to try and fool people into making it appear bigger. You forget the fact that Microsoft designed this a long time ago and didnt plan to implement the drive into the 360 to make their production more efficient, thus gaining a head start on the PS3. That PS3 is like any American these daysmorbidly obese and no life. It looks like someone watched Knight Rider and thought about making a console that is the size and look of 80s technology. You also forget the fact that you can take the HD DVD drive to any of your friends house who has a 360 or plug it into your PC. New drivers mean it will be recognised in XP. Can you easily do that with the PS3no!
Also those 4.7 million lines of new code are false. The majority of it is embedded codec code which means it is already written.
I have watched 4 HD movies and frankly this thing is amazing for $200, Watching on a 60" sony SXRD xbr2 .. Sure its only 1080i w/ no HDMI but it looks stunning .. better then discovery HD .. M.I 3 looks amazing , the Kong vs. Dino fight in king kong is reference material
New physical drives and formats are dead on arrival. The future is downloading on set top boxes and thats just around the corner. Blu-ray/hd-dvd are pointless snacks for gadget freaks.
Yea hd dvd is cool but it sux that they couldn't have decided to make a 360 with the internal hd dvd drive. but even if microsoft did that the 360 would probably have a similar price to the ps3 and after looking at the hd drive imagine how big a 360 with an integrated hd drive would be.
Ne wai im one of those gamers that will just wait to see whether the ps3 does better than the 360 before i go with the 360 and a hd drive. Like on the xbox site they already gave enough proof that hd is better than blu ray, especially since hd dvd can upscale and downscale and the price compared to a regular player is a deal.
I have the xbox 360 HD-DVD player. I recently purchased a "switch" that takes the analog signal and converts it to digital between the output of the 360 and the HDMI input of my TV and man, you can really tell a difference. However, my biggest concern regarding the quality of the HD-DVD player is the noted weakening of the audio signal compared to my regular DVD movies when played back. I use a monster optical cable from the 360 to my receiver. The audio sounds great when I'm playing a regular DVD via my HD-DVD player on the 360 but when I put in a HD-DVD movie I have to turn it up quite a bit to get the same, or close to, sound quality even when I change the audio setting of the HD-DVD movie from 5.1 to TrueHD (which does improve it a little bit). I feel like I'm sacrificing the audio quality for the better image quality and now I'm starting to doubt my purchase of the HD-DVD add on.
I sure hope MS is reading some of these reviews - I’ve had my Elite for about a month and will wait for about another 30 days for an announcement from Xbox about releasing these in black - if they don’t say something soon, I’m buying a PS3 and standardizing my life on BluRay - I’ll also be blogging and advertising the effort for everyone I know to do the same - If they want to become the Beta in the “Beta vs VHS” war then they’re on the right path.
i will settle for a 360, i guess, hehe