Xbox 360 HD DVD player now just $179
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jul 26th 2007 6:33AM
posted Jul 26th 2007 6:33AM
The already nicely priced Xbox 360 HD DVD player just got slashed to $179. The new US-only, retail pricing also includes 5 free HD DVD flicks when purchasing the player between August 1st and September 30th -- you know, the same time period 300 and Heroes goes on sale in HD DVD format. Unfortunately, the free titles must be made from a selection of just 15 pre-selected films which Toshiba considers "popular." Nevertheless, the $20 price cut makes the Xbox 360 HD DVD player all the more enticing as an easily hacked, USB-player for HD flicks on your PC.[Thanks, Andrew and PacoDG]
It's not so much of a hack than a feature to hook up the drive to your PC - Microsoft has published WHQL drivers to the Windows Update Catalog (even supporting NT 6.0 x64) that support the device.
I actually bought one of these last year from america (I live in the UK) and a quick change of plug later and it works brilliantlly.
I'm just glad to see the price coming down even further and would heartily advise any Xbox 360 owners out there to get your hands on this as it is cheap and cheerful way to enjoy Hi-def films.
(my god do i sound like a fanboy or what?)
US only?! HAX! Man, I've been waiting for a price drop, or free movies to be included with the drive before I buy it, and now I see them taunting me from south of the border. :(
5 free HD DVD plus a player for only $179? Neat. If it ever comes around to Australia I may consider getting one, my new notebook has HDMI out.
Comes to Australia for that price and bonus, that is.
to bad target has chosen blu-ray exclusively:
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=349
But they will still carry HD DVD movies. It's not exclusivity. Sony's just paying for end caps... You can still buy the Toshiba HD-A2 and the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on on their web site. The 'exclusivity' isn't all that true.
This was in the press release: "We are not proclaiming one format vs. the other as the preferred consumer technology, and software will continue to be available to our guests in both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format," Target spokeswoman Brie Heath said.
if im joe public looking for a new movie player at target and the high def choice is a blu ray player next to everything else in the related category that sounds like a pretty exclusive deal to me. the end caps will have software but the choice of an in store hardware choice is targets not bought.
That sounds like "exclusivity" to you???? You might want to bust out the Websters Dictionary.
physically there will be a blu-ray player for sale and no HD-DVD player for sale .... whats the argument here?
You act like that is a good thing. Why should the stores and Sony choose who wins the format war? Why don't they just let us choose for ourselves?
Then again, Sony is paying the movie studios shitloads of money, and if they support Blu-Ray then I guess we don't have a choice. If everyone in the world but the movie industries and Sony, supported HD-DVD. What movies would we be buying?
I guess in the end, Sony and the movie studios will decide who wins and who doesn't.
your right about your first question .. i do have to agree with that sentiment.
Its just that saying Target is going BD 'exclusively' isn't correct, as they will still sell HD-DVD movies and if nothing else, the Microsoft HD-DVD player. Thats all. That takes the word "exclusive" completely out of the equation. All of this aside, Target can just as quickly sell a HD-DVD player at any point in the future if they so desire. As can Blockbuster with rentals.
I don't know why I lean toward the hope for success of HD-DVD, but I think I am just getting so sick of every decision in the format battle being bought by the BluRay camp with all this bullshit "exclusive" crap.
If people wouldn't have bought the PS3 until decent games came out for it, I think BluRay would already have lost. It infuriates me that the quality HD home movie future will most likely be decided by a (crappy) "game" console, if thats what you want to call it. In my eyes its nothing more than a (crappy) BD player. They know that without the PS3 the format is dead.
@chadow
why are you saying the only reason bd is winning is because sony's paying everyone off? the movie studios have chosen BD because it harder to crack than HD. the movie 300 on HD-DVD has been floating around the net this week. i dont see any BD movies getting ripped and posted.
and as far as letting the consumers decide instead of the retailers, the consumers already have. BD discs outsell HD. FACT.
so take that HD-DVD out yur ass and flush it down the toilet already cause thats where HD is headed.
Paul, your post wasn't witty enough or interesting enough for me to respond, other than responding to tell you that.
chad,your post wasn't witty enough or interesting enough for me to respond, other than responding to tell you that.
same thing with the games ... when people ask why did sony force blu-ray on the ps3 .. hit the torrents .. any dvd based game that comes out is up there.
bunch of thieves and pirates they all be' arrr.
Both HD-DVD and Blu Ray have already been compromised. Every movie that is released on both formats is ripped and re-encoded with x264. The end result is 4 GB or 8 GB movies (that fit on a DVD or DL DVD) in either 720p or 1080p, depending on length of movie. The Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack is also preserved and re-encoded at a lower bit rate. You can find these on usenet. I've downloaded lots and the quality is fantastic!
zac, i said that BD was HARDER to crack. i know what usenet is and ive used torrents. have YOU seen the BD copy of 300? didnt think so. nor have i seen any newer releases of the BD being uploaded. but i do see a lot of HD-DVD being uploaded. now if you were a movie studio executive, which format would you want your movie on? would you really want to loose a lot of money in sales this early in the format wars?
Anyone know where the list of the 15 choices is posted? Checked xbox.com and toshiba but I don't see it anywhere.
It's the same as the previous 5 free dvd's from toshiba with the purchase of any player. Check this pdf link: http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd/data/pdf/Toshiba_Online_Rebate_R08.pdf
Was just looking at picking this up for my media center workstation yesterday. Glad I waited. Come August 1st I'm getting this baby! NICE!!!
errr, hd-dvd i mean
Does anyone know if there has been a hack to get it to work on a TV? I am a n00b when it comes to this stuff, but I would like to read about it if it has been done~!
Nope, this is an optical drive and power supply only. It doesn't have its own video processor or A/V outputs - you need to hook it up to the Xbox 360 and have it do these.
I've been tempted to get one of these, mainly for 300, but I'm a bit reluctant with the recent success of Bluray.
Alternative : stick with 720p HD movie downloads on xbox live video marketplace. Thats what I'm doing until one of these formats (HD-DVD or BluRay) dies.
xbox 360 hd-dvd player......$179
xbox 360 system............$399
trying to play a movie on a broken system.....priceless
Stupid jokes that don't add to the subject - worthless.
(Microsoft is taking care of it's customers.)
yeah, they are...but sadly, a month of downtime is something that they never compensate for. kinda shitty that buying a 360 as of right now is like playing russian roulette...but w/ two bullets in the gun. =(
this is in reference to their supposed 30% failure rate
chad,your post wasn't witty enough or interesting enough for me to respond, other than responding to tell you that.