Xbox 360 HD DVD drive now officially $49.99
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Feb 25th 2008 3:32PM
posted Feb 25th 2008 3:32PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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I wonder if thier going to extend the 5 free hd dvd's? its supposed to last until 2/28/08
This thing isn't nearly over. I wouldn't go buying a Blu-Ray player just yet.
Not with HD-DVD touting relationships like this on their site:
http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com/hddvd/about/partners/
BTW, this is my first time on Engadget. I was born yesterday.
Im debating whether to buy one...
It would be sweet. Then again, its dead. I think I will pass.
I bought one of this in early December. I mailed in the paperwork to get my free movies the next day. Here it is, end of February, and I still haven't received them.
Even if MS still has the coupon posted on their website somewhere, I wouldn't expect them to honor it anymore. They apparently weren't honoring them back before HD-DVD died, so there's even less likelihood of it now.
But then if I did get it, it would be like, bro.
but if I didnt, id be like, yo.
Its insane,,,
i see what you did there.
but still considering you still get the 5 HD dvds with it i think it's a bargain. 5 movies and the player for 50. that's 10 per movie.
But experience says that your Xbox 360 and its HD DVD add-on will eventually yellow and join the pile of outdated electronics that you've been storing next to your "rollerblades". A that moment, those $10 HD DVDS become either worthless little frisbees or artsy coasters of trivial value. A stand-alone player is the better investment for one day enjoying your ersatz movie collection.
@bioadam:
Ha, I just had my rollerblades out 10min ago.
Plus it includes the universal remote which cost $20 on its own.
@sirnoobius
Not a bad idea. Ultimately, you are really paying for entertainment not a format or even hardware. Those are just means to an end. It does not matter much if it is a disappearing technology. If you get small library of movies for a price YOU'RE happy with, you then get to enjoy them as much as you like for a number of years.
Shoot, I still buy VHS tapes if I find a movie I want to watch for around a dollar. I figure even if I watch it only once and throw it away, it was worth a buck!
Friends don't let friends rollerblade.
-jp
Agreed..this is an absolutely awesome deal. So what if the tech is going to be dead by the end of the year? You can hook the hd-dvd drive up to your pc and rip those movies to your heart's content - meaning that they're basically format neutral at that point. And there's already a pretty decent sale on hd-dvd media at amazon, with more price cuts sure to follow.
Yeah, I read this and actually bought the drive after work tonight. For $50 I get King Kong, 5 HD-DVDs and a remote control I can "regift" to my brother since I already have one (but it came in very handy the past 4 months streaming shows from Transcode 360). It's not a bad deal really. I'll still watch the movies and can rent at Blockbuster and Netflix until they totally discontinue. And, I'm anticipating a big drop in prices on HD-DVDs in the coming months and year. I looked at a Sony BDP and it was $400 and not even the current firmware. I'll wait until they drop in price ($200 would be good for me) and have Version 2.0.
$49 = £???
play.com has £69 right now which is less than it was but thats like $100+
I'm waiting to hear something from MS UK because I'm seriously considering picking up one of these if the price is going to be brought down to £32 or so.
$=£
€=OMG.
£>€
25£
Hey that gag reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's Hot Pockets bit:
"Lean Pockets, I don't even wanna know what's in those. I wonder what the directions are on a box of Lean Pockets: 'Remove from box, place directly in toilet.' Flush Pocket!"
Hey buddy. I like hot pockets.
I've actually seen that! I thought it was hilarious.
"You can have a Hot Pocket for breakfast, a Hot Pocket for lunch, and you would be dead by dinner!"
Good Morning!!!! You're about to call in sick.
hot pockets are like two girls and one cup. DISGUSTING
hot pockets are like two girls and one cup. DISGUSTING
Meh, Call me when these start going for like $20 on eBay..
Does this thing play regular DVD's and can I connect it to something else then a Xbox 360 ? Then it would be nice !
Yup works on any windows xp (with downloaded driver) or Vista natively.
Makes a great backpack drive if nothing else.
These can be connected to your Windows PC.
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=325&type=expert&pid=3
Hmmm... getting close to my price point.
Drop it to $19.99 and I'll buy one, gut it out and store important docs in it like my will, savings bonds, spare keys, etc- much like those faux books you can buy with a secret compartment to store important belongings.
It's really perfect when you consider I'd never have to worry about having it stolen since an obsolete HDDVD player would be the last thing on someone list.
even better alternative to using my XBox 360 case for the same purpose and having to deal with recurring nightmares of turning on my console, seeing the dreaded RROD and then watch all my important docs go up in flames from the excessive heat.
... shudders at the thought...
I doubt that a burglar would be picky when they break into your home.
"Damn it, thats an HDDVD player. I have no use for that!"
I'm guessing that they will try to take most anything that looks expensive.
Netflix HD-DVD library here I come!
good luck with that.
I might get one just to add to my "Hall of Useless Technology" which includes:
1. A Betamax console
2. Pulse-dial push button telephone
3. X-Ray glasses
4. Cold war era Russian-made toilet paper
In Soviet Russia, TP wipes *you*!
Dont forget DVD-RAM.
-- and how did I forget DIVX?!
Typewriter.
Uhh DivX is probably close to one of the most widely used codecs and I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon..
Yeah but the DIVX players sucked.
no. not DivX, Divx. The ill-fated early competitor to DVD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX
DIVX (Digital Video Express) was an attempt by Circuit City and the entertainment law firm Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca and Fischer to create an alternative to video rental in the United States.
Which is not the same as
DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. (formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.
Ohh ok. I never heard about those.
Think purchasing one now could constitute a class action lawsuit? They are intentionally selling something that is extinct.
It's people like you that give us honest working Americans a bad reputation. No wonder the rest of the world says we are fat, lazy, "sue-happy" Yanks.
Yeah, that definitely works. I have a great business going where I purchase dinosaur bones from eBay sellers and then sue them for intentionally selling something that is extinct! Please contact me if you want to form a partnership, I've been wanting to branch into hi-tech.
I always know it's a good read when I see a Highest Ranked reply to a Lowest Rank :D
Tell me you're actually going to go buy this just to start a lawsuit. YOU are the reason that we get charged so much my doctors, lawyers, etc.
By the way, your frog icon offends me. Guess you're going to get sued.
Extinct? It isn't a freaking dinosaur.
for the record i own a toshiba hd-a2(love it and will keep it and my collection of HD-DVDs) and i am not saying i am going to buy it a 360 drive and sue. i am saying, aren't they leaving themselves open? This seems absurd. Imagine that PS3 went under and they stopped selling games and stopped manufacturing games. Is it fair for sony to drop the price and sell them? Not everyone reads engadget, etc... they could be duped.
How can you sue a company for offering you a choice to buy something. You don't have to buy it? It is not like MS is saying you have to buy a Toshiba HD player if you want a key to unlock and use the new Vista operating system.
That is like asking if you could sue Ford for still selling the Taurus after they announced they were discontinuing it.
Do companies get sued for selling you a VCR? No, it is your choice as a consumer.
Now stop being stupid!
You could download HD movies and burn them to HD-DVD, then watch them on your 360.
But I guess you'd still have that fan noise to deal with.
What a neat idea.
Why burn them? Just use DLNA insted of buying worthless HD DVD discs and buying a burner which i'm guessing has fallen in price too but still costs more than a media server on a pc (free)
But then you'll also have to invest in an HD-DVD burner and discs. Is it really worth the couple hundred dollars on top of the add-on, just to pretend the format is still viable?
I don't know why everyone is being so negative about this. For $50, why not buy it? It's not like it's going to stop working because the format died.
It's still worth it to grab the drive and then pick up a bunch of good movies on ebay or something. Heck, I'll buy it just for Transformers HD.
No kidding, I'm seriously considering this just so I can watch Planet Earth in HD. That alone would be worth the price of admission. I have it on normal DVD and would buy the HDDVD version in an instant with this player. Plus the free movies! I don't think it's as useless/lame as people make it out to be.
You could buy this, plug it to your PC, and use it to make a digital HD library (*cough*Netflix*cough*) by backing all HD DVD's up. Digital libraries will never be outdated =)
The xBox Media Remote is still selling for $20, and since the HD-DVD add-on includes that remote, it's really only $30 for the player. Still worth considering, IMO.
Thats great mind telling me were I can snag one everywhere I look its over $100. When will this price actually get updated?
you can get one a xbox.com or amazon.com for $49.99
I picked up one at Best Buy for 49.99 today.
Its still makes a AWESOME external DVD drive for your PC.
it's a no brainer for me buy the hd-dvd player buy anydvd then start my netflix
hd-dvd account up again and rip all the HD-DVD movies they still have....
lets wake up, even with HD-dvd dead it will 8-12months before they start re-releasing the movies on bluray and even then I don't see a bluray player coming down to $50 in 12 months. it doesnt matter what format the HIGH DEF movie is in my tv sees 1080p not HD-DVD or Bluray so rip away i will, until i can no longer rip (R.I.P)
Or you could just throw that $50 into the garbage... same thing.
-------
Garbage can't play HD-DVDs. For the price, I echo some other thoughts along the line of "why not?".
It's low enough to simply satisfy your curiosity and start your "tech-that-never-made-it-big-but-works-and-does-what-it's-supposed-to-do-well-regardless" electronics collection. Or it can be simply used to play movies, if that's your thing.
50 bucks is a bargain for the blue laser diode these contain, it's the cheapest way by far to obtain one of those. I bet they'll sell out quick and be fetching more on ebay.
Heck, the 5 free is still available on this (and any HD-D player) purchased up to Feb 28th. For $10 each plus a free HD-DVD "ROM" drive, it's almost worth it.
"Or you could just throw that $50 into the garbage... same thing."
Ouch! The truth hurts...
wait, this still works as a pc drive with some haxing?
and torrent sites still have HD content?
and its possible to burn data to disks?
IDEA?!
IDEA!
...that would still require you to buy an HD DVD burner. And then the "cheap factor" goes right out the window.
PC drive with haxing?
Plug it in and it works straight away in Vista
Just download the drivers for XP
i was talking about the good old days, where you had to remove it from the case and stuff.
but if it doesn't write, thats a pretty bad idea.
Why not buy it? Oh I don't know, maybe because every movie coming out after today will never be on HD-DVD. I can hardly put logic into words after reading that people are actually considering buying this thing. Why not just send me your fifty bucks through paypal? I got bills to pay.
Makes a great, cheap, drive for your MacBook Air!
You people without a lack of vision. For $50 you can get:
1)Get a free King Kong movie.
2)Get 5 free movies
3)A universal remote
4) Extra USB connection to your Xbox
5) Use as an external drive for PC
Plus, and most important, now you can upscale all your current DVD's on you TV. Unlimited potential. So who really needs BlueRay now? This will be fine enough until the technology is fully there to just download HD movies.
@MS_Lover
Are you sure Kong is still a "pack in" on the current drive package?
I wonder if I'd be able to gut it and turn it into a blue laser pointer... I'd totally buy one if it's possible.
Bought a 2nd one just for the 6 free movies and a back up.
The one at CircuitCity still has it:
Xbox 360 HD DVD Player w/King Kong HD-DVD
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Xbox-360-HD-DVD-Player-w-King-Kong-HD-DVD-882224379663/sem/rpsm/oid/166160/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
For $50. That is where I ordered mine.
At the very least, you have a $50 upconverting DVD player, which is head and shoulders better than any $50 player you can buy from Chinatown or Walmart.
I agree with the poster who said that even if the format is dead, the player is still a great hi-def movie player, which can be attached to both a gaming console AND a PC. Not many players of any kind can make that claim, and especially not ones worth 50 bucks.
Incidentally, I bought mine when it was $149....:P Don't get me wrong, I love it....Transformers is simply not to be seen on anything else other than with an HD set-up!! Oh well, when MS brings out their Blu-Ray player (fingers crossed), then I can buy that and not have to buy a PS3 (which I still refuse to support on principle).
Yes, Planet Earth is really cheap in HD-DVD compare to DVD right now so you might as well get one of these players and that documentary.
I also want to share that you could also use it to make as a secondary optical drive to make copying discs too with your PCs.
I'm tempted to get a second one. I'm still out less than those early Blue adopters who're going to have to replace their machines anyway to take advantage of future blue content. :D
That sold out fast
uve got 2 b sh***** me its not completely dead yet its good for another 1-1.5 years all the movies out now should suffice and in the 1+ years the price of the blu ray player should come down
or blu for x360
It's still 129.99 in Canada. :(
http://www.xbox.com/en-ca/hardware/x/xbox360hddvdplayer/default.htm
We are a little slow in the distribution channels here. Give it a week or two. Remember how long it took price parity on the 360 to come about, something like 2 months.
I would only buy one of these stand-alone. It has more geek nostalgia that way. Plus I am on my 3rd 360 from overheating and crap, so I am not hooking anything extra up to it that would cause me to watch 2+ hour movies at a time. Call me leary....
its a cheap DVD-upscaler with HD-DVD compatibility
Is Engadget double posting?
Here in Australia I picked it up for $40 (Australian Dollars) yesterday. That's about $37 US Dollars. It comes with King Kong. I bought it after I saw that places here were starting to sell HD-DVD movies for $10 and even less.
At these prices, its worth getting the drive and a few movies to keep me going until I go Blu later this year or early next.
Btw in the end I spent about $A220 ($200 USD) and got 19 movies AND the player.
Is it like throwing $200 in the trash? Hmmm, I think not. Enjoying 19 movies in HD over the rest of this year is worth something to me :)
Hey, just wondering where you got in Aus? Stores round here (Melb) still seem to be selling it at retail prices
Anyone with tipoffs as to where I can get some cheap discs in Australia would be appreciated, Amazon isn't really an option
Yeah the stores are still at full price - you need to look online. A number of online stores are waiting for a shipment from Universal next week, but you need to pre-order online now. Try:
http://dvdownunder.com.au/specials_on_hddvd.php?specname=HD%20DVD%20Clearance
OR
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/beatthebomb.zml
OR
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/mech/quicksearch.zml?f=title&q=%22HD+DVD%22&x=27&y=18
I bought one just for the free movies. I'm gonna take apart the drive and put the diode in a laser pointer! Even if I never get the movies I'll still get a blue laser pointer for $50
In for one. I just sent off my first 360 for free warranty repair(3 reds). I bought it used and RROD'ed for a pittance so $50 for this and $10 for an xbox360 to VGA cable and I'm golden. Call me cheap.
I'll get BR... mmmm ...later.
Im grabbing one for the sake of having one (and buying HD-DVDs for $3 on Amazon and eBay).
I was thinking though, does it read older DVD format when plugged into the PC? If so, it will make a great back up drive, and an even better drive for an Eee.
I find that the prices on Amazon are the same for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. $54 for the Planet Earth and for other movies being released in both formats. Where are the $3 movies?
I did notice that Transformers dropped down $1 to $18.95.
They will be here in due time.
Maybe not $3, but they will drop dramatically.
club -> horse(x.x)
"Or you could just throw that $50 into the garbage... same thing" I feel this is a bit harsh - $50 bucks for hd drive, plus, what is it, like 5 hd movies, plust chances hd dvds will be like 2$ over the next few months - you could still get a lot of value out of this - certainly more than I ever got our of the first xbox.