Xbox 360 HD DVD drives going for ?9.99 in Ireland
By Darren Murph 
posted May 6th 2008 5:04AM
posted May 6th 2008 5:04AM
[Thanks, Conor]
posted May 6th 2008 5:04AM
Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD Player
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"...that's actually not a half bad deal if you're a fan of the media already out there..."
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Does this upscale regular DVDs well too? If so then bargain+. I think I recall murmurings of l33t upscaling.
No it doesnt do any decoding whatsoever, all it is is a HD DVD drive in a USB caddy.
ArcticFox, thanks. I guess that's just the standalones then.
Actually the 360 upscales DVDs with or without this drive, so long as you have an HDMI or VGA cable.
Hooray for DaveC being right! I see this get mixed up a lot, and I thought that the HD-DVD drive was the only way to upconvert as well for a while. However, there are a few things to know:
1. You need the VGA cable if you don't have HDMI support before the Xbox 360 will go beyond 480p. The cable can be expensive, but there are other vendors out there.
2. The image is crap, and tends to have a washed-out look and, at least in my case, a grid of sorts came across my screen. I guess it's OK on some TVs, but it wasn't on mine nor others I've read about.
3. The upscaler on your tv (I have a Samsung 4671) is probably much, much better than what the Xbox 360 will spit out to it. I returned the cable after a couple games and a few DVDs.
My 360 VGA-HD image is crisp, clear, and has bold colors.
It's your TV, my friend. On my Insignia HDTV and on my Gateway 24" LCD monitor the 360 looks fantastic.
My only problem is that my monitor is 16:10 and so I get the black bars when I use it for 16:9 images. I could zoom it in, but then I get poor image quality.
Check your monitor/HDTV settings. I bet something's off.
wow! €9.99 is, cool....
At this price point I would like to have one for my......mmmm...for my....Mac...does it support Mac btw?!
You are out of luck....and you knew that.....Q
Nice price for the remote, you could always take the drive apart and use the laser in a laser pen. http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/26/sonar-blu-ray-laser-pen-is-made-out-of-gutted-players/
Well, with the right drivers you can enjoy it.. It's just an USB drive, and it already works under Linux (also on the PS3 LOL)..
I wrote Microsoft a letter explaining why I thought the add-on HDDVD drive was going to FAIL and they ignored it. GOOD FOR THEM !
I'll be able to buy an HDDVD drive with a side of fries next time I stop at a Burger King.
You wrote them a letter?
Seriously...
Man, I wish I could find that deal here in New York; It'd grab it in a heartbeat. Those remotes don't come cheap.
It's almost like Crackdown, you bought it for the Halo 3 beta. Hell, buy a media remote get a free next generation full high definition multimedia player. It probably cost around the same to make the drive alone.
I might just pick one up anyway for a chic cup holder.
Where in Ireland??
GameStop and Xtravision.
Where? I'm in Ireland... I don't have an xBox though, but it would make awesome gifts. So long as whoever I'm gifting to doesn't see this post..
i didnt see anything...
Let them price cuts spread to London and I'll pick up 1-3 of them. Best and cheapest Christmas gift you can give to an owner of a 360 this year.
Yeah! And you could throw in a stack of new release movies on HD-D... er, nevermind.
Amazon Germany had them for 10€ for the last two days also.
Now they are up to 19.97, still cheaper than the included remote would cost alone :)
And I thought the 49.99 I paid here in the states was a deal for my back-up player. Considering it plays DVDs and hooks to a HD ready PC....anything under 50 bux is a deal. I have 100 HD-DVDs of movies I was planning to buy on standard-def. My future hi-def's will of course be of the blu variety. But I saved a ton on hardware and media in the death of HD. Plus these things will last for years. And my drives will connect to future 360s and all my future PCs....lovin it...Q
hmm at that price its worth it if you have a macbook air or any kind of umpc. cheapest external dvd drive id imagine
sucks to be you
i'm not gonna head to gamestop just yet. give me a heads up when they drop bellow the euro mark. i'll put it next to my ps3 so it can not only starve for media but wollow in the succes of the format i was banking on all along
Amazon Germany sold the drive including the remote for 10 Euro on Sunday. Now it's back at 19.97.
I've got a 5-1/4 inch floppy drive here that consequently,
costs more.
an Xbox 360 hard DRIVE dvd DRIVE?
HD-DVD, lol
Its a high-definition disc format, now killed off by Blu-Ray
Still, there's a respectable selection of good high-def movies available from when it was going strong so €9.99 ain't bad, even for buying into obsolete tech xD
they're still US$70 (equivalent) at one UK highstreet retailer (argos FWIW), saying price is down from US$240 equivalent.
There is a suburb in California called "Dublin". This is not Dublin, Ireland. A simple Google Search would have resolved that it's a US business.
7745 Amador Valley Blvd
(between Regional St & Starward Dr)
Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 803-5871
www.dollartree.com
The signage in the windows is in $ and not EUR! Did you also notice the trademark yellow paint on the sidewalks and typical Californian architecture?
Cmon guys you can do better than this.
is that the N. Attleboro MA Dollar Tree? sure looks like it
Nope, the N Attleboro store would have an 1190 over the doors...
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&q=dollar+tree&near=North+Attleboro,+MA&fb=1&cid=0,0,11819610821578661117&t=k&ll=41.945096,-71.346889&spn=0.015353,0.029011&z=15&iwloc=A
I live in Ireland and I just rang GameStop and they said they are 99.99Euro. Check your sources I'd say.
They are definitely going for 9.99euro, I got one myself. xtravision are doing the same deal also!
Yeah this was on Hot UK Deals a few days ago - I would buy one if they crossed over to mainland, however I've always been such a proponent of digital downloads, I'd be a very large hypocrite. I guess that's why I studied Politics?
Not to be to picky over semantics but... To say "the absurd devaluation of the US dollar" is fundamentally incorrect. The correct thing to say would be "the absurd depreciation" of the dollar. Currency is only 'devalued' in fixed exchange rate systems. In flexiable systems, like the US, it 'depreciates.' None the less, thats still pretty cheap.
Kmart in the US has em for $25, thats cheap enough for me to stop if I see a Kmart. I've got 3 backups. Only reason is because I have alot of HD movies, and with prices under $10, its cheaper to buy HD than standard DVD. I saw American Gangster for $7, and that was combo format.
Granted I'm sure no one cares, but I like it. Just waitin for a PS3 package I like, then I'll start buying blu
Does the Media Center remote work on a normal Windows MCE PC?
I can confirm the remote works on the Linksys Media Center Extender. I had to unplug the Linksys 'cause every time I used the remote, two devices would respond. 360 FTW
Looks like the Kalamazoo, MI 49009 store.. yep, slow day at work.
I have an awesome story about the HD-DVD vs. BD war, I was working in a computer store, not very unlike Best Buy. And for I worked there for two years and I sold SOOO many HD-DVD players that it couldnt be true. And everyone didnt listen to me, I told them to wait to see who won the format war, just wait and see what happens.
But no, they baught their $2-300 HD-DVD players and today, they are hopefully very mad at them selfs, that they didnt listen to the big man in the comptuer store.
Why would they be mad?
I mean, it still works, and they probably got use out of it. It did what they wanted. They watched a library of HD-DVD movies on it, and they probably bought quite a few when they dropped in price.
No, it's not future-proofed, but I hardly think the people who own HD-DVD players are gnashing their teeth and tearing their hair out, yelling "NOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY DIDN'T I LISTEN TO THE GUY WHO SELLS ELECTRONICS?"
Seriously, dude. Perspective.
so the Xbox 360 HD DVD drives are going for about the same as a McDonalds meal across the pond?
Actually just spotted today here in Finland Xbox 360 HD DVD drive going for 29 euros.
I picked up an X-box 360 HD-DVD drive here in the US a few weekends ago for $50 minus a $50 rebate at Hastings. I don't think it came with a media remote, but it did come with the King Kong HD-DVD. It's hard to beat free.
Fukken score! I bagged the last one at gamestop >:3
Just got the last one in Portlaoise, 9.99:) good as a spare dvd and hd dvd player for my laptop
i just got one of these last week cause i needed an external drive for my eee pc to make installing operating systems easier. it does the job and the hd movies look awesome on my 360. yeah its a dead format but for the price its going for now (i've seen it at FYE for $20) it is totally worth it.
will these work on a macbook air?
works on a MBP, fwiw
> Does the Media Center remote work on a normal Windows MCE PC?
Seconded. Does it?