WTF? The HD DVD drive is just that, a drive. HDi is handled by the XBox360. Pretty much everything to do with actually playing an HD DVD is handled by the XBox.

The "revised drive" I'm betting is nothing more than using cheaper Lite-On drives instead of Toshiba drives that it's currently using.

Well, next year is 4 months from now so it's not THAT bad.

domerdel: This is info coming from the AVS Insider's thread from a BDA insider:

http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11488400#post11488400
http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11488752#post11488752

"Im confused here. Is there not a crop on the dvd version as well? I can see more on the bottom half of blu ray while its cut off on the dvd. Although I would rather see the top part, arnt widescreen releases suppose to show the FULL picture and not cropped?"

That bottom part you aren't SUPPOSE to see. Look at the last set of screenshots on the AVS link. They're suppose to be fighting way up high on rafters but in the mis-framed Blu-ray and the open matte shot you can clearly see the floor of the set.

"And out of curiosity, has any US BD exclusive been released recently on HD DVD in Europe?"

http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=10696

Huh, another Blu-ray player being released on October. Imagine that...

"It's out at the end of October, so it should be 1.1. "

1.1 is mandatory for players introduced to market AFTER October 31. This and all the other players announced today except the Daewoo are being released in October because they're Profile 1.0.

Another 1.0 player, what the hell?!

If these are SoC based (as opposed to the current PC-like 2nd gen players) then Toshiba would likely be in a better position to drive prices down even further. I wonder if they're going to give the 2nd gen players another price cut or rebate promotion to clear out remaining inventory.

"It's already dropped $30 from Amazon. If you have the 10% Amazon discount, that's $37 below MSRP, so you can buy it now :)"

And there's a TV Guide promotion where you can get an additional 5% off.

http://www.tvguide.com/special/dvd/