Got my Xbox 360 HD DVD drive today - It's awesome.

[Eug]

I finally got my HD DVD add-on drive for the Xbox 360. The video quality is unbelievable.
Have you tried viewing those 1080p24 trailers online? Well, HD DVD is 10X better. It's got the same resolution, but with no artifacts. It's just awesome.

The menus are interesting too. I took some pictures:

Mission Impossible: III - Scene selection
Selecting a video commentary
Viewing picture-in-picture video commentary

King Kong - Normal screen
Interactivity
Scene selection (while movie is playing)
Bookmarks

Corpse Bride - Special Features menu (while movie is playing)

My setup

----

EDIT:

The Xbox 360 has audio sync problems with HD DVD playback.

 

[homestarmy]

I'm sure it looks great, but those pics don't do it justice at all.

 

[jpeyton]

Hard to tell from your pictures, that's for sure.

What kind of display are you running?

 

[fs5]

I can't see anything.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Even if pictures don't do justice, they do show lots of new functionality like PiP commentary, menues while movie is playing, bookmarks. All are welcome additions. I wonder if BluRay will have that kind of functionality.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I have one enroute - it will be delivered tomorrow or Wednesday. I can't wait!

 

[GTaudiophile]

Have you connected it to your PC yet?

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I'm sure it looks great, but those pics don't do it justice at all.

Indeed. I picked up my HD-DVD add-on this past Saturday, and I love it. The only thing that sucks is that now I just want to buy new dvd's, and the new format is asking for a premium on these things. I picked up MI:3 to add to my collection (i.e. King Kong that came with it ), and it was $30! This coming from a man who would never pay $20 for a regular DVD, and always waited for his favorite movies to hit the sales bin at CC/BB for under $10.

 

[TheChort]

congrats :thumbsup:
but those pics make it look like a vhs on the box tv in my grandma's basement

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I'm sure it looks great, but those pics don't do it justice at all.

Indeed. I picked up my HD-DVD add-on this past Saturday, and I love it. The only thing that sucks is that now I just want to buy new dvd's, and the new format is asking for a premium on these things. I picked up MI:3 to add to my collection (i.e. King Kong that came with it ), and it was $30! This coming from a man who would never pay $20 for a regular DVD, and always waited for his favorite movies to hit the sales bin at CC/BB for under $10.

just hope hd-dvd wins over blu-ray (or dual format players become the norm.)

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I'm sure it looks great, but those pics don't do it justice at all.

Indeed. I picked up my HD-DVD add-on this past Saturday, and I love it. The only thing that sucks is that now I just want to buy new dvd's, and the new format is asking for a premium on these things. I picked up MI:3 to add to my collection (i.e. King Kong that came with it ), and it was $30! This coming from a man who would never pay $20 for a regular DVD, and always waited for his favorite movies to hit the sales bin at CC/BB for under $10.

They're pretty much all around $20 shipped at Amazon, and they have (or had) a promotion where if you buy 3, all HD-DVDs will be 10% off for the next year. I bought The Thing, Goodfellas, and Batman Begins (I know the first two are not known as stellar transfers, but they are two of my favorite movies).

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: fs5

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I'm sure it looks great, but those pics don't do it justice at all.

Indeed. I picked up my HD-DVD add-on this past Saturday, and I love it. The only thing that sucks is that now I just want to buy new dvd's, and the new format is asking for a premium on these things. I picked up MI:3 to add to my collection (i.e. King Kong that came with it ), and it was $30! This coming from a man who would never pay $20 for a regular DVD, and always waited for his favorite movies to hit the sales bin at CC/BB for under $10.

just hope hd-dvd wins over blu-ray (or dual format players become the norm.)

I'm not really concerned. By the time a winner is declared, if that even happens, players will finally be cheap enough to justify owning both formats. Also, like you said, dual-format players are coming, something I personally believe will allow both formats to co-exist.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I'm sure it looks great, but those pics don't do it justice at all.

The pix are not to demonstrate picture quality. It's to demonstrate the menus.

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Hard to tell from your pictures, that's for sure.

What kind of display are you running?

34" widescreen 1080i CRT. Hard to see the text on some menus at distances over 7'. Gotta sit at 5-6' away.

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Even if pictures don't do justice, they do show lots of new functionality like PiP commentary, menues while movie is playing, bookmarks. All are welcome additions. I wonder if BluRay will have that kind of functionality.

Blu-ray can theoretically do PIP commentaries, but AFAIK, no discs exist with it.

eg. MI:3 is also available on Blu-ray, but doesn't include the video commentary track that's present on the MI:3 HD DVD.

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Have you connected it to your PC yet?

In Vista beta, it recognizes it and I can navigate the HD DVD file system. I can't play them though because I don't have the right software (and hardware).

On Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, it also recognizes it and I could play CDs and DVDs from it, but again, not HD DVD.

 

[EKKC]

i'll get one when HD-DVD-R is cheap :laugh:

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Even if pictures don't do justice, they do show lots of new functionality like PiP commentary, menues while movie is playing, bookmarks. All are welcome additions. I wonder if BluRay will have that kind of functionality.

honestly - i wouldnt want any of that. anything that clouds the movie picture is a disturbance to the film, IMO.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Does the HD DVD for the 360 do upconversion to 1080P like the stand-alone players do?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Does the HD DVD for the 360 do upconversion to 1080P like the stand-alone players do?

Yes but you have to use the VGA cables. Won't upconvert over component because of MPAA/DVD consortium rules.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Does the HD DVD for the 360 do upconversion to 1080P like the stand-alone players do?

Yes but you have to use the VGA cables. Won't upconvert over component because of MPAA/DVD consortium rules.

What about HDMI? I thought the HD-DVD add-on had HDMI.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Even if pictures don't do justice, they do show lots of new functionality like PiP commentary, menues while movie is playing, bookmarks. All are welcome additions. I wonder if BluRay will have that kind of functionality.

honestly - i wouldnt want any of that. anything that clouds the movie picture is a disturbance to the film, IMO.

You can leave it off of course. This for when you've already seen the film.

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Does the HD DVD for the 360 do upconversion to 1080P like the stand-alone players do?

Yes but you have to use the VGA cables. Won't upconvert over component because of MPAA/DVD consortium rules.

What about HDMI? I thought the HD-DVD add-on had HDMI.

No HDMI support on the Xbox 360.

 

[Kyle]

I'm really thinking of getting this- I had a 360 about 6 months ago- no problems at all. I bought a brand new one about a month ago (sold the other one) and now I'm getting disc read errors nearly every time I play....
I'm assuming a new drive would fix that? I also get garbled video sometimes but not too often.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Even if pictures don't do justice, they do show lots of new functionality like PiP commentary, menues while movie is playing, bookmarks. All are welcome additions. I wonder if BluRay will have that kind of functionality.

honestly - i wouldnt want any of that. anything that clouds the movie picture is a disturbance to the film, IMO.

You can leave it off of course. This for when you've already seen the film.

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Does the HD DVD for the 360 do upconversion to 1080P like the stand-alone players do?

Yes but you have to use the VGA cables. Won't upconvert over component because of MPAA/DVD consortium rules.

What about HDMI? I thought the HD-DVD add-on had HDMI.

No HDMI support on the Xbox 360.

So does HD-DVD not require HDCP or any of that other baloney? And will HD-DVD still function over Component? How about S-video/composite?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Kaido

So does HD-DVD not require HDCP or any of that other baloney? And will HD-DVD still function over Component? How about S-video/composite?

No - at this point no disc makers have implemented HDCP. HD-DVD will work over component, but neither S-Video nor composite are HD-capable.

 

[secretanchitman]

i like how both blu-ray and hd-dvd can have the movie menus open while the movie is playing. thats really neat.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

So does HD-DVD not require HDCP or any of that other baloney

The production houses agreed to leave the HDCP requirement off DVD's until 2011, it was in a *cough cough* behind closed doors meeting that this took place. So, no worries about HDCP compatible displays until at least that time.

 

[KLin]

Damnit I wish mine would ship from amazon already. :|