XBOX 360 HD DVD drive: $199.99 for the US

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Tom
library card=free.

1. unlimited readng material.
2. free wireless access.
3. tons of music cds.
4. tons of dvd movies.

this whole internet/cable/movies/video games/cell phones/ipod media economy deserves to collapse from it's own bloated boring diseased
self.

So you're in an HD DVD thread just because?

P.S. Anyone else pre-order the HD DVD drive? If so, which date did you get? My store says Nov. 12, which is a Sunday. That seems kinda odd for a hardware release. I've also seen Nov. 11 mentioned, but King Kong doesn't come out until Tuesday Nov. 14, while the HD DVD drive release comes with King Kong in North America.

 

[Anonemous]

this is so confusing... let me get this straight, so you don't need HDMI(VGA will do?) to output 1080p right now, you just need a change in firmware and some non protected material?

 

[NorthRiver]

I think Microsoft kinda jumped the gun a little early, and we'll be seeing a new 360 next year with a bigger hdd and HD-DVD drive inside. Too many people are going to get the PS3 because the price difference evens out once you buy all of the add ons, and their really isn't too many first party games to worry about brand loyalty.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Anonemous
this is so confusing... let me get this straight, so you don't need HDMI(VGA will do?) to output 1080p right now, you just need a change in firmware and some non protected material?

AFAIK...

1080p for games over component, but only 1080i for movies over component.
1080p for games and movies over VGA.

1080i-only for component doesn't bother me at all, considering that my TV doesn't support 1080p at all anyway.

Originally posted by: NorthRiver
I think Microsoft kinda jumped the gun a little early, and we'll be seeing a new 360 next year with a bigger hdd and HD-DVD drive inside. Too many people are going to get the PS3 because the price difference evens out once you buy all of the add ons, and their really isn't too many first party games to worry about brand loyalty.

Except that most gamers don't need an HD drive.

P.S. I was all prepared to buy a PS3 instead of an Xbox 360... until Sony royally futzed up the PS3 launch.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: herkulease

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Queasy

Yep. That's why the Sony Execs were saying that the PS3 is so powerful that it will have a 10-year lifespan (not all that wild of a statement when you consider how long the PSX lasted).

1995 to 2000 is only 5 years. that seems about standard for a console to me.

the system lasted quite longer. Sony ended production in march of 2006.

I believe Madden was release for both the ps2 and psone up to 2001 or 2002. Numerous other games were produced for the playstation also.

but they did not garner much limelight as well sony shifted the focus to the playstation 2.

That's not that out of the ordinary. NES was produced for 12 years, SNES was produced for 13 years in Japan. Neo-Geo was continually produced for 14 years I believe (although it wasn't terribly popular due to its absurd $600 price tag ), Atari 2600 lasted 14 years.

What's more important is when the next generation comes out. In 5 years Nintendo and Microsoft will put out their next generation systems (if they're both still in the business of building systems), and they'll blow Sony's 5 year old technology away. Sony will be forced to make a next-gen system.

And they will. I personally see Sony as a market leader when it comes to game consoles, and i think their user base reflects this.

They're definitely a market leader, but they certainly don't know WTF they're doing. The PS2 was the weakest of the consoles last generation, "Toy Story graphics" anyone? Now Sony's banking on two completely new technologies, the Cell processor, and Blu-Ray. The Emotion Engine was supposed to be capable of Toy Story graphics, and we all know how that turned out, I'm 100% inclined to believe everything Sony has yakked about when it comes to the the Cell processor is just as false, and just as big of a load of BS as the EE stuff was.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: herkulease

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Queasy

Yep. That's why the Sony Execs were saying that the PS3 is so powerful that it will have a 10-year lifespan (not all that wild of a statement when you consider how long the PSX lasted).

1995 to 2000 is only 5 years. that seems about standard for a console to me.

the system lasted quite longer. Sony ended production in march of 2006.

I believe Madden was release for both the ps2 and psone up to 2001 or 2002. Numerous other games were produced for the playstation also.

but they did not garner much limelight as well sony shifted the focus to the playstation 2.

That's not that out of the ordinary. NES was produced for 12 years, SNES was produced for 13 years in Japan. Neo-Geo was continually produced for 14 years I believe (although it wasn't terribly popular due to its absurd $600 price tag ), Atari 2600 lasted 14 years.

What's more important is when the next generation comes out. In 5 years Nintendo and Microsoft will put out their next generation systems (if they're both still in the business of building systems), and they'll blow Sony's 5 year old technology away. Sony will be forced to make a next-gen system.

And they will. I personally see Sony as a market leader when it comes to game consoles, and i think their user base reflects this.

The way Sony is going they wont be the market leader after this generation of consoles.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124
They're definitely a market leader, but they certainly don't know WTF they're doing. The PS2 was the weakest of the consoles last generation, "Toy Story graphics" anyone? Now Sony's banking on two completely new technologies, the Cell processor, and Blu-Ray. The Emotion Engine was supposed to be capable of Toy Story graphics, and we all know how that turned out, I'm 100% inclined to believe everything Sony has yakked about when it comes to the the Cell processor is just as false, and just as big of a load of BS as the EE stuff was.

Cell IS very powerful. There's no doubt about that.

I just think Sony frakked up the PS3 launch in terms of timing, implementation, and pricing.

 

[atybimf]

Not a bad price.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Tom
library card=free.

1. unlimited readng material.
2. free wireless access.
3. tons of music cds.
4. tons of dvd movies.

this whole internet/cable/movies/video games/cell phones/ipod media economy deserves to collapse from it's own bloated boring diseased
self.

:laugh:

that was jsut no expected...


but you defintiely get a :beer: for the wisdom...

 

[Eug]

The pre-orders are now available again at Amazon.com (US) and Amazon.ca (Canada). US$199.99 and CAD$199.99 respectively, with free shipping. The release dates are Nov. 7 and Nov. 10 respectively.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: KLin

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: RichUK
Why couldn't MS just incorporate this into the 360 from the beginning. :disgust:

Um, maybe because the system would have cost a lot more money, and now the consumers have the choice of whether or not they want to pay for it?

Plus the fact that when the Xbox360 came out, the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray war was still in the heat of battle. Microsoft probably wanted to wait to see which format would get more support.

Not really

1) The war has just barely begun
2) Microsoft said from the beginning that they'd be supporting HD-DVD

 

[Eug]

Coding the HD DVD playback software

What takes 4.7 million lines of code, partner teams from all over Microsoft, and millions of dollars to create? The Xbox 360 system software? Nope. This is just the HD DVD player.

The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player, for the most part, is an entirely software based implementation. Other players on the market have specialized chips (called DSPs) that decode things like H.264, MPEG, VC1, DTS, Dolby Digital, and other codecs. Much like how backwards compatibility for Xbox 1 works on Xbox 360, the heavy parts of HD DVD are all done on Xbox 360's triple-core CPU.

All 6 of Xbox 360's hardware threads are hard at work while playing back an HD DVD. At the moment, the player software pushes Xbox 360 harder than any other (save, perhaps, Gears of War during some particularly busy parts of the game).

 

[DaveSimmons]

I was thinking seriously about getting this and an Xbox360 for a new toy, then I went to theDigitalBits.com to look at all the great upcoming HD-DVD releases I'd be able to watch:


:crickets;


At least for the next 4-5 months the future release landscape for both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is bleak, weak, lame, and underwhelming. I couldn't find more than 4-5 titles in each format that I cared about.

The studios are all waiting to see if anyone buys the players, but the players (and this HD-DVD drive) are worthless until the studios give us something to watch.

 

[fire400]

...RIP OFF

 

[Eug]

Some of the distributors now have the HD DVD drive.

They should start showing up in customers' hands within 1-2 days.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Will Microsoft ever release a version of the Xbox360 with an INTEGRATED HD-DVD drive? Or will it always have to be purchased as an external add-on drive?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Sudheer Anne
Will Microsoft ever release a version of the Xbox360 with an INTEGRATED HD-DVD drive? Or will it always have to be purchased as an external add-on drive?

Only they know for sure. Frankly I'd be a little surprised to see them create another SKU for this purpose. One of their big advantages over PS3 is their price advantage, and it doesn't really seem worth their making a $500 - 600 360. I also don't think the HD-DVD drive could perform as well as the 12x DVD drive in the 360 for loading game content on the fly.

 

[Eug]

The Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is now $199.99 in Canada (US$175) not only with the remote and the King Kong HD DVD, but also with the King Kong *** game *** as well. Dunno if this game is any good though, but hey, it's free.

 

[kalster]

nm

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Eug
The Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is now $199.99 in Canada (US$175) not only with the remote and the King Kong HD DVD, but also with the HD DVD *** game *** as well. Dunno if this game is any good though, but hey, it's free.

What is the game? I've never heard of such a thing.

I have one of these drives, and I like it for the most part. I must admit, though, that even though I know I should want the letterboxing for 2.35:1 in terms of sheer accuracy, and it still leaves a good-sized image on my 50" set, I find it a little annoying.

 

[intogamer]

Too bad XBOX 360 doesn't have HDMI

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: Eug
The Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is now $199.99 in Canada (US$175) not only with the remote and the King Kong HD DVD, but also with the HD DVD *** game *** as well. Dunno if this game is any good though, but hey, it's free.

What is the game? I've never heard of such a thing.

I have one of these drives, and I like it for the most part. I must admit, though, that even though I know I should want the letterboxing for 2.35:1 in terms of sheer accuracy, and it still leaves a good-sized image on my 50" set, I find it a little annoying.

Sorry. Corrected now. I meant "King Kong game", not "HD DVD game". Somehow it seems I'm not going to like this game, but at least it's free.

BTW, I have having audio sync issues with HD DVD playback. This is not an isolated problem either apparently.