HD-DVD add-on now available - General Discussion (HARDWARE only)

Well, I finally popped in King Kong for comparison last night and it did look nice, but I wasn't totally blown away. Maybe I'll have to compare it side by side though with the DVD version. Not really complaining, and maybe I didn't give it a good look.

How much better do HD-DVD's look over something like LOST that is braodcasted in HD-ABC?
 
[quote name='doubledown']Well, I finally popped in King Kong for comparison last night and it did look nice, but I wasn't totally blown away. Maybe I'll have to compare it side by side though with the DVD version. Not really complaining, and maybe I didn't give it a good look.

How much better do HD-DVD's look over something like LOST that is braodcasted in HD-ABC?[/QUOTE]

A show like LOST should be playing @720p. So unless you have a 1080p TV, you shouldn't see a crazy difference in the quality for the disc.
 
Ok, maybe since I'm only running 1080i on my TV....still looks darn good, I just have to compare a few more. I just got Fast & the Furious today. I'll compare that to the normal DVD. Supposedly ALL the F&tF HD-DVD's are top-notch in quality.
 
Got my player last week and was initially blown away by the difference.

Once you get used to the clarity and color saturation, you don't realize how spoiled you are until you throw in a standard dvd.

There are also moments while I'm watching a movie where you see a long shot with every detail visable that would never be possible on standard dvd's.
 
I had to drive over 20 miles to a Circuit City that actually had them in stock but I got it (with the coupon of course!). This thing is freakin amazing...

I also bought Serenity and I'm absolutely blown away by the color and clarity of it. I don't have surround sound hooked up yet (and my system probably won't do it justice anyway) but the sound off my TV's speakers is still pretty damn good.

I also picked up Batman Begins and put in a DeepDiscountDVD order for the Mission Impossible 3 pack (3 movies for $55 is a steal, plus you can't get MI1 or 2 anywhere else yet). In addition to those ones that I bought, I added quite a few HD-DVDs to my blockbuster.com queue so this drive is gonna get plenty of use.

Overall, I'm more than happy with my purchase.

Edit- Just for shits and giggles, I put in the regular DVD version of Serenity after I finished watching the HD-DVD and put it on the space battle scene at the end because that scene impressed me so much in the HD-DVD version... its simply unbelievable how big the difference is. The sound (even through TV speakers) has a certain amount of muffled sound do it, the colors are much brighter in the HD, and finally, its just much crisper picture.
 
I see this on IGN now. Pretty great if so.

[quote name='ign']
360 HD-DVD drive works with PCs
World's cheapest HD-DVD drive created in the process.
by Bennett Ring, IGN AU

Australia, November 13, 2006 - Forget paying AU$1000 or more for a HD-DVD player. An intrepid group of tweakers have managed to get the 360's external HD-DVD drive to work on Windows-based PCs. The crew at Uneasysilence, with the aid of some mysterious drivers, have managed to get a PC to both recognise and play HD-DVDs using the drive designed for the 360.

Thanks to the 360 HD-DVD drive's USB connection, plugging in the drive to a PC was very simple. However, it required the availability of two pieces of software to make the HD-DVD dream a reality; software for the playback of HD-DVD movies, and drivers for the device. The site doesn't mention who created these drivers, though the story does link to the download location. WinDVD 8 was used during the test, and apparently the playback worked relatively well on a low-end PC.

They even tested the drive on a MacOS system, which correctly detected the drive. However, the lack of HD-DVD compatible software meant that movies could not be played on the Mac.

With this news, PC owners with a decent system now have the option for a very cheap HD-DVD drive. To read the full article, head to the full story.
[/quote]
 
wow so have they made the drivers public for download?

also im running the drive on 1080i.. question.. are movies supposed to be played with the blackbars on the top and bottom of screen? when i dl hd videos on the 360 they are full screen and look great.. i was hopin that was possible with the hd dvd movies
 
[quote name='guyver2077']wow so have they made the drivers public for download?

also im running the drive on 1080i.. question.. are movies supposed to be played with the blackbars on the top and bottom of screen? when i dl hd videos on the 360 they are full screen and look great.. i was hopin that was possible with the hd dvd movies[/quote]Your TV (I'm assuming widescreen) has an aspect ratio of 1:78:1.

Movies are typically at 2:35:1 or 1:85:1. Thus in order to fit that into a 1:78:1 ratio, black bars at top and bottom are necessary.

Picture this... to fit a large rectangle into a smaller rectangle, but keeping the width to height ratio of the large rectangle, you would have to have empty space above and below it.

Hmm... hope that made sense.
 
thanks for the info..

so what would i have to do to get that full screen.. is that how everyone is watching it.. i currently have a 1080i widescreen lcd..

i dont plan on upgrading till 1080p comes down some more
 
[quote name='guyver2077']thanks for the info..

so what would i have to do to get that full screen.. is that how everyone is watching it.. i currently have a 1080i widescreen lcd..

i dont plan on upgrading till 1080p comes down some more[/quote]You wouldn't want it to fit full screen otherwise you'll be stretching your picture vertically.

There's more info horizontally than what your set can display so it "shrinks" the picture to fit the width of your screen and to keep the aspect ratio intact, it resorts to adding the black bars on the top and bottom.
 
so ideally is that how you would want to watch the movie.... id figure it can look just as good full screen....

sometimes i really hate those bars and 360 content looks great and thats full screen and 720p
 
[quote name='guyver2077']so ideally is that how you would want to watch the movie.... id figure it can look just as good full screen....

sometimes i really hate those bars and 360 content looks great and thats full screen and 720p[/quote]Yeah, otherwise you'll get a distorted image. Think of it this way, disregarding actual ratios of real TVs and movies:

Your TV displays an image of 16 inches wide by 9 inches tall (widescreen). The movie is widescreen as well, but has information that spans 18 inches wide by 9 inches tall. To compensate for the inability to show the extra inch on each side, your TV shrinks the width down to the 16 inches your TV can display, but in order to keep the ratio and not make the images look stretched, it also has to reduce the height of the displayed movie down to 7 inches. That leaves you the black 1 inch border on the top and bottom of the movie.

It's either you display it in full screen and have the image stretched vertically (getting the whole image to fit) or you keep the same ratio and yet miss the extra information on the sides of the image. The bars just let you keep the image from being distorted all while giving you the full picture.
 
[quote name='javeryh']I didn't read through the entire thread but how would you recommend watching the movies - 720p or 1080i?[/QUOTE]
Is your set LCD, plasma, CRT, or....?

If it's CRT I'd at least try 1080i and see if you like it. The other two I'd stick with 720p. That said, let your eyes be the judge...too many people set their stuff up based on what someone tells them is "optimal" while not being satisfied themselves.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']Is your set LCD, plasma, CRT, or....?

If it's CRT I'd at least try 1080i and see if you like it. The other two I'd stick with 720p. That said, let your eyes be the judge...too many people set their stuff up based on what someone tells them is "optimal" while not being satisfied themselves.[/quote]

I've got a plasma - it only goes up to 1080i but 720p shows more lines on the screen at once so...
 
It May Be My 360 But For Some Reason When I Have My 360 Set At 720p I Sometimes Get These Gray Lines Going Up And Down The Screen.. This Doesnt Happen When On 1080i So Ive Stuck With That
 
Anyone getting any noise from the drive?

I'm hearing reports that it's noisy and some even say it's that way when not even in use but while playing games.

Personally, I have yet to experience any noise at all, especially when not using it. Just wondering what everyone else has experienced.
 
Kinda dumb question here... HD-DVD drive uses the X360's setups right, I don't need to make room for more component/audio cables on my receiver?
 
[quote name='LinkinPrime']Kinda dumb question here... HD-DVD drive uses the X360's setups right, I don't need to make room for more component/audio cables on my receiver?[/quote]

correct.. uses 360 setup.


and no NOTICEABLE noice at all coming from drive for me
 
[quote name='Psykoboy2']Anyone getting any noise from the drive?

I'm hearing reports that it's noisy and some even say it's that way when not even in use but while playing games.

Personally, I have yet to experience any noise at all, especially when not using it. Just wondering what everyone else has experienced.[/QUOTE]
I have a fairly quiet high-pitched whirr/whine coming from it...I'm not sure if it's normal or not. It's not bad and it doesn't necessarily sound "wrong" but I'm sensitive as hell to stuff like that, so I may exchange it if/when more come in stock just to be safe.
 
I've noticed that black bars on the HD DVD titles and I know most of us bought widescreen TVs to avoid having that but sometimes the original aspect ratio does not all for it to be present that way. When anamorphic widescreen came to the screen you could amost always guarantee that your 16x9 screen would be filled with no noticable black bars. However on the new HD-DVDs I notice the HD side shows WIDESCREEN then the aspect ration where as the DVD side on the HD-DVD shows ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN then the aspect ratio. I have only seen two HD films so far so I do not know if this is holding true. I'm not complaining as when I watch movies in HD on DirecTV they are sometimes black barred so it's no biggie. Just an idea.
 
[quote name='FLSHADOW74']I've noticed that black bars on the HD DVD titles and I know most of us bought widescreen TVs to avoid having that but sometimes the original aspect ratio does not all for it to be present that way. When anamorphic widescreen came to the screen you could amost always guarantee that your 16x9 screen would be filled with no noticable black bars. However on the new HD-DVDs I notice the HD side shows WIDESCREEN then the aspect ration where as the DVD side on the HD-DVD shows ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN then the aspect ratio. I have only seen two HD films so far so I do not know if this is holding true. I'm not complaining as when I watch movies in HD on DirecTV they are sometimes black barred so it's no biggie. Just an idea.[/QUOTE]

There are multiple aspect ratios a movie can be filmed in. Watch Starward Ep 3, it will have black bars.
 
[quote name='cleaver']How do you set your display on the 360 to 1080p with the VGA cable? Doesn't it just say 1368 x whatever?[/QUOTE]

Well if you have the VGA cable and have updated your Xbox with the Fall update, then in the resolution setting you will see the XXXX x 1080 resolution.
 
[quote name='FLSHADOW74']I've noticed that black bars on the HD DVD titles and I know most of us bought widescreen TVs to avoid having that but sometimes the original aspect ratio does not all for it to be present that way. When anamorphic widescreen came to the screen you could amost always guarantee that your 16x9 screen would be filled with no noticable black bars. However on the new HD-DVDs I notice the HD side shows WIDESCREEN then the aspect ration where as the DVD side on the HD-DVD shows ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN then the aspect ratio. I have only seen two HD films so far so I do not know if this is holding true. I'm not complaining as when I watch movies in HD on DirecTV they are sometimes black barred so it's no biggie. Just an idea.[/QUOTE]

Wasn't this JUST on the previous page.

Widescreen TV's are 16:9 ratio. Which is basically 1.78:1 ratio

Movies are usually shot in 1.85:1 (no black bars)

OR

2.35:1 - Black bars on top and bottom. THIS IS NORMAL
 
[quote name='binici']Well if you have the VGA cable and have updated your Xbox with the Fall update, then in the resolution setting you will see the XXXX x 1080 resolution.[/QUOTE]
Is that interlace or progressive?
 
[quote name='cleaver']Is that interlace or progressive?[/quote]

That resolution would be 1080p. (Progressive)
 
This thing must be doing pretty well... I went to CC yesterday to get one and they were sold out. I signed up for e-mail notification for when they were back in stock, and got a notice this afternoon that they'd recieved a shipment. Went straight there after work and was told they got 5 and sold them all this afternoon. That's pretty impressive. I didn't expect them to be this hard to get ahold of.
 
[quote name='psychobrawler']This thing must be doing pretty well... I went to CC yesterday to get one and they were sold out. I signed up for e-mail notification for when they were back in stock, and got a notice this afternoon that they'd recieved a shipment. Went straight there after work and was told they got 5 and sold them all this afternoon. That's pretty impressive. I didn't expect them to be this hard to get ahold of.[/QUOTE]

Just buy online, pick up in-store. When you get there say you had a coupon....that's what I did. They basically gave me a refund for $42.xx
 
I want to buy this but I'm still uncertain about the outcome of the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray thing. I don't want to end up buying it along with a few pricey movies only to have them become obsolete in a couple years. I guess I'll wait a while longer.
 
[quote name='varock']I want to buy this but I'm still uncertain about the outcome of the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray thing. I don't want to end up buying it along with a few pricey movies only to have them become obsolete in a couple years. I guess I'll wait a while longer.[/QUOTE]
I'm in the same boat, but I bought it. That $40 coupon makes this thing an amazing deal - a movie, a remote, and the player for $160 is pretty hard to go wrong on. If you care about home theater PC at all you'll eventually be able to use this for that purpose before long as well.
 
[quote name='varock']I want to buy this but I'm still uncertain about the outcome of the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray thing. I don't want to end up buying it along with a few pricey movies only to have them become obsolete in a couple years. I guess I'll wait a while longer.[/QUOTE]

For $160-$200 (with free movie and remote) does it matter? Put it this way, buy it and its your vote to support the better (and cheaper) format. All the while no longer wasting money on standard definition versions of DVDs when you can get HD DVD ones for similar prices.

HD DVD is beating up Blu-Ray pretty badly anyway. It will take a miracle for Blu-Ray not to lose, nevermind win or draw.
 
[quote name='Ruined']HD DVD is beating up Blu-Ray pretty badly anyway. It will take a miracle for Blu-Ray not to lose, nevermind win or draw.[/quote]

I still say the PS3 will narrow the gap between the two formats and give HD DVD a run for it's money.

I WANT HD-DVD to win.
 
[quote name='Ruined']For $160-$200 (with free movie and remote) does it matter? Put it this way, buy it and its your vote to support the better (and cheaper) format. All the while no longer wasting money on standard definition versions of DVDs when you can get HD DVD ones for similar prices.

HD DVD is beating up Blu-Ray pretty badly anyway. It will take a miracle for Blu-Ray not to lose, nevermind win or draw.[/QUOTE]

Keep talking fanboy.... You're BS never ceases to amaze, what similar prices? Let me know when you can walk into a retail store and get a new release HD-DVD (or Blu-ray for that matter) for $13.99 or $14.99, we'll talk then about similar pricing. Back whatever format you feel like, but "similar prices" my ass. And $160 is not exactly a simple brush off for most people, so yeah it does matter.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']Keep talking fanboy.... You're BS never ceases to amaze, what similar prices? Back whatever format you feel like, but "similar prices" my ass. And $160 is not exactly a simple brush off for most people, so yeah it does matter.[/QUOTE]
but neither is $500, so HDDVD is cheaper, no matter how you put it. And the actual movies are cheaper than blu ray, so hddvd is more affordable
 
[quote name='anomynous']but neither is $500, so HDDVD is cheaper, no matter how you put it. And the actual movies are cheaper than blu ray, so hddvd is more affordable[/QUOTE]

My point wasn't comparing Blu-ray and HD-DVD cost, (though the cost of a 360 and the drive is $500...) but was to point out that they are in no way in hell currently & similary priced (be it hardware or software) to standard DVDs at this point.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']My point wasn't comparing Blu-ray and HD-DVD cost, (though the cost of a 360 and the drive is $500...) but was to point out that they are in no way in hell currently & similary priced (be it hardware or software) to standard DVDs at this point.[/QUOTE]

If you use the code HDDISC10 (10% off HD DVDs for 1yr after buying your first 3) at AMAZON most HD DVDs are $17.99 which is comparable to standard DVD (maybe a few bucks more at best). Of course, there are some more expensive exceptions but the same goes for standard DVD.

Also, you can get the Toshiba HD-A1 standalone at amazon for $399 (+3 free movies) or the 360 HD DVD addon at Circuit City for $160 (+free king kong & remote) with the coupon.
 
[quote name='Trakan']That resolution would be 1080p. (Progressive)[/QUOTE]
So if I hit info on my TV and it says it's displaying at 1920x1080, that means 1080p?
 
[quote name='Ruined']If you use the code HDDISC10 (10% off HD DVDs for 1yr after buying your first 3) at AMAZON most HD DVDs are $17.99 which is comparable to standard DVD (maybe a few bucks more at best). Of course, there are some more expensive exceptions but the same goes for standard DVD.

Also, you can get the Toshiba HD-A1 standalone at amazon for $399 (+3 free movies) or the 360 HD DVD addon at Circuit City for $160 (+free king kong & remote) with the coupon.[/QUOTE]

Or I can buy a regular major market new release DVD for $3 or $4 less in almost any retail store. I don't have to buy 3 or use a weird coupon code either. The average buyer has little to know idea of that either. No retail store sells them for under $20 and most online retailers don't either. So pricing is not the same obscure coupon codes are nice but they aren't the actually pricing of these things on the market. It's like a car dealer selling a Camero for $8000 under the average, a nice price but not the average or general pricing for one.

Also, many top-rated DVD players don't even breach the $150 mark. I know this is normal for early adoption. If you want to pay the premium fine, but $4 adds up over time, and is NOT similar prices, so I fail to see how your ship is holding water. The way you talk half the time it's like you work for MS or Toshiba.
 
[quote name='cleaver']So if I hit info on my TV and it says it's displaying at 1920x1080, that means 1080p?[/QUOTE]

It's the right resolution, could be either interlaced or progressive though. 1080i and 1080p actually have the same resolution, it's the way they are displayed that technically makes them different. Chances are though if it's a recent TV it's 1080p, or at least the set has a deinterlacer.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']It's the right resolution, could be either interlaced or progressive though. 1080i and 1080p actually have the same resolution, it's the way they are displayed that technically makes them different. Chances are though if it's a recent TV it's 1080p, or at least the set has a deinterlacer.[/QUOTE]
I know my TV is 1080p, so if it's displaying at 1920x1080 that's 1080p?

The IGN review makes a good point, it's the only HD DVD player that displays at 1080p.
http://gear.ign.com/articles/746/746074p1.html
 
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