Official XBox 360 HD-DVD add-on Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Yumbo]

Hope to get mine next week, and then play it on 185"!

 

[Tim Glover]

Will Pac-Man be in HD-DVD ??? If so, then count me in!

 

[JodyL]

If I'm not mistaken, Pac-Man is, in fact, currently available in HiDef via Xbox Live Arcade (bypassing the disk altogether).

 

[Tim Glover]

Cool....I was really kidding in my question

 

[JodyL]

Yeah, that's what I figured....

 

[DarthBeavis]

I have the Toschiba HD DVD player and just added on the 360 HD DVD player (connected via component). I picture out of the 360 looks just a good to me. The one benefit I will mention is the 360 is hands down WAY faster at loading the movie. Do do not have to wait minutes to fire the movie up or to exhange movies or turn the unit off. I am going to migrate the Toshiba to the master bedroom. If the ICT is ever turned on then the lack of HDMI will hurt the 360 but that is probably a long time down the road.

BTW: I have been lurking here for at least 6 months and finally signed up so I can poast. My condolences to you all in advance.

 

[Mike.P]

Welcome to the forum, Richard, and thanks for the compairison review! Glad to hear Microsoft didn't sell its customers short with this and really attempted to deliver.

My own personal super mini review of it is a 10/10 on all fronts, but as I said this is a super mini review - the only thing I've watched so far was the T Rex Battle in King Kong, which I felt was somewhat acceptable test material .

Hoping to get in a few viewing of Kong tonight. I honestly don't know how I'm supposed to go back to watching regular DVDs, so I guess I just won't?

Oh, to be cursed with such a horrible life of having to watch movies in Hi-Def .

 

[Dave W]

Received my HD-DVD Add-On drive on Friday morning and have been putting it through the paces. I feel this is an outstanding HD-DVD player and easily worth $199. Included in the box are the HD-DVD drive itself, the remote control, power supply, USB cable, Manual, installation disc and King Kong. For a cost comparisson - The remote control is the same that is sold seprately as the Media Remote for $29 at most retailers and King Kong is expected to be $29 at retail so... If you need help justifying the cost of the drive in any way that is $60 already just in "pack-ins".

Installation: I found the installation to be very easy. You insert the installation disc and are asked to reset the Xbox360 after about 30 seconds. You are then prompted to connect the HD-DVD drive and the installation is completed. I encountered no issues at all with this and would expect most people to have a similiar experience.

Interface: The Xbox360 dashboard is somewhat changed after the installation of the drive. As well as the other changes already mentioned in the Media blade you will now have 2 drive options at the bottom of the main screen - one for the built-in drive and one for the HD-DVD drive. when a disc is inserted in both drives (such as a game disc in the main drive and a movie in the HD-DVD drive) you can select either independantly to play their respective discs.

HD-DVD and Standard DVD Playback: Once selected from the main screen and/or after inserting an HD-DVD movie, it takes roughly 5 seconds before the movie starts playing. Menus feel responsive and for those that have not experienced an HD-DVD movie yet, the menus are significanlty less obstructive than a standard DVD menu. Chapter Skip, FF, RW and all the functions worked as ecpected. I should also say that the remote control feels very responsive in general operation as well. For standard DVD playback, the Xbox 360 will upconvert to 1080i over a VGA connection only. (This functionality does not require the HD-DVD drive) If you are using component connection as I am then the Xbox will not upconvert standard DVD's currently. It will upconvert content through the Media Center connection (such as WMV's or standard MPG files) and it will upconvert any DVD that does not use copy protection (AACS on stabdard DVD I believe).

Picture Quality: My impression of the picture quality was that it is substantially better than standard DVD and very similiar/better than most broadcast HDTV. The HD-DVD image was much cleaner and clearer than a standard DVD and the increased resolution was easily noticeable even when compared next to a good transfer on standard DVD. In my opinion there is simply no contest between the 2. As an additional test of image quality, I used an HDTV broadcast of Serenity and did a direct viewing comparisson between that and the HD-DVD version of the movie. The broadcast of Serenity was lacking in color clarity and fine detail compared to the HD-DVD version and there were noticeable compression artifacts as well. There were also issues with the broadcast version having video drops/freezes during the live viewing and during a separate recorded playback. This is all very subjective though and your carrier may have a much worse or much improved broadcast. In addition, I did a direct comparisson with the RCA HD-DVD player on my set, there was no discernable difference in picture quality between the two. I was genuinely surprised by this for (effectively) a $199 player. All these test were done on a 52" RP HDTV over component at 1080i so your results may be differnt using a different output or different display.

Audio Quality: This portion is specific to my equipment as well so your results may vary (greatly in some cases). For audio I tested Batman Begins and Phantom of the Opera in both DD+ and True HD as well as against thier standard DVD counterparts. Both DD+ and True HD sounded better on the HD-DVD against the standard DVD soundtrack on my equipment. Phantom wasn't as pronounced a difference in DD+ as Batman was but, it did sound "fuller" to my ears. Moving to True HD, the soundtracks were cleaner (for lack of a better expression) on HD-DVD than on the standard DVD or even on the DD+ soundtrack. For instance, when listening to the monorail crash on standard DVD there was audible distortion to the bass thump. While listening to DD+ there was not nearly as much distortion to the "thump" but it also did not sound like it had as much impact either (and yes, I raised the volume to compensate for the different levels they are encoded at). While listening to the TrueHD sound there was no ditortion whatsoever to that same bass hit and yet it still had all the sound "impact" I was expecting. My guess is that the re-compression the Xbox does on DD+ is impacting dynamic range (only slightly though) and the TrueHD track is benefitting from only being compressed once. I am not an audio engineer so please take that for what it is - a guess.

Overall: I can't imagine a better player for $199... The picture quality is virtually identical to a stand alone player and it includes a better remote control as well as a great pack in - King Kong. It does not have as many video output options as a stand alone does and the audio quality would be better on a stand alone as well. So, if you are concerned about the audio experience you probably do not want to look at the cheapest player available. Also remember that many HD-DVD movies contain additional special features not available anywhere else. For instance, Batman Begins has an "In Movie Experience" so that you have the option while watching the movie, of having a picture-in-picture window open showing a stunt sequence or production art or other content and (as far as the discs I have to test this with) they have all been screen-specific. For those discs without an IME or similiar feature, all that I have played so far still include all the same supplements as the original DVD so at least you are not missing anything. Very impressive and a great upgrade to the special features from standard DVD.
Also, this is an add-on drive and so requires a host. As I'm sure you all know by now the drive will work on a PC as well as an Xbox360 so your "host" options are flexible but, not much cheaper than a stand alone player. A Core Xbox360 is $299 retail + $199 for the drive puts this at $500 for an HD-DVD player that also happens to be a Media Center and great gaming device as well. If you have a capable PC (HDCP compliant video card capable of outputting HD resolutions, HDCP compliant display, DD+/TrueHD or better sound card and multicore CPU) then you only need the add-on drive at $199.

Having said all that, I would definitely recommend this drive to anyone who already owns an Xbox360 or capable PC as an HD-DVD player. The hit in audio is more than made up for by the price in my opinion.

 

[Robert Bennett]

Picked mine up on Friday. My set up is a Sony 55" 3LCD HDTV. A Yamaha receiver with 5.1 and in ceiling Sonance speakers and an in wall sub.

In anticipation of getting the unit I had already ordered MI-3 and it was waiting in my mail box when I got home.

Hook up a snap. I don't understand that little tag that says run install software first as you have to be connected to even see the drive on your screen?? Anyway that part went fine. I am using the optical out to my receiver.

Immediately upon firing up a new DVD (King Kong) I was floored by how much difference there is to std DVD even the title letters and colors looked amazing. The sound really is better, a lot better, I don't know why as it is still 5.1 out the optical. What is DD+ anyway?

I also watched MI3 in HD and I was not as impressed as I was with KK. Everything was super clear but I felt the skin tones were off Cruise look a little jaundiced. I even tried to adjust my TV to deal with it.

I just updated my Netflix queue to all HD-DVD as I just want to see them all in HD now.

One problem I have is that the 360 is loud and runs hot, really hot. If I close the cabinet door in the component closet the temp inside can get to the hight 90's having the HD drive in there just makes it worse. I need a mini A/C unit for the Ent Center.

 

[AxlVanHagar]

Picked mine up today at the Future Shop I work at. Install/hook up was a breeze and really fast.Set up the 360 for 1080i and hooked it up to my Panasonic PT-AE500U LCD Projector, image projected onto a Draper 100" screen and popped in KingKong. All I can say is WOW!!! An absolutely stunning image, razor sharp with absolute great color. Really an eye popping level of fine detail in the image. I then threw in Serenity. Again I was blown away by the crystal clear image and deep blacks present. Just as an experiment I threw in a standard DVD, The Living Daylights from the new James Bond Ultimate Edition box set. Definitely a softer image than HD_DVD as was to be expected however it was a marked improvement from my regualr player. According to the information screen this was running in 525p. Upon reading this thread I see that the VGA cable is required for the upconversion to 1080 for Standard DVD so I'll pick one up at work and see what the difference is and update this hopefully tomorrow.

In my opinion the X-Box HD-DVD is an awesome machine and well worth the 199.99. I highly recomend picking it up, it is a worthy addition to any HT setup. Especially if your on the fence about upgrading or just thining about it. Now to go buy some more HD-DVD's!!

 

[Dave>h]

Forgive my ignorance but is the 360 add on just a movie player or are there HD DVD games coming out soon too?

Does this mean that a second generation of the xbox 360 will be out with a built in HD DVD drive like the PS 3's Blu Ray drive?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Steve Conrad]

Hey Dave, it has been said by folks at MS that HD-DVD based games won't be coming out on this generation's console.

We'll have to wait for the next big thing to enjoy 'em. =)

Also, the head honchos at MS also have said they don't see a "built-in" HD-DVD drive coming out with the 360. But I say: "Never say never".

(this is my first post in well over a year, lol)

 

[Brent T]

Ok just got 360 HD-DVD player and I have a quick question. I picked up Batman Begins and after I easily installed the the player and plunked in BB. It loaded quickly and as the movie started I noticed the black bars (top/bottom) were still on my screen , is this normal ?

I am using the following TV and do not have this problem with my 360 games or regular tv.

Sony KDF-E55A20 55

 

[Jason Seaver]

Yep. Scope movie.

 

[dkny75]

Yes but it depends on the movie itself. Each film has a specific aspect ratio it was filmed in and all HD DVDs so far have showed the original aspect ratio.

 

[DarthBeavis]

I had the same problem with my wife. I installed waterblocks on her forehead and a radiator on her rear (with three 120 mm fans). She is cooler now although I am considering switching to a phase change unit for her.

 

[Brent T]

OK great ! I just wanted to make sure I didnt screw anything up. Everything went so easily on the installation that I figured something had to be wrong. I only got to watch about 20 mins (installed it on my lunch hour) of Batman Begins but from what what I saw... WOW. I cant believe the difference from standard dvd to HD-DVD. The picture is just amazing compared to my old Sony DVD player. I will post more once I have the proper audio hooked up (gonna pick up an optical on my way home) and watch two or three flicks.

 

[DarthBeavis]

Just picked up the 360 VGA cable for higher res loving.

 

[DarthBeavis]

P3 fanbois I took a pic in Salem, Oregon at Best Buy . . .release day is still 4 days away . . .LOL

 

[AxlVanHagar]

How do you find the quality to be with the VGA Cable Darth?

I just picked mine up and watched a bit of Batman Begins and King Kong HD versions. I tweaked my settings on my projector a bit Contrast and Brightness wise, I found the image a little bland as compared to component, maybe just me.

I then threw in The Living Daylights and Thunderball and noticed a big improvement image wise on both through the upconversion. Colors were much brighter and picture much sharper compared to watching them on my standard DVD player. Once again I am very happy with this purchase and can not wait to pick up more HD-DVD's as they get released.