MS To Bring It with Low Cost HD-DVD Add-On for The 360

[Brendan Goetz]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.hdblog.net/2006/08/09/microsoft-shows-off-xbox-360-hd-dvd/' target='_blank'>http://www.hdblog.net/2006/08/09/microsoft-shows-off-xbox-360-hd-dvd/</a><br /><br /></div><i>“C|net reports that Microsoft has shown off their HD DVD solution for their Xbox 360 gaming console. Kevin Collins from Microsoft showed off the peripheral to attendees of the DVD Forum in Los Angeles. Mr. Collins showed off the peripheral’s HD DVD functionality with The Phantom of the Opera. All the audio and video processing are done inside the 360, and the video is put out on the Xbox 360’s current outputs. Hmmm. I just read the article I linked to below again, and I don’t see that mentioned. I thought for sure I read that somewhere, because I was gonna make a point about the lack of HDMI and therefore potential problems with any HD DVD titles that choose to implement the Image Constraint Token. Oh well.”</i><br /><br />I am very curious about how the 360 is going to work HD-DVD without an HDMI output. Either we are going to get screwed when the studios get serious about using HDMIs copy-protection schemes, or MS has some sort of work around, which would be fine with me. I have a 360, but I think I would ultimately like to use my media PC as my HD-DVD drive, as I do now for regular DVDs. It just offers a lot more flexibility in terms of content management and delivery. Still, I applaud MS for coming with a cheap solution and simultaneously sticking it to Sony, who seem to be in the process of dropping the ball on this generation of consoles. Maybe they will surprise everyone when the PS3 comes out, but I’m not holding my breathe…

[Chris Gohlke]

I am so looking forward to the HD add on. Assuming that it will let you play the HD content over component inputs (since that is all I have), the combo price with a 360 is about $500, and there are no gotchas I will be all over this when it comes out.

[makicr]

If it is truly "low cost" I would suspect that MS will have to subsidize the thing. I wonder how long it will take for someone to hack it to allow the use of the drive on a PC.

[Felix Torres]

Its going to be about a month before we know for sure what MS will do with the HD-DVD drive but certain things are already a certainty:

1- The drive is a bare HD-DVD drive in a USB enclosure. It will also serve as a daisy-chain hub, providing two USB inputs and a mounting point for the wireless adapter. It will *NOT* provide any kind of video out. All it does is read the discs inserted and feed the data to the 360.

2- Theoretically, it should be possible to open up the case and put the drive into a PC and it will work. *IF* drivers and software are available. Big, big, big, if!

3- All processing and display will occur in the 360 itself. Its all software.

4- Pricing is unknown and MS has been coy to the point of saying only that it will be *among* the cheapest HD-DVD players in the market. No promise of undercutting anybody. That said, common sense suggests a price between $100-200 because, first, the differential between the 360 and the PS3 is $200, and second, the HD-DVD bare drives have a reported OEM cost of about $80. Way cheaper than the BD drives $200 OEM estimate but still too expensive for an under-$100 price without subsidy and MS is not likely to want to encourage folks to stick them into Vista PCs next year.

5- Finally, the old HD-DVD needs HDMI bugaboo... &lt;sigh> Months ago CNET itself reported that the studios had quietly let it be known that they will *not*, repeat, *NOT* be implementing the *optional* content flag requiring HDCP-validated outputs for full-resolution display of content. They said they would not be doing so for some time, without explaining how long "some time" would be. (Probably depends on the amount of analog-based copying they see.) This is because they *have* to do it or risk killing both HD-DVD and BD-ROM before either got off the ground; something like two-thirds of the installed HD displays on planet Earth have no HDCP-capable ports. That is why Sony has a PS3 without HDMI and why even the HDMI-equipped PS3 and HD-DVD players will output full resolution over component. And why the XBOX shipped without HDMI to start with. MS knew this was coming so they chose to save money on the hardware because they figured component and VGA are enough.

For more detail on this, check:

http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1608/Editorial-The-Secret-HDMI-Pact/p1/

The two main questions about the HD-DVD drive that MS has to answer are, obviously, the price, and what else will it play off that drive? Could you put CDs, DVDs, and data discs in there to play music off them while gaming? Would you be able to burn a data HD-DVD and play WMAs or even WMVs off it? Would MS allow two-disk games to use the drive for the second disk? Would they allow games to ship on HD-DVD disks at all?
And, will the software update required to play the HD-DVDs allow for WMV-playback off other USB-connected devices?

Answers should by known by the end of X06 in Barcelone.
Now we wait til Sept 27.