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... <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/...-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.
MS To Bring It with Low Cost HD-DVD Add-On for The 360
Linear Mode
