Hell, if this thing works as a computer drive, I may get one.

Which will necessitate a new processor, motherboard, and video card, most likely, and a new monitor, and ... ... crap.

I hope this thing doesn't work as a computer drive.

It wasn't exactly about copying or ripping the discs, it's more about playback with a HTPC. The driver just allows you read the filesystem on the disc. If I put a DVD with CSS protection in a PC drive, I can see files but cannot strip the copy protection. Until there's a program like DeCSS released but for AACS then it's only about playback. I don't have a 360 add-on but with this driver I would suspect that all you need is a HD DVD playback program. If you are using a digital display (DVI/HDMI) then you would need a HDCP video card and HDCP display.

I was unsure about posting the drivers because the readme said they're directly from Toshiba so I didn't know what their stance is on enforcing copywrites pertaining to drivers.

For those of you guys complaining about the 360 being too noisy you should look into putting a replacment fan inside. I purchased a cool neon Blue replacment fan from Modstore.com. It adds a cool glowing blue tothe back of your unit and its a quiter fan and actually more powerful. It adds like 50% more airflow to your 360 and makes it like 10% quiter which didnt sound like much but ut was extremly noticable. It basically took my 360 from being noticable to barley noticable when powered on. Could be the difference you guys are looking for when playing a movie. Ill dig up the link if I can find it.

PS..


Yep I found it - Here ya go for those that might be interested. Its really worth it and adds some cool neon glow to the back of your 360.

hxxp://www.modchipstore.com/Xbox-360-Tailsmoon-Whisper-Fan-360-Blue-Mod-replacement-16354.html

Was it hard to install?

Very easy to install, all you have to do is plug in the power, connect a USB cable (included) from the back of the drive to the back of the 360, then load the software thru a CD. I think you have to be on-line, though... IIRC, the last step was agreeing to install an update from XBox (think it was separate from the CD load).

PS. Absolutely no noise problems here, either before or after the add-on. It runs very quietly.

No no no, I mean the fan :o

lol never mind.

Wasnt hard at all. you do need to purchase the special tools to get your unit open. they are listed on the site and when you put the fan into your cart, it actually brings the 2 tool kits you need onto your screen so you can easily add them to your cart. Its like 15 bucks for the tools but you absolutly need them.

My 360 barly makes any noise at all now so again if noise is an issue for some of you I would seriously look into one of these, especially if its bothersome to your movie watching.

PS...

I want to thank the original poster of the CC $40 off coupon! I took my HD player back to CC and asked them to do a price adjustment and it worked flawlessly! $160 for an HD player add on is great!

I printed out a few pages of the CC website and used the whole "I got this in my email" blah blah and they bought it!

Thanks again!!!!!

Very happy with the drive so far. :up: I've only watched Batman Begins so far, and I put the regular DVD into my progressive-scan player at the same time the HD-DVD was playing. I brought both to the same scene and then toggled inputs, and you can really see the difference with a comparison like that. I also like how the menus can pop up while the movie is playing. I checked out the first few minutes of the IME feature, and it seemed pretty cool. I'll have to watch the whole thing at some point. For what it's worth, I didn't notice any significant noise coming from the drive or the 360. Either my ears don't work so well, or everyone has their sound turned way down while watching movies. Or maybe there is some variance in the quality of the drives? I have my drive horizontal, on top of the 360, if that makes any difference.

One last note: I'm happy to see that Netflix is carrying HD-DVDs now. That should save me a little cash.

Mine isn't very loud. If there's minimal sound in the movie, you can hear it, but nothing I'd consider "noisy".

I actually didnt even get my fan due to there being a noise problem. I got it for the neon light look and the improved airflow. I really went nutty with my 360 and put that blue neon fan in the back and replaced the entire case with the black ones thay have on the same site. I got the one that has the big neon orange X that glows on the front. It looks awsome.

here is the pic for the case and the fan

http://www.modchipstore.com/files/images/16360.jpg

http://www.modchipstore.com/files/images/16354.jpg

It really does look very cool with the lights turned off and it has a swicth to turn the glowing light off when you dont want to use it. Black just matched all of my components better than it did all white.

Now I need to switch out my 360 Add-on case with a black one. I am sure someone will make one eventually. Either that or I could always paint it myself.

PS...

Don't shoot the messenger, guys, but over at AVSForum there's a bunch of add-on owners complaining about the audio output of the add-on.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...91#post8892491

How are people with this setting it up? I should have mine within a few days and I trying to decide if I should mount it vertically or horizontally.

Isn't that what everyone expected? I certainly didn't think it could match the A1 or any other decent audio machine.

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but Windows Vista recognizes the drive automatically, just like with most other X360 usb accessories.

Macs do too.

Hmmm, my Mac doesn't recognize the drive. What do you have to do?

I read in one of those articles that they did. I was basing my post off of that.

I believe the OSs recognize the drive but you can't play anything with it, at least not yet.

Just received the HD-DVD player today.

First impression: it's pretty darn good. Very fast and picture quality on it is Amazing. I will check out a few other titles that should be coming my way this week. Batman Begins and a couple others.

No, these guys are saying it doesn't even match their SD dvd player's audio...

In terms of what? Volume? HD DVDs are generally encoded lower than DVDs for sound, that's not the fault of the player.

Maybe I'm ignorant, deaf or my setup isn't good enough... but HD-DVDs sound fucking PHENOMENAL in Dolby Digital Plus and True HD on this thing.

Seriously: It's 95% of the sound for 1/3 of the price.

Huh???