Fed Ex brought mine yesterday. The drive is larger than I thought it would be. It's very sturdy, well built and very nice looking. Extremely simple to set up and Kong look phenominal through component. I haven't put it in the Tosh yet, but will today just to see if I notice a difference. I didn't experience any hiccups during playback

I don't quite get this comment. TrueHD is a LOSSLESS codec. That's not 95%, that's 100%. I keep hearing people say silly things like "PCM is better than TrueHD," despite the fact that decoded TrueHD will be IDENTICAL to PCM, bit for bit.

I just don't get it.

Yes, but they have good DVD players. And I still don't expect a game system to have very good sound. Certainly won't match my DVDp, which is better than the A1.

Well, the Xbox doesn't do TrueHD or Bluray, so neither of those come into this particular conversation. The 95% comment was meant to say the Xbox gives 95% of the benefit of DD+, as compared to the A1. I'm assuming. Although the AVS comments do NOT agree with that percentage.

I got mine a couple days back from gamestop...it looks absolutely amazing! Using the VGA cords and don't have a bad thing to say about it. Now I want a new LCD tv :)

Matt

What they are saying is that the HDdvd audio tracks seem to be getting VERY compressed in the conversion to DD.... Once again, I have no idea but alot of people on AVS are saying this... It's not a "turn up the volume thing" as I think those posting are smart enough to think of that. Even with matched volume levels the add-on seems to be outputting a very compressed and to some, underwhelming audio...

I had to turn on the volume on my receiver a bit too. One thing I found troubling and don't know if it was my receiver, but when I was cycling through the different channels to up the volume a bit I noticed that only Left, Right, Center, and SW were only displayed. The two back speakers weren't showing up which I found strange. I'm gonna try it again tonight and double check but it was strange.

Wow. That's really disappointing news. I was going to pick one of these up and take the plunge into HD, but looks like I'll wait a little and see how the HD Blu-ray battle unfolds.

Nice going Davy.

No one here seems to be having these issues.

Ok, I finally got a chance to really watch a movie. I got Training Day from blockbuster.com. I compared it with my DVD version and it does NOT seem like a MAJOR jump in quality. I compared a few scenes flipping back and forth and the HD-DVD does look sharper, but that's about it. The audio is fine though.....not low as some have said.

Just for the record. I have a 55" Mits RP-HDTV. It's the big-ass CRT, and only does 1080i. How much of an improvement should I see from DVD to HD-DVD? I'm not really complaining, as I can see an improvement, maybe I just got used to watching LOST, NFL and some other regular broadcast HDTV.

Are you kidding? I watched a few parts of Batman Begins and it's infinitely better.

Well, just my experience....I'll have to compare Batman Begins also. I'm not upset....just curious if I wouldn't notice as much difference. I have a Pioneer DVD player (not upconverting). The more I watch, the better it looks though.....I guess DVD looks pretty darn good on my TV also though.

EDIT
I guess when you PAUSE, it may reduce the HD quality to 540p, so that is what I may be seeing with it paused. Looks good while watching though.

i have a 51" that will "only" do 1080i. Looks absolutely amazing.

I picked it up tonight and totally dig it. My (Samsung 47") TV does 1080i and it looks great via component. It's true I have to up the volume more than normal but I don't really care--bass & all still sound great. It's like HDTV--as soon as you start watching it you wonder how you could have thought it looked great pre-HD. I don't plan to use it to watch regular DVDs so I don't care about that.

This thing connects via USB to the 360, right? My rear USB port is occupied by the wireless adapter-am I stuck using one of the front ports?

you can connect your wireless adapter to the back of the hd dvd player since there is a usb port on the back of it. I am pretty sure this will work. and allow you to stay connected to xbox live with the hd dvd hooked up.

There's actually 2 USB ports on the back of the HD-DVD drive. So you gain one.

This is exactly right. Worked perfectly.

Beautiful. I thought I had read that somewhere (about it having 2 USB ports) but never was sure. Mine is coming via UPS this morning, so I should be experiencing the goodness shortly. Thanks for the info, guys.

Here is my dilemma. I have two choices either to get a HD DVD player the Xbox 360. So since now the Xbox 360 has a HD DVD addon. What would you guys recommend. Buying the Xbox 360 with the addon or just buying the toshiba HD DVD player. I have heard some people saying that buying the Tosiba player is good since it is dedicated to only playing the HD DVD's and some people say that the XBox 360 addon player is comparable to the Toshiba player.

I am a student and I don't have a lot of money to afford both of them. When I compare the price the Xbox 360 and the addon will cost me somehwere around $560 and the Toshiba will cost me $400. But with the Xbox 360 I will also be able to play games and watcg Hd Dvd. So I am in a situation where I can't decide. So all youguys out there who own any one of these or both please help me decide.

Cheers!!!

Only you know your personal financial situation specifics, so I'd say I guess it depends on how much you like playing video games. Since you apparently have an HDTV, you'll love the 360 on it, and you'll likewise love the HD-DVDs. If your primary interest is DVDs and gaming is only a minor interest, maybe you pass. But if you like games at all, I doubt you'd regret going the 360 + HD-DVD route (which is what I did).

Anyone know if using a VGA to DVI converter will still allow the regular DVDs to be upscaled? I have a DVI input on my TV, but no VGA. I'm guessing it wouldn't be a prob, but has anyone done it?

Where can you get this converter? any pics with prices I may pic one up and see how it works out.

These things:

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...to_VGA_Adapter

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.as...2801&sku=26957

Ok, I kept getting the ONLINE notification of friends when I was watching a movie last night. How do you disable that? I thought it was automatic with the HD-DVD?

haha, yeah, I noticed this when I fired mine up the other night. It told me I was signed into Live and then told me some of my other friends were online. I would definitely like to have this disabled while the HD DVD is in use.