I am very close to buying one of these this weekend, but I'm also very unsure which. Anyone give me some pointers or ideas? If I understand correctly, the XBOX will output 1080p over VGA, while the A2 only does 1080i. I have a 42" 1080P LCD, so would the XBOX be a better choice, in addition to being $100 cheaper? If not, why? Thanks much!

Spend $100 more and get the A2. Does your TV not have HDMI?

It does, but the A2 doesn't do 1080P. Opinions vary so much, I'm not sure how important that is. Why is the A2 better? Thanks.

360's are dropping like flies. I had the HD add on but decided to get a stand alone player so my 360 doesn't have to be on unless I'm playing a game. I'm on my second 360. If it's not on it can't overheat and die.

Def get the a2. I have a 61" Sammy DLP 1080p, and had the 360 Add-on, and was never really happy with it, even though my TV fully accepted a 1080p VGA signal. I upgraded to the A2 (well, the D2, a Costco exclusive, but same thing) and as long as your TV can properly accept a 1080i singal and di-interlace it to 1080p, there is absolutly NO diffrence in quality as it is the same resolution. I LOVE my D2, Def get that, and dump the HD Add on drive (as i did)

You'll easily make up for the differrence in cost not having to run your power sucking, heat generating Xbox whenever you want to watch a movie. Also the Xbox is very loud and unreliable. If you're xbox goes down, don't you want a HDDVD player to watch movies on until it's fixed?

the 360 add-on was a good, cheap gateway for me. I bought it in January and got hooked on HD-DVD. This week upgraded to the A2 and dumped the 360, and my SD dvd player. Less remotes, and more space

I like the video quality of my 360 a lot over VGA and prefer to use it.
It's the best DVD playback I've had since my Sony S7000.

I dumped by 360 add on this weekend as well in favor of the A2. WHenever I used the addon, the 360 fan would be on at warp speed, and i could barely hear the movie.

Go with the A2 - as said above, if you're TV will de-interlace, there is no difference in picture. Besides if you're sitting far enough away from the 1080i signal, with a 42" tv i dont think you can even perceive a difference from 1080p

I have em both. I have the 360 elite hooked up to my 40" 1080p Samsung. Looks awesome. Just picked up HD-A2. Will hook it up downstairs to my 27" Samsung. If Im going to upgrade to a stand alone player for my 40" I will go for the XA2 or the A20. Either will get you two free movies this weekend when you buy the Matrix. Be careful though once you start buying HD-DVD's you will never be able to stop. I started in november when the addon came out and im at 65 movies already. We need to start a HD Anonymous. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP US!!!

OP. If you have a 360 Elite, it will output 1080p via HDMI now for HDDVD. That combined with the spring HDDVD update make this an excellent choice at just $199.

The 360 is only loud when playing a game and doesn't generate much heat when running the HDDVD drive