I would say making HD-DVD the standard for PC's with Windows a pretty large benefit. Regardless if any HD-DVD media ever plays on a persons PC you can bet your butt there is some awesome marketing potential. (Every PC equiped with a HD-DVD sticker, etc.)

Yes, but that has nothing to do with Xbox360. Microsoft has already added HD-DVD support to Vista. If they add Blu-Ray support, then Toshiba might get worried. But a potential 360 add-on isn't going to get them worked up.

This would be the dumbest move if this drive costs any more than $200 dollars and even that is pushing it.

Considering that the cheapest Blu Ray player will be $1,000 and the cheapest HD DVD player will be $500, $200 would be a good deal IMO.

Actually, the cheapest Blu Ray player will probably be around $500 and it'll have a game system attached.

What company would be crazy enough to combine the two! :confused:

Chris

;)

hogwash, i remember purchasing a Sony DVD player in the Summer of 2000 for around $200 from my local Tweeter.

Right, Summer of 2000. DVD came out in 1997, and I bought mine the Summer of 1998. Got the cheapest Sony available, and that was $450.

Agreed; I bought my first POS sony single disk non progressive scan DVD player around the same time at Best Buy when DVDs cost $35 for around $450. Makes me cringe to think about it now. :(

That's not the point. The point was comparing DVD player prices at the time the PS2 was released, which was in March 2000 (Japan) and October 2000 (US). 98 is irrelevent.

I think we all need to come the conclusion that HD-DVD will be more like a Laserdisc format & not the next HUGE format. Especially with it being HDMI only. It most likely won't make the slightest impact for this generation of games like DVD for the PS2 (ie no games for the 1st year and still sold a shitload).

Yeah, I won't jump on any format yet....I hope ONE wins. I thought you needed HDMI for both? I don't know much though, I could be wrong.

Exactly. I keep forgetting about the whole HDMI thing. I'm out since my HD-tv is 3 years old and not getting replaced anytime soon.

What's stopping microsoft from just putting out a Blu-Ray player? Sure it would put money in the pocket of Sony(as an investor), but that would all but eliminate it being a feature on the PS3 & chip away at the market dominance. It's clear they don't care which one wins they will go either way. Having it external would even be more attractive since people like me would have the option of not paying a high price for a useless feature.

Of course....it's nice to have a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray on the 360, but it still will NOT play games, only movies....

I bit frustrating, but oh well....what are you gonna do.

I bet on regular DVD over both standards. I think that the transition to HD disks for movies is not going to happen in the near future. Most people don't have HD-TV sets yet, and won't be getting them for several years. People who get the PS3 may go ahead and buy the Blu-Ray movies, but only if they aren't more expensive.

Microsoft clearly wants to turn its XBox Live infrastructure into a service for delivering HD content, and Apple, MS, Google and Yahoo are all pretty dedicated to making sure the next format for video delivery is not a disk at all. My guess is that the studios wouldn't mind cutting the manufacturers, shippers and retailers out of the loop either.

If I remember correctly from the article I read about CES the other day, most people expect regular DVD to continue to do well. I cant find the article to quote the source directly but it was with regards to the Blu-Ray Pioneer player, a person with knowledge of the products (either a company rep or an analyst) said that Hi-Def DVDs (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) would be beneficial for those with TVs exceeding 50". It was said that people with smaller TVs would not see any drastic increase. If I find the source, I’ll post it later. If you find the source, please post it or can validate what I’m quoting please post so I know I’m not crazy.

The big thing for gaming and Hi-Def DVDs is space, it appears that some developers are already struggling with this and Xbox 360 games. With both the HD-DVD and the Hard Drive being optional is everyone missing what could bethe most obvious answer, you need one or the other. MS wanted the Xbox to be a computer in your living room and with computer gaming, you install parts of the software on your hard drive. Maybe MS is planning multiple options for gaming and let the developer decide. A regular DVD with less information, a regular DVD that requires hard drive space either via an install or download, or a HD-DVD that requires no hard drive.

That's not a big surprise. HD-DVD (the generic term I'm going to use for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) is obviously only going to appeal to people with HDTVs, and even then, only a portion of people will be early adopters.

That makes no sense. The advantage of HD-DVD is that it has 1080 progressive lines of resolution, true high definition, instead of 480 progressive lines of resolution, which is what a normal DVD has. That's a pretty big jump. I think people will be able to see a difference on their smaller HDTVs, considering how good even a 32 inch HDTV can look. Of course, people with TVs exceeding 50 inches see more of the flaws in current DVDs, which is why they will immediately see the benefits of HD-DVD, but I think the difference in quality will be visible to the naked untrained eye on a smaller TV.

Considering they said the HD-DVD drive is only for movies, I don't think that designers will make HD-DVD games for the 360. I could see some designers contemplating making games that will only work with a hard drive, but Microsoft would most likely put the kibosh on that, since it would alienate anyone who bought a core system. The idea behind the core system is that you could still play the games for less money. So if games start coming out that use the hard drive, core users will be pretty mad, especially since the PS3 will use blu-ray, which means you can have these massive games that look incredible and fit them all on one disc. So if Microsoft starts promoting hard drive only games, they do it at the risk of losing consumers to Sony.

Furthermore, using the hard drive to power games doesn't really work in the long run, considering that the drive is only 20 gigs, and 12 of those are already being used by system files. Right now I'm downloading the PGR 3 demo, which by itself takes up over a gig. So if the games you buy start taking up hard drive space, you'll run out of space real fast. And then you'll have to buy an even bigger hard drive that would cost exorbitant amounts of money, and you find yourself in the same position as the core system people who might defect to PS3 if Microsoft pushed the hard drive too much.

In the end, the 360 will live or die by the specs it has on the launch day. Considering how good the games look, I think the system will do fine, as long as it gets out a good selection of games. That is much more crucial than HD-DVD add-ons.

everyone who doesn't have an HDCP complient TV will be screwed. so if the xbox drive works through your xbox that means HD video through a normal non HDMI connection. i haven't really read much about it but that'd be nice. now if all the new pcs shipping with vista start having an HD-DVD drive then i don't think blue gay will have any chance at all. just my 3 cents.

Toshiba says that Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on will eventually get game support:

Vid: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.p...=game&type=wmv

Save your pennies.

Hi BeanDip - plz stop using the term "Blu Gay", it's offensive on several different levels. Thx

Well, HD DVD apparently supports HD over component on a title-by-title basis, just like Blu-ray. So you can get HD video via component without a 360 so long as the studio allows it. But you seem to be suggesting that the 360 HD DVD drive will allow HD over component on all titles, which isn't going to happen because it wouldn't be in compliance with the HD DVD spec. I'll bet my shirt the external drive will have its own HDMI output -- I can't imagine any other way they could do it.

I have a feeling that you're going to lose your shirt. ;)

Why? If HD DVD is SUPPOSED to use HDMI to comply with HD DVD standards, I think MS would HAVE to use it. I guess we'll see....I just see HD/Blu-Ray being a mess until it is figured out. I mean, SOME movies can use component, some cannot. You will alienate a LOT of people.

According to EDGE magazine, Microsoft has confirmed that the 360 itself can output on an HDMI cable, it just needs to be switched with the current component connector.

Although, I came across an another article that makes a good point:

Do the HD-DVD standards you are referring to only apply to standalone players or to the drive component itself? An "add-on" drive will probably only provide the data stream to the 360 itself and rely on the 360 as a conduit to the display device.

But I'm thinking in terms of connections:
HD-DVD -> 360 -> HDTV

If it really will be:
360 -> HD-DVD -> HDTV

...then that's simply dumb.