Question about 360 HD DVD?

[Video]

Ok, well, I see there's this thing you can buy for $200 to watch HDDVD on your X-Box 360, and I was just wondering a few things.

 

First, will any games support this? Either now, or in the future? Is it properly wired to communicate with the 360 in that way, or is it just for movies?

 

Second, how does it hook up, through an expansion like the HDD, or will it hook up USB style like the controllers, or an alternate method?

 

And third, if I buy one of these, can I use it stand alone, or possibley with my computer to watch HDDVD's on there?

 

Anyhow, thanks, I don't have a 360 yet, but wanted to know what I would get into if I got one of these.

[Starscream]

At this point, not for games. MS has been known to change the rules in the middle of the game so who knows.

 

It hooks up USB.

 

It can be used on a PC with some software I think. It won't work as a stand alone player though.

[SomeGuyWithDSL]

It hooks up with a standard USB Mini A to B cable to the USB 2.0 port on the back of the Xbox 360. There's a built-in USB 2.0 hub on the back of the HD DVD drive unit that adds two more ports along with a set of connecting slots for the Microsoft Wireless adapter. That way, you can plug in the HD DVD drive, the Wireless adapter, and the Vision camera without using any of the front ports on your 360. There's an external AC adapter cord for the HD DVD drive as well.

 

Microsoft has officially stated that the format is not for games, only for movies. They'd have to retract that statement if that were to change. An interesting fact is that the drive merely transfers the raw data from the disc to the 360, which uses a huge amount of its processing power across all three cores transforming the data into an HD A/V stream. My 360 is hotter within 10 minutes of starting an HD DVD than it is after playing Oblivion for 4 hours.

 

You can hook the drive up to your computer (PC or Mac), and it is recognized as an HD DVD drive, but playing HD DVD movies on your computer would require HD DVD playback software, which is, as far as I know, only currently available bundled with a PC-based HD DVD drive.

 

Finally, if you plan to get one, watch for a really good coupon and a really good sale. Nobody's running out of stock, and I got mine for $120 earlier this year at a local shop with a sale and coupon combination. Also note that the first run of drives includes King Kong and the Universal Media Remote in the box, not sure about the later ones.

[Video]

Cool, so I can run it on a PC, but I'll have to find some third party hardware somewhere. Heh, oh well. Cool to know though. And that's to bad that it won't work with the 360 as a game player....but then again, most games will still fit on a CD anyways, so I guess it's not really needed

 

Oh, one more thing, will the HD DVD work as a standard CD or DVD player? And are there any plans to say...use it to stream songs into a game realtime? That would be Friggin awesome (but few people think like I do, so I could probably safely answer that No myself)

[pestilent]

Cool, so I can run it on a PC, but I'll have to find some third party hardware somewhere. Heh, oh well. Cool to know though. And that's to bad that it won't work with the 360 as a game player....but then again, most games will still fit on a CD anyways, so I guess it's not really needed

 

Oh, one more thing, will the HD DVD work as a standard CD or DVD player? And are there any plans to say...use it to stream songs into a game realtime? That would be Friggin awesome (but few people think like I do, so I could probably safely answer that No myself)

 

Power DVD 6.5 or 7.2 will work. Yes it will work with CD's and DVD's. Keep in mind you will need a pretty good PC to watch HD-DVD's.