Microsoft shows off 360 HD-DVD drive

360 News | New add-on to be "affordable".

Microsoft finally unveiled its external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 yesterday at the DVD Forum in Los Angeles, with MS program manager Kevin Collins on hand to conduct the demonstration and assure us all that, whilst a price is yet to be decided upon, the add-on would be "affordable". The device is scheduled to hit stores in the US before Christmas, and will allow 360 owners to play HD movies on their Xbox 360 consoles. "All the audio and video processing is done inside the Xbox," announced Collins, explaining that this would "give consumers choice and keep their costs down."

The drive represents something of a gamble for Microsoft, particularly if Blu-ray triumphs over HD-DVD in the battle between next generation DVD formats. However, the fact that the drive is to be sold separately will allow Microsoft the opportunity to withdraw the device from sale if the HD-DVD format does finish behind Blu-ray. For Sony's PlayStation 3 and its in-built Blu-ray drive, no such option exists. A year or two from now, we should know a lot more about which company chose the right route.

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6 Comments

wobbler

5 years ago

Its obvious that the news has everyone here really exited. I hope they haven't made too many units.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

I'll be getting one, the extra content sounds promising, and it's another chance to stick it to the Blu-Ray camp.

Chris-Leigh

5 years ago

Aye, I will also be purchasing one, providing the price isn't too daft. Looks like I'm gonna have to start rebuilding my DVD collection to accomodate HD, but I guess that's the price of wanting to be first with the latest gear.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Well seeing as i'm buying a Ps3 i'm kinda hoping for the Blu-Ray format to be triumphant. I have no need for this.

I'm not gonna rebuild my dvd collection. There are way too many bad transfers around to warrant it. I'm only gonna start buying the newer movies in Blu-ray (or HD-DVD if Blu-Ray flops) as they're the ones that seem to take advantage of the new format. Hell most movies that have been converted to dvd don't even look good on that format as if they're gonna look any better in HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

Zarnoss

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

Hell most movies that have been converted to dvd don't even look good on that format as if they're gonna look any better in HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

Todays moment of zen.
Totally agree.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

Totally depends on when the movie was made. Also I'd recommend against hoping Blu-Ray wins, I'm saying this as an anti-Sony person (Apple are part of the Blu-Ray group, and I use Apple PCs), but Blu-Ray is just really bad. Currently Blu-Ray movies are encoded in MPEG2, the same as DVD, so it looks exactly the same as a DVD but with more resolution. HD-DVD is encoded in MPEG4 which makes them look a lot better than Blu-Ray (at the moment anyway). Also HD-DVD players are required to be able to run two visual streams from the disc at once (picture in picture, etc) while Blu-Ray only has to have one. Not to mention that the Blu-Ray interface is coded in Java!

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