Australian release date for 360 HD DVD drive announced

360 News | Out next month.

According to IGN, Microsoft has confirmed that the HD DVD add-on will be released on the 29th of March, 2007. As previously announced, the HD DVD drive will be available for $249.95. The HD DVD drive plugs into a USB port on the Xbox 360.

The HD DVD drive is region free, which means you'll be able to use HD DVD's from any region on the drive. The drive will come with a free copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong and a remote control. Initial stocks of the drive will only go to specialty stores such as EB and Harvey Norman.

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20 Comments

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

I'm pretty interested in getting the HD-DVD addon, but at the same time I'm wary of getting it now and then having little to no HD-DVDs available to watch on it. Are they on shelves yet?

Besides, that's a couple hundred that I could put towards a PS3...

Too many choices!

Nev

5 years ago

About what I was expecting.

Pretty good if you already own a 360, but if you don't, you're looking at $850-$900 for a 360 with the add-on, which is a bit too close to PS3 pricing.

I guess it all boils down to which format ends up dominating. Where I live, Harvey Norman only stocks Blu-Ray.

ppjim3

5 years ago

I'm gonna pre-order mine tomorrow. May as well upgrade - as that is a very cheap player considering I would (and did) buy a 360 with NO movie playing in mind.a

renegadesx

5 years ago

Karai Pantsu wrote

I'm sure there will be plenty of HD-DVD's in your local red light district

Jim Dash

5 years ago

I don't even have a HD TV to watch them on, so I'll pass.

Good investment though, you get the media remote with it too, and its region free..

Kaboth

5 years ago

Pretty good value if you've already got a 360. The King Kong movie is a very sweet addition. Trouble is I don't have a HDTV otherwise I'd be interested.

seany

5 years ago

I will invest in one especially with the free movie. That and the PS3 the week before will ensure I can watch whatever movie I want

BovineDeath

5 years ago

HD-DVD does have porn. Unfortunately I am married, so I need my porn to be stored in a purgable cache. Tools -> Delete Browsing History.

Still $250 is quite cheap, take King Kong off that price too and it's a pretty sweet deal.

Electric Von Sexy

5 years ago

Nice price, it will be mine! Is it just me, or is anyone else not excited by the King Kong inclusion?

Sunrider

5 years ago

I think it'll look pretty sweet in HD, even if the movie isn't all that great.

Hmm, I got the 360 and HD TV already, $250 isn't really that much for a player - even if the format does end up dying.

evil_kenshin

5 years ago

just wondering, being that its a drive plugged through usb (rather than a standalone device) won't that possibly slow it down a bit? (atleast to its full capability)

Jellyfish

5 years ago

Nope, apparently the 360 add-on is one of the better HD-DVD players out there. Normal DVD is rubbish though apparently. This going on tech reviews, personally I can't tell the difference between a DVD on a DVD player and on the 360.

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

nikack wrote

Are you saying that tech reviews claim the DVD playback on X360 to be rubbish, or DVD playback through the HD-DVD drive? Because playing DVDs through my 360 looks leagues ahead of my DVD player, and even better than my PC too.

Seriously, I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the DVD playback on the 360.

Electric Von Sexy

5 years ago

Karai Pantsu wrote

nikack wrote

Are you guys serious?? The dvd playback quality on my 360 is utter ****. It's watchable, but when the scene pans, it's not a smooth pan, rather it looks as though it drops frames. I also had this proble, though not as bad, on the original xbox. I hope the HD-DVD solves this problem.

B3NBO

5 years ago

My 360 plays movies fine but the sony dvd player in the lounge with true surround sound is better.

Spanca

5 years ago

The 360 is a very average quality DVD player, but the convenience of it all often outweighs a bit of picture quality for me.

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

Well I've had no troubles, no frame drops, etc. and I've been watching heaps of DVDs through mine. My 360 is running through VGA into my TV, and my PC is also connected to the TV (DVI to HDMI) - and the 360 beats the quality of the PC playback. The image quality is about on par, but the PC doesn't play as smoothly for some reason (Athlon 64 3500+ btw).

I'm going to go ahead and say that I never tried it in SD though. My DVD player always looked fine (if not good) on my SD TV, but once it had to contend with an LCD (and RGB output) the picture went to **** (I don't understand how or why) - so I moved on to the 360.

Itachi

5 years ago

I don't know if it's worth it getting a hd dvd for the 360 since there is no hdmi connection i still have to think about it.

Ellegarden

5 years ago

Karai Pantsu wrote

Yeah it plays better than the PC, but it plays worse than my Xbox1 with XBMC but I suppose thats has tweak.

mrcivic

5 years ago

Spanca wrote

The 360 is a very average quality DVD player, but the convenience of it all often outweighs a bit of picture quality for me.

Yeah I agree, but since I have a proper dvd player/recorder in my room i use that instead. I'm drawn to the 360's HD DVD player as it's very cheap when compared to a stand alone player, and eve cheaper than Blu-Ray...

I reckon I'll wait though as I want there to be more movies to get... I think watching King Kong all the time will be a drag.