What price would the XBOX 360 HD DVD player have to be for you to buy it? (USDollars)

[RobertR1]

Seeing that I vested a decent chunk into a 5.1 system, not being able to enjoy lossless audio would put me off the 360 add-on. Instead I have a HD-A1 for HD DVD and the PS3 for BR.

Frankly, going with anything else but a PS3 for BR at this point is a rather foolish option.

However, while all my friends are impressed by HD DVD and BR presentations, they simply have no interest in either. It's NOT due to the format war either. To them the jump in PQ and AQ is simply not enough to justify a new player and important importantly, expensive media.

If someone wanted the best of both worlds, I'd get a Toshiba stand alone player for HD DVD and a PS3 for BR. Then you can save yourself the trouble of arguing on the internet

 

[AlphaWolf]

Frankly, going with anything else but a PS3 for BR at this point is a rather foolish option.

Because using a player that uses 1/4th the power and makes half the noise is silly? Assuming you already own a ps3 or want one for games it would probably make sense, but suggesting that its the best option purely for BR playback is ridiculous.

 

[Daozang]

Were is the "I don't want to buy a HD-DVD player" option?
Or the "I wouldn't buy the 360 player for technical reasons"?

I wouldn't buy one right now. I have a PS3 for my HD needs. But assuming that down the road the HD-DVD won the format war, I'd buy a standalone player. Every indication suggests that the 360 peripheral is a mediocre player.
And if the price were 99.99 then I would assume that other (standalone) players would be affordable and better players at the same time.

 

[RobertR1]

Were is the "I don't want to buy a HD-DVD player" option?
Or the "I wouldn't buy the 360 player for technical reasons"?

I wouldn't buy one right now. I have a PS3 for my HD needs. But assuming that down the road the HD-DVD won the format war, I'd buy a standalone player. Every indication suggests that the 360 peripheral is a mediocre player.
And if the price were 99.99 then I would assume that other (standalone) players would be affordable and better players at the same time.

Mediocre's a bit strong. The PQ and interactivity is as good as any of the stand alone players. The only downside being the audio limitations as I previously mentioned.

For $99, it'd be a good deal for most consumers and the general consumer isn't exactly forking over a lot of cash for a good audio system. With HTIB setups from Costco and Best Buy like most consumers, you have more to worry about in audio fidelty than lossy vs lossless.....

 

[Daozang]

Mediocre's a bit strong. The PQ and interactivity is as good as any of the stand alone players. The only downside being the audio limitations as I previously mentioned.

For $99, it'd be a good deal for most consumers and the general consumer isn't exactly forking over a lot of cash for a good audio system. With HTIB setups from Costco and Best Buy like most consumers, you have more to worry about in audio fidelty than lossy vs lossless.....

This was IMO only. I wasn't talking about the consumer in general. After all the poll says "What price would the XBOX 360 HD DVD player have to be for you to buy it?"

Perhaps mediocre is a bit strong. But I'd gladly give more cash for a good player if I thought was necessary. But right now, I wouldn't buy a HD-DVD player. If and when the time is right, I don't think that the 360 add on will be the best way to go.

 

[Carl B]

Being a thread inherently linked to the optical format war, I figure it a futile effort to try and keep discussion of the former out. Figured the whole thread might enjoy a new home to grant it a better contextual backdrop.

Then why have direct comparisons between the same films on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD shown the HD-DVD to have superior quality in many cases? Extra storage space is meaningless if no-one bothers to use it effectively.

And given that Blu-Ray has all this masses of studio support, all this technical superiority, all these amazing sales figures, how come it isn't annihilating HD-DVD in the US? It's still a two-horse race with Blu-Ray a long way from being convincingly ahead.

It's still a two-horse race here in Europe, too - but with HD-DVD ahead. Blu-Ray needs to die, the quicker the better.

Warner and Paramount are the only two studios that release on both formats. All of Warners movies use an identical encode for both formats, thus being identical from a video perspective, and Paramount's titles have been PQ-advantage neutral for some time. So... the "better PQ on HD DVD" IMO is very 2006.

As for proliferation, Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD in Europe the same as it is in the US. I think what you're confused by PJ is Toshiba's standalone player sales claims; but when it comes to the media, BD is ahead.

 

[jb]

I would buy it if it would support 1080p at its current price point....

 

[RobertR1]

I would buy it if it would support 1080p at its current price point....

It does.

 

[DVFtaxman]

Then why have direct comparisons between the same films on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD shown the HD-DVD to have superior quality in many cases? Extra storage space is meaningless if no-one bothers to use it effectively.

And given that Blu-Ray has all this masses of studio support, all this technical superiority, all these amazing sales figures, how come it isn't annihilating HD-DVD in the US? It's still a two-horse race with Blu-Ray a long way from being convincingly ahead.

It's still a two-horse race here in Europe, too - but with HD-DVD ahead. Blu-Ray needs to die, the quicker the better.

I see Paramount and Dreamwork's decided to abandon Blu-ray and join Universal as HD DVD exclusive studios, here's the link:- http://www.dvdtown.com/news/breaking...of-hd-dvd/4677
Maybe there's life in the old dog yet!

 

[-tkf-]

Then why have direct comparisons between the same films on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD shown the HD-DVD to have superior quality in many cases? Extra storage space is meaningless if no-one bothers to use it effectively.

And given that Blu-Ray has all this masses of studio support, all this technical superiority, all these amazing sales figures, how come it isn't annihilating HD-DVD in the US? It's still a two-horse race with Blu-Ray a long way from being convincingly ahead.

It's still a two-horse race here in Europe, too - but with HD-DVD ahead. Blu-Ray needs to die, the quicker the better.

HD-DVD is behind in Europe as well, their last PR release where they lied about their European position has been shot down several places.

And regarding the "better quality"

As I review more and more HD discs, I think I’ve accumulated a sufficiently large sample of data points from both formats. It’s very clear to me that BD provides a better viewing experience than HD DVD. The image quality is simply better, sharper, and more film-like.

http://www.dvdfile.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6141&Itemid=11

But i am sure he is wrong, right?

 

[AlphaWolf]

And regarding the "better quality"



http://www.dvdfile.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6141&Itemid=11

But i am sure he is wrong, right?

Quality is at best split and it has little to do with the format, but there was a lot of bad BRD releases early on.

 

[jb]

It does.

It was my understanding that the HD-DVD addon will not output 1080p via the xbox360 to my HDTV. Is that not a correct statement? I know the HD-DVD itself does but thought some where it lost that ability going through the xbox360 and out to the HDTV?????

 

[Dave Baumann]

It was my understanding that the HD-DVD addon will not output 1080p via the xbox360 to my HDTV. Is that not a correct statement? I know the HD-DVD itself does but thought some where it lost that ability going through the xbox360 and out to the HDTV?????

There was a dashboard update that allows the 360 to do 1080p on HDMI and some analogue cases - I forget the exact stipulations though.

 

[jb]

Dave, (and RobertR1)

ahhh then I might have to take a closer look at this if/when I can get a new xbox360 with HDMI Thanks for the info!

 

[jb]

So I picked one up. It was my 40th bday the other day and amazon had an 8 free HD-DVD when you got this..hard to pass that up (1 HD-DVD in the xbox360 HD-DVD add on, 2 more from Amazon, 5 when you get any HD-DVD). All of that for $179 plus Transformers and other movies I had been waiting for coming to HD-DVD made me take the jump! Only had time to watch a bit of 300 in HD-DVD fromat. Looks very nice on the westly 42" The plan is this should hold me over till the combo players are out and drop in price. Then I can get a combo and enjoy both...or I hope it works like that!

 

[mrcorbo]

So I picked one up. It was my 40th bday the other day and amazon had an 8 free HD-DVD when you got this..hard to pass that up (1 HD-DVD in the xbox360 HD-DVD add on, 2 more from Amazon, 5 when you get any HD-DVD). All of that for $179 plus Transformers and other movies I had been waiting for coming to HD-DVD made me take the jump! Only had time to watch a bit of 300 in HD-DVD fromat. Looks very nice on the westly 42" The plan is this should hold me over till the combo players are out and drop in price. Then I can get a combo and enjoy both...or I hope it works like that!

Yup, me too. Turns out the answer to the question posed in the poll was $179, free shipping, "300" + 7 more free movies.

I hope that they get their act together soon WRT consumer authoring packages that can create HD DVD formatted DVD9s (using the advanced codecs). This would be perfect for archiving broadcast HD and a lot cheaper than buying (and supplying media for) an HD DVD-R or BD-R drive.

 

[Dave Baumann]

The 5 free movies - are they particular movies, a choice of a few or free choice of any?

 

[AlphaWolf]

The 5 free movies - are they particular movies, a choice of a few or free choice of any?

Free HD DVDs to Choose From:
Apollo 13
Blazing Saddles
Casablanca
The Chronicles of Riddick
Constantine
The Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
The Perfect Storm
The Rundown
Seabiscuit
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
U2: Rattle and Hum
U-571
We Were Soldiers

 

[RobertR1]

Our of those, PQ wise, top notch would be:
Riddick
Seabiscuit
Four Brothers
The Rundown
U571 (some edge enhancement on out of the water scenes though)

 

[jb]

But its a similar offer where you have 5 groups and are only allowed to pick one from that group which makes it less than ideal if you did not find any movie in that one group but saw two you liked in another group.

Still 5 free movies is 5 free movies so I am happy