Just got the drive today, but I have a feeling that my initial impressions will be lasting ones. All I have to go on right now is King Kong, but if this is anywhere near what I can expect from your average HD DVD movie, then I'm going to have a very difficult time ever buying another plain ole DVD. To start off I'll explain my setup. I have my XBox 360 hooked up to a Sanyo PLV-Z4 projector via VGA cable running at the projectors native resolution of 720p with the image displayed on a 120" screen. So needless to say, at that size, I am very sensitive to picture quality. Also, up until this point, I have been using an original softmodded XBox as a DVD player, since it was cheap, and didn't seem to have any problems upconverting to 720p. It does have serious problems with playback when there's any kind of scratch on the disc, esp. towards the end of a movie ( which is incredibly annoying). Anyway, after watching several lengthy portions of Kong, I can honestly say that the image being produced by the XBox 360 is 4 to 5 times better (to my untrained eyes) than a standard DVD. Like I said, at 120" I am very sensitive to this, and there is so much more detail in every part of every scene. Little things like skin, hair, water, blades of grass, wood grain, it all stands out so clearly, and it all adds up to one thing... Total Immersion. After comparing Kong to some other films known for their excellent transfers to DVD (i.e. The Matrix, Two Towers XTND) even my wife couldn't help but be impressed by the vast difference in picture quality. Also, the HD DVD player had no problems playing my infamous scratched discs that used to cause my old XBox (and even the XBox 360 DVD drive) some serious hiccups.There wasn't even an "attempting to read disc" notice, so it's obvious that this drive is much more capable than the stock drives included with the consoles. Besides, it will be less wear and tear on them if they're spared from having to play movies. My old XBox can go back to playing Genesis games for a living ;) Now for a few cons: Video playback is indeed flawless, but I've noticed that the menu system seems to chug a bit, and is not what I would call "responsive". I'm running things at 720p so it makes me wonder how slow things might get at 1080. And, there doesn't seem to be a way to set bookmarks so choosing a mid-movie scene in 3 hour + Kong can be an ordeal, esp. with the aforementioned chugginess. Also, the 360 HD DVD combo ensemble does produce some noise, but it was not noticeable while I was actually watching a movie. I've heard that currently the 360 will only output a DD 5.1 signal, but from the DTS movie I tried (Gladiator) I couldn't tell the difference between the original and 360 DD mixed signal. Maybe this could be corrected in a software update though. Another con, my extensive DVD collection has now been forever marred, as I cannot watch any of them now without wondering what they would look like in HD :) In conclusion, I am giving the XBox 360 HD DVD player 5 stars not because it is the "best" one out there. I am doing it because it is the "best" HD DVD value for me, and it has in fact far exceeded my expectations. Lack of HDMI is not an issue with VGA, it upconverts standard DVDs beautifully, and DD/DTS sound is good enough for me, until I completely overhaul my surround system which won't be for years to come. Simply put, you can't get anything else like this for a mere 200 bones. Well, maybe you could get two Monster HDMI cables for routing your nextgen player through your TrueHD THX receiver and on to your 1080i/p HD display, but that's about it... ;) And for the first time in a while I'm actually excited about movies again. Bring on the LOTR trilogy in HD!! Read more
After a few months of researching through reviews, price mark-downs and the competition (Blu-Ray, Toshiba models, etc.) I picked this up during Amazon's offer for a free "Bourne Trilogy" HD-DVD set with purchase, along with King Kong and the 5-free HD-DVD's rebate. It arrived yesterday and I immediately opened it up and followed the overtly-easy set up instructions. I use the term "overtly-easy" because I just have to make things harder it seems. All it requires is 2 hook-ups: one to the power supply and the other to the back of the Xbox 360; then pop in the installation disk wait 30-40 seconds and WHAMMO! You are up and running. Now on a side note I recommend having access to Xbox live because there is a MUCH needed firmware update that (after reading many angry reviews) will solve practically any potential playback, technical or audio/video problems you may encounter. (And for those of you who feel having to update an HD player is ridiculous; Blu-Ray has them too. I'm afraid you will have to accept it. The internet is not bad; in fact we're using it right this moment. Wow.) I threw in "King Kong" and was both equally impressed and dumb-founded. I have seen high-def images before from HD channels to other HD players, but I could not believe how much of a difference it made on my old 53" rear-projection, CRT Hitachi. Keep in mind I HAVE to use component, because that is the best option I have with my TV and HOLY CR@P was the picture exponentially better than I have EVER seen on that set. I have had satellite with HD channels stream through my TV in the past and those were impressive, but compared to what danced past my retinas last night made Discovery channel looked like muddy water! So, then I took "King Kong" out and tried "Ratatouille" (which I just watched the night prior through my 360 only) and was once again floored by the difference. The processor in the HD add-on upconverted the images to 1080i via COMPONENT! From what I have read through reviews and research this was only attainable through HDMI. Boy, were they wrong. My "53 inch eye-sore that occupies a third of my living room (according to my better-half), which I had been giving some serious thought about selling and getting a nice 30" flat-panel LCD, has NEVER looked this good. For the first time in the life of my 5 1/2 year old TV it has finally had something to use it to its fullest. I then went on a crazed, high-def induced hallucination placing disk after disk of my 200+DVD library into this 1000 page-novel-sized-white-box. Each DVD that in the past had looked jaggy and little muddy now had a fresh crispness to it and bold colors that leapt off the screen. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. Well, enough about my chemically charged visual binge on to the audio. Yes, for those of you who are aware the best that the HD player will offer is DTS via fiber optics. However, I still noticed MUCH better audio streaming from my (oft' times cranked speakers) with the volume nearly a 1/4 below what I normally have it at. I (once again) COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. The mid's offered a renewed solidity to the sound, the tweeters and highs finally offer dialogue that can be heard from my system without "turning it up to 11". And the bass, oh the bass, finally had some life to it. I actually had to turn my bass settings down, which has never had to be done in the past. Although it would be nice to have the option to hear audio in TrueHD or DTS-HD I was happy with how it turned out. So, in a nutshell for an HD player of any kind (HD or BR) that costs $179.99 or less and comes with five to six free movies you can not beat this deal if you own a 360. Go out, get one, hook it up, get the firmware update and get ready to be blown away. Read more
The product worked great for the short time before it "crashed" with the red power light (eject button). The 1 star I give it is primarily for the Microsoft XBOX 360 support. The guy I talked to was polite but essentially didn't know anything about the product - and was asking questions off a script. When I finally was able to explain the problem to him - that the power light (eject button) turned red in the middle of a DVD movie and that the unit ceased working - his first suggestion was that the unit was overheating and that I should turn it off, wait 2 hours, and then try it again. I had to CONVINCE him that this was not a satisfactory solution and that the unit was defective. During this time, he put me on hold several times so he could "do some research on the problem". When I finally got him to agree to take back the HD drive, and ship me a new one, he said that I had to pay for shipping - this after being on the phone and on hold for over 40 minutes with XBOX 360 support. This being essentially the last straw, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I have now been on hold for over 30 minutes waiting to speak to a supervisor. (I've been writing this review while waiting for the supervisor.) Obviously, I'm not a happy camper! UPDATE on 01/21/2008: Still not having great luck with support. I had to call support 3 more times since the XBOX.com support web site did not accurately report their progress in fixing the HD drive after they had received it. Also, I was told that it typically takes 3 to 4 weeks (or more) for them to fix the drive and send it back. Read more
