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[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox 360 Compare: DVD vs. HD-DVD Posted by XanTium | December 13 16:46 EST

From gamescentral.com: When Sony officially announced that the new Playstation 3 was going to include a Blu Ray player, Microsoft quickly countered this with fact that they were (no surprise) planning on supporting the rival, HD DVD with an optional add on drive that although would not play games, would allow users access to a cheap next gen video player. While there has not been a clear winner in the format war, and non is expected to emerge for quite some time, is the drive, priced at $199, worth your hard earned money? I just recently made the purchase, and will attempt to help you make your own decision with my impressions, including HD DVD and DVD movie comparisons. Conclusion: So after spending some serious time with the HD DVD player, I would say that it is a very sound investment. The difference between HD DVD and regular DVD is astounding, and really offers a true next gen experience. The price, at only 200 bucks, is a steal, and the fact that it comes with a great movie makes it even sweeter. If you are worried about this becoming obsolete, there is always a chance, albeit slim. Although there is no clear winner to the format war, many experts are placing their money on HD DVD, and for good reason. The format is reliable, there are already some truly great titles available, and IME really makes it stand apart. If you already own a PS3, and are thinking that this may be overkill you are probably right. I am in the process of doing a comprehensive Blu Ray/HD DVD/Upconversion DVD head to head to head, and will post my results as soon as it is complete. Read More: gamescentral.com

[-Spud-]

What is the point in comparing HD-DVD and BluRay to a DVD?? I'm pretty sure the vast majority know how much better the picture is already. HD-DVD vs. BluRay yeh sure have your little war. The Xbox lovers will favour HD-DVD and the PS3 lovers will favour BluRay. I can already tell you who's going to win. On this forum the HD-DVD will win; on the ps3-scene forum BluRay will win.

Beauty is in the eye of the biased beholder.

Looking at direct specs overall BluRay has the upper hand though. That's my 2 bob anyway hehe.

[Optics2k3]

Girl friend got me it for my birthday yesterday... truely is a remarkable difference between the two... colour and sound is much better then regular DVD.. King Kong really shows what it can do, for 200 bucks also you can't go wrong considering HD DVD are 1000$ CND with me..

[Landlocked]

An HD DVD player will upconvert SD discs far better than the $$ standalone upconvertors will for less money!

[Altima NEO]

"The price, at only 200 bucks, is a steal"

Hah, ONLY 200? Right... I mean spending 200 bucks for a movie player is absurd. PS3 and others are even more insale.  Honestly, I know the quality of them is great, but the price is still much too high for me and many other casual movie watchers. Ill wait till they drop down to the sub 100 dollar range.

[Transfer]

If I'm not mistaken, you can take an HD-DVD source video and split it on multiple Dvd-rs correct?  (Much like how you can split a dvd movie into two cd-rs)

So HD-DVD is providing a greater let's say bit rate than what the Dvd provides (retail wise).

[gaming fanboy]

QUOTE(Altima NEO @ Dec 13 2006, 11:30 PM)

"The price, at only 200 bucks, is a steal"

Hah, ONLY 200? Right... I mean spending 200 bucks for a movie player is absurd. PS3 and others are even more insale.  Honestly, I know the quality of them is great, but the price is still much too high for me and many other casual movie watchers. Ill wait till they drop down to the sub 100 dollar range.

you'll be waiting a while

[bourke]

QUOTE

and the fact that it comes with a great movie makes it even sweeter.

I thought the free movie was only for November?!

This post has been edited by bourke: Dec 14 2006, 12:54 AM

[CaZpeR]

Have a question about the HD-DVD addon. Does it make as much noise as the DVD player in the 360? Since its a bit obvious the 360 has to be on to play HD-DVD, does it make as much noise? In my head it shouldn't because its the DVD-Rom in the 360 that is making the most noise in my 360. Could anyone make a comment on the sound level?

Btw. The HD-DVD unit hasn't been released in my country yet (Norway). But I cant wait till it drops the market here ^^

[xboxSlayer]

I think that $200 is a great price for a next generation movie player. I'll be getting one as soon as I can afford it. And I'm pretty sure the ones at Future shop here in Canada where still bundled with King Kong.

This post has been edited by xboxSlayer: Dec 14 2006, 01:20 AM

[Nytemunkey]

OMG HDDVD better than standard DVD?!>??!1

I would like to see what hd dvd looks like on a SDTV.

[mike96sc2]

At the end of the day I don't see a clear winner, dual format readers will hit the market by the time that happens China will be tooled to roll out dirt-cheap models of players with no real clear winner.

DVD-R / DVD+R Wars ammounted to not much of anything. I'd expect the same of this.

[Dravor]

QUOTE(Altima NEO @ Dec 13 2006, 11:30 PM)

"The price, at only 200 bucks, is a steal"

Hah, ONLY 200? Right... I mean spending 200 bucks for a movie player is absurd. PS3 and others are even more insale.  Honestly, I know the quality of them is great, but the price is still much too high for me and many other casual movie watchers. Ill wait till they drop down to the sub 100 dollar range.

Grab a 10% off coupon for Circuit City and get it for $180, or better yet find a $40 off of $200 coupon for circuit city in a moving package.  $160 + tax.   And you can hook it up to your PC as well.

[edrift101]

I would love to upgrade to HD-DVD, but first I need to buy a HD-TV and a 5.1 stereo system...  At least, I got the 360 in hand.  

[Dr Donkey Kong]

sounds like a steal