$200 HD-DVD for XBox 360

[Sean Michael]

Today I bought the $200 HD-DVD player for XBox 360. It comes packaged with a remote control and King Kong in HD.

My initial reaction, after watching some Kong, is . . . "Eh?"

The player is fine. And yes, the image quality is great. But the same could be said of SD DVD players that upscale to HD. I have a Sony upscaling player, and I daresay the "uprezzed" image quality -- when viewed on a 60-inch 1080i Sony display -- is comparable to that offered by the new HD player. I guess it's worth noting that my upscaling player connects via HDMI; the XBox uses component cables.

To my eyes, it's tough to discern upscaling from true 1080i HD. To my girlfriend's eyes, there would be no difference whatsoever. (She, like many consumers, does not really care about image quality!) So HD-DVD and Blu-Ray could be much ado about nothing.

I'm going to rent some more HD-DVD titles from Netflix. Judgment is reserved until I watch a few more films in HD.

 

[krestofre]

I had much the same reaction comparing Xbox 360 games at 480p and 1080i. There is a difference, but it wasn't earth shattering like I thought it would be.

I'm waffling on the HDDVD add on for 360. I keep saying "Yeah, I'll get it ... no I won't." I think I'll definitely wait until I see how this HD Movies over Xbox Live thing plays out and the Apple iTV thing plays out before I invest in a HDDVD or Blu-Ray player.

 

[Sean Michael]

It's definitely good. But if you already have an upscaling DVD player with HDMI out, you won't be blown away.

I dropped by Blockbuster this afternoon to rent some HD-DVDs. They don't even have any in stock! So I'm reliant on Netflix for HD movies. Interestingly, Netflix has a few vintage movies available in HD. I've presently got the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory atop my list.