I initially planned to review the XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive back in November (after touching on it in episode 70 of commandN). Truth be told, I got hooked on it and have been watching HD movies for the last couple of months instead of writing about it!
The Package
For $199 Microsoft has put together a great package. Along with the HD-DVD drive you get the XBOX Universal Media Remote and Peter Jackson's King Kong (in HD of course). Power adapter, USB cable, manual, and installation CD is all included as well.
The package
Look & Feel
The drive is about half the size of the 360 and is very hollow feeling (it is just a drive inside). For the most part it looks nice, although the front is not white - it is grey - which makes it stand-out (in a bad way) beside the 360. I'm very interested to know why they didn't make it white.
Why grey on the front?
Installation
Connecting the drive to the 360 is very easy. Install the required software (from CD), connect the power adapter and plug in the USB cable to one of the USB ports on the 360 (which you will get back on the HD-DVD drive). Next time you boot up the 360 you may have an update ready to download. Done!
Placement
The drive can be placed flat or on its side. I prefer to place all my game units flat as I find the drives sometimes don't read the discs properly sideways. This is just my preference and I have had many debates over it.
The Test
First test was Peter Jackson's King Kong. I have this movie on regular DVD so I was able to compare the difference. The quality blew my mind! It was so good it made the regular DVD look like VHS quality compared to DVD quality. I was floored! Next up was V for Vendetta - another movie I had on regular DVD. V sold me on HD-DVD. It was just gorgeous. The third test was the combo version of Superman Returns (regular DVD on one side and HD-DVD on the other). This was the first time watching the movie and the quality pulled me in so much I didn't even notice the story (I ended up watching it a few times just to see if it was actually a good movie).
One of the best HD-DVD discs
Noise
I've heard a few people complain about how loud the drive is. I did not find this to be true. For one, if you are watching an HD-DVD, it should be loud enough to drown out any noise! I did turn the sound down a from time-to-time to check the noise and did not notice it.
Bottom-line
If you own an XBOX 360 and have even thought about upgrading to HD-DVD this is a no-brainer! The price is right and the catalog of films is growing by the week. With that said - we are in the middle of a format war. Blu-ray drives are built-in with the Playstation 3 and the Blu-ray format has an expanding catalog with some big players on their side (such as Disney). If for some reason HD-DVD loses the war (like Beta lost to VHS) this could go be just another useless game add-on (such as the SegaCD).
More Reviews
Kotaku - 360 HD-DVD Impressions
C|NET - Microsoft XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive Review
IGN - First Look: XBOX 360 HD-DVD Drive
Yeah, I think HD-DVD is gaining more acceptance, not only because a lot of people are buying Xbox 360's or the amount of 360 fanboyism, but also because the terminology for HD-DVD is so similar to the previous generation of optical media (DVD). For the average end-user, I can imagine them using HD-DVD, because it sounds like DVD, and just shunning Blu-Ray, because "What's Blu-Ray, is that like a bluetooth DVD?".
Great review Brian. :-)
Posted by: Jake | January 24, 2007 at 10:17 PM
Jake,
Thanks for your comment.
I kind of agree with you about the terminology. Even people with Blu-ray drives refer to it as HD-DVD (in my circle at least). Wonder if that will have an impact?
-Brian
Posted by: Brian McKechnie | January 25, 2007 at 11:49 AM
For anyone interested, it seems that older 360 HD-DVD drives have the cooling fan set to run very fast (fast = noisy).
I purchased one from Future Shop in Canada a little while ago. When I hooked it up I couldn't believe how noisy the fan was. After looking for answers on the Internet I came across a post by someone stating that it was a problem fixed in newer builds. The lot number on this drive was 0711. I returned it and purchased a drive from Walmart today with a lot number of 0719. The new drive is extremely quite.
Grant
Posted by: Grant | September 20, 2007 at 07:03 PM
The noise of the fan in the drive is really distracting.
Anyone tried disconnecting the fan?
Can it really get that hot, since the powersupply is external.
onealphasite@hotmail.com
Posted by: Jonathan | November 14, 2007 at 12:27 PM