Xbox 360 HD-DVD in the shops

[shaithis]

If you don't mind paying a little extra to get it early...

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/pro...ducts_id=34837

[Odc]

w00t! Mine is packing on play.com Can we expect an in-depth review at any point?

[Skinleech]

They work with PC's too, so I've read - though you'll need an OEM of PowerDVD 6.5 with HD-DVD support, and an HDCP capable graphics card.

Want one of my 360 owning mates to get one, so I can try it out on my HDTV.

[Parm]

I went into PC World today, sold out, maybe getting more stock on December 8th.

I went into Currys, sold out, try back on Saturday.

I went into Tesco, sold out, not sure when they're expecting more.

Still proving hard to get hold of one, I think I'll just wait 'till they're more readily available.

[kempez]

Mine's on it's way to me, bless play pre-orders

[Odc]

Parcel Force have decided to steal mine It was supposed to arrive yesterday from them but it didn't. They didn't leave a card or anything. It hasn't arrived today yet either. Gonna give them a ranting phone call tomorrow if it doesn't turn up.

[kempez]

I got mine through. Popped in King Kong and away I went

Very easy to install and nice to see the full media controller included

Picture detail is noticeably better than DVD, especially as my screen (Dell 2405) upscales the picture. Details in the background are crystal clear. Put it 1:1 on the screen and it looks even better.

As a judgment I'd say that if you've not seen HD DVD's in action on your own kit you won't miss it. But having seen and owned it I won't be buying DVD's any more. The quality is well worth the £129.99 investment for this. Good work MS imo.

[Odc]

*UPDATE*
Apparently Parcel Force had a 'technical' error yesterday which stopped it from being delivered both yesterday and today. They say that I will get it tomorrow but I'll believe it when I see it.

[YorkieBen]

I got mine through. Popped in King Kong and away I went

Very easy to install and nice to see the full media controller included

Picture detail is noticeably better than DVD, especially as my screen (Dell 2405) upscales the picture. Details in the background are crystal clear. Put it 1:1 on the screen and it looks even better.

As a judgment I'd say that if you've not seen HD DVD's in action on your own kit you won't miss it. But having seen and owned it I won't be buying DVD's any more. The quality is well worth the £129.99 investment for this. Good work MS imo.

Hi Kempez, a couple of quick qs:

are you connected via vga or component?

what resolution have you set your xbox 360 at in the dashboard? And when you play the HD-DVD does it default to 1280x720 on your monitor (I ask because my monitor for some reason doesn't like 1280x720 at all??)

also Im guessing lack of HDCP is not an issue as yet?

ta

[kempez]

Hi mate

I'm connected via component (not found much difference between vga and component so I took the vga cable back).

I set my console to 720p (same picture quality as 1080i imo and my monitor doesn't work with 1080p). I have it set default to "Aspect" so it fills the screen at aspect ration. This is what it defaults to on my Dell 2405. Playing it at 1:1 works no problems but is pretty small in the middle of the screen.

And no: HDCP not a problem nor can I envisage MS implementing this in the near future whilst a huge amount of screens are non-HDCP.

Hope that answers the questions

[Bluecube]

And no: HDCP not a problem nor can I envisage MS implementing this in the near future whilst a huge amount of screens are non-HDCP.

All HDTVs these days should be HDCP compliant. TFT monitors are a different story though. HDCP isn't needed just as hardly any (if at all) HDDVDs are encrypted with it. I read that encrypted HDDVDs will appear around 2008 onwards.

[kempez]

Aye a valid point but I meant a huge amount of HDTV's already sold are not HDCP-ready

[YorkieBen]

thing is HDCP needs to be sent over either HDMI or DVI w/HDCP

it cant got over component or vga afaik

[Odc]

Microsoft will release an hdmi/dvi cable if they need to.

[shaithis]

They have been promising a HDMI cable since *before* the 360 launched....and here we are with the HD-DVD addon and they still haven't done it.

I am starting to think there is a problem interfacing their current output electronics to a HDMI interface (everything they currently support is analog).

As for HDCP, most are leaving it off for the time as the Japanese invested heavily HDTV early (surprise surprise ) and have a HUGE userbase of non-HDCP compliant displays to deal with. The AACS forum has given them until 2011 before they enforce HDCP and digital-only connections.

With games console being such a hot commodity in Japan, I can see Microsoft shrugging this off and hoping that they have a new console out by then.

[nstead]

Why does it have to be a M$ cable?

If you search Google for DVI HDMI Cable there are plenty. Can't post link 'cause I'm a newbie, but try tvcables dot co dot uk.