PRICE DROP: Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive $129

[INDY-HD-DVD]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

My advice would be to trade in your HD DVD addon and HD DVDs while the price is still higher and get yourselves a PS3 . Alteast if your from the UK!

Originally Posted by Blu-Dude1976

This is one of the many reasons I chose to go Blu in the first place. Take another 125 bucks off and the price will be appropriate.

These two comments are Smackdown and are not needed

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

Im not bashing anything.

yes you did Bash the XBOX and are telling people to drop the format based on the XBOX. There are other ways to get HD DVD, and the add-on can be use with PC's. I have one and I don't own an XBOX.

[d0uble0se7en]

Originally Posted by chase16

can the ps3 upscale?

lets all be nice..hd dvd needs all the help it can, this will help abit

Uh...YEAH IT CAN!

[INDY-HD-DVD]

Originally Posted by chase16

can the ps3 upscale?

lets all be nice..hd dvd needs all the help it can, this will help abit

this in not smackdown and yes the PS3 can upscale

[Cider X]

xbox 350 lol

[freekedoutfish]

Originally Posted by INDY-HD-DVD

These two comments are Smackdown and are not needed

yes you did Bash the XBOX and are telling people to drop the format based on the XBOX. There are other ways to get HD DVD, and the add-on can be use with PC's. I have one and I don't own an XBOX.

Oh wow... I gave some advice to get a PS3 instead of an xbox360! You have some strange ideas of what "bashing is"!

I didnt say anything negative about the xbox360 as a console or HD DVD as a format. My entire basis for my opinion is the very simply fact that in the UK, virtually NO retail stores are still selling HD DVDs while they DO sell Blu Ray!

But there is a simply truth that the xbox360 is unreliable and there are lots of reports of the red light of death. Another fact is that is makes a lot of noise when watching a film. Which ruins the entire atmoshphere when its a silent moment and its meant to be quiet.

But yes, your right.

Alternative ways to play HD DVDs do exist, and far cheaper ones at that.

I know a local store which is selling a HD Dvd player for a very small £129. Which is a great deal if you have hd dvds and you plan to get more and you dont want an xbox360.

But Im not going to lie and promote a format which isnt being stocked in the stores on the highstreet!

And im not going to lie and NOT suggest getting a PS3 instead of an xbox360 or a stand alone HD DVD player. Its my personal opinion that at £300 the PS3 is a very good deal for a BD player which is very easily updated, compact into one device, and offers other functionality like music playback, internet browsing and games and will continue to be supported by Sony and updated regularly!

While Toshiba is likely to drop supporting their HD DVD players if (or when) HD DVD dies.

Had this been 2 weeks ago, I wouldnt be saying this.

But I have now owned both an xbox360 with the HD DVD drive and the now the PS3 with blu ray support. And as a conclusion I would suggest getting a PS3 instead of any kind of HD DVD player, including the xbox360 add on.

For that reason I felt I should post and express that view, in the hope it sways someone away from buying the HD DVD add on.

[burndive]

I was wondering how long it would take them to drop the price. I don't think they were selling very well when you could get an HD-A3 for less.

It's basically just an external USB HD DVD drive. I've been tempted to get one of these for use with my Linux box. If I had seen them at $79 I would have picked one up.

Does it still come with a pack-in movie? AFAIK the HD DVD 5-free movie offer is still good until the end of the month.

[Maxphoenix]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

But Im not going to lie and promote a format which isnt being stocked in the stores on the highstreet!

Honestly bro thats why the smackdown forum is here to give opinions about other formats and try to prenset a side in the light you see it. However this is an HD DVD forum and as such no one wants to hear. "Go get a PS3 its better then all the HD DVD players" Becuase thats not true an A30 or A35 would beat it hands down as a video player. No one can say the ps3 is not a good buy but arguing it is a better investment has no place in these forums.

[daryle]

For all you people "analyzing" and giving your "opinion", you're totally missing the point.

At $80, is it meant to be a GREAT HD DVD player? No, absolutely not. Have any of you EVER had an add-on ANYTHING that outperformed a standalone?

There are over 17 MILLION Xbox 360's on the marketplace. $80 or $150 are your choices to get into HD DVD. If you want Blu-Ray, $300. Gamers are already split between games and movies (unless you own a PS3 in which case you're best choice at the moment is movies) so to a $80 upgrade doesn't sting as much as a $150 or $300 stand alone.

It's an OPTION, not a strategy being offered. People who talk about this affecting a mislabeled "war" baffles me.

[DustoMan]

Originally Posted by knowthyself

If your into HD DVD this is the worst choice.
It has crappy upscaling. Relies on your 360 NOT red ring of deathing itself useless.
And is the worst HD DVD player on the market.

Might as well get a stand alone.

The only downside in my book is that you don't get pure HD audio out of the thing. Everything is re-encoded to DD or DTS.

Otherwise, your reliability complaint is complete FUD and the scaler is one of the best on the market. Besides which... those are complaints about the console and not the HD-DVD add-on. When will people get it though their heads that you DON'T need the HD-DVD drive to upscale movies? Just a VGA cable.

[freekedoutfish]

Originally Posted by Maxphoenix

No one can say the ps3 is not a good buy but arguing it is a better investment has no place in these forums.

So im not allowed to talk about that anywhere on this website?

[DustoMan]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

But I have now owned both an xbox360 with the HD DVD drive and the now the PS3 with blu ray support. And as a conclusion I would suggest getting a PS3 instead of any kind of HD DVD player, including the xbox360 add on.

Well there's reason enough to kick you back to smackdown. You don't see people posting the opposite in the Blu-Ray console forum.

[DustoMan]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

So im not allowed to talk about that anywhere on this website?

Only in smackdown. The format specific forums are for people to post news and ask questions. Opinions about which one is "better" belong in smackdown.

[freekedoutfish]

Originally Posted by DustoMan

Only in smackdown.

So a post concerning the price drop the HD DVD add on player, doesnt warrant a debate about whether its cheaper price makes it worth buying?

Are we just meant to say "woo great, wonderfull, gooo Microsoft"!

What if I had simply posted "Thats still not cheap enough"? Would you have then said "get out for bashing" even though I wouldnt have mentioned BD or the PS3 at all!

Im getting the impression we're not allowed to say anything, even remotely negative. Even if it hadnt involved the words blu ray or playstation!

What about those who dont have either HD DVD or BD yet! If there were no negative opinions goin on in here, they would read this thread and instantly assume this was the best thing since buttered bread!

There has to be a perspective from both sides!

My perspective is that the HD DVD add on is a good device and does the job, and it is good at upscaling and if you dont mind the sound issues its fine.

But its still too expensive IMO, and spending £75 on a device which may become redundant is still a huge chunk of money.

This is why im simply pointing out maybe its best to go for the more expensive options to play back the alternative format! Atleast it will last, even if it costs more.

Im just not a fan of spending any money on technology which may stop being used. Im just offering that other side of it!

I just dislike the idea of an xbox360 owner doing what I did, and buying a HD DVD add on and loving it for months and then reality hitting! So yes... I would say either get a stand alone HD DVD player or get a PS3.

Otherwise you will have to rely on having your xbox360 lying around your house for the next 5-10 years to play these films and do you want that?

[LOL@HDDVD]

I was lucky and was able to snag one of these up while the deal was still on.

But I only bought it so I could re-sell it and use the money made to buy more blu-ray movies

[INDY-HD-DVD]

Originally Posted by freekedoutfish

What if I had simply posted "Thats still not cheap enough"?

No that would not be smackdown and would be allowed