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360 HD-DVD Add-on Dropped to $179

Posted by Zonk on Fri Jul 27, 2007 01:32 PM
from the cheap-red-rays dept.
XBox (Games) Media
Joystiq reports that the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 has been permanently dropped in price to $179. Additionally, Bob Barker style, you get five free movies too: "Appearing at Comic-Con in San Diego, the announcement was made amidst promotion for the HD-DVD releases of the film 300 and the cheerleader epic, Heroes. Not content with just a twenty dollar dip, Microsoft has extended Toshiba's 'Perfect Offer' promotion to Xbox 360 owners, awarding five free movies with purchase. The hard part now is choosing between Casablanca and The Dukes of Hazzard. Naturally, the Xbox Live Marketplace wasn't left out in all this news as 300 will be making its way to the service in HD on August 14th, while free content for Heroes will arrive sometime before its HD-DVD release."
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  • Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by dj_tla (1048764) <trbekolay.shaw@ca> on Friday July 27 2007, @01:39PM (#20014357) Homepage Journal
    Save $20, save the world

  • Microsoft has the worlds best PR department (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ivan256 (17499) on Friday July 27 2007, @01:43PM (#20014419)
    $20 got them 3 days of coverage from all the major news outlets... It's been on the front page of Google news for days. Tiny price-cut, tons of press. Geniuses. They really are amazing.
    • Yeah, at generating press about something that may end up unused by most people in the end. Like Zune. It's not good press until something good comes from it... it could backfire and people could see it just like the price drop for the PS3. It's not even like there's a $170 bluray drive for the 360 you can hedge your bets with... MS says they will never make one.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by GeckoX (259575)
      True, though it's not _that_ tiny a price cut at all...that is a full 10% price cut after all...a ton of commercial products don't have a 10% margin to cut. Of course, with MS, if you're already selling at a loss, what's another 10% right? ;)
      • As far as from an "HD-DVD player only" perspective, the price is really from $678 to $658, since you need something to connect this device to; it doesn't work by itself... That, of course, assumes you want HDMI, which practically everybody who isn't an early adopter (and got stuck with an HDMI-free TV) will want.

        That's only a 3% price cut.
    • $20 got them 3 days of coverage from all the major news outlets... It's been on the front page of Google news for days. Tiny price-cut, tons of press. Geniuses. They really are amazing.

      And that red-ring-of-death problem? Months of coverage! Frackin' geniuses!

      • You save $20 (10%) and get over $100-worth of movies. So the saving is substantial (if you want the movies).

        That's how I would value them as the movies are $20 on Amazon (and that's where I buy them), but it should be noted the HD DVD's MSRP are $25 so the potential savings is $125 in movies... (If of course you want them...) which would make the player $55.

      • The free movies have nothing to do with Microsoft, and nothing to do with the price cut.

        The add-on is not an HD-DVD player without an XBox 360, and thus the cost before the cut was signifigantly higher than $200. That makes the price cut significantly smaller than 10%.

        Also, the movie selection sucks. It is unlikely that you could find 5 within the criteria that you would have bought more than one or two of, since it forces you to pick from multiple genres and eras. That's a lame offer. (BluRay has the same

  • I guess that's 20$ less than I *would* have spent, had I intended on buying this, or any "next generation" movie format. Until this entire thing sorts itself out, I refuse to buy either. I personally hope they both go down in flames, and in return, we can get something the entire market agrees upon. Not only that, maybe we'll get something less locked down. (I know, it'll never happen, but one can always hope.)

    My interest in next generation formats has very little to do with movies, anyway. I'm much more in
    • Don't worry, once they move on to the next optical disc format a dozen or so months from now with all the fancy holographic stuff, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to put it into a cartridge format.

      Microsoft'll still find a way to scratch it though.
      • I assume you are talking about Holographic Versatile Disk (HVD for short) or Tapestry Media. All I can say is don't hold your breath since a cheap HVD recorder/player is approx US$18,000 and the media (write once) is well over US$100 and that is OEM prices. The holographic market is not aimed at the movie or game industry (at least not yet) it is aimed at the backup and storage market which is worth billions.

        The problem is picking what the next great format will be but you are right Microsoft'll still fin
        • In some respects, I -am- waiting on the backup industry. I work in the industry (as most do, on Slashdot), and backups are a huge problem for some of my larger small business customers. True enterprise level backups are outside of their price range, and current non-enterprise level technologies don't suit their needs. I agree that I have some odd clients, but it would be nice if the technology existed to provide them with better backups. In my opinion, they should probably accept the fact that they've reach
        • $18K sounds like a lot, until you consider it's the same price as a BD drive about 18 months ago.
    • I've been on the fence for a while now (I have a PS3, and I have a 360)... and I'm thinking that the format war is not going to pick a "winner". I don't really care if one will win... but the PS3's sales might move the Blu-Ray format toward the front... but not necessarily so much so that the HD-DVD goes down in flames. In the long run, I think we'll see hybrid dual-format players and the obvious single format players (hitting their $100 pricepoint soon), because the market really doesn't have the desire

  • blah (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Is0m0rph (819726) on Friday July 27 2007, @02:28PM (#20015061)
    Anyone really buying into BD/HDDVD? I'd rather just watch a HD movie on one my HD movie channels or the occasional $6 rental off the Live Marketplace.
    • Yes. After watching Planet Earth in 1080p, I doubt I'll be able to go back. Breathtaking.
      • Is that all, I am getting a much higher resolution for Planet Earth!

        But seriously, I am not buying into it, that is for sure. I couldn't care less about each of the formats. Also, I don't want to do anything to increase Microsofts dominance in this world, and I will never buy anything from Sony again. And, I am trying to watch less TV anyway!!
      • Yeah but I already saw that on Discovery HD in 1080i and it really was breathtaking. That would be worth owning on HDDVD.
  • Does the 360 (or the PS3) upconvert regular DVDs to higher resolutions? I can't find anything official either way.
    • i dont really care as my tv upconverts EVERYTHING to 1080p for display. more and more GOOD modern HDTVs do this also.
      • ...of upconversion.

        The reason upconversion on the player side makes sense is because it happens in the digital domain. Whereas if you go over component and have your TV upconvert it, it's lossier - it has to go to analog and then back to digital again and then gets upconverted.

        Past that it just becomes a matter of which thing is better at conversion, your player or your TV.

        The main gain from upconverting players is that they force you to use a 100% digital connection.

        • ...of upconversion.

          The reason upconversion on the player side makes sense is because it happens in the digital domain. Whereas if you go over component and have your TV upconvert it, it's lossier - it has to go to analog and then back to digital again and then gets upconverted.

          Past that it just becomes a matter of which thing is better at conversion, your player or your TV.

          The main gain from upconverting players is that they force you to use a 100% digital connection.

          The 360 does DVD upconverting o

    • 360 does if you're using the VGA connection. It doesn't over component (not allowed to, as with other upconverting players). I assume (though I don't know for sure) that the Elite would upconvert over it's HDMI connection.
    • The PS3 does. Not sure about the 360.
    • Can't speak for the Xbox360 although from what I can gather the upscaling is done on a chip (can anyone add to this) unlike the PS3's which is done in software, however the PS3 does IMHO a really excellent job of smoothing and upconverting DVD's to 720p, 1080i and 1080p (configurable) via HDMI and depending on your HDTV you can really pick the difference. You only get Standard Definition out if you use component cables though. Do a Google search for "ps3 firmware 1.8" to get more info (1.9 is the latest fir
      • The promised implementation of upscaling in that old ps3 article has already been done like two months ago. Both DVD's and older ps2 games are upscaled.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by trdrstv (986999)

        I'm no expert but I just googled this article that was posted yesterday. It appears that neither console currently supports it but Sony is currently 'working on it'. Good luck. http://kotaku.com/gaming/sony/ps3-dvd-upscaling-pr [kotaku.com] omised-218517.php

        Both the 360 and PS3 upconvert DVD's (if your system has the latest updates) but only over VGA or HDMI. Upconverters (of any kind) aren't allowed to use component video due to a licencing restriction on the DVD format.

  • Trolls and Orcs (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GrayCalx (597428) on Friday July 27 2007, @02:42PM (#20015279)
    Since most of these HD-DVD / Blu-Ray topics as of late are all flamewars akin to ps3 vs. 360. I thought I'd jump in and try to add some reason.

    I bought the 360 hddvd add-on because I wanted to see what some of these movies were like in 720p (I don't own a 1080p tv). I found a great deal on craigslist and that was really the only reason I bought one. The movies look fantastic; much better than upconverted dvds, and noticeably better than movies on HD channels over Dish Network (from the compression I assume). In addition to the higher quality the way the menu works while watching a dvd is much friendlier (something that always annoyed me about dvds) and they have a new way of presenting some of the extras. NetFlix rents both hd-dvds and Blu-Rays now, so for that and the $100 or so i paid for it, it was a decent buy.

    Obviously there are downsides. I hate playing it through the 360. The fans are noisy (not initially but eventually) and the start-up is a mild annoyance. I don't want to speak out of turn, but I assume I'd have the same problems playing blu-rays through the ps3. Theres just nothing as convenient as a stand-alone player... but theres something to be said for saving $300 when buying into unproven technology.

    There are no "winners/losers" here yet, anyone claiming so is a fan-boi or uninformed. There are still some great movies you can only get on HD-DVD (and vice-versa with Blu-Ray) so people who are fans of those will still gravitate towards their respective studios and what format that studio supports.

    Now with hybrid players appearing I wouldn't be surprised if we see a dual format thats basically invisible to the consumer. In 10 years (or whatever, i'm making an example) the majority of people will own a hybrid player, you'd head to BB or CC and pick up the latest release not even really paying attention to whether it has a Red case or a Blue case.

    Not really sure where I'm going with this. Heh. I'd say if you own a 360, a hd tv and you're into the hd craze. Its only a couple of hundred dollars, its been fun for me and I've probably gotten that much enjoyment out of it. If you don't have an hd-tv, you don't really care about the hd craziness thats been going on, or you don't have $200 to blow on tech that you'll throw away in a few years, I wouldn't even worry about it. You're missing out on a few lines of resolution but nothing you should kick yourself over.
    • If you know where to look, you can get a stand-alone Toshiba HD-A2 for not much more, and it too is allowed in the five bonus movie mail-in offer, has a decent remote as well. $180 for just a tacky add-on drive in comparison doesn't do it for me. The $200 price was good when it was first launched, $180 now is still kind of an insult.

      • $180 for just a tacky add-on drive in comparison doesn't do it for me.
        The benefit of the add-on drive is that it has been well and thoroughly hacked. If you want to rip HD-DVD's - the add-on drive, when added on to your PC, is the way to go.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by tlhIngan (30335)

          The benefit of the add-on drive is that it has been well and thoroughly hacked. If you want to rip HD-DVD's - the add-on drive, when added on to your PC, is the way to go.

          Which is the reason why I hope HD-DVD lives - it's got less DRM than Blu-Ray, and being able to rip HD-DVD is useful for those who don't want to carry around discs and such.

          Plus the DVD Forum got rid of the bloody region code for HD-DVD (at least, region coding doesn't exist on HD-DVD yet). Sure you can get region hacks, but considering th

  • Everyone who ever told you Casablanca was a chick flick is an idiot. There's only so much time a movie can spend with guns being pointed at people (with or without them being fired) and still be considered a chick flick. Casablanca far exceeds that amount.
  • Well, I guess I could use this as a PC drive. I had looked previously at this, and the price-drop as well as the movies is atleast a little enticing.

    However, looking at the posted PDF for the Toshiba rebate (assuming a similar plan) the movies are a little thin on selection.

    But ... still ... something to look at, and thats speaking as someone who owns a PS3 with only 1 BR movie (yea, taledaga nights)

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by reytron (1093289)
      rtfa, not only a $20 price cut, but 5 free hd dvd movies. As expensive as these things are, your getting at least a $100 in bonuses. This might make me go out and get one, provided I could get the season 1 of heroes as one of my 5.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by ivan256 (17499)
        The 5-free thing is just a "me too" for the offer that is currently available for BluRay players.

        You can't pick whichever ones you'd like. Similar to the BluRay offer, you have strict restrictions on which crappy movies you can get free. The list is available in PDF format only [toshiba.com]. Check it out. No Heroes.
        • Apart from Casablanca, I wouldn't buy any of these if they cost just $1 each. A bonus offer is really no offer at all if you didn't want the bonus anyway. I'd rather pay for one priceless movie than get 5 worthless ones for free.
      • This [com.com] (pdf) looks like the rebate form they've been using along with the list of discs you can choose from. That form expires in a few days, so there may be a new one somewhere else with different discs.
      • Well you could down load Hero's avi's onto you PSP and then playback via your PS3 then via HDMI or component with smoothing and uponversion to 720p, 1080i or 1080p resolution. An easier way would be to get the AVI's and convert them to PS3 format (do a google search for "PS3 avi files") then you can watch Hero's on your HDTV rather than your PC screen. It will cost you the time to download the Hero's avi files and possibly $29 for the converter software and of course a PS3 and a HDTV.

        A media centre could
    • HDDVD is done. Target just announced they are only supporting BR. Blockbuster only stocking BR in stores was the beginning of the end. I love the $20 price break, wow twenty whole dollars, now I'm going to rush out and get one...

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by MBraynard (653724)
        That's actually not true.

        1) Target does sell the Xbox 360 HD-DVD and they also sell HD DVD players on their website.

        2) You are underestimating the sophistication of the market if you think that just because you can't walk into your local Target and buy a BR, that is going to affect people from making an informed decision on what to buy for a relatively technical piece of kit. The internet wasn't around back in the day of Beta/VHS.

        3) Target customer service for tech pretty much is non-existant. If you wan

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by GreenEnvy22 (1046790)
        That is not true. Target agreed to a limited exclusivity agreement with Sony to carry only their BR player for a time. They still sell hd-dvd movies, as well as the HD-DVD addon for Xbox360. Assuming the war is still ongoing after Christmas, they will start carrying hd-dvd drives too.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by plague3106 (71849)
      I'd agree if the porn industry wasn't backing HDDVD.
      • the only reason was that sony said they didnt want "questionable stuff" on their format. there are pornos being released on both. actually the FIRST video released on both formats was a porno.
        • Sony is just refusing to lease their production lines to stamp porn discs. They've had this policy for DVDs as well. Now it's a bit of a bigger deal in the case of blu-ray, since apparently they require new pressing equipment and HD-DVD doesn't, but it's hardly a deal-breaker. If blu-ray takes a commanding lead, new production lines will come on line that will stamp anyone's discs.
      • Most actors are ugly enough in stanrdard definition. Or so I heard :-)

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MBGMorden (803437)
      Why spend $100 on Wifi? If you're not right beside your router (I like wired connections when I'm close enough anyways) just buy a $40 access point, a $20 switch, and you've not only saved $40 but with that hardware behind your TV you can connect ALL your consoles (and any other network enabled device) back to your router without having to worry about individual wifi adapters.

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