360 HD-DVD drive now $179 and includes 5 HD-DVD's

[diskoboy]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/26/xbox-360-hd-dvd-player-drops-to-179-adds-five-free-movies-to-t/

They should've dropped it to $149, IMO. But the 5 free HD-DVD's of your choice isn't a bad deal. King Kong wasn't the best idea for a pack in movie.

And you PC and Mac folks can take advantage of this offer, too, since the drive also works on both.

[Oobgarm]

Too bad these are the only choices for free movies:

Apollo 13
The Chronicles of Riddick
Seabiscuit (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
Casablanca
Constantine
Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Rundown
Blazing Saddles (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U2: Rattle and Hum (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U-571
The Perfect Storm
We Were Soldiers

If I could buy The Matrix HD-DVD set and get reimbursed for it, that would be enticing. But as it stands, no thanks. Make it $100, then I might be interested.

[diskoboy]

Too bad these are the only choices for free movies:

Apollo 13
The Chronicles of Riddick
Seabiscuit (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
Casablanca
Constantine
Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Rundown
Blazing Saddles (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U2: Rattle and Hum (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U-571
The Perfect Storm
We Were Soldiers

If I could buy The Matrix HD-DVD set and get reimbursed for it, that would be enticing. But as it stands, no thanks. Make it $100, then I might be interested.

I read that too. They should have, at least, included Children of Men, The Departed, A Scanner Darkly, or Superman 2: The Donner Cut, in that list.

As for Blazing Saddles, it actually looks quite good in HD. So does Casablanca. But Rattle & Hum was already very grainy, to begin with. I can't say I understand the logic for that one. Plus, it's an over rated movie.

[heybtbm]

Too bad these are the only choices for free movies:

Apollo 13
The Chronicles of Riddick
Seabiscuit (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
Casablanca
Constantine
Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Rundown
Blazing Saddles (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U2: Rattle and Hum (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U-571
The Perfect Storm
We Were Soldiers

If I could buy The Matrix HD-DVD set and get reimbursed for it, that would be enticing. But as it stands, no thanks. Make it $100, then I might be interested.

That list is still a hell of a lot better than the "5 free" Blu-ray selections.

[Nesmaster]

That list is still a hell of a lot better than the "5 free" Blu-ray selections.

At least it appears they are letting people pick the 5 from this list as oppsed to "one from each group" like with the bluray offer. Still, I found it easy to pick 5 from that list I wanted. With this one I'm struggling to even find a 5th I would want.

[RyanMurf]

Too bad these are the only choices for free movies:

Apollo 13
The Chronicles of Riddick
Seabiscuit (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
Casablanca
Constantine
Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Rundown
Blazing Saddles (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U2: Rattle and Hum (how does this benefit on HD-DVD?)
U-571
The Perfect Storm
We Were Soldiers

If I could buy The Matrix HD-DVD set and get reimbursed for it, that would be enticing. But as it stands, no thanks. Make it $100, then I might be interested.

WOW! They extend the warranty to 3 years. They lower the price of the HD player. They give you 5 free movies. You are still complaining. They are FREE!!!!

[Captain Wrong]

At least it appears they are letting people pick the 5 from this list as oppsed to "one from each group" like with the bluray offer. Still, I found it easy to pick 5 from that list I wanted. With this one I'm struggling to even find a 5th I would want.

From the Joystiq comments looks like they are in the chose one from each group and fall out as such:

Apollo 13
Seabiscuit
The Chronicles of Riddick

Casablanca
Constantine
Dukes of Hazzard

Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

The Rundown
Blazing Saddles
U2: Rattle and Hum

U-571
The Perfect Storm
We Were Soldiers

Also, didn't know this would work on pc/mac. Is there a hack or is this out of the box?

[monkeysuit]

Also, didn't know this would work on pc/mac. Is there a hack or is this out of the box?

I'm also wondering about this. What's the deal?

The deal seems pretty nice to me. I'm not one to complain when I'm offered free anything.

[Oobgarm]

WOW! They extend the warranty to 3 years. They lower the price of the HD player. They give you 5 free movies. You are still complaining. They are FREE!!!!

I'm not complaining about the Xbox 360. Stop trying to create an argument.


That list is still a hell of a lot better than the "5 free" Blu-ray selections.

No doubt.

I'm just making the call that the 'get these movies free' deal kinda sucks(on both sides of the fence). Yeah, they're free, but what good are they if they're movies you're not interested in, or movies that have no benefit from being on the new format?

[gepeto]

Can you run the 360 games from the hd dvd?

[heybtbm]

Can you run the 360 games from the hd dvd?

Nope.

Once the HD-DVD is connected, and you download the software, the dashboard menu bar that shows the name of the game currently in your 360 is split in two. The top is still the 360 drive (open/close/play) and the bottom is for the HD-DVD drive (open/close/play).

[segagamer4life]

anyone know where the link to the mail in offer is? Haven't seen anything on M$ website.

[Gamereviewgod]

Also, didn't know this would work on pc/mac. Is there a hack or is this out of the box?

Vista picks up the player, but you need an expensive playback program to decode the video.

[Rob2600]

So the Xbox 360 now has an HD-DVD player add-on that sits on top of it? And Microsoft lowered the price already? And they're giving away five free titles? I'm getting flashbacks of the Sega Genesis back in 1993. (New low price! Four free games! Blast processing!)

How long before Microsoft releases the Xbox 360 32X? :)

[PapaStu]

anyone know where the link to the mail in offer is? Haven't seen anything on M$ website.

It's not starting till August 1st, so my guess is that they havn't put it out yet.

[segagamer4life]

It's not starting till August 1st, so my guess is that they havn't put it out yet.


thanks... I posted that and realized the date...LOL..

[Richter]

Also, didn't know this would work on pc/mac. Is there a hack or is this out of the box?in OSX it shows up in your System Profiler. Leopard's adding HD DVD playback

[Captain Wrong]

Rad. Thanks Richter, I pretty much use OSX 95% of the time these days, so this is good to know.

[fourzerotwo]

I'll probably end up picking this up now, the 5 free mail-in deal ends in August, so I doubt I'll take advantage of it by then.

[diskoboy]

Another reason to buy an HD-DVD player comes out tuesday:

Hot Fuzz :)

[Nesmaster]

From the Joystiq comments looks like they are in the chose one from each group and fall out as such:

Well then that sucks, but at least the four I would pick are all in different groups. :)

[Mangar]

Is this thing compatible with Windows XP or just Vista?

About a month ago i hooked up a spare computer to my 61' HDTV(Samsung DLP, with Denon 7.1 DTS Receiver) to act as sort of an emulator box, with a wireless keyboard, mouse, joypad, and wired Arcade Stick. At only 179$ - If i could just pop it into the computer and enjoy HD Movies, this would certainly be a plus, and make the whole thing much more worthwhile. Only thing which concerns me is...

1. How dependant on the video-card choice is the HD-DVD Player? I have a Geforce 6600 GT in there. Anyone know if this is sufficient?

2. How this computers onboard sound would interpret the tracks coming off the HD-DvD. (it has optical out, but still)

If it's 100% compatible with XP, i still may take the plunge. The movie choices aren't really that bad. Seabiscuit and Blazing Saddles are both quality flicks, and U-571 and the Perfect Storm probably look and sound amazing.

[jonjandran]

It is compatible wit Windows XP with the hacked driver.

You need a pretty hefty computer and a hefty video card. A 6600 Gt most likely won't be enough. Plus you will need Power Dvd Ultra 7.2 or 7.3 and they require certain video cards.