Using an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player on a desktop PC

[Apoptosis]

Do you have an HDTV, but not made the move to High Definition media player? With Blu-ray and HD DVD players decreasing in price we recently picked up an Xbox 360 HD DVD player to use in conjunction with out Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC). Since our HTPC uses the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT video card we can run an HDMI cable for true 1080p with a player that is less than $200! If you've been curious about moving to HD and have a HTPC this article should peak your interest!



Article Title: Using an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player on a desktop PC
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/532/1/

DIGG URL: http://digg.com/hardware/Using_an_Xbox_ ... _for_1080p

This article is a direct result of the discussions of this post: http://forums.legitreviews.com/about10511.html

[TeskoX]

Just to clarify a couple things ...

the A2 player does in fact play 1080i over component without HDCP: http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?l ... &category= ...

The link on the bottom of the post above also includes information about legal software that helps with HDCP workarounds for people unwilling to buy a HDCP compliant graphics card simply to playback HD content: http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html

Conclusions about cost of creating a new HD library are 100% on ... its amazing how used one gets to 12.99 movies and the ability to rent from pretty much anywhere, only to move to a new platform and have ones wallet hammered immediately ... I'm finding myself considering very hard which movie to buy next as each one costs between 23.99 and 44.99.

I'm also not 100 percent certain that the video is all that more amazing then my 3 year old upconverting DVD player ... 1080P yes ... and 1080i? ... no so much ... I did it for the fun of doing it ... not for the picture quality jump ... for $100 dollars more the newish HD-A20 does full 1080P ... and it looks pretty darned amazing ..

Anyhow ... good article ... fun project ... but be prepared for the costs ... they'll get you in the ass

[InspectahACE]

Killer deal really...have one of those on my rig now..goin on 6 months actually..still a killer deal and the quality of the video is d@mn nice as well

[supershreve]

Picked up the hd-dvd drive at circuit city with a coupon for $160 before christmas. been using it on the xbox (60" dlp) until my preordered 8500gt arrived.
I view it at 1366x768 native res. on my vizio 32" lcd tv, via dvi to vga cable. Looks amazing.

Note for vista media center users:
While there probably will never be an integrated solution fo r VMCto reconize HD DVD and launch the powerdvd to handle the playback, there is a workaround:

When you insert a HD DVD while Media Center is in Full screen mode it will launch PowerDVD to play back the file. If you already have a dvd in the drive, you can also add powerdvd to the vmc "programs" menu.

http://blog.mediacentersandbox.com/Comm ... fe1ff.aspx

[Apoptosis]

great first post and thanks for sharing your knowledge!

welcome to the forums!

[mcnaugha]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here.

I have been running this setup for several months now. I can't even remember when I got it now. Anyhoo... the review didn't comment on just how noisy this drive is. Yes that is the only catch though. For a smallish living room like mine it is too loud. The good news is that you do tend to tune it out automatically. If it is really bugging me I sit it behind my subwoofer and then it's suppressed a little.

Other advice I'd give to people is to be aware that they may discover their graphics card is not as HDCP-friendly as the manufacturer promised. I was devastated when I first got the Xbox HD player and couldn't even use it with my ASUS EN7600GT HDTI. I was forced to be a naughty boy for a while there and extract the movies with various non-legit pieces of software. I subsequenly upgraded to an EVGA 8800GTS and all is hunky-dory. No problems playing... beside the pesky vibration sound.

In the middle of June I purchased a Blu-Ray internal drive. It's slightly noiser than a normal DL-DVD drive, but not as noisy as the MS Xbox HD Player.

So you have been warned. You might be able to live with it. I am getting by.

[Apoptosis]

good point on the noise level... with all the stuff in my living room is seems to hum along with everything else and doesn't stand out unless you turn everything off and hear it still spinning.

[ky1201]

Personally I have been using this setup for a while. I would just like to point out a few things.
- I would go with analog connections to a receiver for lossless audio, because SPDIF or Toslink doesn't pass lossless audio in multichannel form.
(I run 3 3.5mm stereo jack to RCA cables. From analog sound card to multichannel input/ preamp in to my receiver.)
- A DVI to HDMI cable would also work better then using an adapter. (Why use one if you don't have to?)
- FYI Windows XP works with the drive as well. (There are drivers that can be downloaded.)
- Yeah it sucks! I felt like i ride the Titanic again. HD DVD needs more media.
- Lastly use AnyDVD HD to rip to disc to harddrive before playing can cut down the amount of noise/annoyance in enjoying HD DVD.

[Apoptosis]

- Yeah it sucks! I felt like i ride the Titanic again. HD DVD needs more media.
- Lastly use AnyDVD HD to rip to disc to harddrive before playing can cut down the amount of noise/annoyance in enjoying HD DVD.

I feel you on that the media part 100%... How long does it take you to use AnyDVD HD to rip the disc to the HDD?

[ky1201]

I feel you on that the media part 100%... How long does it take you to use AnyDVD HD to rip the disc to the HDD?

A real freaking long time. Sorry. I mean King Kong is like 27.4 Gig of data and it's going to pipe through a narrow USB2.0 pipe.
You right click on the AnyDVD icon on your systray then select "Rip HD DVD to Harddisk..."
Playback is done by clicking source in PowerDVD then choosing "open movie file on hard disk drive" then selecting the appropriate folder.

Best of luck

[Major_A]

I feel you on that the media part 100%... How long does it take you to use AnyDVD HD to rip the disc to the HDD?

Screw AnyDVD, try DVDFab HD Decrypter. I use this to backup my niece and nephew's movies for my sister. It is free, it's updated more than AnyDVD and removes the protection just like Slysoft's product. The only downside to DVDFab's free version is it will only rip the movie 1:1 to your HDD. If you buy it you can shrink it and convert DVD's to other formats. I think this is a moot point especially since I already own Nero 7, and there are countless other free DVD to X format utilities out there.
DVDFab HD Decrypter Free

[ky1201]

nice. I'll give it a try thanks

[trueg]

I just posted this on someone's blog, but I thought I would post it here as well....

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. I had connected it to my HTPC, which I've been able to get fairly quite, so the noise was very obvious. 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. All of the drives at both Future Shops I looked at had lot numbers of 0711.

If you've recently purchased your 360 HD-DVD and it has a high speed (noisy) fan, make note of the lot number and see if you can exchange it with a newer drive. So far I've seen lot numbers 0708, 0711 and 0719. 0711 was noisy, so I skipped 0708 under the assumption that it was older and would have still had the problem.

Grant

[Apoptosis]

Grant,

Great first post and welcome to the forums... I'll have to check this out and I'll report back.

[Darkstar]

Wow, this looks good, especially since Newegg has it for 169.99 with the Kong movie and 5 free ones by mail~!

[Apoptosis]

If you've recently purchased your 360 HD-DVD and it has a high speed (noisy) fan, make note of the lot number and see if you can exchange it with a newer drive. So far I've seen lot numbers 0708, 0711 and 0719. 0711 was noisy, so I skipped 0708 under the assumption that it was older and would have still had the problem.

Just went to my local Wal-Mart and they had LOT 703 sitting on the shelves. I'm not sure what mine was as I sent the UPC in for the five free movies.

[stavrosh]

I wonder if any members of the FORUM has an idea of how to update the HD DVD player ( Firmware version 12/2007) WITHOUT using the 360 console. I have bought the peripheral for a HTPC using PowerDVD. Thanks

[Apoptosis]

I wonder if any members of the FORUM has an idea of how to update the HD DVD player ( Firmware version 12/2007) WITHOUT using the 360 console. I have bought the peripheral for a HTPC using PowerDVD. Thanks

Got a link to info on the firmware update? Last big one I heard about was in May 2007, which did the following...

# Added option for user to select from the following audio output formats via TOSLINK or HDMI:
- Digital Stereo (2 channel PCM)
- Dolby Digital 5.1
- DTS 5.1
- WMA Pro
# Added "Dynamic Range Control" toggle for digital audio output
# Improved HD DVD networking support
# Improved HD DVD title compatibility
# Improved performance with MPEG-4 AVC / H.264
# 1080p via HDMI is supported on the Xbox 360 Elite with HDCP compliant displays
# Improved parental controls

[stavrosh]

Yes .. the latest firmware is dated December 2007 !!!! The link is : http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xb ... direct.htm

I still need a good samaritan to tell me how to update the HD-DVD reader without the Xbox console ...

[Apoptosis]

Yes .. the latest firmware is dated December 2007 !!!! The link is : http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xb ... direct.htm

I still need a good samaritan to tell me how to update the HD-DVD reader without the Xbox console ...

let me start asking around... cause I'm in the same boat as you. I have the HD DVD player, but no console. (my neighbor has one though)