Feedback on the HD DVD drive for the 360
Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:50 pm
Well, picked this up from Stu yesterday, a big thanks for him selling me his only one he had in stock rather than keeping it for himself !!
Anyway I purchased Batman Begins and the Mission Impossible box set (HD versions) from play so when I got home and managed to stop Emma playing Wario ware so I could try this I.
Unwrapping it reveals another power cable and a usb cable and also a nice remote that lights up when you press the buttons, handy when you are watching films in the dark. Then you see the dvd drive, I must admit from the disc side it looks hideous !! What were they thinking, designing it like a book, from the side it looks better and you can see it is made out of the same plastic as the 360 itself.
After running through the usual driver install disc I connected the player and interestingly now where you select a disc to start the circular pic of a disc is sliced in two horizontally. Picking the top half is the normal 360 drive and the bottom is the hd one.
Anyway the Batman begins disc started with a demo for HD and what could be expected eg different menu structures, 6 x res of normal dvds blah blah blah. Must admit I was suitably impressed with this even if it showed Harry Potheads film amongst others.
So then I fired up Batman Begins the main film, wow even the intro credits were nice and crisp.
Watching the film I was treated to images that could only be described as sublime !!! The film was a real test as it contains plenty of daylight, snowy panoramic and also dark and moody scenes. It performed flawlessly.
Booted up the trailers for MI (1st one) and yeah the pic is better than normal dvd but not a lot. I suspect this is because its an older film rather than a new one. Tried the same with MI3 and its incredible. Coupled with the 5.1 surround sound system I have I felt like I was dodging the bullets myself (sad yeah I know).
There is no region coding yet, the prices for films are quite competitive and similar to dvd prices.
So to sum it up this is a must have add on for the 360, at
Anyway I purchased Batman Begins and the Mission Impossible box set (HD versions) from play so when I got home and managed to stop Emma playing Wario ware so I could try this I.
Unwrapping it reveals another power cable and a usb cable and also a nice remote that lights up when you press the buttons, handy when you are watching films in the dark. Then you see the dvd drive, I must admit from the disc side it looks hideous !! What were they thinking, designing it like a book, from the side it looks better and you can see it is made out of the same plastic as the 360 itself.
After running through the usual driver install disc I connected the player and interestingly now where you select a disc to start the circular pic of a disc is sliced in two horizontally. Picking the top half is the normal 360 drive and the bottom is the hd one.
Anyway the Batman begins disc started with a demo for HD and what could be expected eg different menu structures, 6 x res of normal dvds blah blah blah. Must admit I was suitably impressed with this even if it showed Harry Potheads film amongst others.
So then I fired up Batman Begins the main film, wow even the intro credits were nice and crisp.
Watching the film I was treated to images that could only be described as sublime !!! The film was a real test as it contains plenty of daylight, snowy panoramic and also dark and moody scenes. It performed flawlessly.
Booted up the trailers for MI (1st one) and yeah the pic is better than normal dvd but not a lot. I suspect this is because its an older film rather than a new one. Tried the same with MI3 and its incredible. Coupled with the 5.1 surround sound system I have I felt like I was dodging the bullets myself (sad yeah I know).
There is no region coding yet, the prices for films are quite competitive and similar to dvd prices.
So to sum it up this is a must have add on for the 360, at
