XBox360 HD-DVD Player
So last night my friend and I called around San Diego and finally found an EB Games that had two HD-DVD players in stock that weren't already reserved for Pre-Orders.
The unit itself seems very well constructed and is very sturdy. It is made from the same material as the 360 unit itself and is half the size. The back of the player has two USB Type A connectors, and a Mini-USB Type B connector which is used to connect the HD-DVD drive to the 360. The player also has a small cooling fan on the back.
The player comes with an external power supply which is much, much smaller than the XBox360 PSU. It's less than an inch thick, and about one and a half square inches.
Also included in the box is an XBox360 DVD remote control, a USB cable and a copy of King Kong in HD-DVD.
It comes with a disc that you have to run in your 360 before you can use the HDDVD drive. I suspect this disc updates your firmware to the latest build (incase you don't have it from Live! already) and then also enables the HDDVD drive in the firmware.
After you've updated the unit and the HD-DVD drive is hooked up, it operates like the XBox360 normally would. When you insert a disc, it automatically launches the video.
The only sample material I had was the copy of King Kong that came with it. My XBox360 is set to output 720p to my 42" LCD.
The video itself looked very sharp. Scenes where there was running water in frame (river, ocean) looked very good. One scene that stuck out to me is when they were filming on the bow of the boat with the sun(rise/set?) in the background. The colors of the horizon were outstanding with no visible macro blocking or banding.
I can't speak for the surround sound quality because I don't have a surround setup.
Honestly, for $199, you can't beat the value if you already own an XBox360. Why pay $300+ for a stand alone HD-DVD player?
Now, personally, I don't see the benefit of purchasing titles I already own on DVD again in HD-DVD especially since I already have a descent upscaling DVD player. But in the future when I go to buy a new title, I will defiantly weigh in my mind if I would prefer to have a title in HD.
