Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive on Display

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, HD displays are nothing new to many Xbox owners. We've been capable of taking advantage of them for some time now.

An argument is lost when you have to resort to finding fault with your respondent's spelling or grammar.


480p. Hmmm, I think maybe you don't know the difference between ED and HD.

480p IS an "HD" display format, its neither the maximum of any display I've ever used nor is it the maximum the Xbox supports, its actually the default minimum on almost all games.

ive thought about this a bit actually and i think im beginning to change my mind on this thing...

first tho there a couple of things i have to say because it ****s me off when people chat out of their arse. firstly the 360 isnt rushed out with half graphics from next gen - its on a par with ps3 from all the evidence seen and lets not even talk about the wii in that respect. secondly, for the moment hd-dvd is in fact better than blu-ray! the disks are encoding in vc1 instead of mpeg2 and all the players force dolby digital plus support (blu-ray supports both i know but doesnt use them yet). plus blu-ray has colour tone and cropping problems, about 2.35:1 instead of 2.4:1.

back to the actual add on drive, i totally see the logic here. its big for a drive but compared to everything else under a tv its actually quite small. and yes its not a great looker, but on seeing the promo shots i wouldnt say its down right ugly, ive seen a lot worse thats sold (original xbox me thinks). then theres the theory that only about 1 in 10 xbox buyers actually have an hd tv, but they still enjoy playing the games. the majority are then not forced to pay for something they dont want. most who have hdtvs already will be able to afford a seperate player and wont want to use a games console anyway, so wont want to pay the extra for it. so then theres the middle of the road people, who can buy a 360, a year later get an hdtv and then consider splashing out a reasonable £99 (so they say) to get hd movies to play on their new tvs, instead of £299. its far from ideal but think of it a bit like a freeview box adding functionality to an old tv on the cheap and when people are ready.

p.s i still think they should have put the drive opening on the smooth clean white front.

p.s.s im going to own all 3 consoles and i dont have a favourite next gen dvd format, im going to wait and see how it all plays out before i hand over any money. so im not bias!

480p is most certainly not HD. it is infact ED (enhanced definition) as rod said. Enhance dbecause the resolution si the same it is just displayed without interlacing for a clearer flickerfry image. 720p, 1080i and 1080p are the official HD resolutions. Techinically pal is a HIGHer resolution than 480 anything, not that that matters.

And as an xbox owner/lover i can assure you there are very few games that support true HD resolutions. The only notable one i can think of is actually Soul Calibur 2 (only because it was a ps2 port) and sadly my tv only does 1080i so i never got to enjoy that :/


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Have you seen them both in action side by side on identical tvs with identical quality cables? I would think not. I know I haven't. I haven't even seen an HD-DVD in action, mainly because Circuit City doesn't stock them yet.

Next, voting with our wallets then makes us guinnie pigs. Let the rich decide which format, then us regular blokes with regular sized wallets can buy the victor. I don't care who wins, I just want to know who to buy so I don't end up with a Beta-max machine, teeth and all.

Also, concerning size, you can't just exclude the 360 and say well the add-on is small. IT IS REQUIRED FOR DVD PLAYBACK, so it is nescessary, so it included in the size. The combo is huge and will take up more valuable shelf space. And to boot the PS3 is about the size of the 360 if not less WITH a Blu-Ray drive. So there, the point is moot. MOOT I SAY!

And finally, wherever did you read that 480p was an offical HD format. I mean it is all semantics when you get down to it. Who's to say what the HD range actually. The end has not been drawn only the starting point (720p and 1080i). And then there's the lack of standardization of resolutions, mainly a broadcasing issue, but it does come up and cause more kinks to the arguement. But still, you are wrong sir, 480p is most definitely not HD and is junk. JUNK I SAY!

First off, I think your explanation of 480i vs 480p is misleading, interlacing means that half the resolution is displayed half the time. The original point was, that many Xbox owners are already in possesion of and are familiar with HDTV units in anticipation of support, as your knowledge of the subject demonstrates. I know no one who has an EDTV, if they have anything aside from a "normal" TV, they have an HD unit, which supports 480p. To anyone I know, outside of technophiles 480p is an HD resolution as it requires something more than a normal TV to use.

I'll stand by my original point.

I'm confused about where I need the HD-DVD drive to watch DVDs?

Certainly if I wanted to watch HD-DVDs then I would need it and the comparison would be validish. Anyway mootish point, the only size comparison I've seen of the ps3 vs 360 is actually just a 360 with a painted wood case representing the ps3's supposed size on top. Hardly the be all and end all.