Model	Xbox 360 HD DVD Player
MSRP	$199
HDMI Connectors	0
Component	1 (via Xbox)
Digital Audio	Optical (via Xbox)
Max Resolution	1080p
Dimensions	need weight
Weight	need weight

from Microsoft's Xbox 360 site.

AVS Forum Thread - need answers? Ask them here!

Reviews

Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive - Audio Video Revolution
DVDTown.com
Krunker.com
Gamespot.com
PC Perspective
hidef.com

User Reviews
http://aroganworld.blogspot.com/200...-dvd-drive.html
AVSForum Reviews
DPowers
DMRSX
RAVEN56706

FAQ

repurposed from AVSForum with permission from bkillian


Playing HD DVD

Can it play HD DVD at 1080p via Component?
No. Max HD DVD resolution for Component is 1080i. Over VGA you can get 1080P. Note that this doesn't mean the 360 cannot do 1080p over component, it can. AACS rules limit the max resolution of a HD DVD over component to 1080i. Your XBox will automatically switch resolution to 1080i if you have it set to 1080p when you play a HD DVD.

Does it matter?
No. Film content is 24P, both 1080i and 1080p should display all the information in the individual film frames. A good 1080p display should correctly deinterlace the 1080i signal. See here.

Can it output 1080p24/48/72 directly?
Not at this time. Amir suggests that this could be provided at some point in the future. Until then you're stuck with motion judder, unless you have a really good video processor that supports a 24 multiple.

How is the picture quality compared to the HD-A1?
Anecdotal evidence so far suggests it is about equal. I will update this question when proper reviews come out.

Can it output True HD or DD+ in an uncompressed form?
No. The addon re-encodes everything to DD 5.1. Multiple users on AVSForum have stated that the resulting encode is better than DVD audio, and that the TrueHD option on the HD DVD provides even better audio than the DD+. See this post and this one for examples.

I chose the DTS option, but my receiver reports it as Dolby Digital
Yes. All audio tracks get re-encoded as DD.

Does it play homebrew HD DVD's written to DVD +/- media? Dual Layer?
This has been confirmed by some users. It will play HD DVD formatted DVD-R and DVD-RW discs.



Playing SD DVD

Does it upconvert Standard Def DVD over VGA?
Yes. It will upconvert a SD DVD to a max of 1080p over VGA.

Does it upconvert Standard Def DVD over Component?
No. The max resolution for SD DVD over Component is 480p. This is a CSS rule. Over component, your SD DVDs will be 480p no matter what resolution your dash is at.

Does a regular DVD look different on the Addon compared to the internal drive?
No.



Connections

Is there an HDMI option?
No. Currently the only HD connections supported are VGA (to 1080P) and Component (to 1080i). Microsoft has stated in the past that "if they see enough need for HDMI, they will provide it", but there is currently no such option.

What about ICT?
If a disc has the ICT flag, it will be displayed in a degraded form over analog connections. No current HD DVDs have this flag, and the studios have mentioned that they do not have any plans to turn this flag on in the near future.

I have it connected by VGA, but the colors are all washed out!
That's not technically a question, but yes, some TVs expect PC levels (0-255) in their VGA input, and the 360 sends video levels (16-235). The result is that a video black (RGB 16,16,16) looks gray, and white (235,235,235) looks grayer too. Try to see if your TV has an option to accept video levels on the VGA input, if not, then calibration can lessen this effect, however, your best bet is to use Component input. It is not known whether MS will try compensate for this problem, or if they do, when that will happen.

Does it need to be attached to the 360 to play movies?
Yes. It's just a drive. The 360 does all the hard work.

Will it work on a PC?
Some AVS members have connected it to their PCs with varying results. It recognises as a Drive on XP, on some machines, the HD DVD filesystem can be read (if your PC supports UDF 2 - 2.5). On Vista it recognises fine and discs can be read. Someone has successfully played a standard def DVD off it on a PC.

Will it play HD DVDs on a PC?
Yes. See this post and the rest of that thread. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, and you need a pretty beefy machine, but it is definately possible.



Troubleshooting

I got the Addon but it looks terrible and squashed on my TV (connected with VGA)
Go into your XBox settings blade and set your resolution to the highest your display will support. Also (if needed) set the aspect ratio correctly for the type of your Display. The default resolution for the VGA cable when you first plug it in is 640x480. User emonsh suggests that the best setting for VGA is the one closest to the true resolution of your display, so try that if you're having quality issues.

What are those black bars at the top and bottom of my movie? Is my add-on busted? (No... really... a lot of people ask this. If someone invents an AVSForum Drinking game, you should have to down your drink everytime someone asks this)

No, your addon is not busted. It's your TV. For some reason, your TV is finding it hard to bend space sufficiently to convert your 16:9 TV into a 2.35:1 version. This is not surprising. A simple application of Relativity shows that the TV would have to be travelling up past you at 0.65C (or 121800 miles per second) to achieve this contraction in the vertical direction (the speed for a 4:3 TV is left as an exercise for the reader). It would be difficult to watch a movie like this. When it fails at this task, it is forced to compensate by displaying black bars at the top and bottom of your screen. This site shows some examples.

Can you make the remote eject button eject the addon, and not the console tray?
Apparently not. The Eject button appears to only eject the console tray. Why do you need this functionality? It's not like you don't need to get up to change discs anyway

I installed the update, and tried to play a movie, but it stutters and behaves horribly
Try a full reboot of your console. A number of members have reported that power cycling the console when this happens fixes the problem.



General

Is it loud?
There are conflicting views on this so far. Some users say it is loud, others say it is almost silent. If you think your 360 playing DVD or at the Dash is loud, then you will probably think it is loud.

How many have been sold?
No clue, but you can go to this thread and see how many AVS'ers have them (or add yourself)

Will the US version work in the UK/Wherever
Yes according to Amir. All you need, apparently is a US->UK plug adaptor. Note that a US HD DVD addon used on a UK console will not play region 1 (US) SD DVD discs. Region control is a function of the console, not the drive.

What are the load times compared to the HD-A1?
Load times are much shorter than the HD-A1. From the Dash, with the disc already in the drive, startup time is less than 9 seconds. If you have to insert the disc, it's around 20 seconds.

For comparison, the time to first video when inserting a disc into the HD-A1 is about 1 minute, 15 seconds.

I keep getting online notifications while watching a movie! How do I turn them off?
It is possible to turn off notifications while movies are playing, but the method to do so is a little obfuscated. It's not in the system blade, and it's not in your gamer profile.

Method: Hit the Guide button (the silver one with the stylized green X), navigate down to "Personal Settings" and hit "OK" or the A button. Now navigate down to "Notifications" and hit OK, navigate down to "Show During Movies" and hit OK to deselect it. Now you can hit "B" repeatedly to exit.

Is there some way to have movies play at 1080i/p and games at 720p
Yes. Go into the system blade and switch resolutions when you play movies. There is, unfortunately, no way currently to do that automatically.

Can I put game discs into the HD DVD addon and play games from it?
No. There's nothing stopping you physically putting game discs into the drive, (just like you could also put a slice of cheese, or a round piece of sandpaper), but the game will not play from that drive. It would be nifty to be able to switch between two games, but alas, that is not possible.



Links
Official HD DVD Addon page at Xbox.com
Developer Interview