SOLUTION to the XBOX 360 addon/Knocked up problem here!

[Kilgore]

Here's the deal.

If you put the Knocked Up HD DVD disc in for the first time, and wait a minute or two, you should see a box that says LOADING with a red and black barber pole-like status bar next to it. If you do see this, WAIT!! Do NOT restart your console. A cookie is being downloaded to your 360, and it takes at least 10 MINUTES or so for it to fully download, so you just have to be patient and wait. In a while, the movie will start as per normal. Any other time you play the movie, it will start like any other HD DVD.

Now, if you're a dink like me, saw this loading screen, and, thinking there was a problem, decided to restart your XBOX before letting this update occur, when you try to play the movie, your screen will go black for a few seconds and then you will get kicked back out to the dashboard. THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO:

1: Go to the System blade
2: Go down and select Memory
3: Go down and Select HD Player (NOT Hard Drive)
4: Go down to the bottom entry. More than likely, it will be the largest entry in the list. When the cookie is fully downloaded, it will be 11 MB in size. When I checked for the cookie, it was 1MB in size (at the time i stopped the download).
5: When you have found the entry, DELETE IT.
6: Retry starting the movie and wait for the loading screen. When you see it, you will know you have succeeded.

Once you do see the LOADING screen, you will know it, since you won't ever have seen it before. BE PATIENT and let it do it's thing. At first it will say LOADING and after 3-5 minutes, the screen will dgo to black, and then the LOADING screen will reappear with a CANCEL button. Ignore the cancel cutton...just be prepared to wait another 10 minutes or so....then lo and behold the movie will start.

I'm not sure exactly what this cookie does, but it's probably related to the new U-CONTROL look and the web-enabled features. In any case, this "problem" is really an update, so no need to panic.

[MidnightWatcher]

Thanks Kilgore!

[Kilgore]

You're welcome!

[Kilgore]

BTW, the PQ of Knocked Up is pretty nice! Not quite reference, but very nice color and detail.

[DrumAllDay]

If you want to avoid the "loading" screen you can 1) physically disconnect your player from the internet. Or, 2) with a disc playing, press “Display” on the remote (or "B" on the controller, and then "Advanced" from the menu) and select the 5th icon (HD DVD network settings) that looks like 3 orbiting spheres. Under “Network Access”, deselect the checkbox labeled “Enable Network Access”.

[DigitalFilth]

Wow well I had this happen but it did not interrupt the movie untill the "pink eye" scene. and when it did the movie froze. I tried to restart the movie and froze the whole disc. After a restart the loading screen came on and took forever so I flippe the disc and played the rest of the movie in upconverted standard dvd. I guess my question is what was it trying to download and why am I now considering returning the add-on.

[Digital Man5]

You've got to wonder why the 360 HD DVD add on has so many issues when it's the most upgradable of any of the HD DVD players out there. All MS has to do is put out some sort of software fix and boom, it's done. Granted, it'd get old having to do that for every other release, but it can be done.

[Kilgore]

Originally Posted by DigitalFilth

Wow well I had this happen but it did not interrupt the movie untill the "pink eye" scene. and when it did the movie froze. I tried to restart the movie and froze the whole disc. After a restart the loading screen came on and took forever so I flippe the disc and played the rest of the movie in upconverted standard dvd. I guess my question is what was it trying to download and why am I now considering returning the add-on.

Just follow the instructions at the top of thread, and you won't have any problems.

[Ph8te]

Originally Posted by DrumAllDay

If you want to avoid the "loading" screen you can 1) physically disconnect your player from the internet. Or, 2) with a disc playing, press “Display” on the remote (or "B" on the controller, and then "Advanced" from the menu) and select the 5th icon (HD DVD network settings) that looks like 3 orbiting spheres. Under “Network Access”, deselect the checkbox labeled “Enable Network Access”.

This worked like a charm for Heroes too .....And its the downloading of the cookie which in some cases depending on your connection take a bit of time. If you are not connected to the internet the disc loads without any real interruption.

[Kilgore]

Originally Posted by Digital Man5

You've got to wonder why the 360 HD DVD add on has so many issues when it's the most upgradable of any of the HD DVD players out there. All MS has to do is put out some sort of software fix and boom, it's done. Granted, it'd get old having to do that for every other release, but it can be done.

This is NOT an "issue".

This download enables access to web-based content. Mind you, at the moment there isn't a lot there, but that will certainly change in the future. There is something there called the Download Portal where you will be able to access trailers and such.

IMO, this is a pretty major development for HD DVD.

[Miles]

They obviously need to add some kind of progress bar, so that you can see a percentage downloaded... like 5% ---> 10% even if it's only an estimate. At least people should know their box hasn't seized-up.

[RScottyL]

Originally Posted by Miles

They obviously need to add some kind of progress bar, so that you can see a percentage downloaded... like 5% ---> 10% even if it's only an estimate. At least people should know their box hasn't seized-up.

EXACTLY!

They need to notify you that it is trying to download something, so you don't just sit there like a dummy!

[Dioneo]

Or better yet, make the web enabled content optional. The first time a user tries to access it - give them a warning that it needs to download content!

[Dahlsim]

Originally Posted by Miles

They obviously need to add some kind of progress bar, so that you can see a percentage downloaded... like 5% ---> 10% even if it's only an estimate. At least people should know their box hasn't seized-up.

I posted the same thing about Heroes which also has a long load delay on one of it's disk, leading to the same issue where many people probably don't wait for it to finish.

I knew better from Heroes so this time I walked away and let it finish, no problems. Simple bad software design. Let the user know what's going on, especially if there is going to be a delay. Even better make it an option, although I imagine they want to do everything possible to keep these features from being ignored and missed.

Then again maybe some the HDi devs really aren't programmers?

[cws_kahuna]

Awesome, can't wait to try it out. I was bummed it skips on my XA1 and then I ran into this problem on my 360. I loaned this movie to my friend who has a HD-D1 and it worked perfect for him, so I guess I need to either fix my XA1 or replace it.

[lyris]

I hope this doesn't become standard practice - it shouldn't need to wait 10 minutes the first time you play the disc.

[Goatse]

do you have to download the cookie to play the movie??

[Robert Spalding]

Originally Posted by Goatse

do you have to download the cookie to play the movie??

if you don't want any glitches, yes.

[lyris]

This must absolutely not be allowed to become standard. What happens in 10 years when we try to play the disc and the server is down?

[Goatse]

thats crappy, forced to download a 11mb file to watch a single movie. Xbox flash drive is 200mb, so that thing can fill up pretty quick.......eventually have to constantly clear the memory and download files to watch a movie??

[timick1]

This happened to me with Heroes Disk#2. I figured out what to do to get it to work, too... just like what the OP says.

[MidnightWatcher]

I'm sure updates like this will be incorporated in the next HD DVD update for the XBox 360.

[Goatse]

I don't understand 10mb files to update, I thought hddvd specs have been finalized. Every movie basically uses the same vc1/mpeg4 codecs and HDi.

[Mark Booth]

I can verify that I got the "Loading...." screen for about 30-45 seconds when I first played Knocked Up on my XA2. And, as suggested by the OP, it loaded normally (faster) on a subsequent play of the HD side. My XA2 is connected to the internet via WiFi (Airport Express Bridge).

Does anyone know what the hell is going on when the Loading screen is being shown?

Mark

[sunnysky]

Considering some people have slow connections, the VERY LEAST Universal SHOULD have done was warn us about an "initial" update.

[Kilgore]

Originally Posted by Mark Booth

I can verify that I got the "Loading...." screen for about 30-45 seconds when I first played Knocked Up on my XA2. And, as suggested by the OP, it loaded normally (faster) on a subsequent play of the HD side. My XA2 is connected to the internet via WiFi (Airport Express Bridge).

Does anyone know what the hell is going on when the Loading screen is being shown?

Mark

When you see the Loading screen, software is being downloaded from a Universal Studios server to your XBOX 360. This software allows you to connect to Universal and download available content on their server. At the moment, they have some deleted scenes from Knocked Up, and trailers for Evan Almighty, Heroes Season 1, Talk to Me and White Noise 2. They will probably add more content in the future for this and other future discs.

They require you to register with a password. It's kind of time consuming if you do it via the virtual keyboard with your controller (unless you have one of those new XBOX 360 Messenger keyboard thingees). It's much quicker if you just go to the weblink they mention and register with your computer.

[Kilgore]

Originally Posted by Goatse

do you have to download the cookie to play the movie??

No. Just make sure your XBOX is not connected to the internet when you play the movie.

Originally Posted by Goatse

thats crappy, forced to download a 11mb file to watch a single movie. Xbox flash drive is 200mb, so that thing can fill up pretty quick.......eventually have to constantly clear the memory and download files to watch a movie??

The purpose of the download is NOT to enable you to watch the movie. It is software that is used as an interface to the Web allowing you to download extra content if you want. If you don't think you'll ever want to see or use this content, then just make sure you aren't connected to the internet when you play the movie, or disable cookies in your XBOX network settings.

No, you don't have to constantly clear the memory and download files...once it is done the first time, you won't have to do it again.

Originally Posted by Goatse

I don't understand 10mb files to update, I thought hddvd specs have been finalized. Every movie basically uses the same vc1/mpeg4 codecs and HDi.

Once again, HD DVD specs ARE finalized. This download is a software interface from Universal studios that allows you to register yourself on their server and download content that is not available on the disc itself (ie, more deleted scenes, trailers...the ability to share bookmarks and favorite scenes with other users, etc). No hardware is changed, no firmware is updated...nothing. It is merely software that runs on your XBOX, or other HD DVD player.

If you look more into this, you will see that this whole download issue is actually a GREAT thing. As a matter of fact, IMO, this just gives consumers additional features that Blu-ray doesn't have, and it doesn't require you to buy any hardware or junk your present machine, or anything of the like. This is the beginning of the future of interactive online High Definition, and HD DVD is pioneering that road with downloads like this.

The only real issue as I can see it, as others have mentioned is that Universal could have done a better job of informing people about this download so there would have been no confusion. Other than that, I don't think this is anything but a good thing.

[HomerJay]

I see no problem here. I'm sure just like Universal has standardized on menu (well, other than those like Miami Vice), this download is likely used across all Universal web-enabled titles. They are certainly aware that HD DVD players currently only have ~190MB of storage. To think they would use 10MB per movie doesn't make much sense at all. I'm sure this updated web download center package replaces the one used by Heroes.

I wouldn't be surprised if my player would download the exact same file if I put in Heroes before Knocked Up. And then when I put in Knocked Up there is no file to download. In fact...that's what I'm gonna do just to be sure.

[theirishgonzo]

wow this is to funny waiting 15 minutes to watch a movie hahaha got to hahaha

[HomerJay]

Originally Posted by theirishgonzo

wow this is to funny waiting 15 monutes to watch a movie hahaha got to hahaha

ONCE!! Is it really so difficult to understand?? This is a framework that is used to power the online presense of Universal discs. This is bad for HD DVD?...how exactly?

Looking for a quality Blu-ray talking point related to this "problem"? Here ya go...

Originally Posted by Beware of HD DVD!!

There are HD DVD titles out there that take up to 15 minutes to load (naturally, depending on your connection speed) ONE time. There might be occasional updates (just like firmware updates) which will also take just as long if Universal updates their online portal. With Blu-ray you save time! Blu-ray simply CANNOT include such features because it IS NOT capable because it launched with INCOMPLETE specs. Don't worry, the $500 Blu-ray player you're about to buy will not include such advanced, online features. If you want to use the online features on Blu-ray discs that will be released in the coming months...err, sometime...in the future, you'll simply buy a new player. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

...Blu-ray: Beyond Expensive.