Xbox 360 HD DVD Addon -- Works on an HTPC!? - Page 4

If I can tonight or tomorrow if I get it working I'll try to do screenshot differences between 360 vs HTPC and see what looks better. The pictures will be taken by a camera so I'm not sure how that will come out.

I'd assume the 360 will look better since of course the HTPC will be downrezzed...

Madpoet, did you have a chance to check if add-on can play hd-dvds when connected to a PC that doesn't have HDCP graphics card? I can't upgrade graphics in my laptop with 1920x1200 screen and dying to know if it will work on it.
I suppose chances will be higher if PC monitor will be connected over VGA. Thanks!

I was going to buy my HDCP monitor, but haven't yet. I'll probably get one next week if I can. Spending 1k is nothign to sneeze at :-)

Uneasy Silence has a peel apart of the drive

http://uneasysilence.com/archive/200...comment-289533

Here's the real question. Does that Microsoft addon board that's attached to the internal OEM Toshiba HD-DVD drive have the AACS functionality built into it or is it built into the drive? Someone needs to try connecting the drive directly to PC IDE (there are adapters out there for ataching laptop optical IDE to normal IDE, try newegg maybe) and seeing if this method still plays back. If not then I'd say the AACS info is built into the PC board with the MS stamp on it like the Toshiba Flash ROM in the HD-A1 has the AACS on it and not on the NEC drive inside.

I think you will find the card is where the aacs is, there is a requirement for local storage in the spec also and IMO the card provides that.
I think the key way forward is going to be the software players with a HDCP graphics card. Microsoft has said they did not do anyting to prevent the drive from working, and IMO they are allowing space for the software/graphics card combo's to be come available so that with the three pieces we will have a working system. I do think that the VGA or Component support will not be on the HTPC solutions and it will only be HDMI or DVI with HDCP even though it is technically possible and "legal".

John

Bummer they didn't get some pictures of the bezel situation.

-john

While we now know it is a "regular" drive physically, it would be cool if someone could hook it up over IDE and see if it still works. Would assume so, but would be nice to know.

-john

Just as another note to would be system builders. On an Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Manchester core with over 2 gigs of ram, running winxp pro sp2, using the Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon drive.

I got an average of somewhere between 60-70% CPU usage on BOTH cores while playing Batman Begins.

I'm beginning to wonder if my machine could handle 1080P, but I think it could if hardware acceleration from Nvidia's Purevideo HD drivers came into play. They definitely aren't being used right now because I remember reading somewhere that VC-1/AVC decoding cpu usage would drop to around 20-40% on most systems with a PureHD accelerating video card.

I have purevideo installed and newer 93.71 drivers from nVidia. But it's not allowing me to select hardware acceleration in WinDVD 8 Plat.

I'm watching.

Too bad it's 540p right now. I need 720p over analog, that's all....although I would like to see this hooked up to my 24" Sony FW900 CRT monitor at 1080p I'd need more CPU, though, or hardware acceleration, since 1080p trailers are choppy on my A64 3400+ Venice @ ~2.7ghz.

I'm in for one as soon as someone gets software working for analog higher than 540p.

hmmm......interesting. i guess that's a second hurdle that will also have to be overcome. i've heard that h.264 can run any cpu to it's limit, so hardware acceleration is a must. again, its a software issue, so it should be sorted out in time. i just wish i knew what kind of time we're talking. i'd love to build an hd htpc in time for christmas (i'm not spending $950+ CDN on a burner). it doesn't appear that hardware (blu-ray rom) or software will be ready by december 25.

my thoughts exactly. the one shot i wanted to see was the front. if this drive can't be somewhat easily modded to fit internally and with some kind of nice looking bezel then this isn't an option for me. i suppose it would work temporarily until a proper internal drive is released by someone, although that doesn't appear to be on the near horizon.

Man, I keep checking back on this thread every hour just to see how things are progressing... exciting times indeed

Cheers...
Duy-Khang Hoang

OOOOH!

HDTV shows that I have recorded on my HTPC and then authored into HD-DVD are working! These are authored as HD-DVDs but burned on cheapo DVDrs! It works on the Xbox 360!

Yes, the drive has AACS in it. Otherwise you couldn't use it in WinXP to view HD DVD movies without a driver. Since it works when attached via USB, it will work when attached directly to IDE also.

Yeah, the hardware acceleration being turned off is a bitch.

Not necessarily. For the Toshiba HD-A1 the AACS is not in the drive. We don't know yet whether the AACS for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD addon is in the drive or on the drive housing electronics. If it's in the drive housing electronics I would expect connecting the drive directly to PC via a laptop optical IDE adapter (newegg has these I'm pretty sure), would yield a failure for compatible HD-DVD drive on the Cyberlink Advisor test just like plugging up the NEC HD-DVD drive in the Toshiba HD-A1 does. We'll have to wait for someone to test.

Also at least even without hardware acceleration from the GPU's we can still get HD-DVD playback at 540P definitely with a midrange Athlon 64 X2 4600+ driving at 60-70% avg, well at least for Batman Begins which admittedly is a lower bitrate title, but with GPU hardware acceleration on I'd expect this machine to have no problems playing back 1080P since that was what Nvidia and ATI touted with their GPU acceleration back before VC-1 was as optimized as it is now.

Yep, I was at anywhere from 35-50% on a E6600 C2D in playback. I MIGHT be able to do 1080p without hardware acceleration if I OC my processor, but I would hate to try it.

What software did you use to author the DVD?
What format was the original files in? TS?

Chicken...

Indeed, which is why you can't hook it up to a PC and use it to view HD DVDs.


That is true. However, I talked with some folks from MS and Nvidia last week and got the impression the AACS is in the drive.

FYI:

I got it working with ASUS M2NPV-VM Motherboard (integrated 6150 graphics) using vga. Very choppy performance...but again I would like to be able to check the hardware acceleration box to see if it will become stable enough otherwise I will have to purchase an hdcp video card. Also getting 540P resolution.

I am using WinDVD 8 HD. ....hardware acceleration checkbox greyed out!

If this helps anyone, its a link to powerdvds H264 Addon pack, could this possibly enable PowerDVD7 for HD-DVD?

Nix that, cant post links as Im a new users... its in the enhancement packs of PowerDVD at the bottom of the power dvd information product pack. Sorry Folks.


----
HD264 Pack - for PowerDVD 7 Standard and PowerDVD 6
Play high-definition video files via PowerDVD.

Take your video experience to the next level with support for MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) files. Enjoy superb performance with 5.1 channel MPEG-4 AAC audio. Leverage the power of NVIDIA or ATI graphics card with support for hardware acceleration*. Ensure that Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center Edition can also play H.264 files too.

Buy Now $39.95

* For NVIDIA GeForce, GeForce Go, Quadro and ATI Radeon X1800 and X1900 cards that support H.264 Decode Acceleration for high-definition content

---


Im curious to know if it would work with my X1600's. I have a crossfire arrangement of 2 X1600 Pro 512MB. The X1600 does have AVIVO technology, so theoretically its HDCP compliant. (?)

They are in my ASUS M2R32-MVP mobo, 4200+ X2, 2 gb ram 677mhz, Raid 0 2x300 Sata II, dual 150MCE Hauppauge tuners (the 500 wouldnt work as per code 12). Only one big problem, my 32" LCD TV is a piece of cheap crap! its not HDCP compliant, but has DVI and VGA connections.

That will not enable HD DVD. It's only a H264 codec, and have nothing to do with HD DVD. Sorry.

We know that windvd8 japanese version runs at 960*540.
But we know also that there are some patch released for Vaio and others drivers that allow full-HD resolution for windvd8.
Somebody, plsssss, can drive me to find that plugins? also in MP if you prefer...

I'd be happy to test it if anyone could get me the pactches

ftp to 210.189.94.64 and look in the pool folder....its the intervideo ftp site

I do not think you will be able to install those patches on a non-VAIO system..but let me know

Just a guess, but if the patch was for VAIO's then it most likely relates to their Blu-ray package, and not HD DVD.

Chris

Has nobody thought to check the Toshiba support site?

I found the following under Portables->Qosmio->G35-AV660:

11-02-2006 DVD Special
Toshiba HD DVD Player Update for Windows XP (v2.01.08; 11-02-2006; 41.63M)

08-28-2006 DVD DVD-ROM Driver
TOSHIBA UDF2.5 File System Driver for HDDVD for Windows XP (v1.0.0.3; 08-25-2006; 684K)

Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5

http://www.ulead.com/dmf/runme.htm

I used transport streams that were converted to MPG files using VideoRedo Plus.

1. Ulead DVD Movie factory does the authoring and places the HD-DVD file structure somewhere on your hard drive.
2. In that same location as the HD-DVD file structure, create a new folder called "VIDEO_TS"
3. Create a dummy file in that folder named "VIDEO_TS.VOB". The best way to create a dummy file is to just make a text file and name it that.
4. Burn the entire structure (3 folders) onto a DVDr. I use NERO. I just use the option to burn a data disc as opposed to burning a DVD. It warns me that my structure may be incorrect but it allows me to continue.
5. Enjoy your recorded HDTV shows on your Xbox 360.