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Using XBox's HD-DVD drive with a PS3 to create a universal HD player

post #1 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:03pm
Thread Starter 
I was talking to somebody that had this great idea--Microsoft just released the HD-DVD add-on drive for the Xbox 360. As I understand it, it just connects to the Xbox via USB, and can do the same to any computer, really. Others are using the drive to connect to their PC's.

Well, since the PS3 really is a computer, and people have been able to make various components work with it, could the HD-DVD drive be made to work with the PS3? That would make the PS3 a truly universal HD disc player, which would be just awesome.
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post #2 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Dotur View Post

I was talking to somebody that had this great idea--Microsoft just released the HD-DVD add-on drive for the Xbox 360. As I understand it, it just connects to the Xbox via USB, and can do the same to any computer, really. Others are using the drive to connect to their PC's.

Well, since the PS3 really is a computer, and people have been able to make various components work with it, could the HD-DVD drive be made to work with the PS3? That would make the PS3 a truly universal HD disc player, which would be just awesome.

Chris = brilliant
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post #3 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:06pm
Interesting thought, but I believe the 360 HD-DVD players utilizes a LOT of the actual 360 itself for the video processing, so Im almost positive the answer to your question is a resounding no.
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post #4 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:07pm
And actually, the folks who are connecting it to a PC, dont they need to download the 360/PC software that links between the two before it will work properly?
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post #5 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:09pm
It's possible, considering that people have been able to connect the HD-DVD addon to a PC and play HD-DVDs on it.

Someone needs to make a driver for it though, and there needs to be some playback software to use it.
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post #6 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:21pm
Thread Starter 
If it helps the brianiacs that are going to look at this thread and figure out if it can be done, there's a link from XBox's website to update the HD-DVD player with this software:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x...r/download.htm

Probably doesn't do anything for the system that the drive is linked to, though.

If the Xbox does a lot of video processing for the HD-DVD player, couldn't the PS3 be made to do the same thing?

I just keeping remembering that somebody (here on AVS, I think) hooked up their HD-DVD drive to their HTPC, running Windows, and was using it for their HTPC. Soooo... if other people have installed Windows on the PS3, couldn't the PS3 be made to support the HD-DVD drive? Preferably, it would be without actually installing Windows as the intermediary step.

I can't wait to see if one of us uber-geeks can figure this one out. That would be the solution to the HD format wars for me, personally. Unfortunately, my uber-geekness is not in this particular field.
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post #7 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:29pm
I would be so very into this.

However,.. There's more then enough Blu-Ray titles and a major flow of upcoming releases so I've come to realize I have no use for HD DVD.

-Brian
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post #8 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:39pm
You can't directly install Windows to the PS3 since Windows is designed for x86 processors. Someone reportedly installed WindowsXP on a PS3 using an emulator running in some Linux distro though, but it supposedly took about 15 minutes to boot up. As such, even with optimizations, it probably won't be all there performance wise unless someone makes a driver specifically for use in Linux.
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post #9 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:51pm
This has been brought up in at least a couple of threads in the Blu-ray Player forum. Opinions are mixed as to whether it will work. Here's a link to one of the threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=765720
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post #10 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:54pm
Looks like this would mainly depend on the GPU. I am not sure if there are video drivers for the PS3, but if there are, it might be doable. The PS3's PPE is not very powerful by today's standards, so that may be a bottleneck. Should work if the proper software utilizes the SPEs.
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post #11 of 58
12/11/06 at 2:58pm
well as it is now it doesn't work. i hooked my 360 hd-dvd drive to my ps3 and it said unrecognized usb device or something like that.
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post #12 of 58
12/11/06 at 3:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwaidonjin View Post

well as it is now it doesn't work. i hooked my 360 hd-dvd drive to my ps3 and it said unrecognized usb device or something like that.

I'm surprised it didn't call you a traitor and blow up.
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post #13 of 58
12/11/06 at 3:11pm
yes the irony of me using a microsoft wireless k/m with my ps3 makes me chuckle...
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post #14 of 58
12/11/06 at 3:43pm
Won't work, unless MS decides to support the PS3, or Sony decides to support HD-DVD. The addon is nothing but an hd-dvd drive. The 360 does all the processing. You won't be able to hook it up to the PS3 and expect it to play any movies. It takes a lot of processing power to play these HD discs, especially those encoded in AVC. It won't work in Linux either as the PS3 is too limited while running the OS. Not enough memory and no access to the GPU negates any hope of doing that.
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post #15 of 58
12/11/06 at 4:17pm
Didnt MS write something like 4.7 million lines of code to make the HDDVD addon work with the 360. While I'm sure they could invest the money to do the same to make it work on a regular PC.

I doubt if any of the Linux developers are willing to put that much time into writing code just to get this thing to work on the PS3.
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post #16 of 58
12/11/06 at 4:29pm
Assuming that MS didn't do anything to the HD-DVD addon's firmware to make it Xbox360 specific (which it sounds like they haven't from discussions that people have used it on their PCs) - then all that would be needed would be the HD-DVD USB driver support for Linux and then a Linux app to do the video decoding. - I say give it a few weeks and it'll be out there, just need enough time for people to get past whatever copy-protection scheme they put on HD-DVD.
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post #17 of 58
12/11/06 at 4:32pm
This could be done unfortunately at this moment it won't be plug & play.
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post #18 of 58
12/11/06 at 4:45pm
I had been pondering this back in November and someone on another forum gave this reponse which makes sense to me (as unfortunate as it is)...

Quote:


Won't happen unless DVD-Jon (or somebody else) breaks AACS. I don't think this is going to happen soon.
Any player has to be certified to play HD/BD. It is not clear when (if ever) ZoomPlayer and/or TheaterTek will be able to do that.
WMP11 will. WinDVD and PowerDVD. Linux and free players (MPC, VLC) need not apply.
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post #19 of 58
12/11/06 at 6:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doctor Krypton View Post

This could be done unfortunately at this moment it won't be plug & play.

no it cant... it is impossible to do, as HD-DVD player is just and disc reader... it does nothing to process the data, same as Blu-Ray drive inside the PS3.
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post #20 of 58
12/11/06 at 7:10pm
Just to let people know, it doesn't just work on PCs and 360s, the HD DVD drive also works on OS X. Just requires the proper software.
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post #21 of 58
12/11/06 at 9:06pm
linux baby, and a whole lotta coffee

someone might be able to make this work, but they'd have to compile a linux driver, and also program it to use the cell for decoding.

possible, yes1! probable, slight but not in the immediate future)
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post #22 of 58
12/11/06 at 10:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyrantII View Post

linux baby, and a whole lotta coffee

someone might be able to make this work, but they'd have to compile a linux driver, and also program it to use the cell for decoding.

possible, yes1! probable, slight but not in the immediate future)


There is not enough processing power for the PS3 to play any movies, BD or HD-DVD, under Linux. It is completely limited with no access to the GPU and having less than 256mb of memory. Stop thinking its going to happen people. Unless Sony changes their mind and allow access to all the memory and the GPU you can forget about doing anything worthwhile with Linux. Hell, it can't even run a playable NES emulator.
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post #23 of 58
12/12/06 at 1:23am
Thread Starter 
Geesh... some people are really angry that we're even asking whether this could be done.

Based on what I've learned so far and read here, I'm not convinced by the naysayers that it's impossible. IF it can be done, it's going to take a lot of work, a lot of hacking and programming, and a while to get everything done. Infinitely more knowledge and ability than I have.

So for now, I'm happy with what I've got, and if anybody makes progress with this, I'll be MEGA happy to read about it.
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post #24 of 58
12/12/06 at 4:14am
Quote "Geesh... some people are really angry that we're even asking whether this could be done."

Let me give you a hint,... those people don't have a PS3.

-Brian
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post #25 of 58
12/12/06 at 10:34am
It would be amazing if it worked!! This way all the market share Blu Ray/Sony gains from PS3 sales will be offset by the HD ADDON's being purchased from the same PS3 buyers.

Toshiba will be laughing to the bank knowing Sony PS3 owners will be supporting the "enemy"

Hell, if I'm Toshiba I'm working on a hack myself trying to find a way to output HD DVD through the PS3. Imagine if the PS3's HD Hack is able to output a nicer picture than the Blu Ray built it because of software?

lol.
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post #26 of 58
12/12/06 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Haneke View Post

It would be amazing if it worked!! This way all the market share Blu Ray/Sony gains from PS3 sales will be offset by the HD ADDON's being purchased from the same PS3 buyers.

Toshiba will be laughing to the bank knowing Sony PS3 owners will be supporting the "enemy"

Hell, if I'm Toshiba I'm working on a hack myself trying to find a way to output HD DVD through the PS3. Imagine if the PS3's HD Hack is able to output a nicer picture than the Blu Ray built it because of software?

lol.

lol you know toshiba worked on the cell processor together with ibm and sony?

this is definitely doable! i don't think it would be able to run on linux, but if we could get a firmware hack for the ps3 and a driver it sure would run like hell. and i don't think sony would be the looser but microsoft since the HD DVD player is only 199.00 you know they would be loosing money on that, everyone else would still have their ps3s.
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post #27 of 58
12/12/06 at 1:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by themali View Post

lol you know toshiba worked on the cell processor together with ibm and sony?

this is definitely doable! i don't think it would be able to run on linux, but if we could get a firmware hack for the ps3 and a driver it sure would run like hell. and i don't think sony would be the looser but microsoft since the HD DVD player is only 199.00 you know they would be loosing money on that, everyone else would still have their ps3s.


Actually, no, Microsoft is selling the HD-DVD addon for a profit. They would actually make money if people bought it to use it on Linux.
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post #28 of 58
12/12/06 at 1:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetrii View Post

Actually, no, Microsoft is selling the HD-DVD addon for a profit. They would actually make money if people bought it to use it on Linux.

So, you work for Microsoft now!? A lot of people seem to have company confidential information on this board...
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post #29 of 58
12/12/06 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Haneke View Post


Hell, if I'm Toshiba I'm working on a hack myself trying to find a way to output HD DVD through the PS3.

lol.

that wouldnt suprise me
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post #30 of 58
12/12/06 at 2:07pm
The HD-DVD addon is simply an mini atapi drive in a USB enclosure, so it wouldn't be surprising if MS was mass producing it at ~$100.

http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2006/11/8303/
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