Is not having TrueHd enough of a reason to not buy the 360 addon?

It depends on how good your speaker and audio setup is. If you have a decent setup with HDMI, then TrueHD is significantly better than Dolby Digital. If you have a simple HTiB, then the HD-DVD add on would most likely be a better bargain.

I purchased the add-on way before all of these great deals have come out for it. Now, for purchasing an XBOX 360 add on, you get over $250 worth of stuff for around $170. That's unheard of to me. As for the loss in sound, the sound you get with the add on is still great. The picture on the add-on looks phenomenal. Go out and buy it. It is the deal of the year. You will not be disappointed.

You get way too much free stuff at Best Buy right now for purchasing the 360 HD-DVD player to pass it up.

Do it.

Do you have an HDMI receiver? If so, if you can swing it a standalone is better. TrueHD is GREAT! If you are going to use optical, I'd get either one.

Also, if you you use optical get an A2 or the add on as you can output the codecs as 1.5 mb/sec DTS. All other 2nd and 3rd gen players force 640 kb/sec DD.

If you have an older non-HDMI receiver... Yes! The player decodes TrueHD and DD+ internally and just ships the sound out via the analogs, and it sounds very good. This is why the Gen 1 players were great for people with older receivers (and why the XA2 and A35 still are).

However, if you have an HDMI receiver, you can't go wrong with any of the players on the audio side. There are brawls going on everywhere on the forums about receiver vs internal decoding, but that's for another time...

+1

now that i have true-hd running thru my older receiver with analog. i say hell yes.
the difference to me was amazing, and its more than worth it.

Did you have the addon before a standalone player with analog outs? I am just wondering how much better you rate the trueHD output over analogs vs the 1.5mb DTS stream over optical as this is the question I am currently trying to get an answer for to decide whether I should get an HD-A1 for analog outs or an A2 and only get 1.5mb since my receiver doesn't have HDMI?

If you got the system to complement the analog on the HD-A1, I say go for it.

I had a first gen player (XA1) and the load times are ridiculously slow and I couldn't stand it. I got an A2 as soon as the right deal came along. Some people don't mind it but something to think about. Of course prepping your 360 for playback may not be that quick either. Not sure.

i have had the 360 drive. if you are asking me if the 5.1 analog is better. again i say YES, i wish you could go somewhere to demo. it blew me away at first. 300 in true-hd is just as superior to optical, as 1080 is to 480 for me. its just another level that you need. the sound is so clear, and precise.

Quick question along these lines. I have a Denon 2807 with HDMI I think version 1.1 or 1.2. Not sure. Will this get me True-hd audio through HDMI or do I need to use the analog inputs for that?

Analog out sounds better no matter what you choose on the disc itself. True HD or 5.1 on the disc both sound equally good through analog out. Don't have an HDMI receiver though, only a receiver with multichannel analog inputs.

John