$250 for HD-D2 HD DVD player at Costco. The 360 is a fine standalone upconvertor as far as I know. I'd go for the D2 over the 360 HD DVD drive.
Upconverter or Xbox 360 HD DVD add on??
Hey guys, I really want to start taking advantage of my new LCD TV. My budget is around $200, maybe $250 if I push it. My question is, should I get a decent upconverting DVD player, or possibly the Xbox 360 HD DVD add on? Blu Ray and HD DVD players are probably out of the question, unless somebody can show me a good one in that price range. Thank you guys!
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Hmm, sounds like a good deal. Is that a good player? How long is that deal going on for? I live in San Diego. Also, I'm new to this....do HD DVD players upconvert regular DVD's by nature? I have tons of regular DVD's already, and I don't want to just toss them. Thank you very much for the info by the way!
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaze0 /forum/post/0
$250 for HD-D2 HD DVD player at Costco. The 360 is a fine standalone upconvertor as far as I know. I'd go for the D2 over the 360 HD DVD drive.
Hmm, sounds like a good deal. Is that a good player? How long is that deal going on for? I live in San Diego. Also, I'm new to this....do HD DVD players upconvert regular DVD's by nature? I have tons of regular DVD's already, and I don't want to just toss them. Thank you very much for the info by the way!
The 360 HD-DVD add on will upscale SD DVDs fine - if you can use the VGA hookup (or have the elite with HDMI). This works fine for me, but I have limited control over my TV PQ adjustments with the VGA hookup. Just ordered a Toshiba stand alone HD - A20 which I believe will be a bit more "family friendly." As mentioned above, Toshiba has some good promotions going now, so it's not a bad time to consider the stand alone HD-DVD player that also does a good job of upscaling SD DVDs.
The A2 does 1080i, and the A20 does 1080p - for about $100 more. I believe the Toshiba promotion lasts at least til mid June - there is a thread here with more discussion.
The A2 does 1080i, and the A20 does 1080p - for about $100 more. I believe the Toshiba promotion lasts at least til mid June - there is a thread here with more discussion.
Definitely get either the HD DVD add-on for the XBox 360 or the HD-D2 for $250 if you can find it. Value Electronics sells the add-on for $179.99, no taxes, free shipping and is double boxed when shipped.
To upconvert standard dvd on 360 what you need is a VGA connection on your hdtv and and the VGA cable, or you need a 360 elite to use HDMI. It has nothing to do with the hd dvd addon really.
At the same time the addon is a great choice right now since the latest update. If I was stuck right on $200 budget I wouldn't hesitate on it esp. if it includes King Kong and it represents around 1/2 of all hd dvd players last I heard and will likely be well supported.
Standalone deals with several free movies might tip it the other way though.
At the same time the addon is a great choice right now since the latest update. If I was stuck right on $200 budget I wouldn't hesitate on it esp. if it includes King Kong and it represents around 1/2 of all hd dvd players last I heard and will likely be well supported.
Standalone deals with several free movies might tip it the other way though.
I work fast, I just came home from Costco with the Toshiba HD-D2 for $249.99. It didn't say anything about a free HDMI cable or movies however. Is the HDMI cable in the box, and is the free movie deal also in the box? I am not opening the box until later this evening once I get to my girlfriend's house.
What are some of the best looking HD-DVD movies right now? I want to go pick one up to see how it works. Thanx!
What are some of the best looking HD-DVD movies right now? I want to go pick one up to see how it works. Thanx!
There's so many. King Kong, The Matrix Trilogy, Chronicles of Riddick, Batman Begins, A Scanner Darkly, Hulk, Superman Returns. You can see the Tier listing here .
Quote:
Originally Posted by GioGambino /forum/post/0
What are some of the best looking HD-DVD movies right now? I want to go pick one up to see how it works. Thanx!
There's so many. King Kong, The Matrix Trilogy, Chronicles of Riddick, Batman Begins, A Scanner Darkly, Hulk, Superman Returns. You can see the Tier listing here .
The free HDMI cable is in the box, the free movies are via mail in rebate. You can find the rebate form here
I bought a vga cable for my 360, and I am now very happy with the sd upconversion on it. I didn't realize how bad the macroblocking was with my panny s77 playing on my dlp until watching sd-dvd's on my 360. Only problem for me the fan noise, but i'm just happy enough right now with the pic quality. hd discs look great too on the hd-dvd add on. Maybe i'm very impressed with the pic quality on my 360, but i swear it sounds better than my panny s77 too, which is odd considering they are both connected via optical cable to my receiver and therefore receiver is decoding the bitstream. I will down the road look at upgrading my sd player that doesn't have dcdi chip in it, but i think i can wait until things get smoothed over a bit between hd-dvd and blu-ray.
Difference is that with the 360 update you get 1.5 Mbps DTS so it should sound better!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Britcanuck /forum/post/0
I bought a vga cable for my 360, and I am now very happy with the sd upconversion on it. I didn't realize how bad the macroblocking was with my panny s77 playing on my dlp until watching sd-dvd's on my 360. Only problem for me the fan noise, but i'm just happy enough right now with the pic quality. hd discs look great too on the hd-dvd add on. Maybe i'm very impressed with the pic quality on my 360, but i swear it sounds better than my panny s77 too, which is odd considering they are both connected via optical cable to my receiver and therefore receiver is decoding the bitstream. I will down the road look at upgrading my sd player that doesn't have dcdi chip in it, but i think i can wait until things get smoothed over a bit between hd-dvd and blu-ray.
Difference is that with the 360 update you get 1.5 Mbps DTS so it should sound better!
You think it makes SD-dvd's sound better then too? That would be very cool, and I do use the dts 1.5 setting. There was a huge difference on my hd-dvd's after the update.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HPforMe /forum/post/0
Difference is that with the 360 update you get 1.5 Mbps DTS so it should sound better!
You think it makes SD-dvd's sound better then too? That would be very cool, and I do use the dts 1.5 setting. There was a huge difference on my hd-dvd's after the update.
It won't make any difference with SD DVDs. The audio is read from the disc and transmitted directly out the optical port. No reencode is done.
Sorry I see the topic was limited to upconverting. It would be standard 768 dts otherwise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Britcanuck /forum/post/0
You think it makes SD-dvd's sound better then too? That would be very cool, and I do use the dts 1.5 setting. There was a huge difference on my hd-dvd's after the update.
Sorry I see the topic was limited to upconverting. It would be standard 768 dts otherwise.
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