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Hacking XBox 360 HD-DVD To Play On XP

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cheap-HD dept.

Dan writes, "The XBox 360's affordable HD-DVD, with the help of some custom drivers and a specific player, has been hacked to work with any Windows XP machine. This may have created the cheapest HD-DVD player on the market to date."

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Re:199$ is cheap? by Kenja · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Well, its a bit delayed but NEC has one comming out this year for 120$.

    http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/29/snag-an-nec-hd- dvd-drive-for-just-120/

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  2. Re:it's all in the pricing by Malc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My Sony 19" G400 monitor from the year 2000 officially goes to 1800x1440. That's HD. It can 720p. It's just a little shy of 1080i/p, but then it's the wrong aspect ratio anyway.

    From my personal experience, a Dell 2407 does HD. Not a bad price either. The controller chip has problems with a 1080 signal though, even though it supports the resolution. The recent BenQ FP241W can do 1080p, but it doesn't do 1:1 pixel mapping, and unfortunately stretches 16:9 1080p image to 16:10. Sounds like a firmware issue to me. These are popular affordable computer monitors. There are definitely computer monitors that can do this, unless you're living in a cave.

  3. Why is the drive priced so low? by speedphreak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is the drive priced low to act as a Microsoft subsidized loss-leader to help establish the HD-DVD format. Or, is the hardware really that inexpensive, and the vendors are milking the early adopters for all they're worth?

  4. Re:Astounding by hal2814 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They took a device that was already hardware-compatible with a PC, found (not built, found) drivers to work with it, and called it a hack. You can call searching for drivers a hack if you want to but I don't buy into that definition. I lost the floppy disks for an old video card once and had to find drivers that didn't exactly match but were good enough. Was that a hack too? Not in my book.

  5. Re:So where do I .... by twistedsymphony · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You're right that HD-DVD is not Blu-Ray but HD-DVD is also not "just more layer on top of existing DVD format"

    HD-DVD uses a blue laser just like Blu-Ray, the Video discs uses the same codecs as Blu-Ray. The biggest differences is the location of the data layer in the plastic substrate. Blu-Ray's is located closer to the edge with only a .1mm protective layer of of the substrate while HD-DVD is the same distance as traditional DVDs with .6mm of protective layer. being closer to the edge allows Blu-Ray's laser to view the data layer at a higher resolution and thus they can squeeze more data in there per layer. But with a thinner layer of substrate it leaves the disc more prone to physical damage which can also lead to lower production yields.

    HD-DVD has more in common with Blu-Ray then it does with DVD...

    --
    Collector's Edition