With Microsoft's external HD DVD drive add-on for the Xbox 360 just a couple of months away, Microsoft has shown off the drive for the public to get a first glimpse of. Despite the enormous size of the Toshiba and other upcoming HD DVD players, Microsoft's HD DVD drive add-on for the Xbox 360 will be no longer than a typical hardback book; much smaller than the game console itself. For the demonstration, Microsoft's senior program manager, Kevin Collins played "The Phantom of the Opera" while showing off some its menu bar, navigation and interactive features.
As previously announced, the audio and video processing and high definition capabilities will be carried out by the Xbox 360's own processing power, while the add-on player will handle H.264 decoding internally using ATI's H.264 decoder. While Microsoft refuses to release any pricing information for this add-on, Collins has mentioned that the drive will be cheapest among the HD DVD players available, thus making it clear that it will be cheaper than $499, which Toshiba's HD DVD player currently retails for. So far, Microsoft still insists on sticking with the HD DVD camp only.
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"All the audio and video processing is done inside the Xbox," said Collins, who noted that research has shown that a majority of Xbox owners already own high-definition displays. An Xbox drive provides them with all the other equipment they need to watch HD DVD movies, he said. The full c|net article with photography can be read here. |
Going by the size of the external player and the Xbox 360 console put together, this is a clear sign that HD DVD players can already be built a lot smaller than Toshiba's current beast for no more than the cost of the Xbox 360 and HD DVD add-on player put together. Once both the HD DVD add-on hits the market, it will still be fairly clear how well the HD DVD format is doing, since generally only those who are interested in watching HD DVD movies will purchase the add-on.
However, even if the PS3 turns out to be a major success, it will not be easy comparing how well Blu-ray is doing against HD DVD, since even though there could turn out to much higher Blu-ray player penetration on the market as a result of the PS3 players having Blu-ray built-in, there is still a possibility that the majority of PS3 owners may never actually play a movie title in their player.
Source: c|net News - Digital Life
