Xbox 360 HD DVD Player
Encyclopedia
The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player is a discontinued accessory for the Xbox 360
console that enabled the playback of movies on HD DVD
discs. Microsoft
offered the drive for sale between November 2006 and February 2008.
Bill Gates
announced during his keynote speech at CES
2006 that an external HD DVD drive would be released for the Xbox 360 during 2006. At E3 2006, Microsoft
officially presented the external HD DVD drive.
On February 23, 2008, the Xbox 360 HD DVD player was discontinued by Microsoft
. This decision came just days after Toshiba
's announcement to discontinue all HD DVD players and effectively end the format war
. Two days later, the price of the HD DVD Player was reduced to a clearance price of $49.99.
Peter Moore
had stated that if HD DVD loses the format war, Microsoft
may also release an external Blu-ray
drive. This was later denied by Microsoft
. According to Japan
's chief of Xbox operations, Yoshihiro Maruyama, Microsoft will not release Xbox 360 games in the new disc formats.
Special black versions of the drive, along with black media remotes, were given to members of the Xbox 360 HD DVD development team. Unlike other black accessories which were created alongside the black Elite console, the black HD-DVD drive was never made available to the general public.
, with 2 ports on the rear. It also includes a clip for attaching the wireless network adapter to it, like on the Xbox 360 itself. The device also has an integrated 256 MB memory unit which is used for storage of HD DVD data and is accessible to the user for saving other data such as saved games.
The drive will play standard DVD
s in addition to HD DVD titles; however it will not read Xbox or Xbox 360 game discs, Audio CDs or mixed media CDs. All Xbox 360 games continue to use DVD-9 media. No Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive was ever released.
optical drive used in the unit can read Compact Discs and DVDs in addition to HD DVDs when connected to a host that supports reading these formats (such as a PC). As the drive communicates via a generic mass storage protocol over USB the drive can be used as a standard optical drive on computers and operating systems that support USB optical drives. The operating system must have a UDF
2.5 driver to read data from HD DVDs. In addition a software player capable of playing HD DVD titles is required for playback of video. The 256MB internal Memory Unit on the drive which is used for storage of HD DVD features is also accessible by manually installing USB Mass Storage drivers. Once installed, this can be formatted for use as a storage device although it will no longer function on an Xbox 360 unless it is reformatted.
Windows XP does not have a built in UDF 2.5 driver, instead requiring a third party one to be installed to access data on HD DVDs. Newer versions of Windows and Mac OS X
10.5 and later have native UDF 2.5 drivers. Mac OS X v10.5
"Leopard" introduced UDF
2.5 driver support for reading HD DVDs, but the included player software can only play HD DVDs authored by DVD Studio Pro
.
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console that enabled the playback of movies on HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
discs. Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
offered the drive for sale between November 2006 and February 2008.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
announced during his keynote speech at CES
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
2006 that an external HD DVD drive would be released for the Xbox 360 during 2006. At E3 2006, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
officially presented the external HD DVD drive.
On February 23, 2008, the Xbox 360 HD DVD player was discontinued by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. This decision came just days after Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
's announcement to discontinue all HD DVD players and effectively end the format war
High definition optical disc format war
A format war took place between the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD optical disc standards for storing high definition video and audio.These standards emerged between 2000 and 2002 and attracted both the mutual and exclusive support of major consumer electronics manufacturers, personal computer...
. Two days later, the price of the HD DVD Player was reduced to a clearance price of $49.99.
Peter Moore
Peter Moore (Microsoft)
Peter Moore is a British business executive best known for his former positions as Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division, overseeing the Xbox and Xbox 360 game consoles, and president of SEGA of America...
had stated that if HD DVD loses the format war, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
may also release an external Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
drive. This was later denied by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. According to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's chief of Xbox operations, Yoshihiro Maruyama, Microsoft will not release Xbox 360 games in the new disc formats.
Special black versions of the drive, along with black media remotes, were given to members of the Xbox 360 HD DVD development team. Unlike other black accessories which were created alongside the black Elite console, the black HD-DVD drive was never made available to the general public.
Technology
The HD DVD player connects to the Xbox 360 using a USB connection. All of the audio and video processing and output come from Xbox 360 itself. The unit can also function as a USB hubUSB hub
A USB hub is a device that expands a single USB port into several so that there are more ports available to connect devices to a host system.USB hubs are often built into equipment such as computers, keyboards, monitors, or printers...
, with 2 ports on the rear. It also includes a clip for attaching the wireless network adapter to it, like on the Xbox 360 itself. The device also has an integrated 256 MB memory unit which is used for storage of HD DVD data and is accessible to the user for saving other data such as saved games.
The drive will play standard DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s in addition to HD DVD titles; however it will not read Xbox or Xbox 360 game discs, Audio CDs or mixed media CDs. All Xbox 360 games continue to use DVD-9 media. No Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive was ever released.
Compatibility with PCs
The TOSHIBAToshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
optical drive used in the unit can read Compact Discs and DVDs in addition to HD DVDs when connected to a host that supports reading these formats (such as a PC). As the drive communicates via a generic mass storage protocol over USB the drive can be used as a standard optical drive on computers and operating systems that support USB optical drives. The operating system must have a UDF
Universal Disk Format
Universal Disk Format is an implementation of the specification known as ISO/IEC 13346 and ECMA-167 and is an open vendor-neutral file system for computer data storage for a broad range of media. In practice, it has been most widely used for DVDs and newer optical disc formats, supplanting ISO 9660...
2.5 driver to read data from HD DVDs. In addition a software player capable of playing HD DVD titles is required for playback of video. The 256MB internal Memory Unit on the drive which is used for storage of HD DVD features is also accessible by manually installing USB Mass Storage drivers. Once installed, this can be formatted for use as a storage device although it will no longer function on an Xbox 360 unless it is reformatted.
Windows XP does not have a built in UDF 2.5 driver, instead requiring a third party one to be installed to access data on HD DVDs. Newer versions of Windows and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
10.5 and later have native UDF 2.5 drivers. Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
"Leopard" introduced UDF
Universal Disk Format
Universal Disk Format is an implementation of the specification known as ISO/IEC 13346 and ECMA-167 and is an open vendor-neutral file system for computer data storage for a broad range of media. In practice, it has been most widely used for DVDs and newer optical disc formats, supplanting ISO 9660...
2.5 driver support for reading HD DVDs, but the included player software can only play HD DVDs authored by DVD Studio Pro
DVD Studio Pro
DVD Studio Pro was a high-end software tool published by Apple Inc. to allow users to create DVD masters to be sent out for replication at production houses. Its tight integration with other Apple applications allows users to take Final Cut Pro and Motion projects and render them into the DVD...
.
In the box
The retail package of the HD DVD player contains the following:- Xbox 360 HD DVD Player
- Setup disc
- AC adapterAC adapterThe AC adapter, AC/DC adapter or AC/DC converter is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in what looks like an over-sized AC plug. Other names include plug pack, plug-in adapter, adapter block, domestic mains adapter, line power adapter, or power adapter...
- USB cable
- Universal Media Remote (full sized version)
- Batteries
- User manual
- Free HD DVD Title (in certain areas): King KongKing Kong (2005 film)King Kong is a 2005 fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name and stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Andy Serkis, through performance capture, portrays Kong....
(US/Canada/Australia), Batman BeginsBatman BeginsBatman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
(Mexico)