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Confirmed: Microsoft cuts price on Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive to US$ 49

Posted Feb 26, 2008 at 01:56AM by Tim Y. Listed in: News, Accessories, HD DVD, Deals Tags: Microsoft
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Confirmed: Microsoft cuts price on Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive to US$ 49 - Image 1 


As you guys may recall, there's a lingering rumor from last week's GDC that hints at the possibility of a price slash for Microsoft's Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive. The source of the rumor further detailed that the drive would be hacked down to just US$ 49, as compared to its US$ 119.99 price tag prior to the company halting its production.

And from the looks of it, the informant was spot-on - MS spokesman Grace Chou has recently confirmed the price cut, and that it's expected to be implemented today, February 26. Chou further explained that their HD-DVD drive mark down shouldn't put that big a dent in the company's business. "It will not have a big impact because we don't sell HD DVD with the Xbox 360, only as an add on," Chou said.

Those interested in grabbing one of these disk drives for their 360 may want to ring up their local retailers to verify if they've begun implementing the price cut.

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9 Comments


Sort by:
   by June - 2008-02-26
 » What is the point?
All this device will do is play the dead format HD-DVD and upscale normal dvd's something that the xbox 360 can already do via hdmi or vga output, even at $50 it's not worth it simply because the format is now dead I'm sure movies that were released on HD-DVD will get a Blu-Ray Re-release. $50 for a upscaling dvd player is pointless because the 360 already does this, I upscale to 1080i via hdmi on my halo ed...

   by Darth Manson - 2008-02-26
 » Not Pointless...
I use the HDDVD drive for movies & my elite for games. Like leaving a movie in one drive & a game in the other....


   Re: Billie - 2008-02-27
 » It can do more
Not to mention that you can hook it up to your PC, and do RIPs of your HD DVDs, and convert them to any format if you want, even Blu-Ray.....
   by Mister Common Sense - 2008-02-26
 » .
Most stores still have them marked for $179. YEAH RIGHT!

   by Advertising -
   by Jin Wu - 2008-02-26
 » 360 is the worst dvd player ever
It's actually worst than the old Xbox.

If you have the inputs do a screen comparision, awful.

The picture is grainy and motion blur is awful.

ATI really cut costs with their graphics chip for the 360. Their pc parts have top notch video processing.

So yeah the HD DVD part is a rip. It has the same crappy quality of the 360.

IMO, spend fifty bucks on a real HD DVD player and get 100 times better picture quality.


   Re: Games4James - 2008-02-26
 » Nnnnnoooooo :)
We all know you don't like the 360 Jin Wu, so it's obvious why you're posting here.

Just the same....

"ATI really cut costs with their graphics chip for the 360. Their pc parts have top notch video processing."

Yeah, shame on them for making gaming performance their number one priority *rolleyes* (with a GPU _slightly_ better than RSX according many devs).

"So yeah the HD DVD part is a rip. It has the same crappy quality of the 360."

Whilst I've heard various good/bad comments about the 360 DVD playback, the HD DVD playback via the add-on is suppose to be excellent (and I've read reviews from Audio/Video websites which state this).

"IMO, spend fifty bucks on a real HD DVD player and get 100 times better picture quality."

Really? Cool? Care to provide a link to a standalone HD DVD player for 50 bucks! ;)

Whilst you're searching, how about a link which says the HD DVD quality on the 360 is poor like you claim.

   Re: Mister Common Sense - 2008-02-26
 » no
The XBOX 360 has good quality and decent features as a DVD player. Even though my PS3 and PS2 play DVDs, I still use the XBOX 360.

Besides, it beats the Wii's DVD player, lol.

   Re: Thinker - 2008-02-26
 » To G4J and MCS
While I own a 360 myself (and also a PS3) and can understand MCS's sentiments regarding hearing anything negative about the 360, the 360, as a DVD Player, is really not impressive.

Have a look at this Ars Technica link:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2005/11/24/1927

If you can't see the whole link (thanks to QJ), I've divided it here in two lines for you:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars
2005/11/24/1927

Also, there's this link at ExtremeTech:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2088531,00.asp

Again, I've broken it down into two lines here:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2
/0,1697,2088531,00.asp

While the 360 is very good as a software gaming platform, its performance as a DVD player does leave something to be desired.

On the other hand, I don't have an HD-DVD add-on, so I can't really comment on anything positive/negative I've read on the Web that I can't verify. But I feel the HD-DVD Player add-on probably DOES perform well.
   by Oracle - 2008-02-26
 » HDDVD Dead
The 360 isn't a very good DVD player, doesn't pass alot of deinterlacing and cadence tests.

As a HDDVD player it's okish, except it can't output 1080p24 or any hidefinition audio.

Stuff $50 I can get them for $25 around where I live.



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