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360 HD-DVD to drop to 179.99 + 5 Free HD-DVD Movies
Bamelin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
EDIT: THIS DEAL IS US ONLY CURRENTLY
Many 360 owners have been on the fence about purchasing the HD-DVD add on. For some, price has been the factor, the knowledge that after spending 200+ dollars on the drive, there is still the issue of building up one's HD-DVD library. Fear not fellow 360 fans! Microsoft has heard your cries, and not only has lowered the price of the HD-DVD drive to 179.99 US, they are also including the 360 HD-DVD add on in Toshiba's "The Perfect Deal" offer which gives you 5 free HD-DVD titles to choose from with the purchase of an HD-DVD Player.
The titles to choose from include:
Apollo 13
Blazing Saddles
Casablanca
The Chronicles of Riddick
Constantine
The Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
The Perfect Storm
The Rundown
Seabiscuit
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
U2: Rattle and Hum
U-571
We Were Soldiers
Update: the catagories you can choose your movies from:
Category A - Apollo 13. Seabiscuit. The Chronicles of Riddick.
Category B - Casablanca. Constantine. Dukes of Hazzard.
Category C - Four Brothers. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Sky Captain and the
World of Tomorrow.
Category D - The Rundown. Blazing Saddles. U2: Rattle and Hum.
Category E - U-571. The Perfect Storm. We Were Soldiers.
Many 360 owners have been on the fence about purchasing the HD-DVD add on. For some, price has been the factor, the knowledge that after spending 200+ dollars on the drive, there is still the issue of building up one's HD-DVD library. Fear not fellow 360 fans! Microsoft has heard your cries, and not only has lowered the price of the HD-DVD drive to 179.99 US, they are also including the 360 HD-DVD add on in Toshiba's "The Perfect Deal" offer which gives you 5 free HD-DVD titles to choose from with the purchase of an HD-DVD Player.
The titles to choose from include:
Apollo 13
Blazing Saddles
Casablanca
The Chronicles of Riddick
Constantine
The Dukes of Hazzard
Four Brothers
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
The Perfect Storm
The Rundown
Seabiscuit
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
U2: Rattle and Hum
U-571
We Were Soldiers
Update: the catagories you can choose your movies from:
Category A - Apollo 13. Seabiscuit. The Chronicles of Riddick.
Category B - Casablanca. Constantine. Dukes of Hazzard.
Category C - Four Brothers. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Sky Captain and the
World of Tomorrow.
Category D - The Rundown. Blazing Saddles. U2: Rattle and Hum.
Category E - U-571. The Perfect Storm. We Were Soldiers.
Press Release wrote:SAN DIEGO — July 26, 2007 — Today at Comic-Con International 2007, Microsoft Corp. announced it will lower the price of the popular Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player from $199 to $179 ERP (United States only) starting Aug. 1, 2007, and will add five free HD DVD movies for anyone purchasing an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. In addition, Microsoft further solidified the Xbox 360 as the ultimate high-definition (HD) entertainment platform, with key announcements around the HD DVD launches of “300” from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and “Heroes: Season 1” from Universal Studios.
To promote the HD DVD versions of “300” and “Heroes: Season 1,” Microsoft unveiled exclusive content for Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. Xbox LIVE will offer “300” on demand in HD starting Aug. 14, and is working with Warner Bros. at Comic-Con on a Bringing It Home campaign featuring “300” and other Warner Bros. properties. In advance of the street date for the “Heroes: Season 1” HD DVD boxed set, Xbox LIVE members will be able to download for free the show’s pilot episode in high definition for a limited time. Members will also be able to download trailers, teaser scenes and other promotional materials highlighting the “Heroes: Season 1” boxed set on HD DVD.
Already the most affordable high-definition player available, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player is the best solution for movie lovers seeking HD content in the highest possible resolution. The player’s price reduction to $179 (U.S. ERP) continues to set the bar for value, making the Xbox 360 platform the most affordable solution for consumers seeking the broadest, most compelling selection of next-generation gaming and HD video experiences.
“With the price reduction to $179, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player continues to be the most affordable way to enjoy high definition,” said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of Global Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “From the beginning, we set out to offer Xbox 360 owners an unrivaled high-definition experience, with a choice of optical discs on the HD DVD format and digital downloads through Xbox LIVE Marketplace — both of which have a selection of the best content Hollywood has to offer. Today’s announcements around ‘300’ and ‘Heroes: Season 1’ are great examples of how we believe HD content can be offered to consumers.”
In addition to the price drop, Microsoft is extending Toshiba’s highly successful “Perfect Offer” of five free HD DVD discs to Xbox 360 consumers. Previously exclusive to Toshiba HD DVD Players, with the purchase of an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player at the new low price of $179 ERP, consumers can choose five HD DVD titles for free from a selection of 15 popular titles through a mail-in offer. With a retail value of over $140 (U.S.), this promotion makes the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player one of the most compelling offerings for consumers looking to make the leap into HD this holiday season.
Bamelin on
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Will any games ever use the HD-DVD drive?
Apollo 13
Blazing Saddles
Casablanca
Rattle & Hum
then either Constantine or The Rundown or Sky Captain.
Edit: games will never use the HD-DVD drive.
The HD video marketplace is a lot more compelling. The only thing that it could use is some sort of streaming technology -- can't wait till we get it up here.
B&W in HD ... does anyone else see something wrong with this??
LIZ: Different.
VOICE-OVER: It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life.
Nope
Why, exactly? Is it just a hardware thing? Like, the HD-DVD can't hook up to what it needs to?
Microsoft won't let them, and companies don't want to make games for a format that only a few of the 360 owners have players for.
Requiring 360 owners to buy a $180 add-on to play games won't help Microsoft.
Also, perhaps edit the title to clarify that the $179.99 is specifically for the 360's add-on drive. I can imagine a lot of people clicking on this thread excited about a standalone player price drop.
It's not a bad deal at all.
It's more a question of why would they? Honestly, the only reason to do it would be to push HD-DVD sales; there's no real benefit to sticking games on the HD-DVDs.
Have you never watched Sin City?
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Also none of those movies they are offering are ones I would want.
Third of all HD-DVDs and BDs are way too expensive for what you get. I'll stick with my $80 DVD player that upscales over HDMI and plays all my movies.
I just don't know who is going to come out on top of this one.
...seriously though, how many people actually own HDTVs? Is market penetration even high enough for this format war to matter, or are people so stupid that they're buying HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/HD-Cable to play on their SDTVs?
Casablanca looks fan-damn-tastic in HD. Seriously. Light years ahead of the DVD rip.
Whether or not it's filmed in colour has nothing to do with resolution.
If anyone gets this offer, you MUST get Casablanca. Greatest movie ever, and gorgeous to boot.
About 35% of US homes have HDTVS, and the rate of adoption is increasing pretty quickly.
I have not. How bad am I ...? But I promise I will
I'll have to overlap that judgement and put my vote in for The Goonies in HD-DVD ...
LIZ: Different.
VOICE-OVER: It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life.
Pretty bad to be correlating B&W with the inability to benefit from HD.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
The whole hi def thing is interesting. I mean I love my HDTV and HD player. When I show friends/family though some are blown away and others are just like, I don't get it.
This is a pretty good deal though. There are definatly several movies worth picking up on that list, especially free. Chronicles of Riddick in paticular is an awesome movie to pull out just show off how good HD can look. I like eye candy.
...And I'm definitely interested in hi-def movies.
I'm still on the fence on whether I should buy the HD-DVD drive or just take the plunge and get a PS3. Price isn't the issue... I just want to know which format "wins"... I don't want to buy a movie thrice. That's just annoying.
And to be honest, I'm looking forward to the Video Marketplace hitting in the Fall way more.
You know it didn't really matter to me who was going to win when I pulled the trigger. I more looked at it like a console purchase. When there were enough movies on it to justify the cost I did it. If I could get a Blu Ray player for under $200 right now I would probably buy one.
Blazing Saddles and Casablanca are both great movies. Unfortunately, given their age they might not benefit much from being in HD unless they've also been heavily cleaned up. Seabiscuit was a damned good movie (IMO), and it would look devastatingly good in HD because it's loaded with great photography.
You could sell HDDVD just by putting Seabiscuit on two TVs side by side ... one on HDDVD and the other on DVD.
Games will never use the HDDVD drive, simply because it's not standard.
You do know that B&W film can get you a more detailed picture than color, right?
It doesn't matter how old the film is. As long as the grain resolution is greater than the final transfer resolution and the film has been preserved well, it'll look amazing.
I really have to second this. I clicked on it half thinking to myself Blue Ray just had it's balls ripped off and shoved down it's throat by HD-DVD which is obviously not the case at all.
Actually, apparently some HD heads are peeing themselves over how nice the Casablanca transfer is.
There's also an assload of special features on the disc. For the first time ever, I actually want an HD-format movie -- I love Casablanca.
It was my bad on the thread title. Unfortunately the OP can't change their thread titles even when editing. =(
Maybe a mod could do this ...
----
Do the quick edit, then click on "Go Advanced" to alter the title. It took me a few weeks to figure that one out.
I've heard that the HD quality of movies on the Video Marketplace isn't as good as those on HD-DVD or Blue Ray. (no idea if this is true or not)
well I'll be damned. All this time I never realized I could change my OP titles. Thanks man!
I have downloaded a few movies and they aren't quite as good but they aren't bad. The HD movies can take a while to download though and one movie basically fills what is left of my hard drive. I guess I am one of the people that would benefit from an elite. If the damn 120gb drive wasn't so stupidly over priced I would probably buy one.
You got a source? Cause the Consumer Electronics Association says you are dead wrong.
30% in June, according to the CEA.
http://gear.ign.com/articles/799/799952p1.html
I -think- you can plug a HD-DVD 360 drive into a Windows PC and it'll work, but I forget if this requires special drivers or not. And of course, a fast enough computer.
The 360 HD-DVD drive + Windows Vista + PowerDVD HD will play any non token'd movie at 1080p (read: all of them at the moment and foreseeable future), AND any token'd film at 1080p if you have a full HDCP chain from the outputs to the monitor.... which will happen sometime around 2012 when the mayan calendar ends and the world is destroyed by the terror of the dark tide.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...