xbox 360 HD DVD Drive - Performance

[Richard]

Purchase adds 1080P capability via analog component video to all xbox sources except SD DVD; that remains stuck at 480P as expected.

Subjectively I have been unable to find anything wrong. I did check Enter The Dragon 720P upconversion to 1080P and it looked fine. There were a few artifacts but this is nit picky land. Like all HD sources and videophiles it is typically best to let the source output the native scan rate and do any conversion on the display or your favorite external scaler.

There are no consumer test discs out yet for objective testing. DVE on HD DVD has been delayed twice now over the last 60 days. While there are professional test discs I don't have those. All in all though everthing appears to be as it should be for video setup. It will be interesting to see just how well it does with 1080P and a 1920 burst via the inexpensive component video interconnects it comes with that is likely to have a problem maintaining a 75 ohm signal impedance. Hopefully Microsoft will find an HDMI solution to overcome this analog situation that technically requires double the bandwidth throughout your switching system..

Unfortunately with audio it seems you are stuck using SD audio versions of DTS and DD; not sure if SPDIF coax or optical supports any of the new codecs... Due to that I have yet to watch a movie using the xbox 360 and now with direct multichannel PCM in my rig I have even less reason.

The Toshiba 1st generation players were not the norm; this product does load and respond in a reasonable amount of time.

[KingAcquisitions]

Hi, I have been reading articles and topics in this forum for over a year now, but this is my first actual reply to a topic! About time>>>
I obtained an XBOX 360 HD-DVD add on drive upon their release and have observed the following:
1) On my 40" Sammy LN-R4092D, the picture looks fantastic in both 1080i and 720p(preferred) via component, even prior to basic calibration.
2) I noticed that on the video settings in the xbox dashboard, 1080p is a possible selection after installing the HD-DVD drive, but my Sammy only supports up to 1080i, so I didnt try selecting- nontheless, I read up about it on some forums and people claim that the 1080p is only possible via the VGA cable. Is this true or does the component cables actually transfer the 1080p signal from the HD-DVDs? I figured there was an obvious bandwidth issue (or will the tv do the de-interlacing itself)?
3) The audio for HD-DVDs is a huge point of concern with the add-on drive. After watching 'The Last Samurai', 'Batman Begins' and 'King Kong' I noticed there is a significantly 'silenced' effect on all the audio tracks coming from the player. It almost seems as though the dynamic range compression (nighttime mode) is constantly enabled, no matter which audio track I select (I know, I know- Dolbly True-HD is not an option since I am using optical, but I selected it anyway just for experimentation). I know it is the player that has the problem because I can switch from the HD-DVD player to a regular game (without adjusting the volume) and it is far far louder.
Thinking it was my 7.1 system that was the issue, I tried the same thing out on an Onkyo 7.1 system and a Sony Dreamsystem, with exactly the same results. I then threw in 'The Last Samurai' SD DVD, which utilizes plain dolby digital and the audio was unquestionably better, louder and clearer. Have any of you heard of a patch for this problem MS is going to release? It is a major fault and it really annoys me when watching these movies on the unit.

I wonder if the HD-DVD player is really worth keeping after playing with it for a while: no HDMI, maybe 1080p, no dedicated analog outs (but only stand alone players do), and a significant audio track glitch, hmmm- suddently that HD-XA1 on ebay is looking a lot more lucrative.......

Let me know what you guys think> Alex

[Richard]

Hi KingAcquisitions,

That was a great first post!

1) On my 40" Sammy LN-R4092D, the picture looks fantastic in both 1080i and 720p(preferred) via component, even prior to basic calibration.

Still testing all that but so far no obvious conclusion has formed. That model number did not show up on the web.. Could you check that again?

I read up about it on some forums and people claim that the 1080p is only possible via the VGA cable. Is this true

Nope, works via component! I just bought that cable today to test the ability for SD DVD to be upscaled as was reported prior to the drive release. If it works it won

[Richard]

Oh ya... The first run of HD DVD titles had the audio mastered 10-20db lower than it should have. Newer titles should be louder.

Some Bluray titles are far closer to ED or enhanced SD DVD than HD on the video.

Lord knows if any of that is going to be corrected with new mastering and a new pressing... If that happens those of us who bought should get them for free via exchange!