How much would you pay for the HD-DVD drive?

flogen

So according to Moore in the latest copy of Edge there will be a HDDVD drive for the 360 on the market by the end of the year (in the US at least I assume); he made a comment about the price of the standalone players launching in the US (I think they're going for around $500-600 or €400-500 at best) and said that they'd price it at a lower point than that ("why pay extra for a seperate box hooked up to your tv" or something along those lines).

I generally agree with MS for not including the HDDVD drive from a European point of view; HDTV is only new here, it would have added cost and it would have been horrible had HDDVD failed miserably; the only down side is the space on offer to devs but that's another story altogether.. Frankly I'm not sure if the market is truely ready for ANOTHER format and it will take longer for the HD/BR format to go mainstream than it did for DVD.

Anyway; I was wondering, how much would you pay for the HDDVD drive if anything? For those of you who intend on investing in one anyway, would you rather a standalone model or are you happy to slap it onto your xbox and (possibly) save a few notes?

Laguna

I have no interest in getting one to be honest, if I do eventually get one (when the 'format war' between itself and Blu-Ray has produced a winner) I'd rather get a standalone player as they tend to be superior to incorporated console drives (compare the quality of the PS2 DVD to a dedicated DVD player, enough said). Microsoft (thankfully) said recently the HD-DVD won't be used for future games for the 360, it'll be exclusively used for film discs, which I think is only fair as it would be desperately cynical of MS to release the 360 last year at €410 to turn around and inform us by mid 2007 "Oh, you now need a new drive for your originally overpriced console to continue to play our latest games, n00bs!".

Considering HD-DVD and Blu-Ray haven't made their debut yet, I wouldn't think it wise to go splashing out money on either until a clear winner is established, I'd feel a right tit if I splashed the cash on a HD-DVD and consequent HD-DVD's to find out a year later that the format has died on it's arse in the wake of Blu-Ray (or vice versa). On a side note, I hope HD-DVD wins the war, I'm not a fan of Sony or their manufacturing standards, I for one fear the prices of Blu-Ray/HD-DVD's discs, you can almost hear the friction of the DVD publishers rubbing their hands with glee at the opportunity to fleece customers with 'cutting edge technology' inflated prices. The days of a €50 film are nigh, DVD is going to die and so will palatable prices.

godtabh

Laguna wrote:

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Considering HD-DVD and Blu-Ray haven't made their debut yet,

HD-DVD is out in America and as far as I know you can get a HD-DVD from Samsung over here.

Unless you got the full HD way I dont see the point in getting either format. I'd stick to DVD tell the end like many people did with VCR till they stoped making them.

Mitch Connor

according to rumours i have read, the drive will be $100 in america.

as for blu-ray vs hd dvd, i'm gonna wait to see what happens. However, i am hearing Sony is STILL having problems with Blu-Ray tech being really unreliable and that the PS3 might be pushed back again.

godtabh

Tauren wrote:

according to rumours i have read, the drive will be $100 in america.

as for blu-ray vs hd dvd, i'm gonna wait to see what happens. However, i am hearing Sony is STILL having problems with Blu-Ray tech being really unreliable and that the PS3 might be pushed back again.

This was posted on another thread so it mite be of some interest.

Julez

$100 is only like €70, I would definitly pay that much for one, I mean why not! I voted for the €100-€199, although dunno if I'd pay over bout €150!

Mitch Connor

kearnsr wrote:

This was posted on another thread so it mite be of some interest.

yep, thats the rumour i read, but i read it on 360monster.

Mitch Connor

Julez wrote:

$100 is only like €70, I would definitly pay that much for one, I mean why not! I voted for the €100-€199, although dunno if I'd pay over bout €150!

if it did sell in america at $100, i reckon it would be €100 or a little more over here, with import duty and the like. it was pretty much a straight swap $ for € with the console price anyway.