Xbox 360 HD DVD - on the iMac!!
06/10/07 
19:18 
Mark Hogben 
5 comments
hd dvd hddvd imac powerdvd ultra xbox 360 drive
Readers Comments 06/10/07 19:18 Mark Hogben
5 comments hd dvd hddvd imac powerdvd ultra xbox 360 drive
For yes, I have caved to the might of HD DVD... or rather, some bloke I work with wanted to sell a drive he tried - and failed - to use with his PC (but works fine with my new iMac, mwahahaha).
For yes, 24 inches of sharp no compression artifact joy. Well, on The Matrix Trilogy anyway ;)
Hopefully, I will have even more fantastic movies to try soon. Oh, High Def!!! What was this Dee Vee Dee we believed in? Oh the shame!
:)
Mind you... it does mean using XP and PowerDVD Ultra... but the pain is worth it ;)
For yes, 24 inches of sharp no compression artifact joy. Well, on The Matrix Trilogy anyway ;)
Hopefully, I will have even more fantastic movies to try soon. Oh, High Def!!! What was this Dee Vee Dee we believed in? Oh the shame!
:)
Mind you... it does mean using XP and PowerDVD Ultra... but the pain is worth it ;)
16/10/07 17:56 hpoom
So have you tried any HD-DVD's yet? What do you think?
16/10/07 21:27 Mark
I am still waiting for Play / Royal Mail to deliver my DVDs. One of which will be the new updated Blade Runner (that is not out yet of course, but I can't wait for that one personally!!!)
I watched the Matrix films as I said - they looked damn fine!! But I want to see something less obvious before I make a proper review...
As you may remember, I am actually in the BluRay camp - so my HD DVD drive was a surprise buy... but when it only costs £130 brand new (mine was less than that), I wonder if Microsoft may have had a moment of genius here... and that Sony might be undermined by this.
Try and get a BluRay player for that price!!! (I've tried!!!)
I watched the Matrix films as I said - they looked damn fine!! But I want to see something less obvious before I make a proper review...
As you may remember, I am actually in the BluRay camp - so my HD DVD drive was a surprise buy... but when it only costs £130 brand new (mine was less than that), I wonder if Microsoft may have had a moment of genius here... and that Sony might be undermined by this.
Try and get a BluRay player for that price!!! (I've tried!!!)
19/03/08 23:15 Mark
Ah... now these are two separate things. I almost said "I didn't" to that comment, but actually, I did... but on the OS X side.
I have an app called Connect360 for sharing stuff between the iMac and 360. I have another one for the PS3 too (from the same guys, but not nearly as universal).
I am guessing there must be PC versions of these apps - maybe not from the same people, or as elegant - but hey it's Windows ;)
As for the HD drive (which my ranting on this post was about), I did that through (i) connecting the USB cable to the machine, and (ii) installing PowerDVD Ultra (note the *Ultra* - normal PowerDVD won't cut it).
BUT... there is a major caveat here: you need to have a qualifying graphics card. And by qualifying, I mean has to (in hardware) support the encoding/DRM nonsense that HD-DVD requires.
The iMac has a ATI 2600HD in it, the PC a 8600GT - the first works fine (and definitely supports the stuff for HD DVD), the PC card should too, but I haven't tried it.
However, someone I know tried with his 7600 nVidia card which (allegedly) should have worked - but didn't. Seems the boards and chipsets are hit and miss for this :(
But when it does work... it's very nice indeed.
Shame the format is pretty much dead now. Good job I now have my DVD player... oh sorry, I mean my PS3 ;)
(Coz it aint worth shit for games :D)
I have an app called Connect360 for sharing stuff between the iMac and 360. I have another one for the PS3 too (from the same guys, but not nearly as universal).
I am guessing there must be PC versions of these apps - maybe not from the same people, or as elegant - but hey it's Windows ;)
As for the HD drive (which my ranting on this post was about), I did that through (i) connecting the USB cable to the machine, and (ii) installing PowerDVD Ultra (note the *Ultra* - normal PowerDVD won't cut it).
BUT... there is a major caveat here: you need to have a qualifying graphics card. And by qualifying, I mean has to (in hardware) support the encoding/DRM nonsense that HD-DVD requires.
The iMac has a ATI 2600HD in it, the PC a 8600GT - the first works fine (and definitely supports the stuff for HD DVD), the PC card should too, but I haven't tried it.
However, someone I know tried with his 7600 nVidia card which (allegedly) should have worked - but didn't. Seems the boards and chipsets are hit and miss for this :(
But when it does work... it's very nice indeed.
Shame the format is pretty much dead now. Good job I now have my DVD player... oh sorry, I mean my PS3 ;)
(Coz it aint worth shit for games :D)
19/03/08 23:26 Mark
Hmm, I should pay more attention before posting...
The Xbox itself is connected over the network via my modem/router. The iMac too.
This lets them talk to each other, sharing enabled through the (OS X) Connect 360.
Watching HD DVDs is Windows XP only :( For some reason, Apple's DVD player does not want to play ball (supposedly since they haven't yet licensed the codecs / rights).
So it depends which iMac you have, I reckon... The new Aluminium iMacs are (I think) all capable of working with the drive - that's the one I have.
The Xbox itself is connected over the network via my modem/router. The iMac too.
This lets them talk to each other, sharing enabled through the (OS X) Connect 360.
Watching HD DVDs is Windows XP only :( For some reason, Apple's DVD player does not want to play ball (supposedly since they haven't yet licensed the codecs / rights).
So it depends which iMac you have, I reckon... The new Aluminium iMacs are (I think) all capable of working with the drive - that's the one I have.
