XBOX 360 HD-DVD + PC = Success!

w1retap

w1retap

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
13,712
1) Went to Circuit City, used $40 off coupon to get Xbox 360 HD-DVD player for $160.
2) Came home, opened box of Xbox 360 HD-DVD player.
3) Plug in USB for HD-DVD player to PC USB port.
4) Plug in power for HD-DVD player to powerstrip.
5) Windows XP automatically recognizes HD-DVD player as XBOX 360 HD-DVD Player and Toshiba HD-DVD ROM... no hacked drivers required.
6) Installed PowerDVD 6.5
7) Insert HD-DVD movie disk. The 360 HD-DVD player came with King Kong, but I also purchased "Fearless" with Jet Li.
8) Hit play on PowerDVD.

Optional: I also installed the Toshiba driver hack, and I'm able to just drag and drop the whole contents of the HD-DVD onto my hard drive. Granted it takes up about 30GB of space, but this is an easy way to make backups. It even plays back off the hard drive without the HD-DVD disk in the drive. :D Now, if I could only find a way to re-encode them to x264 to shrink down the file size a little...

Other Thoughts: This would be a nice thing for someone wanting great 1080p playback on their HTPC. My AM2 rig in my sig never even hiccuped during playback. Most of the bitrates for the video linger around 20mb/sec.. audio is Dolby Digital enhance to 1.5mb/sec. Crystal clear audio and video.. its somewhat amazing. For $160, its well worth it.

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w1retap said:
Other Thoughts: This would be a nice thing for someone wanting great 1080p playback on their HTPC.
Click to expand...
Good job! Awesome news. The pics show the movie in windowed mode---I'm assuming it looks just as flawless full-screen on your Westy 37"?
 
great work, glad to know people are taking advantage of this, fairly well priced hd gen media.
 
Yea, I just had it in windowed mode to actually prove it was playing on my PC in PowerDVD, and not off the Xbox 360. Full screen it looks crystal clear and flawless. My friend was almost shitting his pants when he saw the picture 1080p HD-DVD produces. :p The audio is just as impressive too. The only thing I can't figure out is how to get picture-in-picture to go away in the King Kong movie. It has this "U-control" thing for special features, and even if I turn it off, PIP doesn't go away. I think there is a hotkey or something for it, but I can't find it. lol. It would help if I had a HD-DVD remote with the A B C D buttons. I just need to figure out the PowerDVD shortcut for it.
 
I've been posting this for a while now. You get 6.5 OEM. Cannot buy. Use your brain.

However you can buy the new PowerDVD Ultra which gets rid of all the bugs with 6.5.

I ran King kong and U Me + Dupree with no problems.

You need a decently "strong" PC to take advantage. Dual core is preferred.
On another note that drive is noisy. I'd like to see if I can find a way to install internal or maybe just enclose it again because it really is a tad noisy.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1135411
 
I have this working as well. Can't wait to set it up on my Westinghouse 42" 1080P!


I have one question though. Dolby Digital enhanced is not supported on the Xbox 360 via this drive, is it supported as long as you have the necessary hardware in your HTPC, ie.X-Fi card?
 
Are you using straight up PowerDVD or do you have Purevideo loaded as well? I take it you're playing this on your AM2 rig in your sig?
 
nobody_here said:
so because it can do what a high end PC can do it's now considered a "JunkBox"?

how narrow minded and biased
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Heh. junkbox 360 + hddvd setup = $500

PC that can run it + hd-dvd = $1200

You need a GOOD HDCP card, GOOD dual core, 1gb ram, fast hdd

Some people don't get it, do they, nobody?
 
yup, I was using the AM2 machine in my sig as I stated earlier. During playback, CPU usage was only about 30% to 40% which is not bad at all. I had hardware acceleration turned on, but I am not using the nvidia purevideo decoder. I don't really have a need for it since I haven't run into any video I cannot playback smoothly. I have other 1080p x264 encoded videos which take up over 60% CPU usage, but they still run smooth as well. I don't know what these HD-DVD streams are, but they seem like MPEG2 at a high bitrate. For the audio, I'm just using my onboard audio. It sounds great and I get the full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. To get better sound, use a better soundcard, or output optical audio to your DD/DTS reciever.
 
CyberDeus-RagDoll said:
Heh. junkbox 360 + hddvd setup = $500

PC that can run it + hd-dvd = $1200

You need a GOOD HDCP card, GOOD dual core, 1gb ram, fast hdd

Some people don't get it, do they, nobody?
Click to expand...

at least from a HDDVD playback standpoint anyways, and i actually got rid of my high end dual core PC to get a 360 and never looked back, i am completely satisfied with my 360 and it continues to improve and impress me

Junk Box indeed ...
;)
 
Ok.. this thread isn't about the "shitbox360" or whatever else you guys want to call it. I don't give a shit about a console. This is explicitly about the PC + Xbox360 HD-DVD drive. If there is anymore childish bullshit, I'll report the posts to mods. Incredibly childish. Go argue in the Xbox360 vs. PS3 threads.
 
nobody_here said:
at least from a HDDVD playback standpoint anyways, and i actually got rid of my high end dual core PC to get a 360 and never looked back, i am completely satisfied with my 360 and it continues to improve and impress me

Junk Box indeed ...
;)
Click to expand...

You dumped your PC for a console?

Whatever floats your boat :p
 
Didn't really notice your machine. Nice little setup you have.

Have you used the Ultra yet? I downloaded this morning. Want to see if it is a bit smoother and works out a few kinks.


How loud is the GTX? Is it louder than say the HD Drive?
 
enter self appointed forum police

w1retap said:
Ok.. this thread isn't about the "shitbox360" or whatever else you guys want to call it. I don't give a shit about a console. This is explicitly about the PC + Xbox360 HD-DVD drive. If there is anymore childish bullshit, I'll report the posts to mods. Incredibly childish. Go argue in the Xbox360 vs. PS3 threads.
Click to expand...

exit self appointed forum police

turst me guy, if it was that big of a deal, i would have reported it myself, but it's not, so dont make it :eek:



Adisharr said:
You dumped your PC for a console?

Whatever floats your boat :p
Click to expand...

yep, i typically only have an hour or two per week to game, and i got tired of the upgrades, the troubleshooting, the patching, the tweaking, etc........the relatively small increase in IQ on a PC was not worth all of that, entertaining friends is much nicer now, i am into big screen HD gaming with surround sound with several friends, simple controls, no fuss, turn it on, play, turn it off, no BS entertainment, when i was a hardcore gamer, yeah, i preferred the PC, and actually had hours a day to play, now i dont, so when i do have time i certainly dont want to be installing patches or such, nor do my friends want to stand around a PC watching someone play with a mouse and kb by themselves..
;)
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Didn't really notice your machine. Nice little setup you have.

Have you used the Ultra yet? I downloaded this morning. Want to see if it is a bit smoother and works out a few kinks.


How loud is the GTX? Is it louder than say the HD Drive?
Click to expand...
I am just using PowerDVD 6.5. I'm having no problems with it, so I'll stick with it. Playback is smooth as can be.

GTX = I can't hear it. The raptor is louder than it when I'm doing file copies.
 
I got the hd dvd player (360) to work on my laptop (17" wuxga) w/ an ati x1800

so it works just fine, but the only issue I have is that I can't view it on my 24" HD lcd using a dvi connection, only vga =(
 
How can you be sure you are seeing VC1 at 1080p. I recall reading something about the 8800GTX not being able to show 1080p. What was that about? Sure looks like you are doing it to me. Also, does PowerDVD 6.5 decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD (Master)?
 
Wait, explain this "driver hack" to me. Do you plug in the drive, install the hack, and then you can just copy the files off the disc and play them from your computer (ala DVD Dectrypter)?

yang88she said:
so it works just fine, but the only issue I have is that I can't view it on my 24" HD lcd using a dvi connection, only vga =(
Click to expand...
That's HDCP. Apparently your monitor does not support it.
 
PCMusicGuy said:
How can you be sure you are seeing VC1 at 1080p. I recall reading something about the 8800GTX not being able to show 1080p. What was that about? Sure looks like you are doing it to me. Also, does PowerDVD 6.5 decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD (Master)?
Click to expand...
Its full resolution.. it either displays at 1080p, or it goes downscaled to 480i. I'm 100% confident it is 1080p, because I have other 1080p x264 content, and the HD-DVD looks even better. The PowerDVD decodes the true HD 1.5mb/sec audio as well. The 8800GTX does 1080p, I have no idea where you heard that from. Internet hear-say is hilarious.
 
InorganicMatter said:
Wait, explain this "driver hack" to me. Do you plug in the drive, install the hack, and then you can just copy the files off the disc and play them from your computer (ala DVD Dectrypter)?
Click to expand...
You just right click the .ini file and select "install" after the drive is plugged in, then you restart your computer. After you do this, you can browse the file structure, get the AACS encryption keys, and backup the disks. I'm have both HD-DVD's backed up on my HDD right now, but I'm just trying to figure a way to encode them to x264 for a smaller file size.
 
InorganicMatter said:
That's HDCP. Apparently your monitor does not support it.
Click to expand...


it's the new gateway 24" hd display lcd, which according to their site is hdcp complient...

there are other members here who have it as well and were able to get 1080p =(
 
w1retap said:
You just right click the .ini file and select "install" after the drive is plugged in, then you restart your computer. After you do this, you can browse the file structure, get the AACS encryption keys, and backup the disks. I'm have both HD-DVD's backed up on my HDD right now, but I'm just trying to figure a way to encode them to x264 for a smaller file size.
Click to expand...

I looked around, and it seems those movies are already encoded in VC-1, so you won't get much (if any) size decrease by going to h264, unless you're resizing to 720p or something at the same time. Though I suppose you could rip out the extras and such, but I have no idea how that works with these new formats.
 
JBark said:
I looked around, and it seems those movies are already encoded in VC-1, so you won't get much (if any) size decrease by going to h264, unless you're resizing to 720p or something at the same time. Though I suppose you could rip out the extras and such, but I have no idea how that works with these new formats.
Click to expand...
yea, that is what I'm working on doing right now. There's already a program that removes the AACS encrypted protection for the HD-DVD's so you can rip them and play them back without the actual disk. I could torrent the whole 30gb thing right now and it would work for everyone.

But, h264 != x264.

h264 is a compression standard. x264 is a open source/free implementation of the standard. TV stations use a closed source commercial implementation of h264 to encode their transport streams for broadcast.


MPEG2/TS
Source: Lossless
Compressed to: High bitrate MPEG2
Cable/Satellite Provider: Either broadcasts the full quality MPEG2 they receive or re-compresses it again to lower bitrate and then broadcasts.

h264/TS
Source: Lossless
Compressed to: High bitrate MPEG2 (afaik no TV stations distribute content in h264, only MPEG2)
Cable/Satellite Provider: Re-compressees to h264 by unknown commercial encoders for broadcast

x264
Source: Compressed TS (MPEG2 or H264)
Release groups: Re-compressed with x264 to a more manageable size with usually little to no noticeable quality loss from the original source.
Click to expand...

Anyhow, with x264, I could recompress the movie, rip out all the bs, and make it a much smaller file. It would turn out to be anywhere from 8gb to 14gb in 1080p depending on how good of a quality re-encode I wanted to provide.
 
That would be cool. It's a huge size defference.

Must be a lot of trouble though. How long would something like that take?
 
It takes about 18hrs or so to encode a 1080p x264 video, even on a core2. Its very resource and cpu intensive. You just leave it go overnight, and its well worth it, especially for uploading purposes. But, the bad thing is, all the encoders for h264 and x264 encode in slices if you are on a multiprocessor pc, and it makes visible seams in your video during high motion scenes. You have to only use 1 core on a dual or multi core system for best results. Non-overclocking helps as well to prevent frame or audio sync errors.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
That would be cool. It's a huge size defference.

Must be a lot of trouble though. How long would something like that take?
Click to expand...
A very long time. My E6300 took 37 minutes to encode a 5 minute clip at "lossless" quality.
 
Looking at the endgagdet page and your screenshot, it seems that HD DVD already has the extra features/movie split out into seperate files? So no more dumping crap out of vob files, instead we just copy the FEATURE*.EVO files and get only the movie?

That will be very handy for travelling. What's the total size you get for just the feature files on the discs you have? 15-20GB or so?
 
w1retap said:
You just right click the .ini file and select "install" after the drive is plugged in, then you restart your computer. After you do this, you can browse the file structure, get the AACS encryption keys, and backup the disks. I'm have both HD-DVD's backed up on my HDD right now, but I'm just trying to figure a way to encode them to x264 for a smaller file size.
Click to expand...

what do u do once u have the encryption keys? when/where do you put them? link?
 
"According to this article on Endgadget, the AACS DRM used in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray has been cracked. The program allows one to decrypt and dump the video for play on a users hard drive, or it can be burned to a blank HD-DVD and played on a stand-alone player. According to the accompanying video, a source release for the program will be made available in January. Time to get that $200 Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive?"


http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/28/0259244&from=rss
 
I have to say that $200 for a hd dvd player is a great buy, I'm enjoying movies so much more...

I went w/ the hd dvd over blu ray b/c of the cost (although blu ray imho has better movie titles)

just my .02
 
Rob Black said:
"According to this article on Endgadget, the AACS DRM used in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray has been cracked. The program allows one to decrypt and dump the video for play on a users hard drive, or it can be burned to a blank HD-DVD and played on a stand-alone player. According to the accompanying video, a source release for the program will be made available in January. Time to get that $200 Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive?"


http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/28/0259244&from=rss
Click to expand...
Actually, the program is already out and I've been toying with it. The source is already available too. Its called "BackupHDDVD". It works well, you just have to provide the title keys for the movie, which I'm still figuring out how to retrieve off the disk which is encrypted. I think I know exactly how to do it though. :p
 
<>< said:
what do u do once u have the encryption keys? when/where do you put them? link?
Click to expand...
You put them in the database file of the ripping program so it can decrypt the content on the fly.
 
Ahh buggard.

Wiretap is your Westy HDCP capable?

Anyone know if this combo (xbox360 HD-DVD player + Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.0 + 7950GX2 + Dell 2405) will work?

I don't want to go out there and buy this stuff and only be able to see it in 480i or 480p. lamezors.
 
^--yea, that should work. I don't think it will downconvert until HDCP disks come out and you don't have a HDCP compliant connection. (that should be quite a while)
 
Sweet just bought the drive and upgraded to PowerDVD 7.0 Deluxe.
Now to install the ini file from the disk?
 
No.. I didn't need any other 'special' drivers under Windows XP SP2 for it to work. I just plugged it in and started watching movies. The only thing extra I installed was the toshiba driver hack that enables UDF2.5 file system so you can browse the file structure and easily rip the disk to your hard drive.
 
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