XBOX 360 External HD DVD Drive

[From our good friend, KRAIG BAILEY.]

Another nail in the coffin of HD DVD is provided by MICROSOFT, who continues its legacy of crap products with the XBOX 360 external HD DVD drive.

Bad enough you have to add an external drive to play movies, but in MicroSoft's wisdom they hook it up to the XBOX via USB.

What does this mean?

VIDEO
The 360 has no HDMI output capability so you are limited to component analog video. So no 1080p. Any film that gets an IMAGE CONSTRAINT TOKEN (ICT) will get its playback resolution reduced by almost HALF.

AUDIO
You get a choice of analog stereo or TOSLINK digital.
That means the current Dolby Digital or DTS soundtracks.
There will be no way to access the high resolution or uncompressed -- oh, wait! This is HD DVD, but there won't be any uncompressed audio. Well, no hi-rez Dolby or DTS.

So, if SONY doesn't screw up with the PS3 I think we can put this format "war" to bed.

Thank you MicroSofties. You have not failed me. Your total dedication to mediocrity finally does the world some good.

Kraig Bailey, thanks for the post.