Microsoft unloading remaining HD DVD add-ons for $50

by Kyle Orland { Feb 25th 2008 at 4:45PM }

Attention, people who collect obsolete technology -- here's the perfect chance to, um, add some obsolete technology to your collection! While Microsoft recently announced they're no longer producing HD DVD add-on drives for the Xbox 360, they are unloading their remaining supply at a bargain-basement price of $50, as a Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Sure enough, online retailers from Circuit City to Best Buy to Buy.com are listing the defunct accessory for 25 percent of it's original price. At that price, the remaining stock could go fast. Then again, with the prospect of more HD-DVD discs looking less than good, maybe $50 is still too expensive to unload.

Tags: add-on, format wars, FormatWars, hd dvd, HD-DVD, HdDvd, microsoft, peripheral, xbox 360, Xbox360

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

ViagraFiend @ Feb 25th 2008 4:52PM

Now that would be a waste of 50 bucks.

License to ill @ Feb 25th 2008 4:59PM

I always lol at people who buy add-ons...

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Feb 25th 2008 5:17PM

It would be a waste if you used it to play movies.

However, its a great investment to someone who wants to collect some obsolete technology and 5 free movies on a format that will become increasingly rare.

The collectors value for a sealed copy of Transformers on HD-DVD may be quite high by the time the next big thing comes around.

Grog @ Feb 25th 2008 5:20PM

You can use this to get 5 HD-DVDs with rebate. For people who already have an HD-DVD drive, 5 HD-DVDs for $50 is cheap. For people who might just want 5 high quality movies, the same applies.

dsub @ Feb 25th 2008 5:34PM

I don't see HOW this could be construed as a waste of $50. I ran out and bought one immediately.

Why?

#1 I don't want to buy a PS3. Especially not with rumors of a blu-ray add-on for 360 floating around.

#2 There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 300+ movies available on HDDVD. With a library of classics ranging from Unforgiven to Caddyshack to Mallrats, all in the same great 1080p that blu-ray gives me, what's to complain about? Not to mention most of them are now less than $15 in most stores.

#3 Netflix STILL rents HDDVD's. They still have a massive library of HDDVD's to rent out, and will continue to do so, only adding on more blu-ray titles in the future.

This isn't like going out and buying a laser-disc player. HDDVD is just as good as blu-ray in terms of picture quality and sound quality.

Say what you will, but there are plenty of titles available on HDDVD to make this a worthy investment. It allows me to get the experience of HD movies in my home, with a large library to chose from. All these movies that are on HDDVD will likely not hit shelves on Blu-Ray for at least 6 months, and for what? $25 a piece? No thank you. By the time I've exhausted the HDDVD library, MS will have an add-on available or I'll be able to pick up a standalone blu-ray player for $99.99.

I'd say that sounds like a good investment to me.

kbomb1upc @ Feb 25th 2008 5:42PM

dsub,
Haha dsub you're funny.....oh wait he was serious...

ViagraFiend @ Feb 25th 2008 6:15PM

@Dsub

You go ahead and keep trying to justify your purchase.

And 25 dollars for a Blu Ray? Do you buy from Best Buy or what? haha

You can get 10 dollar Blu Rays on Ebay.

Lord Chako @ Feb 25th 2008 8:07PM

I gonna have to agree with dsub.
Even for a dying format, for $50 this really is a steal. The movies still play in HD all the same. There are quite a few of hd-dvd releases i wanted to purchase, but couldn't justify the $179, or $400 for a ps3.
At this price, and the fact that a lot of hd-dvd's are half off, I really can't see this as a losing situation.

Sure, I'll get a blue-rey player when the price is $200 or less, and movies are $20.
But until then, I'll enjoy hd-dvd's bargain bin prices.

Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 1:09AM

What's the collectors value of an unsealed DVD? Oh that's too young.

What about the Collectors value of an unsealed VHS?

FatalisticDread @ Feb 26th 2008 7:51AM

I did the same thing. Jumped on BestBuy.com and bought one for in-store pickup on the way home from work. Why not? 5 free HD-DVDs + King Kong + $50 drive = a deal.

When the fire sale starts on HD-DVDs (it already has on the interwebs), it'll be a great way to pick up some great HD movies.

Obsolete is relative anyway. They still sell LPs and people still buy them...so, yeah, relative.

KingOfGods @ Feb 25th 2008 4:56PM

If you watch upscaled dvds on your 360 like I do it may be great to use the add-on to limit the wear and tear of your regular optical drive. For $50 why not.

I use my xbox to watch DVDs on and I purchased the HD-DVD add-on (wish I would have waited) when it was $200.

da governator @ Feb 25th 2008 5:04PM

Can the 360 upconvert regular DVDs without the add-on, or do you need the add-on drive if you want to upconvert? Does anyone know?

BIGGEN @ Feb 25th 2008 5:04PM

hopefully he leaves my feedback before he finds out ;D

Jack Hatch @ Feb 25th 2008 5:20PM

If I remember correctly... it'll do 480p (which is technically "HD") over component cables... and will upscale to True HD only through VGA or HDMI.

Jon @ Feb 25th 2008 5:20PM

What? You mean you need a HD-DVD add-on to upscale vanilla DVDs?

Ryan @ Feb 25th 2008 5:27PM

No, the add-on makes no difference in upscaling. It's just a drive. The regular ole' 360 will upscale just as well.

Chris @ Feb 25th 2008 5:27PM

Hm, I use my 360 as my primary dvd player with the VGA cable outputting to a projector that at 1280x1024. Will I get better quality for dvd's with the HD-DVD drive as opposed to just with the 360?

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Feb 25th 2008 5:28PM

It upconverts over VGA or HDMI with the built in player.

KingOfGods @ Feb 25th 2008 5:41PM

"If you watch upscaled dvds on your 360 like I do it may be great to use the add-on to limit the wear and tear of your regular optical drive. For $50 why not."

I never said you need the add-on to upscale...I said it's a good idea if you watch a lot of DVDs on your 360 to pick up the $50 add-on to limit wear and tear of the 360's built in optical drive.

rv @ Feb 25th 2008 6:19PM

480p is not HD. Its EDTV!
Also, if you have the vga cord or the hdmi, it will upscale, as mine does right now.

BIGGEN @ Feb 25th 2008 4:59PM

WHEW! sold mine on ebay for $90 this past weekend. yay ebay

License to ill @ Feb 25th 2008 5:01PM

Bet that buyers not happy...

BIGGEN @ Feb 25th 2008 5:05PM

ok, that reply to my reply, should have been below my reply

quickshade @ Feb 25th 2008 5:01PM

I'll see if DVD (HD) movies go down to 5 bucks. Then this would be worth the purchase.

vidGuy @ Feb 25th 2008 5:01PM

Coupled with the 6 movies you get for free, $50 is a good deal. It's more of an impulse buy than an investment of course, but hey everyone has his own idea of a bargain.

Manvir (El Homer) @ Feb 25th 2008 5:02PM

lol i saw it at FYE for a cool $19.99.....might pick that up for the free flicks

XanthouS @ Feb 25th 2008 5:03PM

Aaaaaaaaaaand the fire sale begins.

deaftly @ Feb 25th 2008 5:04PM

Hell its worth the $50 just for the free movies you get and with the HD-DVD fire sale thats about to happen you can snag a TON of movies for dirt cheap.

XanthouS @ Feb 25th 2008 5:13PM

There's already room on your shelf for the slew of budget HD-DVDs, right between the dozen Betamax tapes and the handful of Laserdiscs.

deaftly @ Feb 25th 2008 5:19PM

Someones wearing their creativity hat today!

ThornedVenom (Ludwig Defense Force) @ Feb 25th 2008 5:13PM

Well, I guess that it couldn't hurt getting it if you're buying HD-DVDs to burn HD movies from your Toshiba laptop, in order to play from your 360.

Unless you could already stream it directly from your computer (just wondering since I don't have a 360).

todd @ Feb 25th 2008 5:14PM

Getting me one when I see it for $20-25... good way to play my reg olde dvd's so I don't need to use the 360s drive.

Stephen @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:17PM

I'm sure they're still making a profit. Imagine the people who bought into this early. The mark up...oh the mark up.

Anyway, a friend of mine just bought his from Circuit City today. They were still marked as $129 in the store but he had the sense to do the in-store pick up via the website which shows the price as $49.99 and they changed the price on the spot. $50 not a bad deal plus he made it in under the wire to get the 5 free HD-DVDs. An extra drive and a few free movies. Sure you can only watch them for a limited time but not the worst purchase ever.

Hackers unite! Hopefully someone can find some other functions for this thing.

Mike @ Feb 25th 2008 5:20PM

RE: KingofGods wrote

If you watch upscaled dvds on your 360 like I do it may be great to use the add-on to limit the wear and tear of your regular optical drive. For $50 why not.
-=-=--=-=-=--=-=-=-

I'll tell ya why not; you'll cause wear and tear on your 360 instead. Having that leaf blower running while you watch a quiet drama will drive you crazy as well. (noise equals that of when you are sitting in your blade section and not running a disc.. but still)

deaftly @ Feb 25th 2008 5:31PM

See what I'm doing. I pressed the reply button, this way you don't have to write emails in the comments.

KingOfGods @ Feb 25th 2008 5:47PM

Unless you are sitting 5 inches from the 360 or watching lots of old silent films I find the 360 does just fine while watching movies..yes including those quiet dramas you love so much.

Plus using the add-on I find it VERY quiet compared to the built in drive.

Rexjamo @ Feb 25th 2008 5:40PM

Its a bargain. I may buy a second one. There are hundreds of HD DVD's available. Here in Australia many retailers are selling HD DVD's for $5-10 each. I just bought 15 HD DVD's for $150 including Battlestar Galactica first season for $29. Eat that BD boys!

ThinkingOf @ Feb 26th 2008 5:24PM

i'll be eating it fine when the limitless supply of bd's are on the shelves for 20$ and you're stuck with that small list of a hundred or so titles of soon to be rare and hard to find out of print hdvd's. you'll come over enevtually. also, for those that were around and can recall, there were a few hundred beta tapes and laser discs around when thoe failed too. (keyword, failed. and this is my opinion, based on being a bd owner, made the "right" choice!)

DrXym @ Feb 25th 2008 5:45PM

$50 is a good deal for an external DVD drive. If I thought I could pick up HD DVD titles for cheap I would also be tempted to buy the drive just to rip them to a hard drive.

Mr Khan @ Feb 25th 2008 5:54PM

I would think any 360 owning cinephile would jump on this, simply to pick up 5 free movies for $50

But then again, a true cinephile bought a multiformat combo drive a while ago

ushman @ Feb 25th 2008 6:01PM

If you order this online do you still get the 5 movies deal?

Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 1:10AM

Yeah you do.

Mills and Boom @ Feb 25th 2008 6:02PM

If this translates (LOL YERRITE) to £25 here then I'd buy one and use it on my computer. I don't care much for films but Full Metal Jacket and a few other HD-DVD's are films I really do like. Might as well get HD versions whilst they're cheap.

Or spend more for a Blue Ray player and the more expensive media cost.

Makes sense. But the first problem is MS charging more in the UK.