I'm curious if the hd-dvd player will upconvert standard dvds. I was going with an oppo but a buddy says I should get the hd-dvd since I already have a 360.

no DTS of any sort, and no DD+ or TrueHD

most of the audio codecs

1. Most DVDs come with DD encoding. Very few are DTS only.

2. the 360 decodes all audio formats available on DVD or HD-DVD (if you get the addon). it re-encodes everything to DD for output. most people can't tell the difference on their systems.

3. the 360 does appear to have 2 issues with hd-dvd audio stream decoding: a. dd+ sometimes doesn't sound as good as the dd track on the dvd version of the movie (even played through the addon). b. truehd decoding introduces pronounced lip-synch issues.

4. your requirement was to upconvert DVDs, which the addon certainly does. this yields smaller benefits as the display improves, so it'll depend entirely on the quality of your TV.

Conclusion: you won't have any audio issues with standard DVDs and if your TV truly stinks, it might even make them look better. you'll also get the benefit of the cheapest hd-dvd drive on the market. not only that, but the drive will work on your XP or Vista PC as well.

maybe you didn't notice the tornado of cooling fans...

it can't decode them all... it can decode many of them, but it transcodes them all to dolby digital. That's like having an SACD player that transcodes to dolby digital. What's the point?

a> picture quality
b> sound quality

Why throw away half of that?

it's not an audiophile piece by any stretch, but for <$200, it's a no-brainer.

do you think you get any less audio than with a standalone player? why would it not be the same with those, since no receiver decodes yet anyway?

and it seems you and I have a knack for disagreeing.

First, I'll say this... DTS is a higher bitrate codec than DD. Much like a higher bitrate MP3 sounds better than a low bitrate one, DTS can sound much nicer than DD when the studio bothers to include it.

That said, both DTS and DD are lossly compression formats, and are relatively low bitrate. Comparable to MP3 quality audio.

The new formats (TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) are both lossless compression. This is more comparable to SACD or DVD-Audio in terms of audio quality. Transcoding those to Dolby Digital essentially discards a lot of information.

While it's true that virtually no receivers can decode these new formats directly (since that requires HDMI 1.3), most of the HD-DVD players will transcode them to a multichannel LPCM format for transport to the receiver over HDMI 1.1. The LPCM conversion isn't lossy, it's a full quality signal.

And as for fans... different noise levels bother people differently. Everything about the HD-DVD add-on is done in software. Everything. This pushes the 360 to it's limits. It's been said that it works harder playing back a HD-DVD than it does playing ANY game that's out so far. I can't see that NOT kicking the fans up to high speed.

..with corners cut to keep within a certain price point. Which also means less features in other areas of DVD playback.
It's like a calculator on a digital watch - it can operate as a calculator, but there are considerable compromises.

as far as the transcoding, TrueHD is unwatchable because of lip-sync anyway, so I wouldn't recommend the add-on for anyone really wanting the benefit of that.

However, TrueHD is only in very few titles at this point. IIRC, about a handful.

I don't think anyone really knows for sure what's going on in the box, so I don't know if we know for sure that the 360 isn't doing the same multichannel LPCM the standalones are doing. For most people that are considering the add-on, I doubt this is a detectable difference on their systems. I know this isn't ideal, but I'm willing to compromise for the price. However, my point would be that most would prefer the analog outs for true audiophile quality, until HDMI 1.3 ships in volume.

DTS quality improvements over DD are debatable. many argue that the higher bandwidth allowed for DTS is only necessary because of its inefficiencies, not for any higher quality. Personally, I've noticed no dynamic range improvements one way or the other. DTS is encoded to disc at higher volume levels, so to many it sounds 'better' when it actually is just 'louder'.

I'm not saying the HD-DVD addon is equivalent to any standalone player, but for the price it's easily a no-brainer for non-audiophiles. The few compromises it makes are likely to be lost on the vast majority of potential customers.

the software on the 360 is the limiting factor.

the add-on does not limit anything if used with XP or Vista.

toslink is only capable of 2 channel PCM... so to transcode to a multichannel PCM stream, you'd need an HDMI (1.1 or better) connection.

I can't say it's not right for some... but it's not right for me.

for under $200 it's a cheap entry into HD-DVD until the formats shake out.

It's also an ok compromise until my HDMI 1.3 receiver starts shipping...some day.

I was worried about the noise, but it turned out fine.

While I can not confirm it will not do DTS, it does DD fine. The quality is much improved over DVD.

I'm running component cables, & fiber optic for audio.

I've yet to watch, or see a HD DD sound track on a HD DVD. I've also not seen any DTS movies yet.

My Receiver is a 7.1 THX ULtra II, so it can accept any audio format.

While it does not up-convert DVD's & it's not the best for DVD's it does ROCK HD DVD's, & for $200 right now is the best on the market for price & performance in the $200 range. It also comes with King Kong.

and its perfect on my 1080i Pioneer 43" Plasma. It will not upconvert regular DVD's.

I had a Pioneer Elite Upconverting DVD player and thought it was a scam.

HD-DVD quality is far superior. I own 5 HD DVD movies currently and will eventually upgrade the DVD's I like and deal with the rest of my collection (I only own 100 DVD's anyway). My friend owns 500 DVD's and is less enthusiastic but also went with HD-DVD over BR because he had a 360.

His Samsung Upconverting DVD was less expensive then my Elite, and was slightly better, but not compelling enough for me to want any upconverting DVD player.

I hear the upconverting DVD players work better with projector and RP TV, not so much for Plasma or LCD's but I base my experience to say skip the upconversion nonsense and get yourself into HD DVD's.

...and unless you own one, youre just quoting meaningless data.

The end result is this is the best HD DVD player and the best picture you can get for $200, period.

No one really cares about audio to that degree anyway, or they wouldt consider the cheapest player available, especially when this is primarily a new means for superior visual detail.

I know you care more about sound, so you wouldn't be the target for this device but that doesn't mean your data has any significance for someone looking to clearly enter the HD DVD market at a reasonable price point.

Also, the drive stays cool as a fan when playing DVD's. I dont know where you heard it is more taxing then a game, Rainbow 6 Vegas on Xbox live and Gears of War turn the Xbox into quite the warm device in comparison.

The noise? Well, I am an exception there, as I have a media cabinet that is well ventilated and with the doors closed everything is silent (and the remote and wireless game remotes still function).

Just another take from an owner who, as you know, cares not about pin drop DTS sound (or needlessly disturbing my neighbors) and is more then thrilled considering what $200 gets you in terms of image and the overall experience.

A friend of mine has access to some 360 dev kits and says the CPU isn't as heavily taxed compared to games. Granted I believe most HD-DVD's are VC-1 which require less CPU power.