Xbox 360 HD DVD player still coming this year

[HDTV News Poster]

Xbox 360 HD DVD player still coming this year (http://hdtv.engadget.com/2006/05/09/xbox-360-hd-dvd-player-still-coming-this-year/)

At Microsoft's E3 presentation today, one of the most eagerly awaited pieces of infomation concerned the company's plans to offer an external HD DVD player for the Xbox 360. And the company delivered -- sort of. Yes, they showed off a slide with a picture of an external player designed to match the 360. And the slide did state that the player will be available "this holiday." And, yes, that slide included images of HD DVD flicks that it will presumably be able to play. But the crucial details, such as a ship date, pricing, and, perhaps most important, info on whether or not the player will support HDCP or HDMI, were nowhere to be found.

http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/360hddvd.jpg

[Scott]

They really should have released more crucial information. But, have we come to expect anything less from Microsoft?

[Falcon]

I've got my MS appointment on Friday morning so if you have questions on it let me know and I'll pass them on.

I saw the unit on Tuesday and it's not too bad. It hooks up to the USB port on the back of the 360 and has two USB ports and the socket for the wireless controller on the back. So you'll plug the HD DVD player to the USB port on the 360 and then plug your wireless networking connector into the back of the HD DVD player along with the new USB camera.

I only had a few minutes to talk to the guy but the HD DVD player streams the media to the 360 which then 360 does the work from there. No HDMI port on the back in case you were wondering.