Has anyone attached an Xbox external HD-DVD drive ...

[szh]

... to a PC and watched HD movies?

1. If so, what OS did you use?2. What HD movie software?3. Did you have to get a special graphics card? I.e., can it be done without an HDCP graphics card?

All the typical Google results appear to be too old to be useful ...

Yeah, I know the format is dead, but that is okay - you can get new HD movies for dirt-cheap nowadays (they cost less than DVD movies even)! I was able to get a brand-new one of these Xbox drives for $39 and figured I could just use it as an external DVD data reader, if I do not get HD to work on it.

Thanks,

Z

[szh]

Bump ... anybody?

Z

[MinisterofDOOM]

It can't be too hard. They're really just compact laptop drives in extra packaging and with connection adapters. People have swapped out the small 20GB drives for off-the-shelf laptop drives for use with the 360. I imagine all you need is a cable or enclosure that lets you use a laptop HDD as an external drive with USB. Xbox 360 video codecs are shared with windows (since networkable shared media between PCs and 360s is intended).

MS actually makes (or made) a 360 HDD-to-USB adapter for people who upgraded from a smaller drive. They make it clear that it's not intended for use with PCs...but there has to be a way to make it work. Finding a USB laptop drive enclosure will be easier and cheaper, though.

[szh]

Uh ... I think you may have misunderstood me.

It is not a hard disk drive ... it is a "HD-DVD" drive (the now-discarded competitor to Blu-Ray) - already in an external case with USB connectors and all.

I think I am just gonna simply try it and see what happens!

Z

[MinisterofDOOM]

Ahhh...yeah I definitely misread.

Yeah, it'll work with Windows. You just need to find drivers for it and DVD player software that supports HD-DVD.

[szh]

Ahhh...yeah I definitely misread.

Yeah, it'll work with Windows. You just need to find drivers for it and DVD player software that supports HD-DVD.

Good, thanks! I will give it a shot.

Z