70 GB hard drive spotted, HD DVD useless?

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 7th 2006 at 1:30PM }

Hot on the heels of the confirmation of downloadable movies and TV shows on Marketplace comes this picture from a recent Microsoft press event. If you look closely, you'll notice that the hard drive has an entire 70 gigs free. In other words, that larger hard drive rumor has surfaced yet again. Given all the recent announcements, it's fairly safe to assume a larger hard drive is coming. It's just a matter of when. We're betting that you won't see these larger hard drives before Christmas. Microsoft might announce them -- especially in the wake of the Video Marketplace -- but we doubt they'll release them. Why not? Because Microsoft wants to sell as many 360 HD DVD players as possible, and a larger HDD plus Video Marketplace is in direct competition with that. Of course, this brings up an interesting quandary: knowing that you'll be able to download HD movies and (probably) get a bigger hard drive, are you still interested in the HD DVD player?

[Via Engadget]

Tags: hd dvd, HdDvd, live video, LiveVideo, video marketplace, VideoMarketplace, xblv, xblvm, xbox live video, XboxLiveVideo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Wip3dOut @ Nov 7th 2006 1:36PM

Video Marketplace will be good if you want to rent a movie or DL a tv show here and there. HD-DVD will be needed if you want to buy a movie. I doubt we will be able to buy a HD movie outright on the Marketplace.

DA360 @ Nov 7th 2006 1:40PM

This might come from a development kit HDD, but as I know of, even the dashboard on the devkits usually say 8GB because the rest of the space is usually used by the development launchpad for putting development game data onto the buscar HDD (the big white HDD you see on devkits) for testing, so they don't have to burn discs repetitively. So this does rise the rumor again that they might be releasing a bigger HDD. I hope they do release a 100GB HDD, especially with all the media features the plan on adding. Plus, it wouldn't be too hard for MS to do, just slap a bigger SATA 2.5 inch HDD in the case, update the dash code for FATX to use the extra space, and that's it.

If they do release this, this will fix the one "mess up" for this generation. I always considered the "Duke" controller for Xbox is the one Xbox "mess up" that very thankfully got fixed with the S, which was WORLDS better. Now I believe the "mess up" this generation with the 360 is the 20GB HDD, its already easily getting clogged by demos, music and soon, videos. Its time for MS to step up and fix it with the 100GB HDD.

Like I said in another post, I think they should include the current 20GB HDD in the Core and include the bigger HDD in the Platinum system. That way, both systems have a HDD (which can also finally lift the Xbox Live Arcade limit, which is set to the size of memory units just because of the Core systems), and the people who want to pay more can get a bigger HDD, like with the PS3.

DA360 @ Nov 7th 2006 1:46PM

My mistake, I meant to say 17GB, not 8GB.

Glenn @ Nov 7th 2006 1:48PM

I wasn't planning to buy an HD-DVD player anyway, it's too expensive FOR ME, and I don't even have a 60HZ TV, imagine HD :P
So for me all this HD stuff is useless...

Apart from that, I don't think microsoft would sell less HD-DVD players becouse of the Video marketplace becouse that is nice to use every once in a while, but it doesn't work for the full enjoyment of movies... Sure everyone will use it, but I doubt anyone will see this as a replacement for the HD-DVD player

Greeeeeetz Glenn

Xyzzy @ Nov 7th 2006 1:58PM

No way is this a replacement. You'd be able to store what, 3 movies tops on a 100G drive (excluding saved games, demos, etc)? That's nothing. Not to mention, who wants to wait while you download a 20-30G movie? Nope, HD-DVD is the way to go.

That said, I *LOVE* being able to download trailers and such in HD. And it'd be cool to download shows that you may have missed during the week in HD. I'd also probably pay money to download and watch Battlestar Gallactica in HD a day or two after it originally airs on SciFi. :)

Dark Morford @ Nov 7th 2006 2:06PM

Even though I don't have an HDTV, I'm giving serious thought to picking up the HD-DVD player this holiday. The included remote and King Kong disc essentially drop the price of the player itself to $130 or so, which is a pretty good deal as far as I'm concerned. Once it stops shipping with King Kong ("For a limited time," remember), that "baseline" price goes up to about $170, so I'm inclined to pick up the unit sooner rather than later. Which reminds me, has there been any word as to how long that "limited time" will last?

As to the announced downloadable content... I doubt I'll be purchasing much video from Marketplace, if any at all. Budget and SDTV issues aside, having something tangible that I can take with me, watch when and where I please, and that looks good on the shelf is more important to me than the convenience of a service like Marketplace. It's the same reason the only content I get from the iTunes Store is "funded" by Pepsi bottlecap codes or other promotional tie-ins. If I'm spending my money, I'd like to have something to show for it.

Rant mode off.

GT = stoneNbone420 @ Nov 7th 2006 2:07PM

to xyzzy,
I would definately pay some money to see some battlestar in HD, I love that show it has some great storyline and nice space battles.

audioeric @ Nov 7th 2006 2:13PM

They've already said that movies will be 4-5gigs, and after you download them, you have 14 days to watch, after watching you only have 24 hours to watch the movie as many times as you'd like. After that 24 hours, you might as well delete. So, you can figure maybe 5 movies that you would have maximum at a given time.

TV shows are the more permanent sales, however, you will be able to download them over and over again after purchasing. So, you could delete, then redownload if you ever wanted to watch again. I own some TV Shows on DVD and have watched them once or twice and that's it. I have a few shelves of TV Show DVD's that haven't been watched in a VERY long time...

Now, if MS is going to bring out a larger HDD, they need to do it RIGHT.

They need to have it like the XSATA device. They need to come out with like 50GB drives that would go in between your 20Gig and the 360. That way, yo could keep everything that's already on your 20GB drive, and just add another drive on. Also, if you wanted to, you could just keep adding to them, like an Array. They stressed CHOICE.. This would give you the choice of wanting to add more storage, and to be able to add in 50GB stages.. I'm a huge TV Show fan, so I might want a few drives to be able to store everything on there.. SO, I just add a few 50GB drives and voila, 220Gigs of storage at my fingertips..

BklynKid @ Nov 7th 2006 2:17PM

If this does come out, I dearly hope that MS sets up some kind of trade in program that lets existing owners of a 20GB HD upgrade to a 80GB (or 100GB or whatever it'll be) but have all their data transfered.

ace @ Nov 7th 2006 2:20PM

The downloadable HD content is not a replacement for HD-DVD. It is only 720p and the bitrate of the video is WAY lower than HD-DVD.

On my 64" tv i need the highest resolution and the highest bitrate possible.

JRock3x8 - 2o2p @ Nov 7th 2006 2:54PM

i call photoshop until someone else confirms

Isurus @ Nov 7th 2006 2:56PM

I'm fairly certain that the screen shot you have is from a Dev Kit, which have larger hard drives than the retail kits.

Doc @ Nov 7th 2006 3:49PM

not interested in the HD-DVD player simply because not ALL HD movies will be on HD-DVD's or even Blu-ray disks it's a chose sides issue. On demand is the real future for HD content! why buy disks when you can download them?

Gaurav K @ Nov 7th 2006 4:00PM

The 7 looks a little lopsided I have to say, I think it looks a little bit fake or it might just be me but coming from recent events this is deffiniatly plausible just not likly for hd movie storage, hddvd is 25gb so u could store around 3 or so like one said in an earlier post and although maybe just downloading and storing them to watch once might work...it would take too long to download them, right now it takes forever to download 400mb rainbow vegas demo seriously and i have fios..and its connected directly not wirelessly so yea

James @ Nov 7th 2006 4:02PM

20 - 30 Gigs for a movie? They would have to be using a pretty crappy codec! The more than likely will use the same codec that they use one the WMVHD Dvd's they have released (Terminator 2 in 1080P fit on one side of a DVD...can't remember if it was dual layer or not). Still...will definately need a bigger HD to store moview and TV shows in HD.

JimJimBinks @ Nov 7th 2006 4:14PM

I love the downloadable content. There are plenty of movies I won't buy on HD-DVD that I'll be renting through that, but I'm a big fan of DVD extras and you won't get those with the download service.

Jason @ Nov 7th 2006 4:54PM

Um, it's a dev kit. They have larger hard drives.

Do we have to go through this every time someone takes a photo of the available HD space on a dev kit?

Rajun50 @ Nov 7th 2006 5:03PM

I still want an HD-DVD. The downloadable content will be more of a spur of the moment solution for entertainment rather than having to go out to get a movie/tv show. I still want a tangible disk when buying movies I know I will want to watch more than once and keep for a long time. Also for the possibility of resale.

mietha CAG @ Nov 7th 2006 5:21PM

Yes, I still want an HD-DVD player. You will not be able to purchase movies over the download service. This has already been stated. I am very interested in the download service, but without a much larger hard drive, for a less than absurd price, it is more or less worthless.

rooot @ Nov 7th 2006 5:40PM

boris schneider-johne sez:
there is no larger hdd for the 360 announced. images like this above are just taken from developer-stations which have a large hdd.

Clayj @ Nov 7th 2006 6:04PM

I welcome a bigger hard drive, but this isn't going to stop me from buying the HD-DVD add-on tomorrow. I don't like renting movies, so the movies available through Xbox Live will be something I won't use much of (if any at all).

MarxMarvelous37 @ Nov 7th 2006 6:18PM

I agree this pic is probably just a dev kit, but let's be honest... a bigger HD must be on the way. There is no way that they would have something big like yesterday's announcement brewing and not foresee the call for more storage.

That leaves us with 2 options:
(1) It has been pushed out 'til next year due to all the other stuff that's coming out.

(2) They're saving more announcements to continue to steal some of the PS3/Wii launch thunder.

Dubya @ Nov 7th 2006 9:40PM

Does anyone have a link to where the current 20 gig Xbox harddrive has been dissected by someone? Is there a outside chance that it's really a 70 gig drive in disguise?

Dubya

Dave @ Nov 7th 2006 11:27PM

The downloadable HD content is not a substitute for the HD DVD drive for one simple reason:
HD downloadable movies $4
Netflix HD movies $10/month for 8+ At almost $3 savings per movie watched, it will take less than a year to fully pay off that investment, not to mention any residual value on Ebay.

The HD content will be nice for getting $1 TV show episode if my HD DVR fails to record something or I just miss a good show.

Scoobydiesel @ Nov 8th 2006 4:26AM

I have Netflix so i can still rent movies from them all i want, plus Ill buy some movies i really really love on disk, i will still DL a few off Live...but i still need and HDTV

epobirs @ Nov 8th 2006 4:27AM

I really doubt Mirosoft is going to hold off releasing a higher capacity storage solution for the 360 just to protect their HD-DVD drive sales.

For starters, the downloads stand to put far more money in Microsoft's pocket. Microsoft produced the iHD interactivity layer used in the HD-DVD (this doesn't require a Microsoft OS; BluRay uses a Java based approach)standard but the royalty stream is a quite small piece of each player and so far I haven;t heard any indication they get a piece of the royalty stream from movies using the iHD functionality.

By comparison, Microsoft should be seeing a lot more action from acting as a content distributor. Just a few downloads would generate far more profit than an HD-DVD playback license.

There is also a big divide between those who primarily rent and those who prefer to own. The renters care less about additional features on the disc and may return it without viewing anything beyond the movie. Those who prefer to own are also likely to be quality conscious and desire the greater bandwidth enjoyed by an HD-DVD movie compared to the much tighter allocation for these downloads.

In between, plenty of Xbox 360 owners could patronize both offerings. for those with a big media appetite there is value in having both a higher capacity hard drive and the HD-DVD drive.