Should I buy HD-DVD, or make Media Center PC

[gti303]

Should I buy the add-on drive for the 360 so it will upconvert my existing DVD's and can play HD-DVD's, or should I make a media PC...thing about making a media PC is that it will cost 2-3x more than just buying the drive, plus it still won't play HD-DVD's (yet, cause I woulnd't be buying a HD-DVD player yet). So question is, is the quality output by the upconverting of the DVD via PC going to be THAT much better than the HDDVD player by 360. Anyone share your thoughts? I'm siding on the 360 side cause its easier and cheaper, but if its night and day difference, then I will go for the media center.


btw I have a 42" Samsung 4273 Plasma :)

[B0000rt]

Get the Media Center PC!

I'm sure you can find a RFD deal for ~300-400 for the cheap PC! You can easily upgrade it later on to support anything and everything out there!

[asmielia]

I'd go for either building a media center or neither.

You could set up your 360 as a media center extender. Then install media center on your main PC. That wouldn't cost anything.

Getting the HD-DVD drive is really a separate question because on its own, it can't provide many features a dedicated HTPC could. Using the 360 as an extender could.

Personally, I'd wait on getting an HD-DVD drive for now until the format war looks like it's heading in one direction or another. Unless there are a bunch of HD movies you want to watch right now.

[felix]

Yeah, there aren't enough HD-DVD media out there right now. I've been considering it but i'll just live with my Pioneer DV-490V-S upconverting DVD player for now (came with my new Pioneer home theatre :D ).

[Headhunter]

Depends on how much money you're spending on the media PC, the 360 does a fantastic job upconverting for me. However, on the Dell 24" LCD it insists on stretching regular DVDs to fill the display; I haven't found a way to preserve the original aspect ratio (this is not a problem with HD-DVDs).

[The Digital Dolphin]

Go with Media Centre, and hold off on the drive until at least Summer. There should be some big developments in the format war between now and then ;)