DVD playback is alright considering that they are outputted at 480p instead of upscaled to 1080p. Same quality as my standalone yamaha or samsung progressive dvd player.

the 360 is not an dvd player is an video game system,and an damn good 1 at that. so get off dezz chips!! hater.invest in an cpu with media center and this problem
would be eliminated.

I've had my 360 since launch day and I've never once put a DVD movie in it. Not once. I have a "real" dvd player for that - one which doesn't require booting up, etc. Also, why would I want to wear out my 360's DVD drive prematurely by playing movies on it? I do think that the dvd drive in the 360 is the cheapest component in the console though... the noise, the "dirty disc error" when the disc is flawless, etc. So this news doesn't particularly surprise me. But seriously, if you want to watch movies, go spend the $40 on a cheap dvd player.

costing less than $40, and taking up no more space than a book, anyone who puts extra wear on a game console playing movies is an utter fool.

This would have been an issue maybe 5-6 years ago, but in this day and age, almost everyone has a stand alone DVD player. If not, then go out and buy one, it's dirt-cheap now.

this problem and i use the 360 for dvds all the time, there is one thing i have noticed though when i put in a dvd its not at 480p. i have a HDTV which displays the resolution when a new input is selected or the resolution changes, and when i put in a dvd it says 576p? i think thats right its 5 hundred and somthing P anyway ill check tonight. all the DVDs ive watched look awesome

I'm quite happy with it, I have a 37" toshiba hdtv and dvd playback looks awesome, My brother has a samsung 40" hdtv and he feels the same. I have not noticed any jaggies apart from on older dvd's.

All I know is that my DVD upscaling over vga is better than any DVD i've seen on a normal standalone. Maybe it's not, whatever. I'm not going to go out and buy a DVD upscaling over this. It's just not worth it.

I've watched a movie or two on my 360, and have never had a problem. I usually watch movies on a movie player, though.

Well i'm picking up a new 360 this friday because I gave my original console to my brother on christmas! I would watch movies on the 360 all the time because for whatever reason it made the movies we watch look better than our stand alone dvd player or pc! Really I don't understand the point of this story and cant see why anyone would go out of there way just to find flaws with the 360! It's a great console with great games and services unlike anything else out there for a very good while! It is kind of loud but I never notice with the volume turned up!

but I must say I run my xbox through 32" LCD HDTV w/VGA connection and my DVD movies look fantastic ...some even better than that. So I refuse to waste my time on this article!

Theres no problem with the playback its just that the quality of the picture is crap compared to a half decent dvd player.

This is a non-issue at least for me. Maybe because I have a big(50'+) flat screen panel and the screen heat would kill me or would get motion sickness while playing COD3; so I see within a considerable distance from the xbox 360. Plus my TV has (Speakers) and I like to play games with (sound).

Anyways, I'm thankful I don't buy game consoles based on how much sound the Disk Drive makes instead what determine what console I get is, "The games are great, the Xbox Live service just can't be beat, Live Arcade games and the Video Marketplace are pretty cool, and—we never thought we would say this—at $400 it's actually cheaper than its main competitor".

You should see how loud my computer is!!!

I love my 360, and I had never watched a movie on it until recently - it was the videogame/horror movie with Sophia Bush - can't remember the name. I usually watch movies on a cheap $39.99 DVD deal I bought when my original XBOX started freezing during movies.

The movie looked like a VHS tape. I watched it all the way through and afterward put it in my cheap DVD player and watched some scenes, and it looked better!

I don't really care - I have a system selector so there is plenty of room for stuff, and I buy game consoles to game.

By the way, the DVD player goes through the system selector - a cheap $29.99 one via component cables and my 360 is connected straight to the TV via component.

1. Compared to a $800+ Denon DVD Player. That's a player that is used only in uber home theatres for the people that are -=infatuated=- with the quality of playback.
2. A standalone player will almost always provide a better experience than 'jack of all trades' devices like consoles and honestly, of the people that own a 360, how many would you really believe also do not own a dvd player.
3. If you have a dvd player why wouldn't you save the 'wear and tear' on the 360? Let's see... dvd player can be replaced for $50 if it breaks, 360... $400. I'll use the dvd player thank you.
4. This is the worst case of 'manufactured' news that I have ever seen. Please.

Is fine. I don't know what these people are btching about. Perhaps they have one of the older Drives.

it is understandable if microsoft didnt initially supported either of blue-ray or hd-dvd but it is really funny to know that 360 could not even play dvds properly.....

its not about 30-40$ for a seperate box.....this should have been properly done in 360 its just dvd playback it is available in 5 year old consoles....

I barely use my 360 to watch dvds anyway, but i never really ran into problems yet

if your going to include the feature,it had better be as good as a standalone.and so far,ps2 wasn't,xbox was,360 isn't,the hd-dvd isn't,the ps3 bluray is.

i also think the person ealier was saying why buy a cheap standalone when you can buy a game system like ps2 or xbox that gives you game options.

I rarely play DVDs on my 360, but when I do, everything works fine. *shrug* What's the fuss?

Microsoft put a really cheap DVD drive into their console, and people even compared it to the PS3's Blu-ray drive. Apparently the PS3 could play DVD movies that the 360 couldn't due to heavy scratches, and despite the fact that both 12x DVD and 2x Blu-ray have the same rotation speeds the 360 drive is still louder. Technically, Blu-ray reads faster than dual-layer DVD, but that's another story.

But back on topic. I didn't realize that the 360's video quality was so horrible. I mean, those video feeds looked absolutely ghastly. (sorry, British moment).

The DVD playback on the 360 had dredfull picture quality. Granted the quilty does improve somewhat when your using the VGA due to upscaling if you have an HDTV. But then you face another issue when using the VGA cable, you then have washed out colors. I guess i will have to use my PS3 when i buy one or get a stand alone upscaling DVD player, considering i still watch plenty DVD's due to my limited collection of HD-DVD.

DJ i'v been on this site as long as you and not one person compared the built in drive in the 360 to the PS3 drive MR. Twister, HD-DVD drive that you can get for the 360 vs the Blu-ray drive in PS3 was the only debate on this subject(no one in their right mind would compare standard DVD playback to HD dvd quality playback exept you i guess. HAHAHA.

this is the dumbest article seriously who cares, this article is wasted space

I watch them on the HDDVD drive.

The 360 is the only way to watch a DVD for a gamer. How else are you going to know when your friends are online. Sure you could have a laptop by you and check xbox.com, but that sucks. They should fix the dvd playback for the videophiles/gamers (or get the hd-dvd drive). I haven't noticed these problems on my tv's, so I wonder to what extent hdtv fix the problems. They also said that the problems aren't apparent on all DVD's, so I may not have seen any of these problematic dvds. Not only should they fix it, but they should upscale them too.

I have never once watched a DVD on my console, why put so much wear and tear on your console. Besides i have a 400 disk DVD changer, why would i want to use my 360 console. As long as it doesn't affect games. They should fix the problem though

As a matter of fact, my wife loves how it plays the DVD's, she says it is crisper than our overpriced Panasonic.

who watches DVD's anymore? That's so 2001.lol

The actual hardware problems with the 360 are inexcuseable to this point. I know MS will take in the hardware and fix/refurb the problem, but who wants to hassle with that when the alternative is not to game at all? The noise the system makes along with the more often than not "freeze-ups" are just ridiculous. I spent the night at my cousin's last night where we had our weekly ritual of firing up the PS3 and 360 in two different rooms and just jamming all night. While playing gears and nfsc the system froze up on him two times. Once offline and once online during gears. Now I don't watch DVD's on the 360 and for that matter I don't know if he does either, but something's gotta be said re: "you get what you pay for." Do you believe in coincidence? All I know is that Blu-ray is the future and DVD's are on their way out. I grew up during the 80's and 90's and am looking for the next best thing. If you disagree you probably have a Zenith dual loading VHS cassette player in your home right now.

P.S. the trailer for the "300" from the Sony store looks so beautiful you could "eat the screen" when played through an HDMI cable on a Bravia or equivalent. Simply Stunning.

P.S.S.
XBox360 = 1/2 ton Z71LT 1500 4x4
PS3 = 3/4 ton Power Stroke Diesel King Ranch 4X4
Wii = Nissan Xterra 2wd

(just my impressions so far)

Ok, a movie last what 2 hours on a regular basis. And you play games for how long during the day????? I don't see watching a movie putting any significant wear on a console as suppose to playing Gears of War for 6 hours on end or longer depending how much of a gamer you are. My brother has one and it is loud as crap. I picked it up and turned it sideways to only hear this aweful scratching sound of the DVD. My brother said that you can't do it while it is running. I was like WTH??? I wanted to show him the light moved in a different quadrent if you stood it up. Microsoft needs a better player in this thing. Don't get me wrong, the console is good, but if I pay 400 dollars for a gaming unit that suppose to be running games at 720p, then that DVD player better be showing some damn good pictures.

Just last night I watched The Butterfly Effect ( awesome movie by the way, you should check it out ) on my 360 and honest to goodness it looked every bit as good as a movie played on my brothers HD-DVD 360 player.

Well I don't care about video playback on a games console and I'll tell you why

1. The more you use a drive, the sooner it will break down. I want to be able to play my games as long as possible, I have other players that do the movies on DVD.

Plus, if you really want to play it on the 360, buy a seperate HD-DVD, which if it brakes down, can be replaced seperately. If the PS3 drive breaks down you're f*cked because you can't play any games anymore also, BR repairs/replacements will be expensive. Everybody remember the soon breakdowns of the PS2 DVD drive... nice one

2. If I play movies, I use to stream them from my PC to the 360. That way I don't hear any drive noise, it's coming straight from HDD, I don't need to switch discs if I change movies or music or pictures or whatever.

3. If I want content I don't own already, on Marketplace you can download movies or tv-series. Simple as that. No disc needed. Plus IPTV is coming streaming at the end of this year.

Bottom line:

Don't use your game console for video playback. Ever. Even if it looks great. Playing a disc for two hours for a movie many, many times will bring down it's lifetime. I'd rather f*ck up a 30 Euro cheapass standalone DVD player for that

On an HDTV, in 1080i, just finished watching Star Wars III, and it is really clear and sharp, I guess my 360 has something everyone elses doesnt.

The reason I havent bought an HD-DVD add on yet is because the DVD's look so good.

If you dvd's arent looking that great, get an HDTV it will make all the difference in the world.

And a noisy drive? Even at night when I have to turn the volume low, it cant be heard over the TV, drive noise is the last thing I would be arguing about.

Qoute: There's a big perception now that the 360 is unreliable" Only to people that want it to be. You twist the truth around when you think people do not know what your talking about Just like in that Xbox 360 will be out performing PS3 debate. http://www.gamescentral.com...

You gotta be kidding me, seriously?
(shaking my head...not gonna say a word...moving to the next article)

ok...I will say I have to agree with TheMART on this one.
(I can't believe I just said that...I usually try and stay out of these potential Flame Wars, but he does have a point.)

Meanwhile, back at playing games. And, go get a HD DVD that is made solely for movies.

It just sounds fishy when some ones making a big deal out of noise, it makes you wonder, my 360 is heard but it's not loud maybe I got lucky and have the Fluke-heard but not loud 360. It's drive works fine.

DJ hows the Blu Wizard treating you.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the type of DVD drive in the 360. Like Samsung, Hitachi, and I think Philips all made drives for the Xbox360. Maybe that could be why some people have a problem like this and others don't.

Didn't Toshiba make drive's for the 360 also?(not talking about the Add-on). Anyways my drive looks great.

well, i don't really use my 360 for movies anyway. I have a separate DVD.....well more like 5 other DVD players, not including my PS3 and PS2. So yeah, i really don't need my 360 to play DVDs perfectly

The Xbox 360 is the best DVD player I ever used, not only is the audio and video top notch, it also plays the Halloween 6 Producers Cut Bootleg DVD that does not work on any other lower end DVD players.

Seriosuly the Producers Cut would not work on the Xbox 1 at all.

wen playing dvds through my 360 than my normal dvd player???? Both have been using the same forms of input: component. Hmmm...suddenly these jokers' "proof" doesnt seem so convincing...

Frikin retards, get a life.

If your Xbox360 is the "Best" DVD player you ever used. You need a $100 dollar best buy gift card. There is far better stand alones on the market for cheaper.lol im not flaming im just sayin..lol

& 47 if your 360 gives you a clearer picture than a stand alone. My question is what stand alone did you buy. so i can tip off anyone i know to never buy it.lol

I think this article is kinda silly just to nit pick at the 360 then again there is alot of nit picky PS3 articles as well. So I guess its just the universe balancing itself out.

Or I could just download a movie on the Xbox 360 marketplace in HD quality.

or

stream a movie from my computer to my 360.

Check out the Xbox 360's review from Home Theater High Fidelity: The Xbox 360 is a pretty good DVD player, given its primary purpose. Its performance is pretty close to the average DVD player at this price point, but given that it is supposed to be using one of the best graphics cards out there, I was hoping for a bit more on the de-interlacing side. With all of its other features though, I still think this console is incredible in scope for entertainment, but I’ll reserve that for the feature article.

I have a launch day xbox 360 and I use it as my main dvd player and i find the image is perfectly fine. There is no "snow" at all. I dont know what the big fuss is about, if you dont like it, stfu and go buy something els and dont waist my time.

This is the same complaint i made last year when the 360 launched but i got flamed to death on this. It has horrible picture quality! I love everything about my 360 except this. I have all 3 consoles and the ps3 has great blu ray playback but the 360s dvd player just sucks although it is better than the wii and ps3 in just about everything else except for the ps3's physics (i have watched both consoles dvd/blu ray on an 20' toshiba 720p tv, sony 46' 1080p xbr2 tv, samsung 56' 1080p tv, and a sony 50' 720 tv and my 360's dvd looked terrible on all of these while the ps3s blu-ray looked fantastic)

I dont know why people are bothered about dvd playback. It plays my Gears of War, Lost Planet, and Crackdown perfectly! :)

For all those in Uk i saw an advert in paer last week for a dvd player from ASDA for...................£9. 99 LOLOLOLOL. Man how cheap is that, plus you always find its the cheap foreign ones that work better at playing EVERYTHING

I think xbox360 fanboys should calm down - and stop being so defensive. What you really want to do is say, "yeah its crap, but it can be fixed" - just hope for a firmware update - the more these articles flame a feature that is poor, the more microsoft will take notice. We've seen it happen with ps3's backwards compatibility and they were extrememly quick (if not too quick) at updating.

What im saying is pretty much true from what I seen. Wich is the Xbox360 happens to not be the best DVD player on the market by far. No need to get em in a bunch cause the PS2's DVD playback was a mess too. Im not sure what you guys are comparing them too but im comparing them to good quality stand alones. Neither stack up. The PS3's blu-ray player being an exception (let me guess.."im a fanboy for saying that")lol

Power of Green I dont know what your implying no matter how many times I read it I can't understand your grammar. can someone tell me what he's saying

"#48 This is a first all us 360 owners hahahahahah Dude is right; the 360's drive doesn't look any different than any of my good quality DVD players."

But none the less all im saying is. Its not that good but nothing to make a fuss about cause who is still relying on their game console as their primary "DVD" player these days. I know how this mite be a little hard to accept being that the PS3's Blu ray player is rated very high amongst stand alones. Here I have a solution.

Give the Sony fans there unrivaled playback then attack them about their "currently" small game library.

Then everyone gets their daily dose of "I feel better about not buying that console"...lol

i don't have a stand alone DVD player, i use my 360 and before that i used my xbox. i have not noticed or had one of the problems they describe, the playback is awsome on my 42" HDTV and surround sound.

does suck! They do have a point though, the 360 has more than enough processing power to offer great picture quality on it's DVD playback. I believe MS should just go ahead and fix the issue the power is there why not use it.

on my Xbox 360. The truth is, I do not own a DVD collection. It's a good thing I waited for HD-DVD. While I prefer stand-alone players but a free DVD player is always welcomed on consoles. Now should I start buying HD movies(B-ray or HD-dvd) to start my collection or should I wait for a downloadable service?
Ever since I stopped buying music CD's I'v been all digital. Can the same thing be said for movies as Mp3's did for Music?

I don't think I'd call it SERIOUSLY flawed. Mine seems to play fine and look great. If the results were so astonishingly sucky, they should've confirmed their findings using another 360.

this news post is not worth 90 some comments... It's almost like the system camps try to find silly things to argue about. You are all gamers. Enjoy f'n games, and shut up.

shutup

you do know its a games console not a dvd player right ?

im in the have tried dvd's in my 360 and they are fine camp.

but even if it didnt play dvd movies i would have a 360 because.....

1. i have 4 dvd players in my house.

2. it's a friggin games console !

thats right GAMES CONSOLE not MOVIE CONSOLE sheesh !

Can anybody tell me if they have problems with 360 games(Lost Planet, Fear) freezing up on them.