My DVD player broke last year and I bought a HD-DVD player to replace it for $99 and got a $50 gift card. Also snagged Heroes, Planet Earth, and 5 free mail in movies with it. Not a bad deal either... And yes I have a BD player too.

I prefer standalones over consoles with players which is why I don't use my X360 as a DVD player by itself. I'll probably buy a Blu ray standalone to go along with my PS3 when they get in reasonable under $200 territory.

If you're worried about the drive dying one day and not having a means to play your movies you can back them up on your PC with the 360 add-on. Lots of tutorials out there on how to do it. It can also be used as an external DVD-ROM for a laptop/PC/Mac by just plugging it in.

Talk about a silly move... a typical DVD player uses about 11-20 watts of electricity. Your new HD-DVD drive with a 360 is going to chew up over 400 watts. Is that worth it?

Yes.  I like the setup and thats why I use it.

I give that post a 9.5.

If your 360 was one of the models that had the low-grade "disc scratcher" DVD drive, then you did yourself a huge favor.

Or was it the add-on that was notorious for scratching discs? Shucks, now I've forgotten.

Excellent price, but suspicious value.

HD DVD players WILL wear out, and a pile of disks are no use without a player. The nature of any optical drive means this is inevitable. they arnt going to implode after a certain time, nor did i say that or that a Bluray drive wont do exactly the same,  it will.

The last DVD player I had lasted 8 years. If my HD DVD player lasts half that I think my investment was worth it for me. By that time both BD players (altho I already have one) and media will be at reasonable prices. And with the add-on if that was a concern you can always back up your discs on your HD.

And just an FYI.... to this day you can still buy a working betamax player on ebay

I got one too, about 50$ for HD-DVD drive for 360. That is including the 7 movies I bought for few $ each. :D

I got the HD-DVD-Player too!

After the HD-DVD loss. the prices fell really fast. Now I have almost 40 movies in great quality for less than a third of the original price. Makes me happy. Maybe I will buy a blu-ray-player in 2009

I have bought loads of HD-DVDs lately, the discs are cheaper than DVD, even combos that include a DVD side! By the time my player packs up there will be platinum special collectors editions available on Blu-Ray for half the price of current Blu-Ray discs.