HomeIs your computer capable of playing Blu-ray/HD DVD?
When asked this question, the most common answer people come up with is a big resounding NO (or meh), mainly because you would need to be a brain surgeon or a copyright lawyer to be able to afford the Blu-ray/HD DVD drive. But things may not be so bad – with a little bit of research, tweaking and black magic, you won’t need many many thousands of dollars to get Blu-ray/HD DVD playback going on your PC – only a couple of thousand would do.
First, read my Is your PC High Definition DVD Ready? guide to familiarise yourself with what is needed to achieve Blu-ray/HD DVD playback. Don’t be too shocked at the system requirements, it’s still early days for PC Blu-ray/HD DVD, but if you’re lucky, you may only be a high definition reader drive away from watching 1080p movies in full resolution.
Assuming you’ve got a PC good enough for HD DVD playback, your cheapest option right now is to buy the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive for $199 (has been sold for less, plus with bonus movies) and use that as your HD DVD reader drive – even if you don’t have an Xbox 360! Yes, it really does work and it’s officially supported by Microsoft too. Read this guide for full instructions. Of course, if you do have an Xbox 360, then the HD DVD add-on drive is an excellent way to introduce yourself to high definiton DVD (plus it works as a normal DVD drive too, so you can play DVD movies on it as opposed to using the built-in, disc-scratching drive on the Xbox 360).