It's been mentioned by amir (MS employee) on avsforums.com that the 360 drive isn't being targeted to run on a PC. However, it was also stated that MS isn't doing anything to prevent it running either -- it's simply not tested/supported. Keep in mind that the 360 drive isn't going to deal with AACS in hardware; it's simply going to stream the encrypted data to the 360 where it will be decoded in software. This is similar to the NEC drives used in the Toshiba standalone HD-DVD players. Thus far, people who have removed the drive from the Toshiba's and put them in a PC have been unsuccessful at finding a way/program that can play the direct AACS stream.
The only successful PC attempt thus far has been with people using the HD-DVD laptop drive, which does handle AACS in hardware. These HP drives should do the same, given that they're aimed at seamless PC usage. The 360 drive, on the other hand, will be a headache and a half to get running on a PC -- if at all possible.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jdb @ Oct 1st 2006 3:18PM
It's been mentioned by amir (MS employee) on avsforums.com that the 360 drive isn't being targeted to run on a PC. However, it was also stated that MS isn't doing anything to prevent it running either -- it's simply not tested/supported. Keep in mind that the 360 drive isn't going to deal with AACS in hardware; it's simply going to stream the encrypted data to the 360 where it will be decoded in software. This is similar to the NEC drives used in the Toshiba standalone HD-DVD players. Thus far, people who have removed the drive from the Toshiba's and put them in a PC have been unsuccessful at finding a way/program that can play the direct AACS stream.
The only successful PC attempt thus far has been with people using the HD-DVD laptop drive, which does handle AACS in hardware. These HP drives should do the same, given that they're aimed at seamless PC usage. The 360 drive, on the other hand, will be a headache and a half to get running on a PC -- if at all possible.