Asus reveals uber-quiet HR-0205T HD DVD drive

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 31st 2007 at 7:03PM

Those not exactly thrilled with the noise levels produced by the Xbox 360 + HD DVD drive combo will likely adore Asus' latest, as it gives HTPC builders an uber-quiet alternative to playing back HD DVDs without having to replace one's rig or purchase a standalone player. The "world's quietest" HR-0205T optical drive handles dual-layer HD DVD discs and basically every flavor of DVD and CD, too. Asus swears the unit can play back an HD DVD while emitting just 21.1dB of noise, which could reportedly be compared to a "quiet auditorium." Regrettably, there's no word on a price or release date, but considering that this thing couldn't burn an HD DVD if its life depended on it, we'd hope the price would be fairly reasonable to compensate.

Filed under: HD DVD, Players, Others

Tags: asus, hd dvd, hd dvd-rom, HdDvd, HdDvd-rom, HR-0205T, htpc, quiet, silent

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Low Ranked

h4ldol @ Oct 31st 2007 8:06PM

Wonder if this baby will play the mythical 51gb triple layer HD DUD... maybe then they could fit a lossless audio track on Transformers! I wouldn't hold your breath HD DUD fanboys...

Highest Ranked

Dave @ Oct 31st 2007 8:18PM

Seriously, h4ldol. When will you ever stfu? Your posts are moronic. If I didn't already own an HD DVD player, I'd buy one to spite you.

Highest Ranked

Dave @ Oct 31st 2007 8:17PM

As a basis for comparison, how many times quieter is this drive than h4ldol?

Neutral

h4idol @ Oct 31st 2007 8:22PM

Geez I'm a toll aren't I?
What I meant was, I tooootaly love this HD DVD drive and think anything blu tooooootaly sucks, so please ignore my earlier ignorant and abusive rant.

I had forgotten to take my medication when I wrote that, I have taken the red pill now, sorry all.
GO RED

Highly Ranked

Ed @ Oct 31st 2007 8:53PM

you just need to get laid, big time. honestly, no one minds that you have a strong opinion for or against anything. It's just that you haven't got a f'n clue how to express yourself. that's why the majority of us continue to insult you. once you figure it out, we will then change our tune and think of you a a positive voice in this community, regardless if you think hd-dvd sucks compared to blu-ray. now granted, i haven't said anything flattering about you in the past, but to be blunt, i'm being "nice" (and i'm sure others have as well). bottom line, kid: get with the f'n program or go molest a barbie doll because that's all the worth to society that you've shown so far.

Neutral

JeffDM @ Nov 1st 2007 1:05AM

Um, yes, h4idol, you are trolling. Maybe if you knew what trolling meant and weren't blind to your own trollishness, you'd know it for what it is.

I suppose Engadget HD should be paying you and others, if it weren't for the Blu-Ray trolls and HD-DVD trolls, there really wouldn't be any discussion of any kind here at all.

Neutral

HDpurist @ Oct 31st 2007 9:12PM

Wow this is great news - this totally proves that the 360 HD-DVD add-on drive has a loudness issues, and Asus is brave enough to address it! Hats off to Asus. I'm sure this unit can replace the defective 360 HD-DVD drive.

Neutral

Dave @ Oct 31st 2007 10:07PM

@HDpurist

Wow. Are you h4ldol's boyfriend or something?

Highly Ranked

HD @ Oct 31st 2007 10:27PM

No, h4idols boyfriend is named "blu", apparently blu sucks.

Highest Ranked

DeadPlasmaCell @ Oct 31st 2007 11:25PM

My 360 add-on drive is basically whisper quiet.. Also looks like Engadget never posted the K-mart HD-DVD exclusivity story.. Sure it's only Kmart, but fair is fair. You know if it had been the other way around, K-mart going Blu-Ray, there would be a article for sure.

Neutral

JeffDM @ Nov 1st 2007 1:08AM

K-Mart is still around?

Highest Ranked

JBDragon @ Oct 31st 2007 11:50PM

My 360 HD DVD drive is very quite. I can't hear it. I'm about 8' away from it while watching a Movie. Are people watching movies with the sound on MUTE??? Maybe the noise is being masked over by my TIVO and Comcast DVR's?!?! Especially my old TIVO is not the quietest thing these days, but even that doesn't bother me. Oh and look, it's a HD DVD drive NOT made by Toshiba Since supposedly only Toshiba makes HD DVD drives. That's what all the Blu-CRAP fanboys keep saying anyway. I like how engadget has to comment how it doesn't WRITE. Well I didn't know the PS3 was capable of that either!!!

Highly Ranked

bigglare @ Nov 1st 2007 1:17AM

This will be a nice addition to Vista if vista media center supported HDDVD as much as Microsoft does. I use DVD movie factory to author HD home movies and such to DVDs and vista won't play them back.

But this will be nice for when I want to watch an HDdvd on my 21inch monitor when I dont want to go to living room and watch on my 65inch screen.

Whats the point of lossless audio when the studios master digital audio tracks? Maybe if a formats audio circuits can't effectively handle the bitrate and loses those precious 1's and 0's. My HDDVD collection sounds awesome to everyone who has enjoyed my Friday Movie night.

Neutral

TURNERSVILLE @ Nov 1st 2007 8:55AM

I wish the war will be over. I use Blockbuster and they picked (aka paid off) Blue Ray. I think the cheapest HD burner will win the format war.

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