Xbox DVD Movie Playback Kit

Feeling rather light in hand, this remote features large keys that feel rubbery yet firm. The kit sports some of the basic functions you'd expect from a common controller, including chapter skip, play, pause, and number buttons. There's also handy 32x fast-forward and reverse controls.

Pressing the display button calls up a friendly onscreen menu that allows access to more features, including up to 10x magnification, A-B playback loop (for cueing and viewing favorite scenes repeatedly), and subtitle and audio options. It's worth noting that many lower-cost DVD remotes have access to such features through the press of a button. The fact that this one requires you to use a menu to access such common commands may rankle DVD aficionados, as the menu is a bit slower than using buttons. Still, the menu is quite intuitive and couldn't be much easier to use.

For the remote to work, you'll need to plug the included infrared receiver into an open controller port on the Xbox. Most gamers will never need to unplug the receiver again, as you can plug it into the rarely used fourth port. Interestingly, the receiver works best when the remote is operated almost directly in front of it, and can be a little finicky when signals are sent from the far left or right.

The couch potato crowd won't be thrilled to learn that the remote does not include power or eject buttons. Why such standard features were omitted escapes us, but that is far and away the worst thing we can say about an otherwise decent control. --Mark Brooks

Pros:

• Though very lightweight, the controller seems sturdily made and the buttons are large and comfy
• Uses any of the 4 Xbox game controller ports; rarely gets in the way
• Gives the Xbox cool DVD playback features
• Onscreen menu is very easy to use

• No power or eject buttons
• A-B looping, subtitles, and language selects--as well as other features--are only accessible via onscreen menus
• Cannot use the remote from far to the left or right of the sensor

My info:

I bought my Xbox in the beginning of January right after I returned my GameCube console. I purchased the Xbox DVD kit about 2 months after from Amazon.com for [item price]. I already have a DVD player but I wanted this anyway. An actually it plays DVDs better then my regular DVD player. The remote is great in my opinion; it's comfortable, convenient, & filled with features.

What comes in the Kit?

The kit comes with the Xbox DVD Remote. The remote has the basic buttons; play, fast forward, rewind, play, stop, pause, up, down, left, right, select, 0-9, & menu. The remote also comes with some extras like 2x 4x, 6x, 8x, 16x, &32x Fast Forward and Rewind. It has a nice Zoom feature ranging from 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, & 10x. A - B feature is also nice to have for repetitions of a scene, click A - B once for the beginning of the scene to repeat and push it one more time to end the scene, it will keep repeating until you press A - B again. 2 AAA batteries are required to be purchased separately. The range of the Remote is around 20 to 25ft.

The Receiver also is required to play DVDs. The receiver is a small maybe 2 by 2 inches black square. Where does it go? It plugs into any controller port. What does it do? The Receiver activates the DVD compatibility. How does it work? Plug the Receiver into a slot while the Xbox console is turned off. Insert a DVD into the drive and the movie will automatically boot up like a normal DVD player. The kit also comes with a simple instruction booklet.

So howys the picture & sound quality...?

The quality of this product was amazingly more then I hoped for, in fact itys superb! The video playback was smooth, quiet, and vivid. The sound obviously depends on the speakers you have, sounds great on my Philips surround sound stereo system.

Do I recommend this product?

YES. This kit is great even if you already have a DVD player and want another. The Remote kit also doubles as a Audio player, you can use it to playback your Mp3 files on the hard drive, no messing with cords. Remember, you mainly purchased your Xbox for gaming and the DVD playback was just an extra, a great extra at that. This Microsoft DVD kit is definitely High Quality all the way, and thatys why I recommend this product.

Hopefully Helped anyone this may concern.


Cinemaster DVD for you   October 4, 2001
65 out of 82 found this review helpful

The XBOX uses the highly acclaimed Cinemaster DVD player, which should be far superior to the bug-plagued PS2 DVD player. Get this remote if you want to watch movies on your XBOX!


A good product for those who want it. Cut MS some slack...   December 17, 2001
J. Mintzer (Easthampton, MA)
65 out of 73 found this review helpful

Cut MS some slack people. They didn't include DVD functionality via the controllers for some very good reasons:

1) That DVD license is expensive. I'd rather have people who are going to use the XBox as a DVD player to be the ones to subsidise the cost, instead of EVERYONE having to do it, since I already have a DVD player.

2) Sony found out the hard way when they released the PS2 in Japan; a lot of people bought the console JUST for it's DVD playback features, and didn't buy games for it. Now, I'm sure a lot of you know the standard console economic paradigm: lose money on the hardware, make money on the software. Thus, Sony lost big bux when this happened. I can't blame Microsoft for wanting to make sure that doesn't happen with them.

3) This is a PROGRESSIVE SCAN DVD player, which means it's designed for higher quality pictures on HDTV. I don't believe a lot of DVD players on the market are capible of that. Seems like a good deal to me.

I've been suprisingly impressed with the XBox. The graphics are DEFINATELY a cut above the PS2 (which I also own.) I find it telling that the LAUNCH title graphics look better than Sony's latest PS2 games. The hard drive is damn convenient. If there is anything to be angry over, it's those poorly designed controllers (Hint: MadCatz makes a decent replacement.)

In the end, those who are serious about using the Sony as a DVD player are going to buy a remote control kit anyhow (I certainly did) This seems no different to me, in the long and short of it. Microsoft was upfront on the box when they said it required the additional kit. It seems to me that a lot of people giving out the one star are just general Microsoft bashers anyhow.


RCA Compatable   November 21, 2001
Russ Painter (Ennis, Co.Clare Ireland)
50 out of 50 found this review helpful

1) Get this Movie Playback Kit

2) Put the remote away in a drawer (you still need the receiver)

3) Enter the code for an RCA DVD Player into your universal remote

4) Use your universal remote to control your XBox without any custom programming!


Remotes that cost EXTRA enable a better XBOX!   November 18, 2001
31 out of 37 found this review helpful

The reason the DVD Movie Playback Kit costs extra is to keep the price of the XBOX lower, and have a better machine at a lower cost. Every single DVD player(any make)must pay a "licensing" fee the the MOTION PICTURE STUDIOS of AMERICA, by not having it included in the "standard" XBOX that fee is avoided by people who have no desire to ever play a DVD in the XBOX. This allows Microsoft to have a more advanced machine for the price then the competition. If you want to play DVDs simply pay the (money) and use this PACK(it includes the afore mentioned licensing fees) All DVD players are much easier to use with a remote and you will not look like a bumbling fool going through all sorts of menus trying to play the disc as you wish. (...) This is a well thought out concept/plan and works perfectly in the real world. (...)