Xbox DVD Movie Playback Kit

Other products by Microsoft

Product Features

• XBOX DVD Movie Playback Kit Module DVD Video

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00005O0I9
• Item Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 8, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (213 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #990 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Got an Xbox? Do you enjoy watching DVDs? Then you need one of these. This DVD playback kit unlocks the DVD functionality of Microsoft's powerful Xbox and helps make the console an even more important addition to your home entertainment deck.

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

Cons:

• 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

Product Description

XBOX DVD Movie Playback Kit Module DVD Video

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RCA Compatable, November 21, 2001

By	Russ Painter (Ennis, Co.Clare Ireland) - See all my reviews

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!

69 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gadget Collector, February 23, 2002

By	Jeff (Suburban Va) - See all my reviews

Pros: Inexpensive & has features that high priced DVD players don't come with.
Cons: Hard to find one.
Overall: Great for Xbox gamers who want a High Quality DVD player for under [item price].

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 hows the picture & sound quality...?

The quality of this product was amazingly more then I hoped for, in fact its 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 thats why I recommend this product.

Hopefully Helped anyone this may concern.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yup, as plain and functional as they come, May 29, 2002

By	J. Arias "Old Skool Computer Junkie" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Very functional, makes you feel like your Xbox is complete. As for the playback quality of the Xbox, couldn't tell the difference between it and the Pioneer DVC-302D that it kicked out of the shelf and being deployed to somewhere else within the house. Of course, you have to connect the Xbox to the Advanced AV pack or High Definition pack with an optical audio cable to get full Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, and S-Video or Component video inputs as well for video. Not too shabby overall, even considering the lack of eject and power buttons that some people are complaining about. Gotta get up from the couch sometimes. Good for blood circulation.

As mentioned by another reviewer, you can program your universal remote control with the codes for RCA DVD players and the Xbox IR receiver will respond to it. The power button on the universal remote still won't work though, because this particular button will be interpreted as the display button on the Xbox remote. Worth noting too, that my universal remote doesn't have an eject button.

A very cool feature that I found out when playing audio CDs: when the info button is pressed, the mood display in the left panel zooms in to fill the full TV screen. Instant 32" lava lamp! Kinda looks like a mood setting screensaver. Break out the candles, turn off the lights, and let Peter Gabriel crank out!

Lastly, any geek worth his remote will test this baby with the games. After all, it seems like some of the buttons in the gamepad are mapped in and have equivalent buttons in the remote, right? I popped in DOA3 and tried to control it through the remote, but alas, geek mojo ran out. The remote control does not function as a wireless gamepad.