HD DVD upconversion question

I have a quick question for you guys.  I'm getting one of the westinghouse 1080p monitors shortly to replace my old toshiba crt 1080i tv.  I read that the xbox HD Dvd add on will upconvert regular dvds when used through the vga output (which i plan on using on this tv)  anyway i really don't care all that much about buying all that many HD Dvds but it would be nice for the money to be able to try out some new technology than just gettin an Oppo to upconvert my dvd collectin.  Now does the HD DVD add on do a decent job uponverting or is it not worth my time?  should i just buy the Oppo and forget about it?  I know the standard dvd player in my xbox does an awful job currently playing my dvds.  Is the HD add on any better?   any help would be greatly appreciated!!  Thanks guysyoustew

 you dont need the hd dvd player to upscale regular dvds. all you need is the vga cable and the 360 will upscale any dvd.

I know the xbox drive will but i don't have much faith in it because i find the player to be really bad.  I don't currently use my xbox for dvds for that reason.  I guess i should have made that more clear in my question.  I would like a pretty nice quality when watching a movie and i found the standard player to be quite sub par.  The reason i decided to ask you guys was i initially was goin to just get the Oppo to get a solid quality picture.  Then i realized for the same price i could try out HD Dvd but i wonder if it will do a decent job in comparison. 

I know the xbox drive will but i don't have much faith in it because i find the player to be really bad.  I don't currently use my xbox for dvds for that reason.  I guess i should have made that more clear in my question.  I would like a pretty nice quality when watching a movie and i found the standard player to be quite sub par.  The reason i decided to ask you guys was i initially was goin to just get the Oppo to get a solid quality picture.  Then i realized for the same price i could try out HD Dvd but i wonder if it will do a decent job in comparison. 

youstew

The 360 does the same upconversion wether you have the HD-DVD drive or not.......the drives do not process the video only the system itself does.....

As far as quality is concerned....I have a Sony Bravia 1080p XBR and the VGA upconversion looks really good....I also have the HD-DVD drive and the picture looks the same in both drives when using standard DVD discs......

Look for an article on extremetech.com about the Xbox 360 as a DVD player.  They pretty much say it is one of the worst DVD players out there for use on HDTVs.  Personally, I think it looks fine, but that's what the experts say. 

 As others have said, getting the HD-DVD drive does nothing for DVDs that the 360 itself doesn't already do.

Look for an article on extremetech.com about the Xbox 360 as a DVD player.  They pretty much say it is one of the worst DVD players out there for use on HDTVs.  Personally, I think it looks fine, but that's what the experts say. 

 As others have said, getting the HD-DVD drive does nothing for DVDs that the 360 itself doesn't already do.

b11051973

The extremetech article is older and before they added upconversion optimizations, as well as dashboard updates that improved picture quality...

The only players that I have seen that show a much better picture quality than most DVD players/Xbox 360 are the DENON upconversion models...the 360 as of now, with upconversion, looks very good...

Also, the latest Denon players they use to compare are $800-$1000....for that money it should look better than a $400 gaming console....

Also the article admits to not using VGA output to do any of the tests....which hinders the test scores greatly....VGA can give a much less jagged picture quality....and many other improved results.....