About the Xbox DVD Playback Kit - Information and where to buy it online.

The Xbox console has a built-in DVD-Rom drive. However, to watch DVD movies on your Xbox console, you need to buy the Xbox DVD Movie Playback Kit which includes the required hardware, the driver, and an infrared DVD remote control. Without it, the Xbox does NOT play DVDs but uses its DVD drive only to play games. Some retailers sell Xbox bundles with the DVD kit included.

If you already have a good DVD player at home, you don't really need to spend the extra money for the DVD kit. If you don't have a DVD player yet, then the DVD kit is a good investment. For the techies: Please note that the Xbox cannot playback DVD movies in progressive scan. (Neither can the Playstation 2 nor most stand-alone DVD players).

If you have an Xbox made in another country, but wish to view DVD movies region-coded for your country, then all you need to do is buy a local Xbox DVD kit and all is fine. The same is true vice versa. Please be aware though that the initial use of the DVD kit presets the Xbox irreversably to only play DVDs of that region, ie you cannot use two different Xbox DVD kits to watch DVD movies of different regions without hardware modification of your console. To learm more about circumvention of DVD region encoding, visit our Xbox Mod Chip page. Click here to learn more about DVD region codes. page.

In use: To install it, you simply plug the infrared receiver into a controller port. Easy! The infrared remote control works very well, and it has fluorescent buttons for easier operation. The remote is comfortable to hold and operate. The feature list contains a zoom mode, fast forward, slow/pause and all the other standard features of DVD players. The only drawback is the lack of a power on/off button.