Official DVD Movie Playback Controller (Xbox)

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 favourite 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

The IR unit has to be plugged into one of the four controller slots, which is fine if you don't have three mates playing games on it often.

The xbox itself plays dvd's fairly well, certainly better than most mid-range DVD players in themselves, but to really get the most, you need to get a better connection that the standard scart and use s-video. Sadly that costs you more money.

Personally, if I had a DVD player before buying xbox, I would not bother buying it - but the dvd kit makes your xbox into a perfectly acceptable DVD player with no hassles and is very easy to get to grips with


Only Region 2 playback   May 6, 2004
 7 out of 12 found this review helpful

Can't complain about the quality but it irks to spend additional money for DVD playback. The final straw is only having Region 2 playback - expanding this will probably be the next money Microsoft want to extract from us!