Microsoft released their external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 this week with a hidden surprise: it works on your PC! Now for the fun part, and the part that I wasn't expecting when I went out to buy this drive. It turns out, thanks to the standard USB connection that the Xbox 360 uses, you can use the external HD-DVD drive on your PC; and it's easier than you might think.

Here you can see the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive sitting on top of an HTPC near my television, plugged in and connected to the rear of the system with the USB cable that came with it. The HTPC in use here uses an MSI NVIDIA 7600 GT video card with HDCP support (which is of course still required for HD-DVD playback on a PC) and an HDMI output.

PC Perspective