HP announced the HD100, the first USB 2.0-based external HD-DVD player, offering play-back of DVD movies on PC.

The drive is capable of reading HD DVD-ROM media at 2.4x CLV, DVDs at 5x CAV and CD at 14x CAV. 1x in HD DVD denotes 4560KB/s transfer rate. Double-layer DVD from both camps are also supported.



For HD playback, you will need at least a Pentium single-core 840 3.2Ghz or a AMD 64 X2 2.2Ghz in addition to a nVidia GeForce 7600GT or ATI X1600. External output will require an HDMI or HDCP enabled DVI-D connection. And that beccause some HD DVD Video titles may not be viewed on an analog display.

The HD100 comes with a copy of CyberLink PowerDVD HD DVD Edition.

The drive is due by the end of the year. HP did not provide pricing details.

In related news, HP also announced the Pavilion dv9000t, also sporting the HD DVD drive.