sandeep

I've had an xbox for a couple years now and play dvds and games on it regularly (dvd's more so than games actually). I even have one of the "bad" original dvd drives, but haven't seen any issues about the drive breaking down because I play dvds in it.

Keep one thing in mind however, that the xbox is louder than just about any dvd player out there. Unless you listen to movies with a great sound system, you'll probably hear the hum of the xbox.

As Cynthetiq has mentioned, dvd players can be had for pretty cheap. And don't expect the most amazing dvd player in the world with the xbox. I'd say the xbox dvd player is comparable to any low end, standalone dvd player available.

For me, it's handy to have the xbox play dvds, but if I was to put together anything more than a ghetto, "college-student" level A/V setup, I'd go with the standalone.