Just got my HD DVD player!!!

T2k said:
a correctly encoded (and at half the bitrate of that MPEG2) - WM9 looks better than MPEG2.

Why not do a frame capture and prove it. 1080i Mpeg2 vs 1080i WMV9? I think the improvement you think you see is due to the 1080p resolution.
 
goaliebob99 said:
Ok I made the plunge :D.... I went to best buy yeasterday and saw Apollo 13 in hd dvd and I fell in love with it.. After 2 hours of convising the wife. I placed my Order with robert. I got the Toshiba hd-xa1 with 4 movies.. It was shipped out today!!! :) Should be here on tuesday :) just in time for me not to play as the school week really starts. :)

I ordered my XA1 from Robert as well; should be here by this weekend when I will be in HD DVD heaven. I haven't even seen a unit or display. It was the reports here and on AVSforum on the video & audio quality on HD DVD and the upconversion quality on SD DVD's that convinced me. And I've never been an 'early adopter of anything - I didn't buy my first first DVD until 2001, didn't buy my first HDTV until 2004. But, I definitely got hooked on HD. I have Dish HD service and OTA HD; 90% of broadcast TV I watch is in HD. I've been using a Denon 1910 upconverting DVD player for a couple of years, and the video quality set to 1080i seems about as good as Dish HD to me. In fact, TNT HD broadcast one of my favorite movies a few months back - The 5th Element. I was excited at seeing it in HD. Well, after a half hour or so I just popped my Superbit edition into the Denon and the video quality was at least as good as TNT HD, and the DTS soundtrack on the DVD made TNT sound like it was in mono.
When XAI owners reported they thought the upconversion on the Toshiba was better than their Denon 2910 & 3910 players (costing 2-3x as much as my 1910), I jumped on board. Can't wait for this weekend.:p
 
You want be diissapointed Cochise!!!The audio via digital or analog direct inputs sounds better than anything I have ever heard from my H/K 525(If you have direct analog inputs on your receiver I would hook it up thru this set-up also!!!!The analog direct sounds more richer.........BUTTTT dont get me wrong the digital output will blow you away also!!!!!!!..I'm waiting for the 16th of May.....Unforgiven & Full Metal Jacket....both of these are GREAT movies..I will most definately add these to my HDDVD collection!
 
vurbano said:
Why not do a frame capture and prove it. 1080i Mpeg2 vs 1080i WMV9? I think the improvement you think you see is due to the 1080p resolution.

Nope. I believe It's been proven all around the net, you can find enough samples anywhere - half the bitrate yet a little bit better quality. What's interesting is that at very high bitrate (10Mb) I found WM9 even better than my favourite, the otherwise excellent Xvid. :D
 
quickfire said:
You want be diissapointed Cochise!!!The audio via digital or analog direct inputs sounds better than anything I have ever heard from my H/K 525(If you have direct analog inputs on your receiver I would hook it up thru this set-up also!!!!The analog direct sounds more richer.........BUTTTT dont get me wrong the digital output will blow you away also!!!!!!!..I'm waiting for the 16th of May.....Unforgiven & Full Metal Jacket....both of these are GREAT movies..I will most definately add these to my HDDVD collection!

Thanks for the advice, quickfire. Yes, my Sony receiver has 5.1 analog direct input, which I've never used. I plan to connect the audio out from the XA1 with both 5.1 analog and digital optical. From what I've read here & elsewhere, the DD+ audio on HD DVD's should do better on 5.1 analog direct, whereas DTS audio tracks on SD DVD's might do better on digital. I'll just play around with it & see which I prefer.
 
CochiseGuy said:
Thanks for the advice, quickfire. Yes, my Sony receiver has 5.1 analog direct input, which I've never used. I plan to connect the audio out from the XA1 with both 5.1 analog and digital optical. From what I've read here & elsewhere, the DD+ audio on HD DVD's should do better on 5.1 analog direct, whereas DTS audio tracks on SD DVD's might do better on digital. I'll just play around with it & see which I prefer.
I also have a sony reciever and tried the analog hookup. Volume was a lot lower. I'm goinf to try better cables because I'm using the cables Dish provides with their recievers. The sub level is really low. I'm very happy with the coax digital hookup.
 
teamerickson said:
I also have a sony reciever and tried the analog hookup. Volume was a lot lower. I'm goinf to try better cables because I'm using the cables Dish provides with their recievers. The sub level is really low. I'm very happy with the coax digital hookup.

By all means get some good cables. I expected to be "wowed" by the video quality of HD DVD and I am, but I am blown away by the DD+ audio quality output by the XA1 on analog 5.1! My 5.1 suround sound system as never sounded so alive & full is it did with Serenity HD DVD. I didn't have any volume issues. I also hooked digital optical & switched back & forth a few times. Volume level was about the same on both. The digital audio was good, at least as good as the best DVD DTS. But the 5.1 audio which permits the player to output the Dolby Digital + HD DVD audio, was much, much better.
 
T2k said:
Nope. I believe It's been proven all around the net, you can find enough samples anywhere - half the bitrate yet a little bit better quality. What's interesting is that at very high bitrate (10Mb) I found WM9 even better than my favourite, the otherwise excellent Xvid. :D

I agree Xvid is even bigger crap than WMV. Can you point me to the "evidence"?
 
jgantert said:
How about for normal DVDs? Is the 5.1 analog still better than the 5.1 digital?

-John

I found I preferred the digital optical out for standard DVD, especially DVD's with DTS. I hooked both 5.1 analog & digital out of the XA1 to my Sony receiver. 5.1 analog out is the only way to currently enjoy the Dolby Digital+ audio on HD DVD's, since no receivers support format that yet. But my receiver's DACs seem to do a better job of decoding standard DVD DTS than the XA1. No problem, I just switch input in my receiver between 5.1 & digital when I put in a standard DVD.