New HD DVD players announced!

[Ilya]

New HD DVD players announced!

​

Today at CEDIA EXPO 2006 Toshiba has officially announced two second generation HD DVD players: HD-A2 ($499.99 - October availability) and HD-XA2 ($999.99 - expected in December).

HD-XA2 will offer HDMI 1.3 and will output 1080p.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

Wow I am a little surprised they are gonna raise the price on the higher end model. I'm not shocked because of the new features it's adding but it's surprising.

People that are interested in the format and need analog inputs for the higher end sound better start looking to get a 1st gen model. Otherwise it's at least $500 increase to get that feature on a Gen 2 model.

 

[Ilya]

I just uploaded the images (see above).

 

[spectrumsp]

Did they say what they would use to support the 1080p output, other than HDMI...

The reason I ask is that I have a 52" Mitsubishi 1080p HD and it ony accepts
1080p input thru its firewire connection...

TIA...

Spectrumsp :

 

[austen0316]

pics are not coming up when you click on them

 

[mcdeeee]

Pics no worky.

 

[williamkmurphy]

Toshiba mention anything about disk load and boot times?

 

[rockaway1836]

Robert from VE says they are about 20 seconds faster.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=723570

 

[Ilya]

pics are not coming up when you click on them

Sorry about that. Fixed.

 

[vurbano]

I think stripping down the A2 is a HUGE mistake. No 5.1 outputs? I believe what made Toshiba sell so much better than BluRay was the incredible value of the A1.

 

[BFG]

Does your TV need to have 1.3 for 1080p to work?

Because I know TVs out right now that will accept 1080p input but are not 1.3, so kinda confused.

and what do you mean there's no 5.1 output on a2? that's kinda strange, don't all dvds have that, or are you talking about the seperate outputs of 5 channels?

 

[JonUrban]

Will the HD-XA2 do DVD-Audio and SACD? There are indicators there for these HiRez audio formats. Anyone seen a spec?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I second JonUrban's post. Until one of these players, either HD DVD or Blu-Ray, offers DVD-Audio and SACD support, I'm not interested.

 

[rad]

I second JonUrban's post. Until one of these players, either HD DVD or Blu-Ray, offers DVD-Audio and SACD support, I'm not interested.

While I have both DVD-A and SACD disc's I've come to realize that they're both dead formats (maybe DVD-A will live but I doubt it). With the small numbers of current users of those formats and record companies not really supporting either format why waste the dollars on something that a very small minority would want. I'd rather have backlit remotes

 

[JoeSp]

I have read that if you have a tv that can accept 1080p it probably has HDMI 1.2a. That is the first HDMI level that can trasmit and receive 1080p. And I have also read that HDMI 1.3 is fully backwards compatible with all the HDMI formats. My question is if it is backwards to DVI for video @ 1080i?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I love several of my DVD-A and SACD discs. I would like to continue to buy more, but I have separate players for both now and would rather not have to add a third player into my A/V system to handle a DVD HD format too. My present DVD player supports DVD-A.

So I will either pop for an expensive player that provides these options, or I will wait a year or two for prices to drop. I'm a patient man.

 

[vurbano]

I second JonUrban's post. Until one of these players, either HD DVD or Blu-Ray, offers DVD-Audio and SACD support, I'm not interested.

That should tell you something.

 

[jgantert]

DVD-Audio and SACD are dead. Just like VHS and VCD. I don't expect to see any VHS/HD DVD combo players, nor any HD DVD players that play VCD (my RCA doesn't, not sure about the 2nd gen ones).

-John

 

[JonUrban]

DVD-Audio and SACD are dead.

-John

Well, I guess that settles it. "John" has spoken.........................

 

[vurbano]

Well, I guess that settles it. "John" has spoken.........................

I dont think they are even in the new BD or HD DVD specs and certainly not included on most DVD players. Id say they are dead at the moment as far as HD goes.