Toshiba HD-A1 a disgrace.

vurbano

On Double Secret Probation
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http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/toshiba-hda1-hd-dvd-player-reviewed-verdict-a-disgrace-174127.php

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Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player Reviewed (Verdict: “A Disgrace”)

READ MORE: HD DVD, HD-A1, Home Entertainment, Review, Toshiba


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Reviewers at Consumer Electronics Net weren’t impressed with the $500 Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player, calling it “a disgrace.” Fan noise, crashing, a clumsy remote and slow performance doomed the first-to-market player, and the reviewer wasn’t too impressed with its standard-definition DVD up-rezzing capability, either. There were even choice words for electronics retailer Best Buy, where a duplicitous blueshirt tried to sell the reviewer an unnecessary $100 HDMI cable, denying that there was already one included in the box. Said the reviewer of the Toshiba player:
“Please, do yourself a favor and don’t go through the trouble of buying it, setting it up and being frustrated by it. Wait until this format is more mature, because now, it reminds me of the early days of MS-DOS computing. The only reason I give it more than one star is because of the high quality of its video. Not recommended under any circumstances. 2 out of 10 stars.”​
Overall, it’s a disappointing performance for the HD DVD player for which we had such high hopes. It can only get better.
Review: Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player [Consumer Electronics Net]
 
http://tvs.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=42921



Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player First-to-market player is a disgrace By Charlie White
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The Toshiba HD-A1 ($500) is the first high definition disk player on the market. At the same time, HD DVD movies in this new format are slowly becoming available -- at this writing, there are approximately 20 titles on sale for the nascent HD DVD format. We took a close look at this first HD DVD player, putting it through its paces with both HD DVDs and standard-definition DVDs, and found it to be a frustrating experience that we hope amounts to the consumer electronics equivalent of opening-night jitters.

Taking the HD-A1 out of its box, its appearance reminded me of the first days of consumer VCRs, where early VHS machines looked almost identical to this HD DVD player. Not only is it boxy and ugly, but it's big -- it really is about the size of early VHS recorders. Its squared-off design shows little imagination; I was hoping for a more impressive appearance from the first iteration of this brand new format.

As I started up the player, I was immediately disappointed to hear fan noise emanating from the back of the unit. It wasn't just subtle whirring of the cooling unit, either -- it was almost as loud as some of the quieter projectors we've tested here at the Midwest Test Facility. Not good. Fan noise of any kind is not welcome, especially in a home theater environment. We were off to a rocky start.

Nevertheless, I was still optimistic as I started up the player. So what if it didn't look beautiful? The most important thing about this unit was its usability and playback quality. My optimism took another hit as I pressed the On button, and unlike any other DVD player or audio device I've used in the past, this HD DVD player acted like a computer, taking a full 35 seconds between the time I turned it on and when it was actually ready to accept the DVD. Does it actually have to boot up? Yes.
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The A1 has HDMI and component outputs, as well as an Ethernet port, optical and coaxial audio outputs, and individual 5.1 audio outputs.

Picking up the huge remote, I shuddered at its almost-laughable length, nearly a foot long and made of cheap plastic with sharp edges. I struggled to open the battery compartment door, and after putting the four AAA batteries inside, the compartment door balked at my closing it. The piece of plastic that covers the battery compartment has to be one of the cheapest and worst-designed battery door assemblies I've ever encountered.

Once the batteries were installed, I immediately encountered the appalling inferiority of this remote. It is virtually impossible to see the labels for each button on the remote, where the background in gray and the lettering is a slightly lighter shade of gray. There is no illumination on the remote, and virtually impossible to see the labels. This remote's design is absolutely abominable, and I immediately deemed it completely useless. Anyone using this HD DVD player is advised to get a universal remote forthwith.

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Then, as I plugged in the included HDMI cable into the back of the player and into our 37-inch LCD TV, the player seemed confused -- it wasn't communicating with the monitor. Diving into the documentation, I noticed that it's necessary to set the resolution in order for the screen to communicate with the player. After doing so, there was still an HDMI error. The documentation instructed me to unplug the HDMI cables and plug them back in again. After doing that, the two devices were finally able to communicate with each other. Why is this shiny new connector type, the much-heralded HDMI, so clunky that it can't even mate with a garden-variety LCD TV set? My out-of-box-experience continued to deteriorate.

Before I go on, allow me to warn you about HDMI cables and electronics purveyor Best Buy. Before receiving our review unit, I wanted to get a feel for the consumer experience with this player, and asked a sales person at Best Buy if the Toshiba HD DVD player package included an HDMI cable. He told me it didn't. Thinking that I would need an HDMI cable to connect the review unit to our LCD monitor, I looked over the choices at Best Buy, where there were none available for less than around $100. Fortunately, I had scanned the Web for HDMI cable prices before I made my shopping trip, noticing that most of the cables sold for between $15 and $20. Refusing to pay the $100 Best Buy HDMI cable "tax," I went back to the office, thinking I would pick one up on the Web. When I received the HD DVD player, I discovered that it did indeed include an HDMI cable. I immediately began to think that this business of selling HDMI cables for $100 when they can be bought on the Web for $20 was nothing short of price gouging on the part of Monster Cable and its accomplice, Best Buy. Buyer beware.


Next, I put the HD DVD of Phantom of the Opera into the player. I was chagrined to see that it took exactly 47 seconds between the time I put the HD DVD into the player and the time the picture appeared on the screen. With the disk finally began its playback, my frustration and gnashing of teeth quickly abated, because I saw a magnificent high-definition picture on my screen the likes of which I hadn't seen before. There were very few compression artifacts, the sound was crisp and clear, and the colors were extremely saturated. Here was the nearly-saving grace of the Toshiba HD-A1. The HD DVD format is capable of magnificent playback quality. That factor alone may make this player worth its $500 purchase price.

Now that I've gushed all over this player's quality, let's get back to the realities of this ill-conceived product. Accidentally pushing the stop button on the illogically-arranged remote happened more times than I care to admit, and quite a few times, an error message showed up on the front of the player: "HDMI Error D" The only way to fix it was to unplug the HDMI cables and plug them back in again -- even a restart of the player didn't work. This sort of foolishness is simply unacceptable in a consumer electronics device.

Next, I wanted to test the up-rezzing capability when playing back standard definition DVDs. Yes, there was a slight improvement when using the A1's up-rezzing capability with DVDs, but it's still apparent that the DVDs are in standard definition, with quality that's nowhere near that of high-definition television. Don't kid yourself into thinking that this up-rezzed video will satisfy your cravings for HDTV, because it doesn't even come close. Counterintuitively, it didn't seem to make any difference when I changed the resolution settings when playing back a standard definition DVD, where the enhancement looked the same whether it was set for 480p, 720p, or 1080i.

tosh_front_hero.jpg


Inexplicably, after playing a standard definition DVD, it's necessary to set the resolution back to either 720p or 1080i when playing an HD DVD again. With all the technology brought to bear in this HD DVD format, why isn't it possible to automatically sense what sort of disk is in the player, and with the HDMI cables, what sort of display is being addressed?


Summing up, using the Toshiba HD-A1 was a frustrating experience. Beguiled by its gorgeous high-definition video, I was even more frustrated at its sluggish response to remote commands and crashing performance. Its clumsy remote sets a new low in inept design, configured in a way that reveals that its designers were apparently completely unaware that human beings would be using it. Adding to its long list of shortcomings is the HD-A1's inability to handle that holy grail of the HD DVD format, 1080p.

I can only hope that this is just a rough first effort which was perhaps rushed to market. The Toshiba HD-A1 is unacceptable, even for early adopters. Please, do yourself a favor and don't go through the trouble of buying it, setting it up and being frustrated by it. Wait until this format is more mature, because now, it reminds me of the early days of MS-DOS computing. The only reason I give it more than one star is because of the high quality of its video. Not recommended under any circumstances. 2 out of 10 stars.
 
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What a crappy article, show some bias please. :rolleyes:

Taking the HD-A1 out of its box, its appearance reminded me of the first days of consumer VCRs, where early VHS machines looked almost identical to this HD player. Not only is it boxy and ugly, but it's big -- it really is about the size of early VHS recorders. Its squared-off design shows little imagination; I was hoping for a more impressive appearance from the first iteration of this brand new format.

I like how it looks, there is power inside that box and it shows.

As I started up the player, I was immediately disappointed to hear fan noise emanating from the back of the unit. It wasn't just subtle whirring of the cooling unit, either -- it was almost as loud as some of the quieter projectors we've tested here at the Midwest Test Facility. Not good. Fan noise of any kind is not welcome, especially in a home theater environment. We were off to a rocky start.

It is not that loud and he agrees with me when he writes "it was almost as loud as some of the quieter projectors", he is just nit-picking.

Nevertheless, I was still optimistic as I started up the player. So what if it didn't look beautiful? The most important thing about this unit was its usability and playback quality. My optimism took another hit as I pressed the On button, and unlike any other player or audio device I've used in the past, this HD player acted like a computer, taking a full 35 seconds between the time I turned it on and when it was actually ready to accept the DVD. Does it actually have to boot up? Yes.

It does take a while to boot up, but what he does not say is the time saved because you do not have to go through the Menu anymore, the menu is now 'in-movie', so that saves some time.

Picking up the huge remote, I shuddered at its almost-laughable length, nearly a foot long and made of cheap plastic with sharp edges. I struggled to open the battery compartment door, and after putting the four AAA batteries inside, the compartment door balked at my closing it. The piece of plastic that covers the battery compartment has to be one of the cheapest and worst-designed battery door assemblies I've ever encountered.

Once the batteries were installed, I immediately encountered the appalling inferiority of this remote. It is virtually impossible to see the labels for each button on the remote, where the background in gray and the lettering is a slightly lighter shade of gray. There is no illumination on the remote, and virtually impossible to see the labels. This remote's design is absolutely abominable, and I immediately deemed it completely useless. Anyone using this HD player is advised to get a universal remote forthwith.


Now how hard is it to do the batteries, my 11 year hold put them in the remote.

Then, as I plugged in the included HDMI cable into the back of the player and into our 37-inch TV, the player seemed confused -- it wasn't communicating with the monitor. Diving into the documentation, I noticed that it's necessary to set the resolution in order for the screen to communicate with the player. After doing so, there was still an HDMI error. The documentation instructed me to unplug the HDMI cables and plug them back in again. After doing that, the two devices were finally able to communicate with each other. Why is this shiny new connector type, the much-heralded HDMI, so clunky that it can't even mate with a garden-variety TV set? My out-of-box-experience continued to deteriorate.

Did anyone notice the timeline of this-first he had a HDMI error ( I bet it was on the wrong input or....) then he reads the manual, but I think he is not telling the truth because in the paragraph after next he writes "Next, I put the HD of Phantom of the Opera into the player", you only get the error if you have a HD DVD in it, you do not get the error if no movie is in the player, I don't get the error if I changed inputs with a regular DVD in it, only with a HD-DVD.

Before I go on, allow me to warn you about HDMI cables and electronics purveyor Best Buy. Before receiving our review unit, I wanted to get a feel for the consumer experience with this player, and asked a sales person at Best Buy if the Toshiba HD player package included an HDMI cable. He told me it didn't. Thinking that I would need an HDMI cable to connect the review unit to our monitor, I looked over the choices at Best Buy, where there were none available for less than around $100. Fortunately, I had scanned the Web for HDMI cable prices before I made my shopping trip, noticing that most of the cables sold for between $15 and $20. Refusing to pay the $100 Best Buy HDMI cable "tax," I went back to the office, thinking I would pick one up on the Web. When I received the HD player, I discovered that it did indeed include an HDMI cable. I immediately began to think that this business of selling HDMI cables for $100 when they can be bought on the Web for $20 was nothing short of price gouging on the part of Monster Cable and its accomplice, Best Buy. Buyer beware.

First, don't believe Best Buy workers for anything, second, they so sell other HDMI cables, they have the cheap ones and they have the AR cables which are great and then half the price of the Monster Cables

Next, I put the HD of Phantom of the Opera into the player.I was chagrined to see that it took exactly 47 seconds between the time I put the HD into the player and the time the picture appeared on the screen. With the disk finally began its playback, my frustration and gnashing of teeth quickly abated, because I saw a magnificent high-definition picture on my screen the likes of which I hadn't seen before. There were very few compression artifacts, the sound was crisp and clear, and the colors were extremely saturated. Here was the nearly-saving grace of the Toshiba HD-A1. The HD DVD format is capable of magnificent playback quality. That factor alone may make this player worth its $500 purchase price.

Wow, he says something good.


Now that I've gushed all over this player's quality, let's get back to the realities of this ill-conceived product. Accidentally pushing the stop button on the illogically-arranged remote happened more times than I care to admit, and quite a few times, an error message showed up on the front of the player: "HDMI Error D" The only way to fix it was to unplug the HDMI cables and plug them back in again -- even a restart of the player didn't work.This sort of foolishness is simply unacceptable in a consumer electronics device.

Don't change the inputs.

Next, I wanted to test the up-rezzing capability when playing back standard definition Yes, there was a slight improvement when using the A1's up-rezzing capability with DVDs, but it's still apparent that the DVDs are in standard definition, with quality that's nowhere near that of high-definition television. Don't kid yourself into thinking that this up-rezzed video will satisfy your cravings for HDTV, because it doesn't even come close. Counterintuitively, it didn't seem to make any difference when I changed the resolution settings when playing back a standard definition, where the enhancement looked the same whether it was set for 480p, 720p, or 1080i.

It is a great up-converting player, but of course you cannot make SD look HD, you cannot add information to SD DVD, only up-convert what is there.

Inexplicably, after playing a standard definition DVD, it's necessary to set the resolution back to either 720p or 1080i when playing an HD DVD again. With all the technology brought to bear in this HD DVD format, why isn't it possible to automatically sense what sort of disk is in the player, and with the HDMI cables, what sort of display is being addressed?

Not every TV will take the same signal, my older HDTV will only take 1080i, my newer one will take both 720P and 1080i, how the hell is the player going to know how you want to watch and at what resolution.


Summing up, using the Toshiba HD-A1 was a frustrating experience. Beguiled by its gorgeous high-definition video, I was even more frustrated at its sluggish response to remote commands and crashing performance. Its clumsy remote sets a new low in inept design, configured in a way that reveals that its designers were apparently completely unaware that human beings would be using it. Adding to its long list of shortcomings is the HD-A1's inability to handle that holy grail of the HD DVD format, 1080p.

How many sets are out there that will take 1080P, not many.

I can only hope that this is just a rough first effort which was perhaps rushed to market.The Toshiba HD-A1 is unacceptable, even for early adopters. Please, do yourself a favor and don't go through the trouble of buying it, setting it up and being frustrated by it. Wait until this format is more mature, because now, it reminds me of the early days of MS-DOS computing. The only reason I give it more than one star is because of the high quality of its video.Not recommended under any circumstances. 2 out of 10 stars.

Most of the problems he had would not of happened if he just read the manual before he did the hook up, I love mine and have had no problems except for one time I switched inputs on the TV, it has been close to perfect for a new format to me.
 
There is no way a machine this advanced should be that buggy. I agree with the reviewer. Its refreshing to hear an honest opinion and not some Rah Rah crap from an excited consumer.
 
bruce said:
Inexplicably, after playing a standard definition DVD, it's necessary to set the resolution back to either 720p or 1080i when playing an HD DVD again. With all the technology brought to bear in this HD DVD format, why isn't it possible to automatically sense what sort of disk is in the player, and with the HDMI cables, what sort of display is being addressed?

Not every TV will take the same signal, my older HDTV will only take 1080i, my newer one will take both 720P and 1080i, how the hell is the player going to know how you want to watch and at what resolution.

The player doesnt know to switch back the resolution of the HD DVD disk its now playing after playing a standard DVD. It cannot recognize that it now has an HD DVD in the drive. You have to switch it back manually according to the reviewer. I would think that the HD output mode would be set for all disks in a menu somewhere. On my upconverting DVD player output is set always for 1080i and I never hve to change anything. Whether not not its an mpeg2 HD disk I have created, a network stream or a standard DVD. For this caliber of a player to have this problem is pretty crappy IMO.
 
I am not knocking it and to be fair....(long)

teamerickson said:
Did you see the part about "gorgeous high-definition video"? :(

I have only seen it at Best Buy (yes it was big, ugly and the remote was a joke but......I asked them to play an SD DVD and upconvert it to 720P for me....My Pioneer Elite 59i ate it for lunch ...Also georgeous HD content comes from my 4DTV/HDD200 BUD setup, so it will take a lot to impress me! (spoiled myself rotten for lots of years now):)

Now, BB was hooked up to a Westinghouse Plasma (probably the worst of ther worst...spell DUMB for me please), so I would think my HP Plasma shows off an upconverted signal better anyway. (has a Panasonic panel since HP really does not make mostly anything for themselves.)

To be fair...this is the first of the first and I would imagine things will get better and cheaper in the not in distant future, but soon...ALSO I HAVE NEVER LIKED ANY TOSHIBA DVD PLAYER! Again, to be fair, the Pioneer Elite is a $1000 (last year) upconverting player, not a normal el cheapo that is probably being used for comparison...

If things do not improve....the entire format war will be a joke and the format(s) will die, without consumer acceptance. That will only occur with 3 circumstances (IMHO... PRICE, PRICE, & PRICE) + OF COURSE THE WILDCARD...Blockbuster!

To make matters worse, there is much less disposable income around these days due to gas prices and screaming inflation...that adds trouble! (which another poster pointed out).

This is the 1st time I have sat on the fence...even had a nice Quadrophonic setup with the REAL Akai Reel to Reel recorder! Nice but it lost too...then I had a REAL Nakamachi cassette ($750 for the lower end model ...if you called their customer service with a question...YOU SPOKE WITH MR NAKAMICHI HIMSELF!!! They were handmade. Then cassette format faded away! Then there was my original TUBE Mcintosh amp/preamp setup (which I nwish I had kept). and the list goes on and on.

So it is not like I do not jump in...JUST NOT THIS TIME!!!:mad:

There is too much at stake here and remember, Toshiba Corporate staked a lot on beating Blue Ray to market! The corporate philosophy is, lowest bidder wins and let the public be the beta testers (just like Microcrap does).

Still keeping an open mind, but I will not buy a Toshiba anything more or less a new product...will wait for a nicer unit from a better manufacturer if I make the move anyway. PROBLEM IS...ALMOST EVERYTHING IS NOW BEING MADE IN CHINA AND IS PURE CRAP!

Maybe Sunfire (the old Carver) will make one:) More than likely, it will be another Pioneer Elite unit depending on the format, war, and build quality of their Elite line which is slowly going downhill as well.

Interestingly Harmon Kardon (also made in China) makes decent quality Receivers, and well priced as far as receivers go (SO IT CAN BE DONE!)...actually still using a high current design...Maybe we can convience Velodyne to enter the HD-DVD market:rolleyes:

Luck to all brave enough to be first!!! Getting too old to fool around until things settle down!
Jeff
 
vurbano said:
The player doesnt know to switch back the resolution of the HD DVD disk its now playing after playing a standard DVD. It cannot recognize that it now has an HD DVD in the drive. You have to switch it back manually according to the reviewer. I would think that the HD output mode would be set for all disks in a menu somewhere. On my upconverting DVD player output is set always for 1080i and I never hve to change anything. Whether not not its an mpeg2 HD disk I have created, a network stream or a standard DVD. For this caliber of a player to have this problem is pretty crappy IMO.
You don't have to change anything. You leave it at 1080i.
 
vurbano said:
There is no way a machine this advanced should be that buggy. I agree with the reviewer. Its refreshing to hear an honest opinion and not some Rah Rah crap from an excited consumer.

You don't own one, I do, and it works great, I just got done watching X-Men 1 on it while on the exercise bike, best up-converting picture I have seen, and I used to have a HTPC.

The biggest problem is the HDMI error if you change inputs, yes you have to re-boot the machine, just don't change inputs while watching a HD DVD.
 
vurbano said:
The player doesnt know to switch back the resolution of the HD DVD disk its now playing after playing a standard DVD. It cannot recognize that it now has an HD DVD in the drive. You have to switch it back manually according to the reviewer. I would think that the HD output mode would be set for all disks in a menu somewhere. On my upconverting DVD player output is set always for 1080i and I never hve to change anything. Whether not not its an mpeg2 HD disk I have created, a network stream or a standard DVD. For this caliber of a player to have this problem is pretty crappy IMO.

I also leave mine on 1080i, this is the best looking picture, then if I put in a HD DVD I am all set. to me for regular DVDs
 
The player is very slow and buggy. What is a disgrace is that they have not put a firmware update out on the internet yet to fix these issues.

If you go through the 2 minutes of getting the movie started then do not touch the remote once the movie is playing, then most likely you will be able to view the entire movie without issue. You try pausing and trying to single step around the movie you run a lot of risk locking up the player. There is no backward frame step, and the forward one only works on some disks.

Aside from the early adopters like me (and others on this forum) that will put up with a lot of pain, the average consumer will not put up with it. If blu-ray launches next month with slick perfectly working players HD-DVD will have a real problem. But, in HD-DVD's favor the blu-ray players will probably be just as buggy to start with.
 
Hd dvd is amazing

This reviewer is a moron. Very biased. It takes 45 seconds to start my computer so what. Look at what you are getting for this little pain. The best hd picture in the world, amazing 1080i like it should be not watered down 1080i dish style. the picture looks progressive 1080p to me , it is so clear and sharp. I havae waited 4 years for hd dvd, you have to wait 45 seconds for a clear picture. Don't you have to wait 45 seconds before you have sex with you wife, she gets ready etc. same concept. Wake up and smell the roses no instant gratification , not something as new as hd dvd.
 
bruce said:
What a crappy article, show some bias please. :rolleyes:

Bruce, every article Ive read has criticized the load times and called the remote garbage. How on earth can you refuse to see any shortcomings?


from consumer reports:

"Lethargic controls. Both players took a relatively long time to load HD-DVD discs and to skip chapters. The remote control of the HD-A1SN worked inconsistently, sometimes producing a response from the player and sometimes not. "



The remote apparently is a clear indication that this was a rush job. Just because you kid can put batteries in it doesnt make it an acceptable remote. In 2006, for a remote to be that bad on such a high end piece of equipment does qualify as a disgrace IMO. Remote technology is not a new thing. All the author is saying is that the prudent consumer will be much happier with the 2nd generation product.
 
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mike123abc said:
The player is very slow and buggy. What is a disgrace is that they have not put a firmware update out on the internet yet to fix these issues.

If you go through the 2 minutes of getting the movie started then do not touch the remote once the movie is playing, then most likely you will be able to view the entire movie without issue. You try pausing and trying to single step around the movie you run a lot of risk locking up the player. There is no backward frame step, and the forward one only works on some disks.

Aside from the early adopters like me (and others on this forum) that will put up with a lot of pain, the average consumer will not put up with it. If blu-ray launches next month with slick perfectly working players HD-DVD will have a real problem. But, in HD-DVD's favor the blu-ray players will probably be just as buggy to start with.

Finally an honest review.
 
teamerickson said:
You don't have to change anything. You leave it at 1080i.



Ilya said:
Second, the player refuses to upconvert most of the DVDs over component output and displays a message: "High resolution output is prohibited for this content. Resolution was changed to 480p."

Apparently the reviewer had to change it back when he played an HD DVD disk. It works on some units and not on others?
 
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The Upconversion is NOT really good IMHO

vurbano said:
Apparently the reviewer had to change it back when he played an HD DVD disk. It works on some units and not on others?

To begin.,..I do not (and never have) liked Toshiba DVD products. If you compare their HD-DVD's Upconversion to a mediocre SD Upconverting player...it will look good...HOWEVER if you compare it to say my Pioneer Elite 59i (last year's top of the line model) It is NOT really good! IMHO And I am sure there are SD players that do it even better that the Pioneer!

To be fair...this thing was rushed to market to beat Blue ray...things can only get better!

Jeff
 
gizzer777 said:
To begin.,..I do not (and never have) liked Toshiba DVD products. If you compare their HD-DVD's Upconversion to a mediocre SD Upconverting player...it will look good...HOWEVER if you compare it to say my Pioneer Elite 59i (last year's top of the line model) It is NOT really good! IMHO And I am sure there are SD players that do it even better that the Pioneer!

Have you compared it then?

I have the Panasonic 82 DVD player which was considered one of the best up-converting players out there, it beats it.

I have the Zenith 318, it is one of the few players that up-converts to 1080i via component, the Toshiba beats it ( via HDMI, the Zenith I used my DVI output ), the Zenith looks great via component but via DVI it had a White crush problem.

There is a poll at AVS that shows that 369 folks that gave it a thumbs up and 42 gave it a thumbs down, 4 ( so far ) of the thumbs down folks who voted have been proven to never have owned one.
 
bruce said:
The biggest problem is the HDMI error if you change inputs, yes you have to re-boot the machine, just don't change inputs while watching a HD DVD.
I've never had to reboot after a HDMI error. I just change back the input and start the movie over.
 
mike123abc said:
If blu-ray launches next month with slick perfectly working players HD-DVD will have a real problem. But, in HD-DVD's favor the blu-ray players will probably be just as buggy to start with.
According to other threads Blue-ray may be more buggy. Chapter studders, pixilation on fast moving scenes.
 
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