Returned my hd dvd player

Ears · « **on:** 28 Apr 2006, 08:55 pm »

I couldn't resist trying one of these when I found I could buy one 4 days before they were supposed to go on sakle at BB.

So I brought it home and plugged it in to find its built in fan/s are about as loud as my 2 year old average dell pc....thats if I were to pull the pc out, and stick it whitin a few inches of my ear

Anyway, the picture is great, and better than sd dvd on my 106" screen, but not quite as sharp as the best d-vhs titles.
The audio is kind of a mess on all the first Warner titles with DD+ , which will not pass via coax or optical until downressed into some form of DD..which oddly enough reads as DTS to your gear...which is not even on the discs

The audio from Warner titles via coax/optical is down about 15db from normal levels...and sounds far worse than well done DD/DTS from a regular sd dvd.

So you want to use analog 5.1 or hdmi only from the player to actually get DD+.
Its still down a few DB on Warner titles but sounds great.
This player is very picky about analog cables and hum also.

I never timed how long it takes to play an hd dvd going from the player being turned off, but it seems like an eternity...or at least a couple minutes

Just advancing to the next chapter seems to take 2.5-3 seconds

I had a few freeze ups when trying to get the player to play an hd dvd and an sd dvd...but never during actual playback like some have reported.
I got the dark blue screen a few times instead of movie playback, as well as hdmi errors.
The remote is a pos...that can't hardly be read in the light, let alone in a dark setting....and you have to push the up down button very gently to get it to function correctly.

Any time you push any function button besides pause...and including the menu, the player starts the movie all over again, and my pj would have to re-sync...even if I just pushed menu on the remote

On one rental disc, the player asked me to check the hd or dvd playback box, evidently thinking it was a hybrid disc which are not even out yet.
I am sure I am missing a few quirks here....but this is already too many to put up with for the better audio/video imo.

The sd dvd playback itself looks suprisingly good....and just shy of the best players on the market imo.

I am going to just wait for Blu Ray in June....and possibly buy another hd dvd player down the road with hopefully a lot less quirks.

RooX · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Apr 2006, 10:16 pm »

lots of these issues havent been talked of much, are you sure you just didnt have a dud unit?

Ears · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 01:22 am »

The only issue I haven't seen talked about except for one other poster...was the hd and dvd box option.....the others are either living with these problems....or found some sort of work around for some of them.

For instance...every single player has the Warner optical/coaxial connection audio flub.

I have seen aftermarket hdmi booster boxes exc talked about...and some people with outboard processors might not have a problem with re-syncing./blue screen.

All players start at the begging if you go to the menu from what I have read also.......not sure how an outboard processor would affect this other than keep the display from re-syncing.

Most people that own this player say the problems are worth the picture and sound via analog or hdmi....but I can't put up with all these flaws/quirks.

The BB manager said I was the only return out of three, but the other two local stores had a couple of returns for picture freeze up....and also complaints of hdmi errors that were not returned.

Remember these are hard core early adoter types buying these with no average Joes at all....so after waiting this long, a lot of them will put up with a lot for hd on disc.

I have seen at least two articles that were less than positive so far also on the problems with the players/Warner titles audio ect..

Adz523 · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 01:48 am »

Great post - That acutally makes a lot of sense for most of us.
Buy it on a Friday, play with it all weekend to get the excitement out of your system and then return it on Sun/Monday and wait for the real thing - HD 2nd Gen when the audio formats and HDMI are finalized or Blue Ray.

Ears · « **Reply #4 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 02:06 am »

Quote from: Adz523

Great post - That acutally makes a lot of sense for most of us.
Buy it on a Friday, play with it all weekend to get the excitement out of your system and then return it on Sun/Monday and wait for the real thing - HD 2nd Gen when the audio formats and HDMI are finalized or Blue Ray.

I actually had it for 11 days, and returned it without the receipt my wife washed.

I would definitely have kept it like many will, and would put up with some quirks, but just not this many.
I will most likely buy a Blu Ray player the minute I can also...and if it has this many flaws/quirks....it will also go back.

I couldn't help but think what an average consumer would think of all of this....but I have a feeling if they were buying these at this time.....the return rate would be so high that there would be a recall

Eric5676 · « **Reply #5 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 01:46 pm »

Quote from: Adz523

Great post - That acutally makes a lot of sense for most of us.
Buy it on a Friday, play with it all weekend to get the excitement out of your system and then return it on Sun/Monday and wait for the real thing - HD 2nd Gen when the audio formats and HDMI are finalized or Blue Ray.

Exactly right, although the PS3 is going to make an excellent "stopgap" for that waiting period, imo.

Adz523 · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 01:50 pm »

Quote from: Q-BanditZ

Quote from: Adz523
Great post - That acutally makes a lot of sense for most of us.
Buy it on a Friday, play with it all weekend to get the excitement out of your system and then return it on Sun/Monday and wait for the real thing - HD 2nd Gen when the audio formats and HDMI are finalized or Blue Ray.

Exactly right, although the PS3 is going to make an excellent "stopgap" for that waiting period, imo.

Good point!

Ears · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Apr 2006, 04:14 am »

Another problem with the Toshiba hd dvd players is that they clip blacks via hdmi...which is supposed to be the defacto standard.
So no blacker than black via hdmi...only

component

Eric5676 · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Apr 2006, 02:25 pm »

Quote from: Ears

Another problem with the Toshiba hd dvd players is that they clip blacks via hdmi...which is supposed to be the defacto standard.
So no blacker than black via hdmi...only component

Trash.

What's really amazing to see on some forums more than other is:

Normally, most of those people would be squawking and raving mad and posting complaint thread after complaint thread, but somehow...not in this case?

Hmmm... I wonder why?...

PeteG · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 May 2006, 02:48 pm »

I had a chance to use the Tosh HD-A1 for a couple days, I played SD-DVD & two HD-DVD (Training Day/Jarhead).

This player was being returned do to freeze ups so I got to play with it before it went back. Training Day played straight trough no problems and I had one hic-cup on Jarhead than played all the way though.

I was impressed with the PQ the blacks looked great to me on Jarhead (night scene w/burning oil fields) it’s never looked better, also action scenes that moved fast looked great better than satellite HD & OTR-HD.

I watched a demo (2hrs) with the Sony BDP-S1 blu-ray and I was a little disappointed with the PQ but I don’t think the software was quite ready yet. I’ll try and wait for a 2nd-gen HD-DVD player or see how good the first-gen blu-ray players look but either way these first-gen players give you a taste of what’s to come, I’m excited about movies at home in HD.

Pete

Eric5676 · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 May 2006, 02:58 pm »

^^ We're all excited but I think skipping first gen anything is the most prudent choice by far, unless money simply is no object.

PeteG · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 May 2006, 03:45 pm »

Quote from: Q-BanditZ

^^ We're all excited but I think skipping first gen anything is the most prudent choice by far, unless money simply is no object.

You’re absolutely right; it even makes more sense to wait for the 3rd-gen players for better value and performance. But some people here (myself included) do not make rational decisions when it comes to electronics, that’s what my wife said (why do you need that) all the time.

Pete

Eric5676 · « **Reply #12 on:** 16 May 2006, 04:15 pm »

Quote from: PeteG

Quote from: Q-BanditZ
^^ We're all excited but I think skipping first gen anything is the most prudent choice by far, unless money simply is no object.

You’re absolutely right; it even makes more sense to wait for the 3rd-gen players for better value and performance. But some people here (myself included) do not make rational decisions when it comes to electronics, that’s what my wife said (why do you need that) all the time.

Pete

I know how it goes.

I've never early adopted in my life. Third gen was where I finally bought a dedicated standalone DVD player, but I want HD really bad so I've never been more tempted to early adopt than I am right now.

I hope the PS3 is a decent enough BR player. It's a long wait until November...

levesque · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 May 2006, 03:52 am »

I was able to try a Pio Elite Blu-Ray player last week side-by-side with my Toshiba HD-A1, paired with a Gennum VXP scaler and a Sony Ruby at 1080p on a 110" dia screen. The PQ was exactly the same...

For the price I've paid for my HD-A1, it's the best bargain I have ever made! 1080i de-interlaced (with true inverse telecine with my Gennum scaler) was exactly like the 1080p output from the Blu-Ray player. NO differences at all (and please don't tell me a Ruby can't show the differences...). It's really easy to reconstruct 1080p from 1080i with a good scaler.

I will buy a Blu-Ray player also. I don't care about HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, and who wins "the war". All I want is HD. But Toshiba did surprised me with that player, and particularly at that price. I would have paid 5000$ or more for a true HD player, and they sold it to me for 600$ cdn!!!

I just reprogrammed my universal remote, and since then I don't have any problems with my HD-A1. No freezing. I just leave it open 24/24, so the booting time doesn't bother me.

But! I have 1080p today, finally, and my Ruby never looked so good!

After trying 11 HD-DVD disks, I can't believe how good the picture is!

LightFire · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 May 2006, 04:35 am »

It looks like HD DVD and Blu-Ray are already obsolete!
Check this out:

http://www.hvd-alliance.org

Eric5676 · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 May 2006, 04:15 pm »

Quote from: LightFire

It looks like HD DVD and Blu-Ray are already obsolete!
Check this out:

http://www.hvd-alliance.org

Vaporware. I don't think they even have prototypes running yet.

In any event: Many years away from being practical or affordable, to say the least.

Certainly cool, though.

Levesque: How the heck did you gain access to that kind of equipment? The Pioneer BR player is several months away from release, is it not?

What discs did you use? There are no BR movies out yet.

Did you compare the Pioneer BR player against the Toshiba WITHOUT the benefit of the $5000 HQV processor?

Speaking of which...is that HQV even out yet?

We need a lot more information to flesh this out. Things simply aren't adding up at face value at present.

LightFire · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 May 2006, 10:14 pm »

Well it looks like the vaporware will be released by Maxell later this year! With more than 1 Terabyte of capacity. The disc is kept inside a cartridge. There is a picture in this link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/24/maxell_holo_storage

LightFire · « **Reply #17 on:** 20 May 2006, 10:19 pm »

Sorry. This is the link where it says when it will be released:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2005/11/24/maxell_holo_storage/

Ears · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 May 2006, 10:22 pm »

Quote from: LightFire

Well it looks like the vaporware will be released by Maxell later this year! With more than 1 Terabyte of capacity. The disc is kept inside a cartridge. There is a picture in this link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/24/maxell_holo_storage

I see no signs of any hollywood studio support for this format.....so who cares?

LightFire · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 May 2006, 10:36 pm »

Hollywood support is irrelevant. The audio (and now video as well) industry is a lot bigger than the Hollywood studios. Once this thing is out they will have to support it. Otherwise they will be just hacked. They never planned to support videos in iPods but now they do.