Toshiba HD-A2 to HD-XA2!!!! *grin*

[Ethancf]

Man, am I getting sick...I just took back my HD-A2 and bought an HD-XA2! What a nice player...nice and heavy! Firmware upgraded flawlessly. I'm kinda bummed though. My Parasound AVC-2500u has the connections for 5.1 analog, but I have to send the Parasound in to get what's called a 5.1 Volume Control card put in:

http://www.parasound.com/pdfs/vintag...structions.pdf

I fired everything up and switched to analog and thought I my speakers were going to blow out! The player must be controlling the volume until I get that module installed into my preamp. I was so ready to hear Batman Begins in TrueHD...oh well...the day will come.

I guess I missed that little upgrade nugget per:

http://www.parasound.com/vintage/avc2500u.php

Anyway, for all the XA2 users, I'd really like your feedback about the player.

Cheers!

[Early B.]

Don't know about the XA2, but I watched my first HD-DVD today on my new A2, and I gotta be honest, I wasn't blown away by the picture or sound quality. I was expecting it to be a great leap forward from standard DVD, but it wasn't. The movie was V for Vendetta.

I'll be watching 40-Year Old Virgin tomorrow, so hopefully things will improve.

[Ricardo]

Don't know about the XA2, but I watched my first HD-DVD today on my new A2, and I gotta be honest, I wasn't blown away by the picture or sound quality. I was expecting it to be a great leap forward from standard DVD, but it wasn't. The movie was V for Vendetta.

I'll be watching 40-Year Old Virgin tomorrow, so hopefully things will improve.

hmm...not good; are you sure all settings were right? At least I would expect the picture to blow me away....

By the way, I swapped from the A3 to the A30; $25 difference and I'll have it on Tuesday. But if I don't see a damn impressive difference I will send it back.

[Early B.]

hmm...not good; are you sure all settings were right? At least I would expect the picture to blow me away....

I guess so. Pic was set at 1080i (that's what my TV can handle). I got black bars above and below the screen. Are those supposed to be there? Sound was DTS and it was average sounding, at best, like the original SD. Still gotta upgrade the firmware, though. Having trouble makin' a copy of the ISO file. (It's always the simple things that 'eff you up.)

[Ricardo]

Are you using the HDMI connection?

My TV is also 1080i. I have the feeling that there's a karma that's gonna be canceled......

I don't expect any improvement in sound because processing will still be done by the receiver..but picture will better be awesome.

[Sherardp]

Don't know about the XA2, but I watched my first HD-DVD today on my new A2, and I gotta be honest, I wasn't blown away by the picture or sound quality. I was expecting it to be a great leap forward from standard DVD, but it wasn't. The movie was V for Vendetta.

I'll be watching 40-Year Old Virgin tomorrow, so hopefully things will improve.

What movie did you watch? +1 for the XA2 upgrade, Im in love with mine, very high quality player.

[Early B.]

Are you using the HDMI connection?

Yeah. HDMI direct from the player to the TV.

Hey Ric, don't be too quick to change your plans. I'm guessin' there's some user errors in there somewhere.

[Ethancf]

I just finished watching Mission Impossible III...what a crazy experience! I feel like my home theater was reborn. If you guys can't tell any difference in picture quality, something's definitely wrong. I was using a Sony DVP-NS999ES (Sony's flagship 480p max) DVD player, and even the A2 when I had it was night and day by comparison.

Did you dial in the settings on the player?

Anyone have experience with Dolby TrueHD runing through 5.1 analogs?

[Early B.]

I Still gotta upgrade the firmware, though. Having trouble makin' a copy of the ISO file. (It's always the simple things that 'eff you up.)

OK, I finally got it to work. For some reason, my A2 didn't like the Roxio and Nero copies, so I downloaded a small program called ISOrecorder and it worked fine. Not sure what differences it'll make, though.

[millerman 3732]

Don't know about the XA2, but I watched my first HD-DVD today on my new A2, and I gotta be honest, I wasn't blown away by the picture or sound quality. I was expecting it to be a great leap forward from standard DVD, but it wasn't. The movie was V for Vendetta.

I'll be watching 40-Year Old Virgin tomorrow, so hopefully things will improve.

your watching the wrong movies, I wasn't blown away by V either, but you are seeing it the way the director intended it to be seen. Try what others have suggested and try a couple toward the top of this list. BTW I don't think you'll be that impressed with 40 year old virgin either.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=856119

[Sherardp]

try Hot Fuzz, Matrix, Kong are just a few that come to mind.

[Early B.]

Don't know about the XA2, but I watched my first HD-DVD today on my new A2, and I gotta be honest, I wasn't blown away by the picture or sound quality. I was expecting it to be a great leap forward from standard DVD, but it wasn't. The movie was V for Vendetta.

I'll be watching 40-Year Old Virgin tomorrow, so hopefully things will improve.

Forget about what I said before. Not sure what happened, but between the firmware upgrade and watching 40-Year Old Virgin tonight, the picture and sound quality was exceptional. In fact, my wife and I have watched this movie several times, but we seemed to laugh more this time because we were noticing things that we couldn't see before. A couple of times we even heard the echo of the voices just like in a movie theater. Plus, I typically don't like the features on SD, but this movie had some outrageous features that had us laughing so hard that it hurt.

You fence straddling 'effers need to run, don't walk, and buy an HD-DVD player. At $200, it's definitely a no-brainer.

[Ethancf]

Threw in King Kong HD tonight...OH...MY...GREAT....GOOGLY...MOOGLY!!!

[BIZILL]

damn early, you almost had me ready to come unglued!!! glad you love your player now!:)

[jakelm]

Does anyone know how the XA2 compares to the XA1?

I am very pleased with the XA1, is it worth the upgrade? My Mit's native res is 1080i.

[BIZILL]

xa-2 has the reon chip that handles up-conversion far superior to any other models. i don't have one. cannot afford it like silverti prolly could. but from what i read, i salivate over it. that, or the new a-35. also, the 24/p. pass bitstream. yada yada.

[Sherardp]

go for the Xa2, its a very nice player. Its worth every penny.

[Ricardo]

So what am I missing by going with the A-30?? (Other than the 5.1 analog outs).

My TV does not do 1080p

[Ethancf]

So will there be an XA2 firmware upgrade for Dolby TrueHD and DTSHD to be able to get sent across either the optical or coax medium? Due to the age of my Parasound AVC-2500, I may not be able to get my 5.1 analogs to work (I'm so pissed about that), so I'm hoping this is a future firmware possibility.

[Sherardp]

So will there be an XA2 firmware upgrade for Dolby TrueHD and DTSHD to be able to get sent across either the optical or coax medium? Due to the age of my Parasound AVC-2500, I may not be able to get my 5.1 analogs to work (I'm so pissed about that), so I'm hoping this is a future firmware possibility.

Negative, it requires to much bandwidth to pass over optical/coax. There will be a firmware update coming for the XA2 to pass audio via bitstream over HDMI so the newer AVRs can handle the decoding.

[jakelm]

Negative, it requires to much bandwidth to pass over optical/coax. There will be a firmware update coming for the XA2 to pass audio via bitstream over HDMI so the newer AVRs can handle the decoding.

Thats excatly why I went with the XA1,...for 5.1 analog

[Ethancf]

So folks, I may be stuck now using only Coax or Optical...how night and day difference are we talking between TrueHD/Plus vs. Dolby Digital/DTS? Still 5.1 across the board with all formats mentioned...please convince me that upgrading my preamp for THD/Plus would be a waste.

[sbpolk]

...please convince me that upgrading my preamp for THD/Plus would be a waste.

Hmmm.... I can't do that for you! :D The lossless formats REALLY are that good! I have a pre with 5.1 inputs, and my XA2 is hooked up via those analogues. My PS3 though, only sends lossy over optical. For that reason, when I have a choice, I am always renting or buying the HD DVD version of a movie that is in available in both formats.

As soon as a pre/pro similar to mine is available with HDMI 1.3a inputs, which should happen in December or January, I will be buying one so I can take advantage of lossless audio on both formats.

[kuntasensei]

Is it awful that I have the Onkyo 705... totally capable of decoding all lossless formats... and I don't have HD-DVD or Blu-ray? I feel like I'm missing out here, but I haven't jumped into the format war yet since I'm using a 720p projector and 1080p isn't a seller for me.

[sbpolk]

Is it awful that I have the Onkyo 705... totally capable of decoding all lossless formats... and I don't have HD-DVD or Blu-ray? I feel like I'm missing out here, but I haven't jumped into the format war yet since I'm using a 720p projector and 1080p isn't a seller for me.

Have you seen 1080P displayed on your 720P projector? I have a 720P projector, and a 720P Pioneer Plasma, and I can tell you definitevely, you are missing out... :o

[Sherardp]

Is it awful that I have the Onkyo 705... totally capable of decoding all lossless formats... and I don't have HD-DVD or Blu-ray? I feel like I'm missing out here, but I haven't jumped into the format war yet since I'm using a 720p projector and 1080p isn't a seller for me.

If you have a PJ, youre missing out a whole lot, rather its 720p or 1080p you will still see a difference, just set the source to output 720p 0r 1080i.

[shahmichael@com]

HD dvd is fantastic,I have a 1080i hd-tv and my A-20 still LOOKS GREAT.The cost is so low now on either of the A-20,or A2 it is worth the extra money.I run it through my Elite and the sound is great:D

[jakelm]

I'll tell you this. I dont have a movie with TrueHD yet, 300 on my list, but DD+ is better than DD and DTS, through digital connection (coax/optical). The dynamic range for DD+ is awsome, shows as DTS on my AVR. I have it set as DTS + Neo 6. The sound quality is DTS +10

[AndyGwis]

Ethancf - if you are worried about missing out on the newer formats, you can probably pick up a solid AVR with multi-channel inputs on the cheap. I've seen some very solid Denons go for $250 - $350. I'd maybe think about selling your Parasound for something that has multi channel inputs. Just my 2 cents.

[Ethancf]

A preamp with DD and DTS that is almost 10 years old that cost $3000 vs. a Denon Receiver with the latest technology but only $250...what do I lose?