Question (1 Viewer)

[John-M]

I just got a HD-A2 DVD player for my early Christmas present so I called Tobisha for the 2.0 firmware CD but they said they don't even have a CD avaiable for it :frowning: I did send in the mailer though and maybe I will get it?

Also if I don't get the CD, I do have eternet but do the player have to be turn on to install or can it be turned off and I plug the modem in and the install will show up on the computer?

I also got Sleepy Hollow HD for Christmas but I don't see a difference between the SD (what does that mean) and HD but that may be my crappy 19 inch TV, guess I need a bigger TV to see the difference?

Thanks...

 

[dpippel]

The 2.0 firmware is for Toshiba's first generation players (HD-A1 and HD-XA1), not the HD-A2. As far as I know the company hasn't released any firmware updates for the A2 yet.

19" TV?!? Well, if you don't have a high definition display you aren't gonna see high definition DVD. Time to either sell your HD-A2 or shell out some cash for a HDTV. "SD" stand for S)tandard D)efinition.

 

[John-M]

Thanks, no wonder it is not avaiable, guess I will wait for CD unless I can plug in the modem in the player and it will upgrade? I am not going to sell it, why sell it for? I am just going to save money for HDTV in 5 years or so

 

[Steve Schaffer]

It won't upgrade via ethernet either because there is no upgrade for this model yet. The 2.0 upgrade was for the first generation units and is not applicable to your player.

I'd return it now, if I were you as it will probably be dead before you get the appropriate tv in 5 years.

 

[John-M]

Yeah, I will sell it in 5 years whenever there is a better quaility of HD-DVD players in 5 years

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think people are suggesting that you mate the quality of your DVD player with the 19" TV, and that the TV won't give you the quality of High Definition resolution from the A2, so selling it, and using a conventional SD (Standard Definition) DVD player would be more prudent until you have a HD TV set capable of revealing the additional detail and resolution that comes from a HD DVD player, like the A2. Right now, you're just seeing downconverted SD 480i (or 480p) content from the HD DVD source.

 

[Carlo_M]

To put it in perspective John, I don't know what model your 19" TV is, but I'm going to guess it's several years old (or more) and probably not HD. That means that TV is probably giving you between 330-425 lines of resolution max (unless it's a 19" flat panel LCD TV that has a higher resolution).

DVD Resolution is ~425 lines
HD-DVD/BluRay is 1080 lines

So really, your TV is likely incapable of resolving anything past DVD quality, if that.

If it really will be 5 years before you can upgrade your TV (and it's not just a matter of size but also resolution), then it would behoove you to downgrade by selling/returning your HD-DVD player and getting a regular DVD player or spending all of that money on DVD software. The resolution loss will not be noticeable at all on your TV. In 5 years, HD-DVD players will cost as much as DVD players do now (okay, maybe not $49 like the Lite-on or Insignias, but certainly in the $100-$200 range), so you can buy a better HD-DVD player for less when the time comes for you to finally upgrade that TV.
I hate to break it to you, but you'll probably get very, very little for it in five years. How much do you think people will pay now for 5 year old DVD players? Especially when brand new ones are so inexpensive. Better to get your money now, when the re-sell point is high, than to hold on to it until then.

 

[Ryan_McCormick]

Honestly guys do you think John is serious? He is clearly posting this as a gag. I highly doubt he is serious because of the fact that he told us he had a 19 inch TV. He knew this would get people to provide serious feedback on a matter that really shouldnt even be posted here. You cant have been a member of these forums for as long as he has and still not have a basic idea of what HD is.

Well played John...

 

[John-M]

I am being serious, I would get a HD-TV but I can't afford it because I have alot of debt to pay, I am new to HD, that is why I asked the questions, there is some people that have a 19 inch TV, if you still don't believe me that I have a 19 inch TV, that is your loss!

 

[Cees Alons]

Even on a classic TV the HD image is noticeably better, because the horizontal resolution is better.

How big your TV is is less important than the question of how large the angle you will be seeing your image under. If you're sitting not too far away from a 19" screen, you will have an excellent image.
Most people who are replying to this thread don't have a monitor that's bigger than that (although probably with a higher native resolution ).

Starting with a HD-A1 is a wise step, because starting with a HR TV set alone wouldn't make sense. I find some of the replies unnecessary and condescendent and rude in this respect.


Cees

 

[John-M]

Don't you mean HD-A2? Yeah, I agree with your post about being rude

 

[Cees Alons]

John,

Yes, the HD-A2 too (and in your case exactly that)! Sorry for the typo, I have an HD-A1 myself.
And: I'm still waiting for my 1080-projector and TV-set.


Cees

 

[Ron Boster]

I agree with the others about selling the unit or taking it back for a refund. That $400-500 would be a big step forward towards an HDTV. I've seen decent 27-32 inch sets for $500-$800. You'll get much more enjoyment out of an HDTV now then your HD-DVD player for the next five years. I bet if you play your cards right, you'll find a nice open box HDTV at Best Buy or CC in the next couple of months for not much more that your HD-DVD player. To me your TV paired with an HD-DVD player is like building a brand new garage to keep your 1975 Chevette in. A newer car is better than a newer garage. That is not a flame, but trying to give you my perspective

 

[Carlo_M]

Do you own a DVD player? If so, buy or rent the same movie on HD-DVD and DVD, and see if you can see a difference. Like I said in my previous post, if you have a really nice 19" TV (i.e. flat panel LCD with a resolution of 1280x720 or better) then you probably will see a difference.

But if it's a regular 19" tube and you are in the U.S. (Cees is in Europe where their PAL signal has more lines of resolution than NTSC) chances are good that you will see minimal to no difference. If that is the case, then you have all the information you need on which way to proceed.

When i got out of college in the mid 90s I was neck deep in debt so I can commiserate. But actually Best Buy has recently been having sales of 32" LCD TVs (1366x768) for around $600, which isn't that much nowadays (when I was first in the market for better-than-standard def TVs it was $2000 minimum entry point). While you wouldn't get the full 1080 lines, you would certainly on a TV that size gain the benefit of the added resolution of the A2. Something to think about.

 

[John-M]

I already did that with Sleepy Hollow SD and HD and don't really see a difference on my regular 19 inch TV....

 

[Patrick Sun]

Sell the A2, pay down your debt. Settle with the regular DVD player on your 19" TV, especially if you don't see any improvement between a DVD and a HD DVD.

 

[Ron Boster]

John: As you can see the overwhelming response is to sell./return the player. Why would you do anything else in this situation?

 

[Carlo_M]

So here are your options:

You can return/resell your A2 for between $400-$500. With that money you can either save it for an HDTV (which will improve your regular DVD viewing as well as take advantage of HD-DVD or Blu Ray) or put it towards your debt. By the time you're ready to buy an HDTV + hi-def disc, hopefully one format will have won. Meanwhile you can still enjoy your regular DVDs as much as any HD content, since you can't see a difference on your set, but you will pay less per DVD disc than its HD counterpart, thus stretching your monetary savings.

Or you can keep your A2, and if you try to resell it in the future (as you say in 5 years), you will probably net $100-$200, if you're lucky. Meanwhile you'll be able to collect HD-DVD discs with no real benefit since your display does not show you a difference between HD and DVD, yet you will pay $5-$10 more per movie on the HD format than you would on DVD. Also, you run a small risk of BluRay winning the format war, in which case you will be able to resell your HD player down the line for about as much as BetaMax was selling during VHS's heyday.

If you are planning on getting an HD set in the near future, say within 12 months, then my advice would change to keeping the player. But if it's really going to be several years until you can upgrade your TV, I'd return/resell the player for as much as you can get, and apply that money to your debt or put it in savings for an HDTV purchase. By the time you're ready for that, the HD format war should be clearer, and technology will be better and cheaper (it's the rule, as time goes on, technology does get better and cheaper).

 

[Ron Boster]

I would be surprised if 5 yrs from now the player is worth 100-200. Consider the fact that players purchased 8 months ago went from a new price of 500 to resale of 300 or less....that's in less than a year. If HD-DVD exists in 5 yrs one would think new players with better features would be available for 100-200. Think of the SD dvd player cycle. IMO, he'd be lucky to sell the player in 5 yrs.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ron, I'm trying to be optimistic for John-M, but I certainly wouldn't disagree with your point, even if HD-DVD wins the format war. And if it doesn't, he certainly would be lucky to sell it for spare parts or as a novelty in 5 years.