[ppltd]

Having owned one, I concur. This is a fine player.

Quote:

WAYNE, N.J., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Sound & Vision, the world's largest entertainment magazine, has selected Toshiba's HD-XA1 HD DVD playerto receive its prestigious Product of the Year Award, recognizing it as the most outstanding consumer electronics product of 2006. The Toshiba HD=XA1, along with Toshiba's HD-XA1 HD DVD player, was the first High definition DVD Player to be introduced in the U.S. market. XA1

[RAF]

Personally, I find it hard to justify the XA-1 as being honored as a "product of the year." Yes, it was the flagship player for the HD-DVD launch and I am an XA-1 owner, but I find many "features" including the agonizingly long startup and load times, the stopping of the player when it senses the loss of an HDMI path, the horrendous remote, etc. as reasons not to award it such an honor. In fact, any one of those items would drop it from my ballot.

I realize that Sound & Vision was probably really honoring HD-DVD but if they wanted to do that they probably should have honored the less expensive HD-A1 since it at least comes in at a lower price with essentially the same functionality.

My vote probably would have gone to the Sony VPL-VW50 1080p SXRD 3 chip projector at under $5,000 since it sent a shock wave through the FP industry and has completely restructured the pricing for all HD projectors. And it doesn't suffer the same frustrating kind of flaws as the 1st generation Toshiba HD-DVD players. Another contender in my book (if we limit the selection to DVD players)would be the PS3 (which I also own) for its ability to play Blu-ray discs quickly, quietly and efficiently. Even though it's a combo game/BR player it's one heck of a Blu-ray player at under $600. But I realize that its late 2006 debut, as well as the idea that it's a gaming console, probably keep it from consideration.

This is not an indictment of HD-DVD by any means. I love it and actually have two HD-DVD players (the XA-1 and the Xbox 360 add-on.) However, I will probably be selling or trading in my XA-1 for the 2nd generation Toshiba shortly (if I don't wait until CES to see what new players arrive). That's certainly not something most people would do with a "product of the year."

[Tim Glover]

It probably is more for HD DVD in general but still the XA-1 did put out stellar image quality inspite of the really long loading times. ....but it's a nice award nonetheless coming from a prestigious magazine. These guys are typically pretty hard to please in terms of audio stuff over the years.

[Chris S]

Hmmm.... with all the initial issues (and some continuing issues) I am surprised to see this as Product of the Year. Most innovative for being first HD media player to market or something along those lines I could see. IMHO, they should have honored HD-DVD directly and not just the player.

[RAF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Glover

It probably is more for HD DVD in general but still the XA-1 did put out stellar image quality inspite of the really long loading times. ....but it's a nice award nonetheless coming from a prestigious magazine. These guys are typically pretty hard to please in terms of audio stuff over the years.

Like I said, I would have no problem with HD-DVD being named the "product of the year" since these awards sometimes take liberties with what constitutes a "product" but then I would have thought that the HD-A1 would have been a better choice since the image is the same (along with the sluggishness) but without the lofty price. Oh well, I guess my opinion of S&V isn't the same as some others. I don't have it on my list of "prestigious" A&V magazines. It serves a purpose but it is a bit more mainstream than enthusiast oriented, IMHO.

[Tim Glover]

Correct, S&V is more mainstream for sure. Didn't they used to be called Stereo Review and combined with the magazine Video? Seems like I remember that many years ago....

I'll add the remote issues...last night I had to nearly turn ALL the lights on to see the dang buttons! ...That's probably the biggest thing I look forward to getting from a next gen model is a MUCH better remote.

[Phil Iturralde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Glover

Correct, S&V is more mainstream for sure. Didn't they used to be called Stereo Review and combined with the magazine Video? Seems like I remember that many years ago....

That's correct!

Quote:

I'll add the remote issues...last night I had to nearly turn ALL the lights on to see the dang buttons! ...That's probably the biggest thing I look forward to getting from a next gen model is a MUCH better remote.

Time to get one of these ...



Works great!!!

Phil

[Chris S]

I'll second the recommendation for the Logitech Harmony 880. A friend of mine has one and its a darn nice device. Well worth the very low price Amazon is currently selling it at.

[Neil Joseph]

Moved the the HD-DVD area.