Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35) - Page 2

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

I know it sounds strange, but try washing the disc with hot soapy water and see if that helps. It seems that combo discs from Universal tend to have a filmy residue left after manufacturing.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Can one of you guys help me understand the audio outs the A35 has? I have not been able to find much detail regarding what they are as I read one very early overview of the player. It mentions a lack of optical out, but the Toshiba site does mention an optical out.

I have a very old processor right now and I am counting on using an optical connection for the audio until I upgrade the processor later next year. As I understand it, all audio signals will likely be down converted in my processor to DTS.

Thanks! Nelson

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Nelson, using the optical or coaxial digital connection on the A35 will limit somewhat what you could be getting. I was in the same boat but my reciever has the 5.1 analog outs so I can get True HD or DD Plus full blown. The SPDIF connections can't handle those but your reciever will still get a better track sent since the source is an advanced one.

I believe your reciever will get a DD plus track at 640 kbps? The first gen models from Toshiba transcoded this to a bigger bandwith DTS track but this was dropped on 2nd gen models.

I hope this helps. Regardless, it will sound great now and when you upgrade the reciever, it will sound even better. I'm looking at adding the A35 myself so let us know how you like it if you indeed pick one up.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Tim-

My processor is a B&K AVP-4090. I spoke to B&K and they told me the best I can do is optical and it should be able to process the signal, likely convert to DTS. Thanks for your feedback, glad to know that it has coaxial out too. I sure will comment here if and when I get the A35.

Nelson

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

The B&K is an excellent unit! Good luck Nelson.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Thanks Tim! Yeah, the B&K is 10 years old. Seems like yesterday, but it still sounds great!

Nelson

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Well, as Kirk said to Spock once, I've joined you.

I found 2 A35's at my local Best Buy. I picked it up last night based on a tip from AVS for a 10% off coupon.

All I've had time to do is hook up the HDMI and get audio via the display's speakers or via Dolby Pro Logic from the audio out to the processor. I have to get a very, very long Toslink cable next week.

This is the very first time for me to see HD in any optical format, other then broadcast. Since it was my first experience, it was a WOW!

I did do an A-B comparison with my old 480i DVD player still hooked up with The Bourne Identity in SD and then HD, it's like a fog was lifted! Deeper blacks and higher contrast and of course sharper image. Pretty big improvement. I also saw the first 50 minutes of 2001. That was amazing, the Moon from space looked so sharp and the craters were so contrasty. It was like being there. Loved seeing the logos on the food server machine in the shuttle heading for the Moon.

I'll be doing an adjustment of the monitor now with the Digital Video essentials disc. I was most struck by how much better The Bourne Identity looked compared to the SD DVD, that disc looked so overly bright in comparison and less detailed. Amazing stuff. Though I feel a little bad going out and buying ths player like that. I was going to hold out a little longer.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Hope you like the A35 Nelson....this one has my eye too.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Thanks Tim. So far so good, saw The Bourne Identity through all the way, looked great, no freezes or glitches. Though I thought my monitor might need color adjustment, but I think the film had a dark greenish tint at times.

The only glitch I experienced is the machine would not turn off. It was stuck in a mode searchng for a disc. Unplugging it resolved it. Instead of closing an empty disc tray by remote, I now hit the play button to close it.

Upconvert has been very cool, only saw a few things. The new Goldfinger DVD looked great! But I noticed a few odd artifacts in Casino Royale when you see the title card for "Nasau, Bahamas". the image around the type "Nassau, Bahamas" has the artifacting, but I think that's the fault of the master as it appears there on another SD DVD player. I was curious how upconvert works for older and newer titles.

Can't wait to get an optical cable so I can hear mutichannel audio from it.

PS- Thought I'd add one more thing about upconvert- it's probably the single most exciting and unexpected aspect of buying this player. I sampled two more standard def DVD's and I am amazed how great they look! I checked the display function on the A35 and it says it's outputting 1080i. I also set the player to output 1080p 24frames, eventhough my Pioneer plasma is a 1080i capable display. I read some posts on AVS that the Pioneer can be "forced" to accept a 1080p24 signal. Obviously I get the benefits of that on HD-DVD material, so I'm sure I am just enjoying a really great upconvert chip!

This is a real eye opener as I went from a 480i non progressive scan 7 year old player to this!

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Thanks for sharing your summary Nelson...I am getting that itch. You know that itch that won't be satisfied until my little fingers click: "Place Your Order".

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

I'm really tempted by the HD-A35, too. I'm still using the clunky A1, which works fine(knock on wood), but I love the sleekness of the new players.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

You know, one more thing I'll add after seeing Larry's comment.

I had been using a Pioneer Elite combo LD/DVD player before I got the Toshiba. I bought the Toshiba based on performance and overall high ratings from here and AVS forums. I have no reference then for start-up times and loading times. From my perspective, it isn't that bad. The wait seems pretty short. But I have no reference from the A1 or A2 or A20.

The area that I felt dissapointed by is the industrial design of the player itself. The design is not that bad, but it lacks in the area of high quality design. The Pioneer Elite stuff has a higher build quality, of course you pay for it. But what counts here is the picture on the screen and here it shines!

Tim, life's short, go for it if you feel the need!

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

If they could've just hidden those panel buttons somehow this A35 would look awesome but what do I know? ....this is the same design they used on all their new lineup including sd-dvd.

My only hesitation is my current projector (the Mits HD-1000u 720p) probably won't benefit from a new player. It does accept a 1080p source however as my BD player outputs 1080p. BUT....I actually prefer the 108060i selection best. The 1080p looks just ever so slightly softer. Picky aint I?

I won't be upgrading the PJ for another year or so and by then, there will be a A45 or something?

Nelson, who knows we might see a Pioneer Elite HD DVD player by then.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Yeah, upconverting is way cool. I couldn't believe how good Star Wars ROTS looked...and I thought it looked great on my progressive scan SD-DVD player!

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

One more update. I recieved my Toslink cable and I've hooked up the audio out from the A35 to the 10 year old B&K Pre-Amp Processor. At first it didn't work, no Dolby Digital. But then I realized the audio out from the Toshiba was set to PCM. I reset the audio out to Bitstream. Now I get AC-3. Cool!

I think I need to reset some settings on the B&K. The audio level seems a bit lower then from my old DVD player. I guess I need to get some more discs now to try! Just got The Bourne Identity and 2001. I will try the audio from my collection of standard def DVD's too to see how the audio works for those. It's nice I can stretch some more use out of my old Pre-Amp before upgrading.

Oh yeah, now that I have audio working, I'll be checking out ROTS, Chris!

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

I've got a 32" Panasonic LCD TV on the way and I'm thinking about getting the A3. Since the TV is just 720p, I see no advantage getting the A30 or A35; my receiver (Panasonic XR57) has a HDMI input, so it can do the decoding. I won't gain anything by getting the A30 or A35, right?

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Personally, I wonder if there's any benefit to HD for you at all for a 32" size display. What's your viewing distance?

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

My viewing distance is 9 feet.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

I'd say, forget worrying about HD vs SD DVD at that distance then. You might want to look around for other distance/resolution type charts/calculations to see if they agree though. I know S&V has one, but I don't have the link. But at the very least, the A3 would be the best bet out of the players you mentioned. Look around for sales. Sears has them for $170 or so this weekend.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Thanks! I can move closer if I want to so I can marvel at the resolution.

I think I'll try one out, I can always return it.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

If the audio sounds lower or muffled, try setting the HDMI Audio to Downmix PCM. It seems the optical likes the HDMI at its lowest setting in order to function properly.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

HD-A35: some thoughts -

I purchased this recently and have had some time to check it out. This is my first HD player. I bought a Sony 32XBR4 TV this summer and wanted to put it through its paces.

The display is 1366 X 768, which is what I think they used to call "enhanced definition," certainly not full HiDef at 1080P. I got a few titles with the A35 and bought a HD sampler disc (all HD video) as well.

The HD video on the sampler was excellent and was my first stop. Film based material is another matter. With the movies I've seen a small percentage of time the image is really great. A small part of the time it is equivalent to good standard def. Most of the time is somewhat better than Std. DVD.

My conclusion is that even at 32" you had best get a FULL 1080P display to get the most out of HD DVD for movies. HD video appears to look great in any case. I gathered 768P would be "good enough." I'm not so sure now. I'm not about to sell my TV but my next purchase years down the road will DEFINITELY be full HD!

Re the player:

1. I have a Oppo 981 standard dvd player from earlier this year that I may or may not keep. After calibration the upscaling performance on the A35 perfectly matches my Oppo - very good to excellent! I can't believe the Reon-VX chip in the XA2 is that much better. Folks this guy does the job well!

2. Boot up speed, navigation and start are good, better than what I was dreading. No lock-ups, freezes, etc. to date (crossing my fingers!).

3. The following is an issue with HD DVD discs: I'm not that happy about the variety of menu designs out there and having it overlaid on the film itself is annoying. I prefer to go to a menu, check out the trailer, set-up sounds choices, etc. BEFORE leaping into a film. I use the menus as a sort of staging area. Now, I have to stop the film first thing and deal with the overlaid menus. Interestingly, not all titles are this way. Lack of standardized menu structure will take getting used to. One example: I couldn't access all the extras on "The Reaping." I think this is a disc issue here though.

4. One problem I noticed however. When there is Advanced material (special features?) ADV lights on the front panel and when I want to temporarily stop the film to grab a snack, take a call, etc. when hitting "Resume Play" (by the way what's with this? Any other DVD player I've owned all you had to do was push Play again - why 2 buttons for this function on the A35? Lame...) it will NOT allow me to resume play at the stop point.

Since most HD DVDs will probably have ADV material this issue will be a constant. I read the manual and there may be an option to stop and THEN eject the disc? I'm not sure. This is real weak in my estimation. More than once to date I've had to start the damn movie from the beginning and search for my stop point. Lord! That is REALLY irritating. I hope this not the wave of the future. Bad move Toshiba!

If anyone has further information in this area, please let me know. Thanks. I may be missing a simple work-around or solution.

5. Sound performance was great also. I have the recent Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver which can handle DD+, etc. and have the Toshiba hooked to it via HDMI.

6. I would also wish the manufacturers (Toshiba is not alone here, my Oppo player has the same issue) out there would make ALL lights on their front panels dimmable. The blasted power/stand-by light is the most obnoxious bright blue and CANNOT be dimmed. I had to put black paper over it to cover it as it is so distracting.

I may have spot lighted some concerns or complaints on my part but really this is a superior unit and a great choice for someone entering the HD arena.

Any further information on dealing with Start up from a Stop Point would be most appreciated.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Charles,

Great review!

My understanding is that you cannot "stop" and "restart" from the last point with the HD DVD's. You have to put the disc on "pause" and then go do you thing.

I have the Toshiba A2 with the same issue. When I called Toshiba, they told me the same thing. It won't work with HD DVD's, only SD DVD. This is a pain, but I do love my Tosh! I don't understand why Toshiba did this or if the Blue Ray is any different.

Mitch

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

I have an A3 where I played my first disc over the weekend. Did the same thing. I can only say one thing: ANNOYING.

Why does Toshiba set their players up for "auto play"? It took me a while before I figured out it wasn't another preview, and it was the real movie playing. Not even a menu setting to change this. ANNOYING.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

It's not the player, it's the disk. Only certain studios start the movie right away.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Jeff, you're dead right on the movie start up issue. I found that out after a little while. Some studios go that route, others don't. This reminds me a little of the Laserdisc days when I think the disc would start the movie immediately. It took a little adjustment for me when I switched to DVD but I think at that time for the better. I suppose there are people out there who prefer this.

Concerning the "no start up from resume" on HD DVDs but ok on std. DVDs, maybe Toshiba might have a firmware upgrade in the future. I REALLY hope so! Could be this is a hardware problem, which means we are screwed.

Mitch has a good question, do other HD DVD makes have this problem and do Blu-Ray players suffer as well. Can anyone out there enlighten us?

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Both HD DVD and Blu-ray do not allow hardware/firmware based "resume after stop." This is because advanced authoring does not allow an easy solution to save all states (PiP, multiple angles, multiple soundtracks) at once. Some disks employ a software based "bookmark" feature, usually activated by pressing the 'B' key. But this feature is strictly software based and implementation varies from disk to disk.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Does the HD-A345 have this "B" (bookmark key or something like it?) and as you say will it only work sporadically depending on the disc inserted?

If you ask me what was a fairly basic function or set of functions if you include time search, etc. that you could get with all VCRs and DVD players should have been a given when developing the complete hardware standards for BOTH these formats.

This situation shows beautifully one of the costs of rushing this stuff to production and out to the public. I would have preferred waiting until they solved these issues.

The consumer once again has to learn the hard way about the features "lacking" on these next gen players. I have to say it: we take maybe 2 steps forward and 1 step back. ((

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

All HD-DVD players have a 'B' key, but not all disks have bookmarking. As far as the lack of resume, it is due to advanced content which requires multiple audio decoders and video processors to be synched up in order to play. Previously, if you wanted a PiP or a commentary, you had to have a completely new transfer/soundtrack added along with the first. With HDi, they mix them all together from individual parts (main film mixed with PiP, main soundtrack mixed with commentary), on the fly. There is obviously a hardware limitation to trying to synch and save so many streams that are completely disk dependant; hence the bookmark feature is only implemented on disk, not in hardware.

Re: Toshiba to Debut Third Generation HD DVD Players (HD-A3/HD-A30/HD-A35)

Although it's interesting, I don't think anyone cares why features we've come to expect from even ancient technologies aren't implemented in the latest. To me this is a fundamental design flaw. I don't care at all about PiP, deriving commentaries on the fly, or most of the other new gimmicks that can be added. You don't remove basic functionality to add more toys.