My mini review - Toshiba HD-XA2 (1 Viewer)

[Gary Rhine]

Nor will you since neither format supports deep color.

 

[Sam H]

I've been wanting to see this player in action for a while, mainly for its standard dvd upconversion abilities. The SI Reon chip's been pretty well praised and I'd like the best presentation for the movies I'd rather not spend the premium of double dipping to HD DVD/Blu Ray.

If double-blind tested to movies with an XA2 and XA1 (and without knowing in advance which player was being used as the dvd demos), would most people be able to see a clear difference in PQ and confidently identify the correct player? As much as I'd love this player, the price tag is still pretty hefty at the moment.

 

[BrandonJF]

You're gonna get varied responses on that one. Personally, I played Finding Nemo on the A1 and XA2 last night and could not find any discernable difference between the two. I checked out the same scene on both units and tried to find something that stood out on the XA2, but just couldn't see it... Maybe there is some better movie to test where the various filters will add some benefit...

 

[David Allen]

According to the Toshiba docs, the XA2 can't pass DTS HD, only DTS Core. What a pisser! So now I have to wait for a new player that has a DTS HD decoder, or a new receiver that has the decoder. THis is so annoying.

 

[ppltd]

Nope. Nothing was setup incorrectly. I sent the receiver in to Bestec (Pioneer Authorized Service Center). They applied an ROM update supplied by Pioneer, and all is well now.

HDMI 1.3 passes video fine through my Elite. And now I can view my SD DVD's in all of their upconverted glory.

BTW, the ROM upgrade only effects a certain Serial Number series.

 

[ppltd]

This will probably be an upgrade to ROM.

 

[Blkout2k1]

So you had an older spec receiver?

 

[ppltd]

Looks that way. I am just glad it got resolved. Way to much money to spend not to get more than 9 months use out of it.

As a side note, the older series with HDMI 1.1 (72 and 74) can be upgraded for free. But it requires the units be sent in. I almost bought the 74 when I picked up my 84, as BB was discounting the heck out of them, but I wanted the 4 HDMI inputs. Now I am glad I got it.

 

[ScottBA]

Having bought my XA2 about a week ago, I finally decided to hook it up last night.

My 1st choice of hookup would be entirely thru HDMI. Let me explain my system real quick.

Dedicated home theater room using the Mitsu HC5000, Denon 3806, w/ a Gefen 3:1 switcher inbetween. Only 2 HDMI slots were being used up till this point; Comcast Motorola HD-DVR & my Oppo DVD player.

I know the Mitsu HC5000 has 2 HDMI inputs, but when I dedicated the room we only ran one HDMI cable because I knew I'd be using a switcher. Before any1 else says more on this subject, I CANNOT run another HDMI cable through the ceiling. We tried!! For hours.....

Ok...

We figured we'd run the HDMI from the XA2 to the Denon 3806 and then run an add'l HDMI cable from the Denon 3806 to the Gefen switcher (for video feed). We figured should be no prob.

Nothing! An ugly red screen of death. The Denon would not put out a video signal.

We then took the projector HDMI and using an HDMI male/male extender ran it straight to the Toshiba. Worked perfectly. No sound though, so had to hook up using Co-Ax. We never tried the Analogs (although we're aware it would work).

We then un hooked the projector HDMI from the extender and put it back into the Gefen & ran the Toshiba HDMI straight into the Gefen switcher (instead of into the Denon). Picture also worked! This meant the Denon was NOT handshaking w/ the Gefen switcher or just NOT processing any video. Can't be sure.

Ok...not what I want really as I REALLY DO WANT AN full HDMI connection for my theater.

So, to watch HD movies for now, we started programming my Pronto. Upon doing so, we tested switching from my different sources (Comcast box, Oppo) to make sure the Pronto was switching from port 1, 2, 3 on the Gefen switcher for the HD-DVD player. Using the remote we switched to the Oppo. Worked. Switched to Comcast box. Worked. Switched back to the HD-DVD player. Nothing! BLUE SCREEN! Was sitting there, like, WTF

Started looking at our wires and hookups and about 3mins later, the video image appeared. We touched nothing! Obviously the Gefen switcher must be having a handshaking issue. Did this a few times more, and each time, we'd get a blue screen for several minutes.

What is everyone's opinion on this?

Is my Gefen switched defective? Should I go w/ a different maker for a switcher?

If someone knows how to get the Denon to accept my HDMI hookup, that would be great. Would a powered splitter work? Toshiba to Denon & Toshiba to Gefen switcher...but that brings back the blue screen problem for the 1st few minutes.

Are there any settings that I'm not trying or doing properly?

Any help would be great!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Check with Gefen they had some updates available for their product. RAF has tried several HDMI switchers (including Gefen) and has finally found one that works. I'll see if I get him to post his observations here.

 

[ScottBA]

I got a 4:1 Gefen switcher tonight and hooked up.

Started switching between my devices.

It actually fixed the problem I was having w/ my cable box DVR. On the 3:1 switcher, it would revert the image down to 480p, which I would then have to manually adjust it back to 1080i. A pain, I know, so we smiled when the new 4:1 switched didn't downgrade the image when we cycled back to it. GOOD!

Switched to my Oppo (port 2). Got a video image, but shaded w/ an ugly green color as well. BAD!

Switched to my HD XA2 (port 3). Got a flickering image, and then snow! BAD!

So, now 2 bad Gefen switchers. Obviously a hand-shaking problem or something.

Plz get my that recommendation on another company's switcher. Maybe Radieent? Octava?

 

[Ron Z]

Monoprice?
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=

 

[RAF]

HDMI "switches" can be a troublesome thing, as evidenced by my own experiences and those of others here. The major problem is that with HDMI (and HDCP) you have to stop thinking of switches in the traditional sense. With this newer technology communication is a two way street and each component in the chain has to play by the HDMI "rules" (which can often be hazy to determine.) This interaction between HDMI devices is often referred to as "handshaking" and those of you who are currently using equipment with HDMI capabilities have already seen this in action. Every time you get momentary blue screen, or lost signal (what I sometimes like to call "Poltergeist Screen") or signals flashing on or off, etc. when switching sources or content are actually seeing this "handshaking" in action. Some HDMI devices do this much better than others and at this point it's hard to determine what exactly will happen in any particular installation due to the great variety of potential components. That's what I see happening here based on member reports in this thread.

There are major uses for these HDMI "switches" (actually they are much more than simple switches if they are to do the job correctly). The most common case is to provide a single HDMI output from multiple HDMI sources (like a Blu-ray player, an HD-DVD Player, an HD cable or satellite box and a number of other HDMI devices such as SD DVD players, etc.). Because a large number of HDMI capable displays don't often have more than one or two HDMI inputs these "switches" are becoming more commonplace. They are known by terms such as "2x1" (2 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI output), "4x1" (4 inputs, 1 output) etc. Another, less common, use is to have a device that takes a single HDMI output and sends it to two or more displays. These devices are usually known as "1x2" (for 1 HDMI input, 2 HDMI outputs), "1x4" (1 in, 4 out) etc. I have a need for this type of device (more correctly known as a "repeater" rather than as a "switch") because I feed the HDMI output from my Video Processor to two HDMI displays - my 1080p RPM and my FP (although not both at the same time). Some devices do both (like my 2x2 Gefen HDMI "switch") - or more correctly try to do both.

It has been my experience that single output HDMI devices (like 4x1, 2x1, etc.) have a much greater success rate than multiple output HDMI devices in practice. However, even here there is no guarantee of success if the design is poor. Member experiences here show this to be a fact. Like I stated earlier, to work properly these devices need to comply with HDMI standards and many of them don't, or at least they are marginal at best. For example, the HDMI spec calls for all switching devices to have their own power supplies so as not to tax the HDMI electronics. Yet there are some passive devices, like the ACCELL 2x1 switch that use the power of the HDMI line itself (there's about 5v there) to run. According to the developers of HDMI, any such use of the HDMI power may compromise the performance of the system.

I don't use any external single output HDMI boxes myself (like 4x1, etc.) because my system contains a DVDO VP50 which, in essence, performs the 4x1 functionality with 4 HDMI inputs and a single HDMI output. But I have been struggling with multiple HDMI outputs for my two displays. So far I've come up empty. I have both a Gefen 2x2 HDMI device and an ACCELL product (the 2x1 passive switch which they claim can also be used in a 1x2 mode). Neither device does the job as advertised (or claimed). If I switch from my RPM to my FP I literally have to physically remove the power from the Gefen (pull the plug) before it will recognize the other output. This involves all sorts of gyrations and even then it only works ~50% of the time. That's because these devices are not "repeaters" and they should regularly poll the outputs to see what's live and what's not. Without this capability the only way to force them to poll the outputs is to power them down. Gefen claims to have firmware upgrades (I even spoke to them at CEDIA 2006) but my 2x2 HDMI device is still worthless to me at this point. And the ACCELL product (while a nice, inexpensive - $99 - 2x1 switch for some limited application where you need a second HDMI input) definitely doesn't work in the 1x2 mode. Same symptoms.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. I had the good fortune to meet Jano Banks of Radiient Technologies at CEDIA 2006 in Denver last September and based on some discussions we had over the course of several days I now have an ongoing correspondence with him regarding HDMI matters. The reason this is significant is that Jano is the co-inventor of the technology (his name is one of the two on the HDMI patent) so he certainly knows about HDMI and all its ramifications. He understood completely why I was having problems switching an HDMI output to two (or more) different sets. His company is currently developing a 1x6 Repeater for multiple display of HDMI (aptly named the "Repeat-6") and within the next week or two I will be beta testing the first unit off the assembly line. I'm anxiously awaiting this product and I will be providing a complete report once I test it. (This message is a preview of what the report will talk about). Look for this some time in the future. This product will undoubtedly be a serious attempt to address the entire HDMI issue and is far more than a simple switch. There is RS-232 upgradeable firmware and I'm sure the product will be tweaked before being released to the public. Stay tuned.

The reason I mention all this is not so much to talk about multiple output HDMI repeaters but to stress that the principals at Radiient Technologies obviously know their way around HDMI. The presence of Jano Banks assures that. Therefore, to me the best HDMI 1x4 box to get would be the Radiient Technologies product (also sold under the DVDO label). It is extremely well made and, I would think, designed to avoid as many HDMI issues as possible. It is also not the least expensive unit out there, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

And let's not forget that no HDMI device, no matter how properly designed, can fix any errors caused by components that do not play HDMI by the rules. But at least you can rule the "switch" out as the source of any HDMI problems. Even a Radiient product or other properly designed HDMI interfacing product can't correct errors in the design of some supposedly "HDMI compatible" components.

 

[Norris]

I have a non-powered 2-in 1-out switcher from monoprice. Works flawlessly.