Comparing the HD-A1 and HD-A2 ...(pics) (1 Viewer)

Thought I would post a couple of pics for comparison. I have had my HD-A2 for a few days and I love it already! My A1 had the latest firmware and I would still have the occasional glitches...no sound sometimes, a flickering line at other times, and always slow! I haven't noticed any such problems with the A2 so far.

The upconversion also works 100x better now. My wife has lots of Asian movies, some that wouldn't play at all on the A1 and others that just looked terrible. The same DVD's look great on the A2. It seems to automatically adjust the screen size to 4x3 or 16x9. I always had to play with the settings to get them to work on the A1. Of course the HD DVD's looks amazing just as they did on the A1. I haven't noticed any picture quality differences at all.

As for the sound, I had the A1 hooked up through PCM/Bitstream Coax and now on the A2 I am using TOS link. My receiver shows DTS. Today I compared the A1 with coax and the A2 with TOS link side by side and I didn't notice any audible differences.

The remote on the A1 is definitely nicer. The A2 remote looks cheap. It is really light even with the batteries in it. Lower production costs I guess. Overall I am really happy with it and would highly recommend upgrading...

I notice among other things, the AC plug on the A2 is only a 2-prong compared to the grounded 3-prong on the A1.

Yup, no grounded electrical protection now. Make sure you wear rubber boots when operating the A2 so you don't get zapped!

You also lose the Audio Analog Output, right?

No, it's being provided over HDMI instead of 6 RCA outputs.

Analog output is gone for those who do not have HDMI equipped receivers like me.

Well, my Pioneer Elite VSX80 has HDMI inputs but can only be used for video switching purposes. One would need a receiver with HDMI, and the ability for the receiver to play multi-channel PCM over HDMI.

The new sleek styling is growing on me...still love the retro look of my A1 though. Thanks for sharing the pics too. Yeah, that remote looks a bit cheap for the A2.

heheheh

You don't have to worry, the A2 is plastic!!

You also lose digital coax out from what I can see.

Good eye, that's definitely gone too.

Now that sucks. Why would Pioneer make a receiver with HDMI but not let it decode audio from the stream?????

Sorry guys,probably a dumb question?
So can I use the A2 for hdmi video while simultaneously using the analog audio outputs for my old yamaha analog receiver?
Does selecting hdmi on output disable the analog audio outputs?
thanks,
tom
nyc

Tom,

On the HD-A1 that works fine.
But the HD-A2 doesn't have analogue outputs!

The good news is (it seems): the HD-XA2 does have 'em. At least: that's what Robert Zohn is telling us in the 'XA2 Update"-thread (and I believe him ).


Cees

So are the HD-A2 pdf specs wrong that I got off of Visual apex?

SPECIFICATIONS
HD DVD Video yes
DVD Video yes
DVD VR (1.1) yes
Video Output 1080i/60Hz/720p/480p/480i
Twin format Disc yes
Dolby® Digital Plus yes (5.1ch)
Dolby® TrueHD yes (5.1ch)
DTS® yes (5.1ch)
DTS® HD (core only) yes (5.1ch)
DVD-ROM (Video) yes
DVD-R (Video) yes
DVD-R DL (Video) yes
DVD-RW (Video/VR CPRM not supported) yes
CD, CD-R, CD-RW (CD-DA) yes
OSD Language English/French/Germany/Japanese
Remote Control Unit
TV Control (preset) yes
Glow Remote yes
AV Cable (Video/L/R) yes
Digital / Analog out simultaneously yes
Video Output
Composite 1
S-Video 1
Component 1
Audio Output
Analog 2ch 1
Digital Optical 1
HDMITM output Ver. 1.2a 1
Ethernet (10/100BASE) 1
EXTENSION Terminal 2
Dimensions 16.9" x 13.58" x 2.58"
UPC 022265000151

Sorry for that, I assumed you were talking about the 5.1ch analogs.
While present on the A1 and XA1, they aren't there on the A2.
These specs say there are 2ch analogs, though (the usual L/R, I assume), so those are present, apparently.


Cees

Surely via the two anolog outputs shown on the A2 chassy I could send the signal to my Kenwood to decode the 5.1 though!?

Tim

no, you will only get two channel sound (L & R), not 5.1. You will only get 5.1 through the coax or TOSlink.

Yeah and there's not that many in the mid range area that do that. I was looking at the Pioneer 1016 but it only has Video Switching HDMI, otherwise a nice midrange unit. I decided that the whold Hi Def Receiver stuff is still yet too new for me to invest in, only having to buy a new receiver, I tend to key my receivers 10 plus years before replacing.

But there is no coax. So optical only, bummer.